Louise Allen - Regency Pleasures and Sins Part 1

‘Ah, there is that delightful portrait I saw last time I was here,’ Lady Parry said with pleasure.

‘Yes, my lady. As you had already seen it, I thought there was no harm in producing it again, and I expect Miss Grey will be amused to see it once more. I will just fetch my notebook,’ Mr Harland said and left the room.

‘That … that is the picture of me you saw?’ Tallie asked, hideous apprehension beginning to ball in her stomach. ‘The one I sat for because Lady Smythe was expecting?’

‘Yes, of course, dear. Were there any others? I do think it is nice that Mr Harland bothered to draw your face, even though in the finished work it is Lady Smythe, of course.’

‘And that is the … costume you thought shocking?’ The ball of apprehension was turning into lead shot in the pit of her stomach.

‘It looks as though the petticoats have been dampened,’ Kate said severely. ‘One can see every line of your figure. And what is holding the bodice up—if one can call it a bodice—goodness only knows. Still, everyone knows Penelope Smythe thinks of herself as a dasher, and it must have hit her hard to have lost her figure, however temporary that state of affairs was.’

Tallie sank back in her chair aghast. So Lady Parry had not seen one of the shocking classical nudes, only this portrait. She should have trusted her instincts that her kind patroness was being too tolerant. Now what was she going to do?

Mr Harland had returned and he and Lady Parry were deep in discussion on the relative merits of head and shoulders and full length—three-quarters having been rapidly dismissed as neither one thing nor another. Eventually full length was decided upon, with a draped background. Tallie found it quite impossible to do more than keep an expression of interest on her face and then follow Lady Parry downstairs when her business was concluded.

Her head was spinning and she was conscious only of an overwhelming desire to throw herself on Nick Stangate’s chest and confess all. As this was dangerous insanity she stood on the pavement in the light mizzle which had just begun to fall and tried to drag air into her tightened lungs. Then she saw the man.

‘Tallie? What is it? You have gone quite pale.’ Lady Parry hurried her into the carriage and began to rummage in her reticule.

‘I think I … we … are being followed,’ Tallie blurted out.

‘What? By whom?’

‘A man—he has just ducked back into an alleyway down there. I saw him getting out of a hackney behind us when we arrived here, and I saw him lurking outside the house when we went to Ackerman’s the other day. And I am sure he has been around before—I thought him familiar then.’ Tallie broke off and tried to speak calmly. ‘I am sorry, Aunt Kate, I am probably imagining things.’

‘Perhaps, perhaps not. There are any number of dangerous characters around,’ Kate Parry said grimly. ‘I will speak to Nicholas about it.’

‘Oh, no! He will think me over-imaginative to worry about such things.’

‘Well, I am worried, and he had better not suggest that I am over-imaginative,’ Lady Parry retorted with a twinkle. ‘And in any case Nicholas uses enquiry agents from time to time, he will know all about how to deal with this.’

An unpleasant thought crept into Tallie’s mind. She knew Nick had had her investigated before she had joined his aunt. And he knew she still hid a secret from him. Was this man his, following her to discover that secret? If that was the case, then today he had been closer than he knew.

Nick was waiting for them when they returned to Bruton Street. They found him sprawled in an armchair with a careless elegance that took away Tallie’s breath. He tossed aside the portfolio of papers he was reading and got to his feet as they entered the room. Tallie realised she had never been so conscious of how long his legs were nor of how easily he moved.

‘A successful meeting?’ he asked with a smile, which faded as he took in the anxiety on his aunt’s face. ‘What is wrong?’

‘I think we had better talk about it over luncheon, Nicholas. Talitha and I will be down in a moment; will you be so kind as to tell Rainbird we will wait upon ourselves.’

* * *

Shortly after, Tallie sat down apprehensively and passed cold meats to Lady Parry at her side. She took a slice of bread and began to cut it into thin fingers.

‘Aunt Kate?’ Nick took a slice of beef, but did not start to eat. ‘What has occurred?’

‘Just a foolish idea of mine,’ Tallie said defensively. ‘The more I think about it, the more—’

‘Talitha believes she, or perhaps we, are being followed.’

Nick’s brows drew together sharply. ‘By whom?’

‘A thin man in a greatcoat and beaver hat.’

‘I am sure it is just a coincidence,’ Tallie murmured. His grey eyes turned to her face and he raised one brow.

‘And how often has this coincidence struck you?’

‘Four times,’ she admitted. ‘At least three I am certain of. I am sure I had seen him before—perhaps once, perhaps more—which is why I noticed him the next time.’

‘Did he approach you? Try to speak to you?’

Tallie shook her head and Lady Parry added, ‘I am certain he has some criminal intent. Perhaps he is trying to find a pattern to our comings and goings so he can break into the house. After all, look at poor Mr Harland.’

For a second the mask of calm enquiry that Nick was wearing cracked. His head turned sharply to his aunt. ‘Harland? What has happened to him?’

‘The house was broken into,’ Lady Parry explained. ‘It is dreadful how lawless the streets of London are becoming.’

‘And what was taken?’

‘Nothing apparently. They just searched amongst the canvases.’

‘Interesting.’ He said it almost to himself. ‘Now that is interesting.’

‘What shall we do about the man in the beaver hat, Nicholas dear?’

‘Go nowhere without two of the larger footmen in attendance and tell the coachman to carry a blunderbuss. I will speak to Rainbird. I would not worry, Aunt Kate—if this man has any sinister intent, he will soon see you are well protected and shift his interest elsewhere.’

Lady Parry appeared to find this sufficient reassurance and began to talk cheerfully of her planned portrait. Tallie was not so sure. She made herself eat her bread and butter and sip a little from her glass while watching Nick from under her lowered lashes. She could tell he was thinking furiously, despite the flow of inconsequential talk he was maintaining in response to his aunt.

When they rose from the table he intercepted her. ‘Tallie, I would like to speak to you if I may.’

She cast a hunted look at the dining-room door closing behind Lady Parry. She knew she should reprove him for using her pet name, but the sound of it on his lips was seductively sweet.

‘I promise I am not going to kiss you,’ he said infuriatingly. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion and he added, ‘Or do anything else to take advantage of—what did you call it?—oh, yes, our unfortunate mutual physical attraction.’

‘Good.’ Tallie edged around the table. Despite his assurances she still felt safer with a width of shining mahogany between them. Quite whether it was Nicholas or herself that she was nervous of she was not prepared to examine. ‘What do you want to talk about?’

‘Will you reconsider telling me about your secret? The one you believe my aunt knows all about. Only I do not believe she does.’

‘No, you are correct. She does not. I honestly believed it when I told you that, but I was wrong.’ It was a relief to tell him some of the truth if not all.

‘Tell me.’ He sat down opposite her.

Feeling a little more secure, Tallie sat too. Her legs were shaking. ‘Why?’