How to Seduce a Bride

The street criers and barrow mongers positioned themselves in the shade, no matter where their customers were. Business was off, because the streets were empty of everyone except for those drooping poor souls, servants, and travelers who had to be out and about. As they passed the park, they saw it wasn’t particularly crowded, because shade didn’t mean cool in such weather.

At least the front entrance to Leland’s town house was relatively comfortable, because of its marble floors.

As Daisy went upstairs to wash and change into something light, Leland’s Town butler presented him with the post and the messages that had piled up on a silver salver in the front hall since he’d left. He also informed his master that the ton were not very active these days. They sat in their parlors or back gardens fanning themselves. Evening parties were being poorly attended. No one wanted to be at a fashionable crush if it was also a truly suffocating one. Affairs held in the early morning were attended, though. Breakfasts and morning calls were substituted for soirees and balls for those who still hoped to get their unwed daughters married off before the premature ending to the Season. Plans were being made to return to their country homes.

“So we’d best see our old friend Geoff right away, and ready ourselves for some morning callers,” Leland told Daisy when she came down the stairs. “I’ve sent a message to him, and word to Bow Street as well as some of Daffyd’s old cronies on the other side of the law, to see if any new information is known. I want you not only to be safe, but to feel safe. That won’t happen until we know who laid charges against you.”

“And who knifed you,” she said.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think that matters. More and more I think that it was actually just a purse snatcher who got frightened when I lunged at him. We’ll know soon. Then we can go back home. I’ll have to take you to see my ancestral home, too. My mother will likely be there, but we won’t have to stay long. As for now,” he told her, “I just have to read all my messages; my desk is covered with letters and cards. Then we can sit somewhere cool and wait on events. Why don’t you wait in the back parlor? I hear it’s less hot there. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

He came into the parlor a few minutes later, grinning ear to ear. He waved a letter in his hand. “Guess what?” he asked, grinning. “Daffy’s had a boy! That is to say, his wife, Meg, has had one. A healthy, squalling little brat, Daffyd says. Dark as his father and fair as his mother, he says, with very blue eyes, and the fiend’s own temper, just like his father, too. He’s over the moon about it, and begs us to come see and admire him. I think we should. You’ll like Meg very much. We can go there before I take you to my estate in the north.”

He scanned the letter again, and his smile slipped. “He also asks if I know where Geoff is, because he hasn’t heard from him, and he expected him to be there over a week past.”

Daisy’s head went up and she paled. “No word of him?”

“None,” Leland said, scanning the letter again. His jaw tightened. “Don’t worry yet. There are a thousand things that could account for that. He said he was taking your Helena to her mother’s home up north. He could have gone anywhere from there. He may have stopped off at Egremont, to see how things stood at his estate. It’s not good to leave a place without a master for too long. He has tenants there, and he is a responsible landlord. He may have visited with a friend. Sometimes a letter sent from the north can take days to reach London. Let me go through the rest of my mail to see if I can find the answer, and if not, I’ll pay a call on the earl’s house here. Then, if there’s no word, we can be alarmed.”

“We’ll pay a call on Geoff’s house,” she said. “I can’t bear to sit and wait.”

He hesitated, and then when he spoke, there wasn’t a trace of humor in his voice. “No, I think not. If something has happened to the earl, you are the last person who should be out in the streets right now. I can protect you. But I’d rather not have to.”

She took a deep breath and nodded, once.

“We’ll find out, it’s likely nothing,” he said. “Sit tight, and stay cool. It’s murderously hot outside.”

She shivered at his choice of words. And seeing that, he winced.

Viscount Haye returned to his town house at dusk, looking wilted and walking slowly, lost in thought. When he saw he’d arrived at his own house, he straightened and walked faster. That was what alarmed Daisy the most.

“What has happened to Geoff?” she asked him at once when he walked in, rising from where she’d been sitting on a window seat watching the street.

He ran a finger under his neck cloth and sighed. “What fiend made this fashionable? Sooner put a man in manacles and ask him to swim than to wear this torturous thing on a hot day. Ah well, at least there’s no one around Town to notice that I look like a laborer. I didn’t find out anything,” he told her. “There’s no ransom note. There’s no hint of violence, no accident recorded in the past week going up or down the North Road. And no one from his old days in Botany Bay has heard a word of other violence, either. I met with Bow Street as well. No one knows where he is. That’s good. Because wherever he is, it can’t be because anything dire happened to him.”

“But he is wealthy,” she said. “One of the richest men in England. And he’s kind, and trusting.”

“Yes, he’s wealthy. He’s also more experienced with crime and criminals than most men in England. Don’t forget that. He’ll be fine, he is fine, I’m sure of it. We can’t do more than wait on word from him. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for his silence. Even the men I paid to find out about him said that, and they’ve reason to hope for mischief, if only because they’d be better paid if there was any.”

She felt relieved, until she noticed that he stood irresolute, unsmiling.

“But so many ears to the ground can hear anything,” he said. “I learned something else, something that I must resolve.”

“What is it?” she asked fearfully.

“I finally discovered who laid evidence about you. Oh, don’t worry,” he said quickly when he saw her grow paler. “It’s utter nonsense. The powers that be know it. The information is ridiculous, and false. It was given by a fellow named Samuel Starr, recently arrived from Botany Bay.”

“Samuel… Starr?” Her eyes widened. “Old Blister Me?” she cried. “We called him that because he said it all the time. He was an old pirate; I really think he was one. When he couldn’t go to sea anymore, where he could sail away from his crimes, I suppose, he took up stealing in London. He was very bad at it on land. He was a burly, bald old man, with a tattoo on his cheek like a South Sea Islander, and… But he didn’t dislike me! In fact, I thought we were friends. He had such good stories to tell.” She smiled, remembering. “I always enjoyed talking to him. I didn’t know he’d left the colony…”

She sobered. “Why did he do it? Lie about me, I mean? He knew Tanner died of an accident. He was one of the men who brought him home after it. He saw me then, and even tried to console me. He said I was well out of it, and I know he meant it kindly. Why did he change his mind?”

Leland had pulled off his limp damp neck cloth and now held it as though it were a dead rat, dangling from the ends of his fingers. He shrugged, and didn’t look at her. “Why else?” he asked. “For the money. It seems he was starving. He was an exquisitely inept pickpocket. And someone offered him a sum of money he couldn’t resist. Once he’d had a decent dinner, he began to regret his part. He’s very sorry, he says. Never mind that, if you don’t want to, we won’t press charges against him. He is only a poor old fellow, and abjectly sorry to boot.”

Now he looked at her. “More to the point, he told me who paid him to do it.” Leland’s eyes were stark and dark, haunted by some misery she’d never seen there before. “I’m going to change my clothes, and then go to speak with that someone. This time, if you like, you may come with me. I don’t like it, but you’ll be safe enough, and I do think it would be for the best for all concerned. Especially you. There’s no need for you to be afraid of ghosts. Will you come?”

“Of course,” she said.

He studied her with an unreadable expression. “Very well. Dress in something cool,” he finally said, “… and beautiful.”

* * *

Daisy’s eyes grew huge when she saw where Leland stopped his carriage. She looked at him. “Here?” she asked.