Page 31 of The Rake to Reveal Her

The boy twisted his hands, distress on his face. ‘I knew there was somethin’ powerful wrong; she ain’t looked so broken up since they brought the colonel back after Waterloo, just afore he died.’

‘Didn’t she explain why she needed to go?’ Dom asked, his concern beginning to mirror Jemmie’s.

‘Nay. I follered her out, cause I weren’t goin’ to let her go off to London all alone, not til I knew why. She hugged me, and there was tears in her eyes. And she told me she was goin’ to London to find a husband! That her aunt would help her, and she might not come back till after she was married. She said she was sorry, and she loved me like her own son, and then she got back into the carriage and drove away.’

Jemmie stared into the distance. ‘We been through a lot together, Mr Ransleigh, Miss Theo and me. And it sounded like she was tellin’ me goodbye for g-good.’

Tears glittered in Jemmie’s eyes before he rubbed them away with a grubby fist. ‘Why would she want to get married now, when she’s told me for years, after she lost her lieutenant, she’d never marry nobody? And when she knows I’ll soon be growed and kin take care of her like her pa did, so she won’t never be alone no more?’

Only desperation would ever drive me to the Marriage Mart, he recalled her saying. ‘I can’t imagine.’

‘We need to know what’s wrong so we kin do somethin’ to help her. She tells me lots, but she prob’ly won’t talk to me about marryin’. That’s why I lit out to find you straight away. Folks up at Bildenstone told me you was goin’ to Newmarket and then here, so’s when I didn’t find you there, I come to Holkham. But we got to hurry. She’ll be in London, with her aunt by now.’

Dom looked at him, astonished at his journey. ‘How did you manage to travel all—?’ He broke off abruptly. A child who’d scrambled along in the wake of an army probably knew things about transporting and feeding himself Dom would rather not enquire about too closely. ‘Never mind. You think Miss Branwell is in London, then?’

‘By now, sure as sure. You got to make her tell you what’s wrong. All of us at the school are worried, ’cause we don’t want her marryin’ so hasty, maybe somebody who don’t deserve her and won’t treat her right. Then Miss Theo told me a while back if she married, her husband could take everything she owns. Which would mean the school, too, wouldn’t it? So if this bloke didn’t like us, he could toss us all out on the street.’

‘True, a husband normally controls his wife’s wealth,’ Dom admitted.

‘Her aunt’s a great lady, so she’ll be marrying Miss Theo off to some grand gentleman. I know how the toffs look at us—and I just bet this husband person would want nothin’ to do with us, nor let her run the school neither. And even though she’s got Charlie, Miss Theo’d be awful sad if she lost all of us. So we got to find her and talk her out of this.’

‘I’d certainly like to know what happened,’ Dom admitted. Having half-formed an idea of perhaps courting Theo Branwell himself, the notion of her marrying another man didn’t sit very well with him, either.

‘So you’ll go to London and find out what happened?’

He wasn’t sure how he was going to justify inserting himself into so private a matter when he had no claim at all upon the lady...but he knew curiosity alone, not to mention a fierce need to protect and shelter her, wouldn’t let him rest until he found out.

He was her landlord, after all. If something about the management of the school were going to change, he needed to know that.

And when had Theo Branwell ever hesitated to insert herself into his private affairs?

He was smiling at that thought when Jemmie said, ‘Mr Ransleigh? I know I ain’t always been too friendly-like, and I’m sorry for that,’ he said, his freckled face flushing. ‘But I know you like us, or you wouldn’t’ve let Miss Theo rent your building. She told me you been askin’ around for a trainer to teach me how to manage horses, and someone to help Georgie learn to farm. You like Miss Theo, too—I know you do. And she likes you. She comes back smilin’ after she’s been with you, happy like I’ve not seen her since the colonel died. So I think she’ll tell you what’s wrong—and listen when you talk her out of marryin’.’

Could he talk her out of it? Or should he just suggest a suitable candidate?

He’d already broached to himself the idea of courting her. But he meant to consider it at leisure—not let circumstances rush him into something with such enormous and irreversible consequences.

Delectable consequences, his body whispered.

Ignoring his carnal urgings, he told Jemmie, ‘I’ll leave for London immediately and see what I can discover.’

Jemmie uttered a sigh of relief. ‘I’ll be on my way back to the school, then. Can make a good bit afore nightfall, if I get a-goin’.’

‘Why don’t you go post? I’ll spot you the fare. It will be faster than...whatever means you can find on your own.’

‘Thank ’ee, Mr Ransleigh. That’d be right nice. But just a loan, now.’

‘Just a loan.’ Rooting in his waistcoat for some coins, he thought that if Theo Branwell were going to be as independent and resistant to taking help as her protégé, trying to straighten whatever fix she’d got herself into was going to be difficult.

‘And, Mr Ransleigh? You will hurry, won’t ya?’

‘I will.’ After ringing for a servant, he handed Jemmie enough blunt to see him safely back to Suffolk. When the footman appeared, Dom instructed him to have one of the grooms carry Jemmie to the nearest posting inn, and ready his own vehicle.

He walked up to his room, to set Henries packing while he wrote his host a quick note. With luck, he could follow Jemmie’s departure with the hour.

Curiosity, unease, and puzzlement kept chasing each other around his brain. He couldn’t imagine what catastrophe could have made calm, capable Theo Branwell look ‘agitated’ and ‘fidgety-like’. Nor change overnight the mind of a woman who’d seemed dead set against marriage.

He wanted to find out, though. And he wanted to get to London before his unusually flustered Theo did something precipitous he’d not be able to undo.

Chapter Fifteen

That same afternoon, Theo and Charles arrived at the London residence of her Aunt Amelia in Jermyn Street. After seeing the boy up to a bedchamber with a maid in attendance, she made herself as presentable as was possible after so much time on the road. Having asked the butler not to announce her, she went to knock at the door of her aunt’s private sitting room.

Lady Coghlane, wearing a fetching afternoon gown, was dozing on her sofa when Theo walked in. She was halfway across the room when her drowsy aunt, opening one eye, recognised her and sat up with a start.

‘My darling Theo! What a delightful surprise!’ she cried.

‘Please, sit,’ Theo said. ‘I didn’t mean to disturb your rest, only to tell you I’d arrived.’

Her aunt sank back against the cushions, looking befuddled. ‘Did I know you were coming? Not that you aren’t welcome to visit whenever, and as often, as you like!’

‘No, this trip was...rather sudden.’ Now that the moment for explanation—and confession—had come, Theo wasn’t sure how to begin, the numerous speeches she’d rehearsed in the coach deserting her. Too unsettled to sit, she took a turn about the room.

Inspecting her closely, Lady Coghlane frowned. ‘You look distressed, my dear. What is wrong? And how can I help?’

Theo turned to face her aunt, twisting her gloved fingers together. ‘The truth is, I’m in a devil of a coil, and I only hope you can help me! Or will still want to, once I’ve told you the whole.’

‘Still want to? Don’t be silly! Of course I’ll want to, my dearest, darling niece! With Richard gone, you’re my nearest blood, save my own children. I’ll always love you, regardless of what you’ve done. Though, with that orphanage you were determined to thrust into the midst of Suffolk gentry...’ She paused with a shudder. ‘Regardless of what’s happened, we’ll deal with it!’

The idea of Lady Coghlane swooping up to Suffolk like a fairy godmother, applying the magic wand of her society position to buttress Theo’s position, brought Theo a temporary respite from her anxiety.

‘It has nothing to do with the orphanage—at least not directly.’

‘Whatever it is, let me first ring for some tea. Every situation looks better after a warm, soothing drink.’ After tugging at the bell pull, she said, ‘Where did you break your journey? Did you get any rest?’

Not sure whether she felt relieved or more anxious at the delay, Theo said, ‘We travelled pretty much straight through, except at night, so Charles could have a bed to sleep. I brought him with me.’

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