A Little Deception (39 page)

But where was she? This was his most pressing question, but
when he asked it, Beth’s answer was terrifying.

‘Gone to Mr Alnight’s to find Lady Chesterfield and try and
make her ’splain to you that it were Lady Chesterfield wot wrote that letter.’

Rampton leapt to his feet and raked his fingers through his
hair. ‘Does she not know the danger? Why did she not come here first?’ he
asked, though uncomfortably aware he’d hardly behaved in a manner conducive to
Rose believing she’d receive a sympathetic hearing since he’d sent her away.

‘Her ladyship don’t know about any of them jewels that were
stole or that it were her name put about as being in on it.’ Beth sounded as
though she was recounting nothing more than a matter of fact. ‘I s’pose she
thought it safe enough to visit Lady Chesterfield and her gennelmun.’

Felix rephrased Beth’s words slowly, as if his brother were
an imbecile. ‘Rose has no idea of the lengths Helena and Geoffrey have gone to
in order to blacken her name?’

‘Or to what lengths they are likely to go in order to keep
her quiet and the rest of the world ignorant,’ muttered Rampton, struck with
fresh horror as he contemplated the peril his wife faced.

AUNT
ALICE PUT her hands to the lace trimming of her voluminous gown and repeated in
accents of horror, ‘Helena…? Eloping with Geoffrey Albright? Oh my! Poor
Charles!’

‘It’s Rose I’m worried about.’ Arabella strove for calmness,
clinging to the newel post in her aunt’s lobby and wishing she didn’t have to
raise her voice about such a sensitive matter since her aunt appeared
dumbstruck on the landing a few steps above her. ‘Helena has done some very
wicked things in Rose’s name and is no doubt attempting to flee the country as
we speak, but we have no idea where to find Rose.’

‘Geoffrey Albright?’

Arabella turned as Oswald sloped into the room. ‘Geoffrey
Albright?’ He repeated the name in disgusted tones.

Arabella was about to make some dismissive remark in the
hopes he’d go away when she was struck by his growing fury as he muttered, ‘God
in Heaven, so she’s planned everything in order to elope with
Geoffrey Albright!
’

Arabella stepped back, frightened, as in a blinding flash,
it all made sense. How often had she seen her cousin conversing with Helena,
usually in dark corners? She’d thought nothing of it at the time but… She drew
in a sharp breath. Dear Lord, if Oswald had something to do with the plot in
which her sister was mired, he needed to tell them now.

‘Cousin Rose is not the only one in danger,’ Oswald snarled
as he headed towards the door, reluctantly turning as his step-mother cried
out, ineffectually, and Arabella pushed in front of him, saying urgently, ‘Wait
for me! You’ll have a much greater chance of getting Geoffrey to talk to you if
you take me!’

***

There was nothing Rose could do, if she did have second
thoughts. Pushed out of the door by Helena, Geoffrey quickly hustled her into
the hackney and it didn’t take long to see he was in a black mood.

Squeezing herself into the corner, she told herself she was
in no danger. What could Geoffrey do when he found he’d been duped? He’d hardly
hurl Rose through the door to risk death beneath the wheels in the middle of a
London street?

‘Still angry with me?’ Moving forward, he touched her face
through the veil. ‘Vanity, Helena. Or is this your silent reproach?’ His sigh
was not feigned as he leant back into the squabs, his breathing heavy and his
voice filled with emotion. ‘Ironic, isn’t it?’ he went on when he received no
response, ‘Now that we are on the point of fulfilling our childish dreams we
find that the love we once pledged would last forever has leg-shackled us to
one another until death. I’m sorry for your accident but you deceived me,
Helena. Certainly, your cunning has achieved the wealth that’s now to set us
up. But,’ his voice grew harsher and he leaned forward and gripped her knee,
‘had I known that your confidence sprang from the fact you knew there would be
no issue from our congress, I’d not have considered it a fair bargain.’

Rose knew the danger in answering, but she croaked, ‘Your
wife—’

He snorted with derision. ‘I’ve been trying to sire an heir
on Daisy for six years! But you, Helena, are so clever. Stupidly, I assumed you
had avoided producing an heir by that milksop husband through intent.’

Rose felt the anger rise on her brother’s behalf and prayed
for some opportunity she could seize for flight, as Beth had done hours
earlier. Helena had not been lying when she said she feared Geoffrey. Oh, dear
Lord, how had she allowed herself to be here and what good would it achieve?

‘For God’s sake, Helena, answer me!’ Lunging forward, he
grasped her forearms. ‘Don’t you realize we’re tied to one another, more surely
than if we were married? We have thieved and deceived … you have blackened your
sister-in-law in the eyes of her husband to achieve all this. If we are caught
we face the noose for our misdemeanours.’

Rose gasped, struggling in his grip as his hands felt their
way insinuatingly over her body.

‘My God,’ he whispered, drawing back in shock before
reaching over and wrenching the hat and veil from her head. ‘Lady Rampton!’
Cupping her chin he dragged her face to within an inch of his, which was black
with rage.

Rose flinched, fearing he was going to strike her.

‘What the devil? Where’s Helena?’ His voice was a terrifying
whisper. Before she could reply he pounced on the bag at her feet and snatched
it up, fumbling with the drawstring.

The discovery of its contents did nothing to improve his
temper. With a blood-curdling howl he dashed it against the window and turned
on Rose.

‘Rocks, by God!’ he screamed. ‘So you were a party to
Helena’s deception all the time!’ He shook her so hard her brain rattled.
‘Where is she? Are you both so stupid you thought you could hoodwink me?
Did you plan to jump out of the carriage before I discovered?’

Rose cowered into the corner while the old carriage rocked
and lumbered over the uneven cobblestones. She whispered, ‘I knew nothing until
I arrived at the house less than an hour ago and Helena pushed me out of the front
door so that she could escape because you’d hit her.’

‘Innocent Rose,’ he sneered. ‘Doing what was best to help
Helena. Why come to my house if you were looking for an ally?’

‘Beth said you and Helena were eloping.’ Rose clasped her
hands to stop them trembling. ‘That’s all I knew. I was suspicious about the
letter and wanted the truth from Helena.’

‘Where is Beth?’

‘She jumped out of the carriage before I reached your
house.’

Geoffrey let out a crack of laughter. Shaking his head at
Rose he muttered, ‘Aren’t we
 
the
fools in this madcap charade for allowing Helena to manipulate us into
achieving exactly what she wants, while we wear the consequences? It’s a good
thing you’re not Helena at this moment for I can’t answer for what I’d do to
you.’

Rose drew in her breath on a sob. Slowly she tried to reach
for the door handle but Geoffrey dashed it away.

‘Not so fast, Lady Rampton. You’ve not yet paid your dues.’
He chuckled. ‘You’re going to help me find some valuable trinkets that are
going to fund my escape – and retirement – and hopefully my
revenge.’

Rose bit her lip. In the last couple of minutes she’d
realised there was far more going on than she’d understood before she’d
blithely confronted Helena. Clearly Helena and Geoffrey were complicit in some dangerous
game involving thievery and who knows what other skulduggery. And now she was
alone in a carriage with a vengeful Geoffrey Albright who had never liked her.

‘What have you done?’ she whispered.

After a considered look, he said, ‘You do know that Beth
stole a quantity of jewellery from Rampton’s mother’s dressing-room to coincide
with your departure?’

Rose stifled the gasp that would only amuse Geoffrey as he
went on, ‘And that she sewed Lady Chawdrey’s missing diamond necklace into the
lining of the gown you obligingly pawned on her behalf so that when Rampton
redeemed it he had overwhelming proof of your thievery and deception?’

This time Rose did gasp. ‘Helena cannot get away with this!
I went to your house to find her so she’d confess to Rampton that she’d written
that letter.’

‘Actually, I wrote that letter, and the one he received
purportedly from you, but I confess, I was not happy about doing it.’

‘A letter from
me
?
Why did you do it?’ Rose challenged.

Geoffrey pushed back his carefully coiffed curls. His
nostrils flared. ‘To make Helena happy. She was determined to have her little
revenge upon you for wrecking her liaison with Sir Hector after I’d sailed out
of her life not weeks before.’

Rose, who had been slumped against the window, jerked
upright in anger. ‘Would she see me hang?’ she hissed. Shaking her head, she
added, ‘Sir Hector saw through her from the start. It’s a pity Charles never
did.’

‘Or you,’ Geoffrey added. ‘Come to that, neither did I.’ He
seemed to rally. ‘It’s time to find Helena and I think I know where she’s
headed for all she was so cunning in trying to keep her own little insurance
policy secret from me.’

‘I want to find my husband first.’

Geoffrey shook his head. ‘Rampton can wait. We must reach
Hampstead Heath before Helena slips out of the country, laughing, while you and
I contemplate the hangman’s noose.’

***

Rampton balked at the unappetizing smell of boiled cabbage
though it wasn’t that which accounted for the nausea which made him clap his
handkerchief to his nose.

Droplets of blood beneath the mantelpiece attested to the
violence perpetrated in Geoffrey’s house, as did a damp, blood-stained handkerchief,
not yet dry.

‘Where would they have taken her?’ Felix asked, looking
blankly at his brother.

‘God only knows,’ snapped Rampton, crouching to pick up
Rose’s bonnet, squashed and battered, from the floor by the sofa. What a fool
he’d been. Rose’s guilt had seemed incontrovertible, yet he had been duped. And
not just once. He considered himself an intelligent man yet he’d blindly
accepted what was presented to him. Now, as he took in the dank, gloomy house
he gathered Geoffrey had leased for his romantic trysts with Helena, he cursed
himself for a fool. Swallowing past the lump in his throat, he put the
blood-stained handkerchief to his cheek. Rose’s blood? Had she been injured?
Remorse and pain tore through him. If Rose had been harmed he would never
forgive himself.

He opened his mouth to speak then stilled as Felix raised
his hand for silence. A stealthy tread sounded in the passageway. Rampton
straightened and slid into the shadows as the doorknob turned, and the door
opened slowly.

A figure appeared upon the threshold. Seizing his arm and
twisting it up behind his back, Rampton thrust him into the room while Felix
leapt from behind.

Arabella, following in the wake of the now apprehended
Oswald, screamed before letting out her breath in a relieved gasp. ‘Rampton!
Have you found Rose?’

‘I’m more interested in whether you’ve found Helena,’
growled Oswald, casting a black look at Rampton as he rubbed his mauled arm.

Rampton regard him contemptuously while waiting for his
heart rate to steady. He’d been ready to give Geoffrey Albright everything he
deserved. ‘Helena seems to have acquired a multitude of enemies for good
reason, but at this moment my wife’s safety is of greatest concern.’

Oswald exhaled on a hiss. ‘Arabella tells me Helena formed
an inappropriate alliance with your neighbour, Albright, six years ago in the
West Indies. Now they have vanished with more than four thousand pounds worth
of the baubles I was foolish enough to be inveigled into procuring for Helena.
Do you think I’m more concerned for your wife, or for my neck?’

Rampton contemplated the slimy character. ‘So your role was
in the thefts and placing the evidence so it implicated Rose. What else are you
guilty of? Forging those letters?’

The righteous anger in Oswald’s eyes pierced the gloom. ‘I
know nothing of any letters,’ he muttered as his gaze traversed the room. With
quivering nostrils, he suggested, ‘Forged letters are a useful device for
facilitating a lovers’ flight, are they not? Well, Helena’s not going to get
away with her evil deeds. I have as much to charge her with as you do, my
lord.’ He laughed, a bitter sound though tinged with pride. ‘Ah, but it was
devious. She was devious. Helena, that is. A woman after my own heart and now
she’s
gone
. Gone with that scoundrel,
Geoffrey who just sat back, waiting to reap the rewards of
my
labour.’

How Rampton wished he did not have to ask the question, for
it painted him as the credulous fool he so keenly felt himself at that moment.
Ah, but when he was reunited with his darling girl he’d make it clear he’d
spend the rest of his days atoning for his lack of faith. Fear sliced through
these thoughts. He had to find her first.

‘Tell me what Helena did for her ill-gotten gains. It might
help piece together where Rose actually is.’