72. The Impetuous Duchess Read online

  “Is that better?” he asked, feeling the blood coming back into her feet.

  “Yes – thank you,” she answered in a voice so low that he could hardly hear her.

  “Why were you running away?” he asked.

  “You – you were so – cross.”

  “And now it is my turn to apologise,” the Duke answered. “I am sorry, Jabina. I do not wish to be so unpleasant.”

  “You – were right to be – angry,” she murmured.

  “Nevertheless I should not have said the things I did.”

  He looked up at her and their eyes met.

  Hers were swimming with unshed tears and he saw that her lips were trembling.

  He was about to say something when the door opened and the innkeeper’s wife came into the room.

  She carried a small silver tray with a glass on it.

  “Now here’s your hot toddy, my Lady,” she said, sounding even more like an authoritative Nanny. “Drink up every drop! Otherwise we’ll have you in bed tomorrow with a cold on your chest and coughin’ your heart up.”

  Putting the glass into Jabina’s cold hands, she watched her take a sip. It was sweet and tasted of honey.

  “Drink it all,” the innkeeper’s wife admonished. “I’m a-goin’ to put a bed warmer in your bed. And the sooner you get between the sheets, my Lady, the better!”

  The Duke rose to his feet.

  “Yes, indeed,” he said quietly. “And everything will seem different after a good night’s rest.”

  Jabina did not answer him and he had the impression that she was fighting her tears.

  She sipped the toddy until she had drained the glass, which he took from her and put on the table.

  The door opened and a mob-capped maid put her head into the room.

  “Mistress says the bed be warm and will her Ladyship come up right away?”

  She closed the door again and the Duke turned to Jabina with a smile.

  It was the first time he had smiled that day.

  “You have had your orders!” he said. “I am sure that you had better obey them!”

  “Y-yes,” she murmured.

  Then, as he turned to pour himself a drink from the fresh bottle of claret that had been set on the side-table, she gave a little exclamation.

  “What is it?” the Duke asked.

  “I-I do not – think I can – walk!” she answered. “I feel – rather – strange.”

  The Duke gave a little laugh.

  “And I always thought the Scots could carry their whisky! Come along. I will take you to bed.”

  He picked her up in his arms. She was very light and her head rested weakly against his shoulder.

  “I think – I must be – botsky!”

  “If you are, it will keep out the cold,” the Duke answered sardonically.

  He carried her through the parlour and up the stairs to the low-ceilinged bedroom.

  Very gently he set her down on the bed.

  “Get into bed as soon as you are undressed, Jabina,” he said. “Tomorrow we will try to make plans, but tonight don’t trouble over anything.”

  She looked up at him, her grey-green eyes very worried in her small face.

  “I-I did not mean – to be such a – trouble – ” she murmured.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The yacht was running before the wind, and never, Jabina thought, had she believed it possible for there to be so much noise.

  There was the crack of the wind in the sails, the rasp of the ropes, the cries of command, the running of feet overhead and the roar of the sea as the bow slipped through the green waves that splashed high over the sides of the yacht.

  Jabina had never been to sea before and she had not known that it could be so exhilarating, so wildly exciting.

  She had always imagined that ships with their high masts and full-bellied sails skimmed serene and steady over the water.

  She had therefore been quite unprepared for the pitching and tossing she had endured when first The Sea Lion came out of the harbour at Berwick-on-Tweed and into the North Sea.

  To her delight she had not been seasick. But she found that sailing in the Duke’s yacht could be physically exhausting.

  There was not only the difficulty of retaining one’s balance, but also, as the ship altered course, the likelihood of being flung roughly on the floor or against the sides of the cabin. On deck there was always the danger of being swept overboard.

  Jabina had not expected the Duke’s yacht to be so large or indeed so luxurious.

  Its masts were high with a bewildering multitude of different sails and it was manned by forty men, all, the Duke had told her, experienced seamen.

  Below the cabins were furnished very comfortably and with luxurious taste, which Jabina thought was out of keeping with the austerity that the Duke appeared to prefer in his own fastidious appearance.

  The soft carpets, comfortable beds and deep armchairs, together with the colourful decor left her with the idea that Warminster House would be in fact far more impressive than its owner.

  She had, however, told herself that, whatever she felt or thought, she must not voice her opinions or criticise the Duke.

  She was well aware that his temper had been aroused not only by the fact of their unexpected marriage, but also by her remarks and the manner she had jibed at him.

  She had in fact deserved his sharp retorts which made her do something so foolish as to run away alone into the night.

  She felt that she had certainly been punished for her behaviour by losing her money.

  She was Scottish enough to regret bitterly that she no longer had fifteen pounds in her handbag. She could only be thankful that at least she had been sensible enough to pin her jewellery inside her dress rather than carry it. That alone now ensured that she was still independent of charity.

  The following morning after the Duke had put her to bed, she had come downstairs to the parlour somewhat apprehensively.

  She thought that he might still be angry, perhaps now even more disgusted with her, seeing that the whisky she had drunk in the hot toddy had gone to her head.

  But to her relief the Duke had smiled at her when she appeared at the door and she felt unaccountably as if the sun had come out.

  As they ate their breakfast, the Duke said,

  “I have been thinking more about the situation we find ourselves in, Jabina, and I am convinced that there is only one solution.”

  “And what is – that?” Jabina had asked nervously.

  She had for the moment a panic-stricken fear that he might after all have decided to take her to the Sheriff who would return her to her father.

  “I propose,” the Duke answered quietly, “to conduct you to the South of France to your aunt.”

  Jabina’s eyes were wide with surprise and then she said, a warmth coming into her voice,

  “Do you really mean that? You will take me to my Aunt Elspeth?”

  “That is what I intend to do,” the Duke replied.

  “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” Jabina cried. “I was thinking this morning when I first awoke that perhaps I would not be able to manage alone as well as I thought I could.”

  “Of course you could not do that journey unaccompanied!” the Duke said. “What occurred last night was only one of the unpleasant things that might happen to you.”

  “I see now I was very – foolish!” Jabina said in a humble tone.

  The Duke looked at her, noting that her eyelashes were dark against her cheeks.

  He had the feeling that perhaps for the first time in her life Jabina was frightened of the unknown world.

  Never in the sheltered existence she had lived with her father had she encountered the harsh realities that would await a young women who was not protected by a man.

  “What I have planned,” the Duke went on, “is that we will board my yacht at Berwick-on-Tweed and sail direct to Calais. From there we will travel by road to Nice.”

  “That sounds wonde
rful!” Jabina said. “But are you quite sure I am not inconveniencing you too greatly?”

  The Duke smiled.

  “I really have little alternative,” he said. “I can hardly leave you stranded in the North of England and quite frankly I have no desire to face the problems that would await us in Scotland.”

  Jabina did not reply and after a moment he continued,

  “But I think that our hostess last night solved one problem for us. You will travel as my sister.”

  “You have no sister?” Jabina asked.

  “I am an only child,” the Duke replied, “as you are.”

  “And when we – reach my aunt – ” Jabina asked hesitatingly.

  “By then we shall have had time to think,” the Duke said, “and perhaps discover if there is a way out of the very unusual predicament we find ourselves in. For the moment you will be Lady Jabina Minster, and that is the name by which I shall introduce you on board my yacht.”

  It was fortunate that the Duke’s coachmen met no one from The Sea Lion, because they had been told to journey South back to Warminster as soon as the Duke and Jabina left them.

  On The Sea Lion the Captain, who had once served in the Royal Navy, showed no surprise at being introduced to the Duke’s ‘sister’, although Jabina fancied that he and all the crew were astonished that they should have a lady on board.

  The Duke explained this to Jabina later in the evening when they were dining together.

  “I have always refused to carry females on The Sea Lion!”

  “Why?” Jabina enquired.

  “Quite frankly, I thought that they would be a nuisance,” he replied. “Women are usually seasick and, what is more, they find it impossible to put up with even minor discomforts such as are bound to arise at sea.”

  “You appear to have a very poor opinion of women!” Jabina exclaimed.

  The Duke did not reply for a moment and she added quickly,

  “All right, I will say it for you! I have not exactly enhanced your estimation of them.”

  The Duke laughed.

  “The most disarming thing about you, Jabina,” he said, “is your frankness.”

  “In other words you are telling me not to say what I think!” Jabina retorted.

  “It’s a frightening idea that you might!” he teased.

  She realised that as soon as he had come aboard his yacht he seemed more relaxed.

  She knew too that he was enjoying every moment of the roughness of the sea and the way in which the yacht, which had been specially built for speed, was standing up to the buffeting and the violence of the waves.

  ‘I suppose,’ Jabina thought to herself, ‘it’s a challenge. Perhaps the reason why he finds life so dull is that life is too soft and easy for him.’

  She remembered all that Lady McCairn had told her about the Duke’s great wealth, his properties not only at Warminster but in other parts of the country and she decided in her own mind that what the Duke needed was waking up.

  She could not know that the Duke’s friends had thought just the same thing.

  At any rate, with the wind ruffling his hair, his face growing tanned from the sun and sharpness of the weather and wearing oilskins, the Duke appeared very different from the sober, serious-faced young man who read a book beside her in the coach.

  Jabina had expected them to have interesting conversations at meals, but this she found was almost impossible. At the rate they were travelling and the angle of the ship they could hardly even eat conventionally.

  More often than not a dish they were helping themselves from would be dropped on the floor or slip off the table or be swept from the Steward’s hands as he staggered and fell back against the side of the cabin.

  “If we do not learn to grab our food quickly,” Jabina said, “we will starve to death long before we reach Calais!”

  At the same time it was all rather fun and what they did manage to eat tasted delicious because they were both so hungry.

  Jabina found herself laughing as their plates and dishes slid about and they could finish a drink only by emptying the glass as soon as it was filled.

  What was more, the exertion demanded during the day made her so tired at night that she slept the moment her head touched the pillow.

  Even if the bed had not been so comfortable, she had the idea that she would have slept just as soundly on the floor or anywhere else she could remain without being tossed about.

  “Shall I tell you that I am revising my condemnation of women on shipboard?” the Duke asked one evening as they were going to bed.

  “I have not been too much of a nuisance?” Jabina enquired.

  “You have been admirable in every way,” the Duke answered.

  There was something in his voice that made her feel shy.

  “Be careful!” she admonished. “If you encourage me, I shall doubtless knock down a mast by mistake or make a hole in the boat with my nail scissors.”

  “I think I am immune to surprises by now!” the Duke smiled.

  As he spoke, the Captain put the yacht about and Jabina was flung into his arms. As she was holding a cup of tea in her hands, it was splashed all over him.

  “I believe you did that on purpose,” the Duke exclaimed as he steadied her.

  “You challenged the Fates!” she answered. “Look out for something worse!”

  “You are frightening me!” the Duke declared.

  He took his arms from her and as he did so Jabina looked up at him mischievously. She thought that there was an unusual expression in his eyes as he looked down at her.

  Quite unaccountably it was difficult to breathe and Jabina felt something that she could not explain constrict her throat.

  She waited for him to speak.

  “Goodnight, Jabina,” the Duke said gravely and, before she could reply, he had left the cabin.

  *

  The North wind was behind them all the way to the Channel and, when finally they reached Calais, it was to learn from the Captain that they had created a record!

  “I am quite sorry to leave the sea,” Jabina told the Duke. “At the same time I am very excited at the thought of seeing Paris.”

  “Do you speak French?” he enquired.

  “Are you insulting me?” Jabina retorted. “I told you that my mother was half-French and she was very insistent ever since I was a small child that I should acquire a French accent and be so proficient in the language that I would find it as easy as speaking English.”

  The first night they anchored in Calais harbour, they slept on board.

  The Duke took Jabina ashore with him while he was making arrangements to hire a carriage and horses to convey them on the next part of their journey.

  She listened to him speaking to the Frenchman in charge of the livery stables and was surprised at his extremely good command of the French tongue.

  She should have expected, she thought, that with all his learning he would be proficient in the language.

  At the same time she realised that his accent was exceptionally good and he had a vocabulary that she had not thought possible for an Englishman.

  What was more, she was interested to note that the Duke was a hard bargainer.

  When it came to horseflesh, he was extremely knowledgeable and refused a number of horses before finally choosing those he required.

  When he had completed his business arrangements he took Jabina to the Hôtel de l’Angleterre, which, he told her, Monsieur Dessin had made famous at the end of the last century.

  It was in fact the proprietor who was the owner of the horses and carriage for which the Duke had been negotiating.

  “As well as keeping an excellent and expensive table,” the Duke said, “our host sells and hires carriages, changes money and is said to have already made a fortune of over fifty thousand pounds.”

  “How do you know all this?” Jabina asked.

  “I travelled in France a great deal before the war. Everyone stays at Dessin’s, as it is m
ore usually called. All the grand tourists make it their first port of call.”

  Jabina looked around her with interest.

  There were eight other Englishmen in the dining room, who had just crossed the Channel, and by eavesdropping on their conversation she gathered that they had come to France with the intention of travelling through Europe to Greece.

  They were very noisy at supper, repeatedly calling out, “wine! wine! The very best! Du meilleur! Du meilleur!” But Monsieur Dessin himself quietened them and offered them the best of his cognac, which they accepted with delight.

  The food, Jabina found, was delicious, and what the Duke told her was the spécialité de la maison, a dish made with fresh sea crabs, was something she had never tasted before.

  She might be impressed by Dessin’s, but Calais was disappointing. It was a small town and most of the houses were low and looked bleak and poor.

  But what Jabina was to discover both at Calais and on the whole journey to Paris was that the French people not only looked charming but were vastly obliging to strangers.

  Never, she thought, had she met such politeness or affability.

  Everything was done with such grace and she was extremely impressed even by the beggars.

  A boy of about ten years of age asked the Duke for alms. When he refused, thinking that to give to one would cause him to be overwhelmed with the pleading of others, the boy bowed saying politely,

  “Pardon, monsieur, une autre occasion.”

  After they had said goodbye to the Captain and crew of The Sea Lion, Jabina stepped ashore the next morning to find that there was quite a cavalcade awaiting her.

  The Duke had engaged a cabriolet which he could drive himself with two spirited-looking horses. A groom sat behind and was ready to take the reins if required.

  And there were also two outriders, which made Jabina raise her eyebrows in surprise.

  “You wished me to travel impressively!” the Duke said with a note of amusement in his voice.

  “You did this for me?” Jabina enquired.

  “To be truthful,” he replied, “our outriders are really a protection. Travellers can often be robbed on foreign roads and I am informed that both men are very proficient with the pistol!”

  They certainly looked very smart, wearing white wigs and peaked caps of velvet with a colourful livery, which, Jabina guessed, was far more ostentatious than the Duke would have chosen for his own servants.