The Castle Read online

  “An’ I clopped ’im ’ard one on the ear,” added Alf. “Any chance of the toff still givin’ us a chance, eh?”

  Valeria thought quickly.

  Lord Waterford had suffered a nasty blow on the head that might yet prove fatal.

  However, without these two men, he could well be dead. They deserved some reward.

  The fact that Lord Waterford appeared to be set on a mission of saving the poor and helpless shone a new light on a man Valeria loved.

  He wanted Bob and Alf to have a second chance at life. Each of them looked no more than middle-aged.

  “Can you remain here for a little?” she asked. “I’m going to see if something can be done. At the very least you are due a reward for what you did.”

  Bob and Alf assured her they would not move from where they stood.

  Inside the house, Valeria went back upstairs to Lord Waterford’s bedroom.

  Hawkins was sitting beside the bed, recalling all the arrangements that had been made for the Waterford Ball.

  Valeria asked if he would spare her a few moments outside.

  Then she put the situation to him.

  “You never went by yourself into Green Park at this hour?” Hawkins was obviously horrified. “Miss Montford, what would his Lordship say?”

  Then they were both silent for a little until Hawkins cleared his throat.

  “Miss Montford, we are all very conscious of your devotion in trying to awaken his Lordship. He is a gentleman we all value.”

  He paused for a moment and then continued,

  “I believe his Lordship would want these men sent to The Castle. There are already quite a number of these unhappy victims of fortune there. I will provide the two you have talked to with a note to the Agent and he will do the necessary. Perhaps you will take me to them.”

  This was done.

  Alf and Bob both followed Hawkins happily into the house and Valeria felt relief.

  It seemed that Lord Waterford did not have a secret love after all.

  Now the truth had been revealed, Valeria realised that meeting females in secret at dead of night was not the sort of activity he would undertake and it was only her fear that she had lost his love that had made her think so.

  Silently she apologised to Lord Waterford and Lady Mere for her wayward thoughts.

  She returned to his bedside, took hold of his hand once again and wondered what she could tell him now.

  After a little thought, she embarked on an account of her parents and their love for each other.

  Deep into the night she talked, once again her voice becoming hoarse.

  In the early hours the nurse came and stood behind her. She placed a hand on Valeria’s shoulder and pressed lightly.

  “His Lordship’s coming round. See his breathing is normal and look – his eyelids are fluttering.”

  Valeria held her breath as his eyes opened.

  He gave her a sweet smile and whispered,

  “What happened?”

  “Someone hit you,” Valeria told him, clutching his hand tightly. “You will be all right now.”

  “Good,” came another faint whisper.

  Then Lord Waterford closed his eyes again.

  “He’s asleep,” whispered the nurse.

  Tears began to run down Valeria’s face.

  She released his hand, smoothing it lovingly with hers before standing up and moving away from the bed.

  She put her face in her hands and sobbed silently.

  The nurse put an arm around her shoulders.

  “There, there, miss. It’s been such a dreadful time for you and you have done wonderfully well. His Lordship should be very proud of you.”

  Valeria shook her head.

  “I mean nothing to him,” she whispered, sobbing as quietly as she could manage. “But I am so very happy he has come round.”

  “There is some way to go yet,” the nurse warned, “but I think he will make it now. However, you had better be prepared for difficulties and problems.”

  *

  The following day Valeria began to realise what the nurse had meant.

  The recovering Lord Waterford became dictatorial and dismissive.

  He was like an autocratic child.

  When Valeria came in to see him the next morning, he asked who she was –

  Doctor Marshall, on one of his regular visits, took Valeria from the room.

  “This is quite common with patients recovering from concussion,” he counselled. “Give him a few days and he will recover his memory and become once again the man you know. He may, however, never recall being attacked.”

  This was not much consolation to Valeria.

  Having agonised so deeply over him and shared so many stories with him and as she talked to him for so long, it was difficult to accept that she appeared to mean nothing to him now.

  He cannot, she thought, have heard even one of the thousands and thousands of words she had spoken to him.

  The mistress she had imagined might not exist, but it appeared that for Lord Waterford, she, Valeria Montford, did not exist either.

  She had been wiped from his consciousness.

  She laid no confidence in the doctor’s assertion that he would soon return to his normal self.

  After all, what was his normal self?

  Was it the man who loved and wanted her for his wife? Or the kindly somewhat distant man he had become after throwing Sir Peter out of The Castle, the man who did not seem at all interested in her as a woman?

  Soon Valeria became even more upset.

  Now her brother had regained consciousness, Susan was only too eager to spend time with him and seemed to insinuate that Valeria had no place at his side.

  The suspicious attitude she had adopted over what Valeria had been doing in the Park remained.

  She still seemed, despite Valeria’s many denials, to believe that she had planned an assignation with Sir Peter.

  *

  At breakfast two days later, Valeria received a note from her father saying that he had not had the pleasure of her company for far too long. He would call for her later that morning and take her for a ride in his open carriage.

  Valeria told Susan of this invitation.

  “But I think I should refuse. You could need me to attend on your brother?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I am more than capable of handling him. Indeed, I think the strain of coping with someone outside the family circle would be too much for him in his present delicate state.”

  Valeria stared at her aghast.

  “I understand,” she replied stiffly. “I will talk to my father about returning to my home.”

  “I think that will be for the best,” sniffed Susan.

  *

  Valeria greeted her beloved Papa with delight.

  It was great to be enfolded in his arms again and then carefully helped into his curricle.

  “I thought, Valeria, that we would call at our home for a few minutes and then go for a trip in Richmond Park. It will be looking quite beautiful at this time of the year.”

  “Oh, Papa, that sounds wonderful.”

  Stepping inside their delightful home, Valeria felt a deep deep sadness.

  Since the evening spent with Lord Waterford here, everything seemed to have gone wrong. She had hoped to create a similarly beautiful atmosphere at The Castle.

  And for some time things had appeared to go well.

  If only Sir Peter had not arrived in her life to upset her emotions with his extraordinary personality.

  For a moment she wondered how she would react if she met him again.

  Would he somehow, insidiously, pierce through her intense dislike of him and make her yearn for his embrace?

  Even to want to marry him?

  The very thought made her shudder and yet –

  Then she dismissed the man from her mind.

  She knew without any doubt at all that it was Lord Waterford she loved. If only, she thought wistfully, he
still loved her!

  There was a letter waiting for Valeria from Juliette. She hastily read it while her father collected their picnic.

  She gasped just as he came to tell her that all was ready.

  “What is in that letter?” he asked.

  “Juliette tells me that Lord Waterford has rescued a French family we met when I was there. They were in dire poverty and now he has arranged that the father has been given work on the estate of his French friend and they have a proper cottage to live in. And Lord Waterford is paying for the boy to go to school!”

  She looked at her father, her face glowing.

  “He is such a wonderful man, Papa.”

  Once they were back in the carriage, they set off.

  “Are you at last going to accept Lord Waterford, this ‘wonderful man’, my darling?”

  “Oh, Papa, I don’t think he wants to marry me any longer,” Valeria replied with a long sigh of hopelessness.

  As they bowled along towards Richmond Park, she told the story to her father.

  She did not, however, mention Sir Peter by name. It was really as though, if she did not identify him, he did not really exist.

  “Well, sweetheart,” he said in a rallying voice when she had finished, “I do not think you need despair. When Lord Waterford has properly recovered, I am sure he will want to resume your friendship and then he will fall in love with you all over again. After all is said and done, you have been responsible for saving his life.”

  “Not really. It was Alf and Bob who rescued him from that criminal who wanted to rob him.”

  “It was you who warned him and then looked after him so lovingly.”

  “But he does not even know I was there. He was unconscious. Oh, Papa, apart from my happiness, what will happen to you if I don’t marry a rich man? I believe that now I can build a good career for myself as an interior designer, but what about you?”

  For a moment he concentrated on driving through the gates into Richmond Park and he then laid a comforting hand on Valeria’s knee.

  “Don’t you worry about me, darling. I will sell the house and probably go and live abroad where it is so much cheaper and my expertise with horses will, I feel very sure, be much in demand.”

  “You don’t think of marrying again?” she enquired, remembering the way he had looked at Lady Braithwaite.

  “I thought at one time that I might, but I had such happiness with your dear Mama, I find I cannot replace her in my heart. No, I will be fine, it is you I worry about.”

  Valeria was deeply touched at his care for her and would have said much more but a rider came up and trotted alongside them.

  “Well met again indeed,” crowed Sir Peter Cousins, on her father’s side of the carriage.

  He tipped his whip to his hat and flashed Valeria his devastating smile.

  “I have been waiting for just such an opportunity.”

  Sir Christopher gave a sudden exclamation.

  “You!” he cried.

  Valeria gazed at Sir Peter in horror.

  A short while ago she had wondered if a meeting with him would arouse any feelings of desire in her breast.

  Now she recognised that the only emotion she felt was disgust.

  But before she could tell him to leave her alone, her Papa lashed out at Sir Peter with his whip.

  “How dare you, sir! First you ruin me and now you have the temerity to address my daughter.”

  Sir Peter wrenched the whip out of his hand.

  “What a useless excuse for a man you are. If you had any sense, you would have known the scheme I offered you for the fake it was. I took your money and now I shall take your daughter!”

  With a coarse laugh he manoeuvred his horse right beside the carriage. Then he reached across and grabbed Sir Christopher and with incredible power pulled him out of the carriage and thrust him onto the ground.

  Valeria screamed and tried to take hold of the reins as the horses, now driverless, careered forward.

  Her Papa was left lying on the road behind them.

  Sir Peter swung himself off his horse and into the curricle. He yanked the reins away from Valeria and urged the horses to even greater speed.

  Valeria beat at him with her fists, but she knew it was useless – he was now in the driving seat.

  Twisting around, she saw her father sitting on the grass, his head in his hands. At least he did not seem badly injured.

  Sir Peter flicked the reins.

  “Get on with it,” he roared at the horses.

  A manic laugh came from him.

  “I have you, my darling,” he shouted at Valeria. “You will be mine! I have always sworn it and now there is nothing to stop me. I have it all planned.”

  Valeria was terrified.

  The man was out of control. She could not believe that she had ever felt attracted by him.

  And to now know that he was the devil who had ruined her father was doubly shocking.

  Suddenly she noticed deep scratches running down from forehead to chin on the left-hand side of his face.

  In a moment’s blinding realisation, she cried out,

  “It was you who attacked Lord Waterford in Green Park!”

  “That damned man,” screamed Sir Peter, standing in the carriage, now rocking dangerously and lashing at the horses with the reins.

  “He was stealing you from me, I knew it.”

  He sat down again, trying to control the direction of the horses, now galloping far too fast.

  “Waiting is a game I know. I had waited for you to emerge from Waterford House. I waited for that damned Peer to come into the Park. I just knew that he would. If it hadn’t been for those idiotic tramps, I would have rid the world of him entirely. I waited for him to die!

  “Then I heard from your father’s lady friend that he was taking you for a spin in Richmond Park today. So I waited again – and then you appeared!”

  Sir Peter put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close.

  Valeria shuddered.

  He bent to kiss her.

  Disgust rose in her throat.

  Desperately she pushed against his chest with all her strength, just as the path they were driving on so rapidly along came to a bend.

  Coming in the other direction was another carriage.

  Sir Peter cursed loudly and tried to regain control of the curricle whilst it veered crazily as the horses missed the turn.

  The wheels left the road and struck a large rock.

  Valeria screamed and grabbed at the curricle’s side as it overturned.

  Both of them were thrown out.

  Valeria landed on top of Sir Peter and then ended up on the grass, all breath knocked out of her.

  The horses continued for a little, pulling the broken curricle behind them.

  Sir Peter’s left foot was caught in the reins and he was dragged along the ground.

  Then the broken spokes of one of the wheels were forced into his unconscious body.

  Lost in horror, Valeria slipped into darkness.

  *

  She soon came to.

  The air was filled with snorting horses and excited chatter.

  Valeria’s head was in her father’s lap.

  A cruel graze on his forehead dripped blood down one side of his face, but otherwise he seemed unharmed.

  “My darling Valeria,” he cautioned. “Don’t move. Someone has gone for a stretcher.”

  Valeria found it impossible to obey him. Gingerly, as she remembered lying on the ground after falling from her horse in France, she moved first her arms and then her legs. Much to her relief, once again everything seemed to be in working order.

  “Are you all right, Papa?” she breathed, feeling safe with his beloved arms around her.

  “By the Grace of God, I seem to be. Fortunately, we were driving quite slowly when that fiend pushed me out. I was able to pick myself up and follow after you. I reached the scene of the disaster not long after it occurred.”

  “
Sir Peter?” she asked apprehensively, the memory of the peril she had been in filled her even now with terror.

  “Dead. I can only feel relief that such a villain has left this life – and well deserved too.”

  She closed her eyes again, this time in thankfulness.

  That anyone should meet such a dreadful end was a tragedy in itself, but he would no longer be able to defraud innocent people such as her father and prey on vulnerable women such as herself.

  She retained little memory of the next few hours.

  Later she learned that willing hands had placed her into a most comfortable carriage and brought her back to her Richmond home.

  There she was put to bed and her old family doctor was sent for. He pronounced her badly bruised and with a sprained ankle.

  Otherwise she had experienced a miraculous escape and both her body and her mind now needed complete rest.

  Visitors would not be allowed, she should have a nourishing but light diet and he would prescribe a tonic.

  Her Papa arranged for her maid to pack everything of hers still at Waterford House and bring all her luggage back to Richmond.

  As soon as Mary appeared, Valeria enquired anxiously about Lord Waterford.

  Mary grinned.

  “Much better, Miss Montford. George says he’s a right handful, which be a good sign!”

  Valeria lay back in her bed with thankfulness.

  “Her Ladyship is in a right state about me bringing everything back here. She is to write to you, her maid told me.”

  The letter arrived the next day.

  Susan feared that Valeria had misunderstood some words of hers.

  She would not have had her dear friend leave the house so suddenly – maybe later when her brother had recovered, they would be able to renew their friendship.

  Valeria, her body so battered and bruised, her ankle aching and her spirits lower than they had ever been since the death of her Mama, cast the letter onto the floor.

  Her Papa, entering her bedroom, picked it up.

  “A word of cheer from a friend, I would hope, my darling?”

  Valeria turned away, tears pricking at her eyes.

  “I thought she was a friend – but now I doubt it.”

  Soon she was recovered enough to receive visitors, who did their best to revive her spirits.

  Among the first callers were Sir Patrick and Lady Waverley, who had been driving in the carriage coming in the opposite direction in Richmond Park.