Page 50 of Eight for Losing, One for Loving

Kitty nodded and rifled in her reticule, pulling out a startling wad of notes. “I thought I might need to bribe people,” she told him confidentially.

Leo laughed and moved to kiss her cheek. “You are a marvel, my lady, and no mistake.”

“Yes, I am,” Kitty said nonchalantly. “But never mind turning me up sweet, tell me where you will go?”

Leo turned back to smile at Kitty as the groom hurried to fetch the ponderous Nipper and put him up to the cart. “The seaside,” he said, and his heart lifted at the realisation he was going to find his wife.

“He’s a bit feisty, Mrs Huntington,” Jenny said anxiously, as the bay horse danced in the traces, shying at a stray bit of paper that blew across the road in front of them.

“He’s fresh yet, Jenny,” Vi said, trying her best to sound confident, when in truth she was wondering what on earth she had been thinking. Driving her little gig with a well-mannered mare up ahead was nothing compared to dealing with Diablo, as she had mentally named the spirited gelding. It was taking every ounce of her skill and attention to keep him under control. Still, he was indeed fresh yet, and now they were out on the open road, he ought to calm down as the miles flew past.

“Jenny,” Vi said, knowing she needed to confess everything before she dragged her too far from home. If Jenny was scandalised and wished to have nothing to do with Vi, things could get very bad indeed. She knew she ought to have told the young woman everything before she had left, but there had been no time, and then controlling the horse had been all she could concentrate on. It was only now that she’d had time to think straight.

“Yes, Mrs Huntington?”

“Jenny, there is something I need to tell you, but before I do, I need you to understand that Lady Trevick is the Countess of Trevick, and my mama.”

“Your mama!” Jenny repeated, eyes wide.

Vi nodded, hoping this might help, though she did not think Jenny was entirely motivated by ambition, she could not blame the girl for wanting to better her circumstances. “Yes, and… and she wants very much for me to marry Mr Leo Hunt.”

Jenny frowned. “But you’re already married to… Oh!”

Vi blushed scarlet, avoiding Jenny’s eyes. “Before you say anything, I wish you to know that Mr Hunt is a perfect gentleman and has done and would do nothing ill-becoming to a man of honour. When Mau was kidnapped, I was with him, you see, and I would not let him put me down, but I did not expect things to go so far.”

“And now you are ruined?” Jenny guessed.

Vi bristled at the words, never having believed her worth had anything to do with her virginity or her reputation. “If anyone discovers I spent the night in a room with him, certainly, though I do not know that it is the case.”

“But you don’t wish to marry him?” Jenny asked sceptically, clearly thinking Vi was queer in her attic if she did not snap up a man as beautiful as Leo.

Vi glanced at Jenny before she answered. “I thought I did not, but… but I do, Jenny. The thing is, I’ve berated him for years for being reckless and foolhardy, for taking nothing seriously and spending too much of his life having fun, but I’ve come to realise those are some of the things I love best about him. I don’t want him to change, but I don’t want him to marry me for any reason other than that he wishes to. And I don’t want him to believe I married him because I had to. Does that make any sense at all?” Vi asked desperately.

“Yes, Mrs—I mean, miss. Yes, it does, and it sounds ever so romantic. But if that’s the case, why are we running away from him and from your mama? Why don’t you go home and get married?”

“Because I want an adventure with Leo. I want him to see that I’m brave enough to take him as he is, that he does not need to change a hair. So I kidnapped Mau,” she explained.

Mau, hearing his name, raised his head, blinked sleepily, and then settled back to his nap across both women’s laps.

“Well, I suppose that makes sense,” Jenny said doubtfully, but she seemed content to go along with it, which was all Vi cared about. “So, where are we going now?”

“To the seaside,” Vi told her, daring to take her eyes off the horse for a moment longer to study Jenny. “Are you terribly shocked?”

“Oh, terribly, yes,” Jenny agreed amiably. “It never occurred to me I would ever have the chance to work for such a dashing and exciting woman. I think it’s going to be wonderful. I’m having a marvellous time.”

Vi laughed, startled and rather delighted to hear herself described in such terms, words she would never have ascribed to herself in a million years until the past twenty-four hours, but suddenly she rather thought they fit. She could be dashing and exciting when the mood took her, and a good deal braver than she had ever imagined.

25th June 1850, on the road to Newmarket, Suffolk.

Leo had not been sorry to hand Nipper over at the first large coaching inn he’d come to. The pony had been a game little fellow and gone far better than Leo had expected, but in contrast to what he was used to, it was like driving an amiable slug around.

Leaving funds and instructions that Nipper was to be well rested and then returned to the Reverend Harbottle in Tadlow, Leo lost no time in securing the inn’s best cattle. There was no carriage to hire, but he persuaded the local squire’s son to part with his curricle. It looked as old as Leo himself, but the lad clearly sensed he had him over a barrel, and demanded an exorbitant sum that would see him furnished with something far smarter in the days to come. In truth, Leo would have paid double just to be on the road again, and it was with relief that he guided the horses out onto the road.

Though the horses were good goers, his progress was hindered by the need to stop and check at the passing inns for signs that Vi had been there. His confidence waned as he made his way through Cambridge, for there were too many places to check, and he wondered if perhaps he was wrong. He had been so certain he knew where she was going but what if he’d made a mistake? By the time he got to Newmarket he was worried sick in case he’d made an error of judgement, but as he got out of the curricle, tipping the grooms generously to make sure to put the best animals they had in the traces, a young woman ran across the yard towards him.

“Beg pardon, are you Mr Leo Hunt, sir?” she asked him politely.

Leo looked at her clean white apron and guessed she was an upstairs maid in the respectable establishment he’d stopped at.