‘It is delightful to meet a member of Freddy’s family,’ Minette said, dipping a curtsey. ‘You are the first.’
‘I was at Gosport’s ball,’ Arthur said with a disapproving frown, ‘though it did not seem quite the right time for introductions.’
Minette raised a questioning brow.
Arthur rocked on his heels, his ears turning pink. ‘I had another engagement.’
No doubt he had scuttled off to confer with his wife.
Minette smiled and said nothing.
‘Are the boys here?’ Freddy asked, looking around. ‘And Liz?’
‘No. I am here with a friend.’ He winced. ‘Didn’t expect to see you here, old chap, cricket not being your sort of thing.’ More foot-shuffling. ‘Do you think we can have a word in private?’
‘It looks as if the match is about to start again,’ Lady Priscilla said.
The players were striding onto the field, talking and laughing, with Beau Brummell in their midst. They separated to take up their various positions. With the attention now focussed on play, Arthur leaned closer. ‘About this engagement of yours. Do you think it is such a good idea?’
‘I don’t think it is any of your business, actually,’ Freddy said, smiling.
Arthur flinched. ‘There is the business of the accident.’ He glanced around and lowered his voice still further. ‘New information might come to light at any time. No statute of limitations, and that sort of thing.’
Freddy turned to face him square on, his anger icy in his veins. Arthur had always sworn he’d seen nothing of the accident. ‘Have you regained your memory, then?’
The other man turned back to the game. ‘I was a boy. I panicked. But in hindsight there are things I remember. Perhaps.’
Freddy’s hand curled into fists. This was Liz’s work, no doubt. ‘Go to hell, Arthur. Whatever scandal arises will taint you, too, you know.’
Arthur shrivelled in on himself. ‘You should think about it, though,’ he said. ‘That’s all. Think about it.’
Freddy wanted to strangle him. Or Liz. Or both of them together. But they were his family. And he’d already been the death of one member of it. ‘Tell Liz she has nothing to fear with regard to the succession.’
A shout went up and he turned his head to see a ball heading straight at his party. An excellent hit over the boundary. He stretched out a hand and caught it to a burst of applause.
‘Well caught, sir,’ someone yelled.
He threw it back to the bowler, who bowed his thanks. Meanwhile, the batsman was awarded six runs.
He glanced around. Arthur, the sniveller, had taken the opportunity to scuttle off and was now talking to a group a little distance away, but he must have felt Freddy’s gaze on him because he half turned and gave a terse nod of understanding. It seemed he was content to accept Freddy’s word, for now.
‘Freddy,’ Minette said, smiling at him over her shoulder. ‘I cannot believe you caught that ball. They will surely ask you to join their team.’
The bitterness inside him escaped his control. ‘No. They won’t. I can’t run.’ And everyone knew it. Half of them had been at school with him.
Her expression of shock at his harsh words followed quickly by the look of pity in her lovely brown eyes only made him feel worse.
Damn it all. He never whined about his foot. ‘And as I told you, dukes are far too important to be playing silly games. I invited you because you need to know about one of England’s most important institutions.’
The ice coating his voice must have reached her as her back straightened. The smile disappeared. ‘You are right.’ She turned away from him and addressed a remark to Lady Priscilla.
He didn’t hear what she said for the angry rush of blood in his ears.
Curse Arthur. If he really knew something, why had he never mentioned it before? He was bluffing. Applying pressure.
And with that sort of thing in the wind, the thought of Minette meeting Mother made him feel physically ill.
While Freddy had maintained an outward calm and the rest of the afternoon had been enjoyable, it was perfectly clear to Minette he had withdrawn inside himself. Leaving only a walking, talking, icy shell.
The guilt of her careless words weighed her down, but it wasn’t until after they had deposited Priscilla and her companion on the Sparshott doorstep and the carriage had moved off again that she dared to broach the subject. ‘I beg your pardon. When I said about you joining the team, I forgot about your leg. I did not mean to cause you embarrassment.’
‘You didn’t.’ His voice was shards of ice grating down her spine.
Oh, the man was too infuriating. ‘Then why are you being so distant?’
He blinked. And something more humane appeared in his dark blue gaze. ‘I apologise. I was thinking about something someone said.’
A flash of light went off in her brain. ‘Your cousin. He said something that upset you, didn’t he?’ She pressed a hand to her stomach to still the sense of unease she felt.
His expression shuttered.
‘I see.’ She folded her hands in her lap. ‘You do not trust me.’
‘It isn’t that.’
‘Then what?’
‘It is old family business. I’m sorry, I should not have let it affect me that way. But there is something else I need to tell you. We have the name of Madame Vitesse’s brother. He is Henri Latour and he has black hair and brown eyes and a scar at the base of his right thumb.’
She gasped at the detail. ‘How do you know this?’
‘If I know it, the Home Office knows it, too. You need to trust me in this, Minette. Convince Madame Vitesse to put us in touch with the man right away and give me the information, or they will make a mess of the whole business.’
He had not answered her question, but it was no longer of importance.
‘I apologise for not trusting you, Freddy. And I will persuade her to tell us everything. If you will promise to trust me.’
If he didn’t Nicky’s life would be ruined.
He regarded her for a long moment. ‘I trust you.’
Her foolish heart gave a little skip. But her foolish heart did not always listen to reason. She only dared trust Freddy in this. After that she was on her own, as she had always been.
*
