Almost a Countess by Jenna Jaxon
Chapter 19
Confession might be good for the soul, but in Dora’s opinion, the person responsible for that old adage hadn’t taken into account the secular repercussions. With foreboding, she and Finn presented themselves and confessed their deception to her aunt in the morning room directly after breakfast, with the added audience of Violet and Tris.
To Dora’s dismay, Aunt Mimi had gone quickly from stunned silence to very vocal indignation.
“I am shocked and utterly dismayed at your cavalier attitude toward telling the truth, Dora.” Aunt Mimi fixed her with a baleful eye that made Dora want to squirm in her seat as though she were five and had been caught sneaking sweets from the kitchen. “And you, Lord Aberfoyle, have behaved even more shockingly. Not only have you attempted to deceive me, but you have come amazingly close to ruining my niece’s reputation and tricking me into condoning the behavior. What on earth were you thinking?”
Finn had met her aunt’s scowling face with frank honesty. “I believe I thought only o’ yer niece, Duchess. O’ how much we’ve come tae care for one another, and that the only way I can ask tae court her is if my name is cleared. Tae that end, I must journey tae London noo. I couldna wait as Dora’s father gave her in marriage tae another, sae tae give me time tae ask for her hand, I said we were already wed. Noo, the most expeditious way for us tae accomplish this is tae have ye serve as chaperone and traveling companion on the way tae London. Then, once my name is cleared, we can go tae Wiltshire.” He looked at Dora, a softness coming into his eyes. “I tried tae dissuade her, but she insisted on accompanying me tae provide a safeguard should Lieutenant Scarlet happen upon the carriage. He wilna be searching for a couple, and certainly no’ for a party o’ three persons.”
“Aunt Mimi, we were wrong to lie to you, but we are desperate.” Grasping her aunt’s hands, she sent a prayer up to the Almighty to sway the woman’s mind. “We have had very little time together. Don’t you think we deserve to have a little more?” Her aunt sat, unmoved, and Dora wracked her brain for an argument that might sway her. “And just think, Aunt Mimi. If you and I travel with Finn, if the soldiers find him, I cannot help but think we can dissuade them from harming him further, at the very least. We can make sure if he’s recaptured, he will have a fair trial.” Dora didn’t even want to consider the possibility of Finn being in the hands of those merciless men once more. She shuddered and pushed the thought aside. “Please, please won’t you help us?”
“By rights, I should turn you over to the authorities myself, young man.” Glaring at Finn, Aunt Mimi raised her teacup and took a long, deliberate sip, dragging out the moment as long as she could.
Frantic, Dora held her breath—her aunt had ever been as good as her word. From long experience, if Aunt Mimi decided to summon Lieutenant Scarlet, there would be no changing her mind.
“However,” her aunt set her cup down, “I have always had a soft spot in my heart for young couples facing adversity.” Aunt Mimi pursed her lips. “And you two seem to be facing more than most. Between your impending incarceration, Lord Aberfoyle, and your father’s determination to saddle you with a middle-aged husband, Dora, I do see that if you are to have any chance at happiness, I must step in.”
“Thank you so much, Aunt—”
“Do not thank me yet, child.” Her aunt’s face remained stern. “In order for me to help you, I have several stipulations to which you must agree, or I will not lift a finger.”
“Name them, Duchess.” Finn sat forward eagerly. “I promise ye we will follow them tae the absolute letter.”
Aunt Mimi fixed him with a cool look that sent a chill down Dora’s spine. “You may wish to consider the conditions I require before agreeing to them so blindly, my lord.”
Unabashedly, Finn grinned at her. “If it means in the end, Dora and I will be together, I would make a deal with the devil himself. Nae offense tae ye, Duchess.”
“None taken, young man.” Aunt Mimi smiled. “You might, however, prefer the devil’s deal to mine.”
Dora exchanged a look with Finn and shook her head. These conditions would definitely not be to their liking. “What are your conditions, aunt?”
“First and foremost, you two will have no private contact whatsoever.” Aunt Mimi’s gaze rested directly on Dora. “No hand holding, no kissing, and absolutely no physical intimacy at all during the journey.”
Not an unexpected demand, although Dora had held out hope of her and Finn deepening their courtship in some of those ways. With a sigh, she nodded. “I promise to abide by those rules, Aunt Mimi.”
Finn’s sigh was exactly the same, but he answered, “I promise as well, Duchess.”
“Good. The other condition concerns my belief that simply posing as Dora’s husband will not serve nearly as well to deceive the lieutenant as a more intricate disguise.”
Dora glanced at Finn and shrugged. What better scheme had her aunt hit upon to conceal Finn’s identity? “What disguise is that?”
Smiling broadly, Aunt Mimi said, “I propose Lord Aberfoyle take on the appearance of an actual friend of mine, Mrs. Helena Devereaux.”
“Mrs. Devereaux?” It took Dora a moment to understand her aunt correctly. “You want Finn to dress as a woman?”
“Ye want me tae dae what?” The stunned expression on Finn’s face would have been quite comical had the situation not been so desperate.
Still, Dora had to smother a smile at her beloved’s wide-staring eyes, raised eyebrows, and dropped jaw.
“If you prefer to take the devil’s deal, I will understand, my lord.” Her aunt’s devilish sense of humor had never been so apparent.
Finn gulped. “Are ye quite sure that’s no’ the devil’s deal?”
“But Finn…” Why was he being stubborn about this? “This disguise won’t be very different from wearing a kilt, will it?”
Aunt Mimi gave a bark of laughter.
Finn sent Dora a withering look. “Aye, it will.”
“Please, Finn?” She put every ounce of pleading into her voice. He simply had to agree. “You promised.”
Finn looked from Aunt Mimi to Dora and back again and sighed. “Devil take it.” Finn’s face was a study, as though caught squarely between Scylla and Charybdis. “Very well.” He eyed Dora then nodded to her aunt. “Under great duress, I have decided tae accept the offer o’ yer carriage, Duchess. And all its attendant conditions. I only hope ye’ve a spare bum roll about ye.”
Even with that battle won, there were several delays that tried Dora’s soul.
First was Aunt Mimi’s insistence that she must have more than one day of rest after the grueling five-day journey she’d just endured before attempting it yet again. Her original plan had been to stay with Dora for a month before venturing back to London. Finn’s plight, however, had put paid to that plan. Her aunt had agreed they would venture out as quickly as possible, but in the end, they remained at Bromley for a week while her aunt rested and Finn was outfitted with several gowns, a wig, and a hat for his disguise.
Marcella proved a wonder at altering the gowns Dora’s mother had left at the estate some years before. She also restyled her father’s gray wig into a more feminine coiffure and at last, on the first day of September, Dora, Aunt Mimi, and Finn set out for London. They rode in style in the grand ducal carriage that Dora’s aunt took everywhere with her. The intrepid Marcella and Larkin followed behind with the luggage in Dora’s small, plain carriage.
She and Aunt Mimi sat on the forward-facing plush leather seat in the palatial carriage, the interior a pleasant cream color. Finn sat in the backward facing seat, decked out in a blue jacquard gown, trimmed in ecru lace. The ensemble was finished with a delicate mobcap worn atop the newly styled gray wig. It had been quite disturbing for Dora to see the man she loved dressed in her mother’s clothing, looking like a passable imitation of her parent. But if he could stand to wear it, she could stand to see it.
“In the end, Lord Aberfoyle, what made you decide to agree to my conditions?” Aunt Mimi cocked her head at him, although she glanced at Dora as well.
“Dora did, Yer Grace.” He shot a rueful look at her, and Dora smiled back. “She reminded me that I had promised tae accept the terms, nae matter what. If I get Dora as my wife in the end, then what’s a little…embarrassment?” “
“Well spoken, my lord.” Aunt Mimi settled back in the butter-soft leather seats. “If your adventure ends well, I shall have something to say to Lord Downing on your behalf.” Closing her eyes, Aunt Mimi immediately began to snore gently.
Quietly, Finn took Dora’s hand in his. “How dae women put up with all these confounded clothes?” He pulled at his bodice, which had been amply stuffed, making his bosom appear lopsided so he punched it back into place, sending Dora into a fit of giggles. “I suppose if one is willing tae suffer for love o’ another, one is often rewarded.”
“And what will be your reward, my love?” He’d overcome some strange personal aversion to wearing women’s clothing just so they could be together on this journey. She’d love to give him something in return.
He gazed deeply into her eyes. “My ring on yer finger, love, is the only reward I seek.”
****
The day was hot for the beginning of September, so Lieutenant Geoffrey Scarlet was glad to call a halt when they reached The Green Tree Inn in the village of Brompton. He’d had to head a little off the main road from Leeds to get here, but he deemed it well worth the extra time. They’d visited the inn several times while searching for the accursed Scot and while Mrs. Jameson wasn’t the most cordial of hostesses, her cakes and ale were some of the best he’d encountered. “Dismount. We’ll give Mrs. Jameson our custom one last time then head toward the Great North Road.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Gates, the first man on the ground, looped his reins around the post and bolted into the inn. The rest of the men followed suit, leaving Scarlet alone to brood.
After a week of fruitless searching in and around Leeds, they were headed back to Edinburgh with nothing to show for the past few weeks except empty hands. Scarlet wasn’t sure how his superiors would take the news that he’d lost the treasonous Scotsman, save it would not be with welcoming arms. Considering the only information he’d sent his commanding officer, just after he’d arrested Aberfoyle, had been he was heading to Edinburgh with a prisoner, he might be able to spin a tale in which the loss of said prisoner wasn’t his fault but one of his men’s. Either way, this had been a right fiasco from the beginning and there would surely be a reckoning for him when he finally returned to the garrison.
Scarlet dismounted, hitched his horse to the iron post in front of the inn—still grateful to have found Conqueror after the bastard had taken him—and strode into the establishment. His men had taken a table at the far end, and a barmaid was already distributing pints to them all.
“Mrs. Jameson.” He removed his hat and nodded to the inn’s owner. “Cakes and ale for my men.”
“Good day, lieutenant.” The lady gave him one brief nod. “I hadn’t seen you in a week or more. Thought you’d left us for good already.”
Certain the woman had wished it true, Scarlet shook his head, a scowl on his face. “If only that were so. Unfortunately, Leeds proved as disappointing as this godforsaken hamlet.”
She eyed him and pursed her lips. “From the look of you, you’re no better off than before you left.”
“As you see no prisoner with us, your observation is uncommonly astute, madam.” Scarlet snared a pint from the passing barmaid’s tray, took a long pull, and sighed.
“You’re movin’ on, then, lieutenant?” Relief showed in the woman’s face.
“As soon as we partake of your cakes and quench our thirst, we are heading back to our billet in Scotland.” He had to work hard to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“Then I wish you all a safe journey, lieutenant.” With the first genuine smile he’d had from her, Mrs. Jameson headed to the kitchen and returned with a tray of the sugary cakes. “Help yourselves.”
Scarlet grabbed two before she continued over to the table and the eager faces of his men.
The bell above the door rang as a gentleman Scarlet didn’t know entered and strode to the bar beside him. “Good day to you, Mrs. Jameson. Have you a bit of the cottage pie for me today?”
“Good day, Mr. Cardrew,” Mrs. Jameson called as she turned from the soldiers’ table, her tray completely empty. “Take your seat, and I’ll bring it to you.”
Turning to let his gaze follow the man as he made his way to a table by the window, Scarlet sipped his ale and frowned. Somehow, he’d missed interrogating this man, although his name rang a distant bell. He turned back to the bar as Mrs. Jameson hurried behind it. “Mrs. Jameson, that gentleman who just came in, who is he?”
“Mr. Cardrew? He’s the surgeon what serves the village and the people hereabouts. A nice gentleman. He’s not married, so he comes here most days for a bite of something so he’s no need to cook.” The innkeeper headed into the kitchen and emerged almost immediately with a steaming plate filled with mashed potatoes, beef, and gravy that smelled wonderful and carried it to the table.
Mr. Cardrew dug into the mound of food with such gusto Scarlet wished he had time to enjoy a plate before they had to go. So this was the doctor Miss Harper had called to her father. Had the gentleman truly had the smallpox? Geoffrey had checked himself each evening before retiring for any signs of the red spots, but he’d found none and felt fit as a flea. Perhaps Mr. Harper had actually had a different ailment.
Without further thought, Geoffrey took his glass and sauntered over to the man. “Mr. Cardrew? Lieutenant Geoffrey Scarlet. May I have a word, sir?”
Mouth full of pie, the physician indicated the bench seat across the table from him. Once he swallowed, he said, “How can I help you, lieutenant?”
“As my men and I were searching for an escaped prisoner, I had occasion to visit a Miss Harper on her estate at Bromley almost a fortnight ago. Her father was very ill, and she said you suspected smallpox. I simply wondered if the gentleman has recovered?” Geoffrey certainly hoped so, for his own sake. “Or if perhaps he was afflicted with some other malady?”
His mouth full again, Cardrew chewed slowly, gazing at Geoffrey with a puzzled look on his face. He washed his pie down with a swallow of ale and shook his head. “I’m sorry, lieutenant, but I’m afraid you’ve gotten the household confused with another you’ve called upon.” The surgeon wiped his lips and nodded. “I was called to Miss Harper’s estate to tend to a patient, however it was not her father. Lord Downing has not been in residence in York at all this year, I believe. He comes very seldom.”
A sinking feeling in his stomach made Geoffrey clutch his glass. “Who were you summoned to attend?”
“A cousin of Miss Harper, a Mr. Bowman who was traveling north to Scotland when he took a fall from his horse.” Cardrew waved his hand. “A very slight sprain of the ankle. He’s likely already on his way.”
The ale in Geoffrey’s stomach was now threatening to make another appearance. “Can you tell me what Mr. Bowman looks like?”
Cardrew frowned as he picked up his fork again. “A young man in his twenties, I expect. I’m not certain about his height as he was lying down when I saw him, but I’d say your height, perhaps. A good, strong physique.” The doctor frowned as he put a forkful of the pie in his mouth. “Dark red hair. Do you know him?”
Geoffrey slammed the glass down on the table, shattering it. Ale flew everywhere as he leaped up, bellowing, “Damnation! Everyone in the saddle now!”
Out the door at a run, Geoffrey slowed to jerk the reins loose and leap onto the horse’s back. Not even waiting for the others, he kicked the horse into a canter and tore down the road.
Minutes later, Newcomb, whose horse had won several races back at Fort William, pulled alongside him. “Lieutenant, what’s happened? Where are we going?”
“Miss Harper’s estate. The bitch lied to us. Aberfoyle is there. Or was.” Geoffrey ground his teeth and urged the horse into a gallop. He’d have a talk with Miss Harper, oh yes, he would. And if the treasonous Scot wasn’t to be found, he’d make certain the cunning jilt told him where the whoreson had gone, no matter what he had to do to assure her cooperation.