Julian had beenin the euphoric throes of Amelie’s Champagne when they’d first left London and headed toward the house party, but now in the dim light of a cold, snowy afternoon, he was sobering and having second thoughts. “Tell me again why you think this house party is a good idea. It’s damnably cold out here, and the weather’s taken an ugly turn.”
Hugh took a deep breath and counted to ten to keep from planting a facer on his old friend. “I thought it might do you good to get out of town and out of this dark mood you seem unable to shake.” He poured himself a generous tot of brandy and pulled his greatcoat tight around him. “I don’t suppose you could tell me what in the hell’s gotten into you in the last week.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve been drinking like a sailor just back into port and gambling like you’re still a school boy at Eton.”
Julian buried his head in his hands with a deep sigh. “It’s Maria. She’s befriended Mina, and now they both hate me.”
“How in Hades did the two of them meet?”
“It was my fault.”
“You introduced your mistress to the little sister of an old friend? That’s too macabre for even you, Montfort.”
“No, of course I didn’t introduce them.”
“Then how did they meet?”
“Well, I, um, may have told Mina about the two mistresses that Lord Shropshire keeps.”
“Is that why she cried off their engagement in the midst of the Season? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I thought it was my duty as a friend of her brothers to…”
Hugh threw a hard salami at Julian from the depths of their wicker basket of provisions.
Julian covered his face with his hands in self-defense. “Why’d you do that?”
“She’s a sensitive young woman who needed to make a decent match. What she didn’t need was for you to interfere and insist she hold out for your perverted version of the perfect man.” Hugh paused for a moment and then slapped the side of his head. “Wait a minute. You still haven’t explained how Mina and Maria’s paths crossed.”
“Lady Fitzroy apparently planted the idea in Mina’s head that all men have mistresses and that even I probably have one.”
Hugh’s eyes grew wide. “She followed you…”
Julian shook his head slowly in assent.
“What did Maria do?”
“She made friends with Mina, accused me of being the worst sort of cad, and left me for Count Fodorovsky.” He was quiet for a long moment before finally speaking again. “And then there was the caricature…”
* * *
Mina fellagainst Bridget when the carriage lurched unexpectedly, followed by the ominous sound of a loud crack.
They clambered out through the door with difficulty, due to the odd angle at which the coach now canted. Snow was falling so heavily, she could barely see the coachman releasing the horses from the traces. The heavy wet snow pushed above her boots and soaked her stockings.
He’d rigged blankets onto the horses’ backs so the four of them could ride the animals a short distance.
“The Cock and Magpie Inn is about a mile on north. We should seek shelter there. Tommy and I will come back tomorrow when the snow stops and melts a bit in the sun, maybe. We’ll bring their blacksmith with us to see if the axle and wheel can be repaired.”
“John…” Bridget began to address the coachman and then clapped a hand over her mouth.
Mina placed a hand on her maid’s arm and said softly, “I know.” She looked up into the coachman’s muffled face and added, “You’re my father. I have no idea why you’re here, but explanations can wait until we arrive at the inn.”
After he’d boosted Mina and Bridget up onto two of the grays, he took the lead, with Tommy falling in behind Bridget. They moved slowly, picking their way carefully through the road ahead. By then, the snow was falling in a solid sheet, like a thick, cottony quilt.
Mina concentrated on staying close to John Taylor’s outline ahead of her while Bridget followed behind.
