Chapter 36

Mrs Aubrey had suggested – commanded – that Georgiana meet her at four in the afternoon, by a place in the Abbey ruins that she described in such an exact fashion that there could be no mistaking it. The Duke insisted on accompanying his wife there, and promised he would stay apart, but close enough that she could call on him for help if it should be needed. She accepted without demur; his concern for her was touching, and it was not, in any case, quite usual for women of high rank to walk completely unaccompanied through the streets of the city. If she was to be obliged to take her maid with her for the sake of propriety, she might as well take Gabriel rather than admit another to her secret. She would rather place her faith in her husband in such matters than any other person.

They set off from Petergate just before the hour, and so were a few minutes late arriving, having been delayed in their progress, as they always were, by the large number of people of all stations who wished to speak to them, or at least exchange nods and greetings. Once they neared their destination, Gabriel squeezed her arm and absented himself with a murmured word of encouragement before the meeting place was in sight, and Georgie squared her shoulders and made her way forward.

Mrs Aubrey was waiting, elegant as ever in a dark red pelisse with military braiding and a bonnet with an exaggerated poke. She bore a large sable muff, which was surely unnecessary in July, even a cold July, but still looked well enough. ‘Duchess,' she said urbanely, omitting the curtsey that would have been correct. ‘Congratulations upon your sudden and surprising elevation. I felt sure you would come.'

‘I had to,' said Georgie, and saw triumph spark in the other woman's eyes. She thinks I'm frightened, she realised, and she likes that I am. She likes it excessively. I wonder if she is entirely rational? It was tempting to play along, to raise expectations and then dash them, but all at once Georgie found she could not bring herself to toy with this strange and wicked creature she had once thought a friend.

‘I think you are labouring under a misapprehension,' she went on. ‘You brought me here to blackmail me…'

‘Such an unkind word,' said Caroline. ‘But yes, if you must be crude, blackmail. I am sure your new husband would be horrified to hear what I have to tell. God knows what he would do to you if he discovered all. Divorce and public disgrace would be the least of it, I am confident. And I am sure you will pay me well to avert such a disaster. I know you thought before that you had circumvented me, and for a while you had. You believed it would ruin me as well as you if you told the world that I had tricked you into going to that house, and revealed what you saw me do there. But the stakes for you are so much higher now, are they not? I have so much more information now than I had then, and your situation too has changed. You are entirely in my power. Do you realise it yet? It is not just "your reputation" in the abstract that is at stake – there is one man in particular, and that man your husband, who must not learn your dirty secrets. At peril of your life, perhaps, should his possessive anger be unrestrained, and certainly of all you have won by your clever marriage. I wonder if you managed to trick him into thinking that you came to him a virgin?'

Georgie said steadily, ‘There was no need for tricks.' Her companion scoffed contemptuously, but she went on, ‘I suppose someone else who was there in that house told you that they saw me being drawn into a private room by a man?' The letter had implied as much.

‘So shocking,' Mrs Aubrey replied with a feral smile, her black eyes glittering. ‘I had thought you such an innocent. Perhaps you were, till then. I do hope you enjoyed yourself, and that it was worth it.'

‘Certainly it was, and I enjoyed myself enormously. You cannot possibly know the nature of the favour you did me. I owe you my thanks, in fact.'

‘You will not fool me with your brave words. You will pay to keep this secret from the poor deluded fool you married, and pay, and pay again. I own you now.'

‘You don't. Nobody does. I know your informer cannot have seen, or did not recognise, the man I met there. If she had, or he had, we would not be having this conversation. It was Northriding, you see.'

Mrs Aubrey gaped at her in incomprehension as she continued, ‘All you did in your malice was introduce me to my husband. Your friend perhaps told you that my companion was tall, broad-shouldered, well-dressed. He was masked, of course. Did she also tell you that his hair was streaked with silver?'

‘I don't believe you. You are bluffing. It is a brave attempt, but it is useless.'

‘No, I'm telling you the truth.' Georgie stepped closer and said very low, her voice thrumming with conviction, ‘I met him there, a complete stranger to me, but God knows an attractive one, and he went down on his knees and pleasured me with his mouth. I am weak with desire even now as I think of it. And after that he could not forget me, nor I him, and now we are married, and there is nothing you can do to touch us. Not a thing.'

The other woman gazed at her wildly, her brain whirring behind her eyes, and Georgie said fiercely, ‘All you have done to me is make me a duchess. Take my thanks! But I will not pay you a penny. Nothing you say can hurt what lies between Gabriel and me. And if you think to spread the pretty tale abroad, beware. We will say that you are a liar and you tricked me there – as you did – and Gabriel was there, and saved me from your malice, as he did. My family know of it, all of it. I was the innocent deceived, Gabriel the hero, and you the villain. You will be utterly ruined and cast out from society, not I.'

The desperate woman blustered, ‘Why was he even there? His reputation will be?—'

‘My reputation,' said a conversational voice behind her, ‘is so very bad, you know, madam, that nothing you can say can make it worse. Of course I was at an orgy. Where else would I be? Nobody will have the least difficulty believing that I have attended orgies with tedious regularity. The – ah – heroic role I played there on this occasion, of course, will be something quite new, and I dare say will go a long way to rehabilitate me in the eyes of the world. It is a romantic tale, in fact, with a little spice to it, just suited to the modern taste. I expect they will make a play of it, and we shall see ourselves on the stage. And you did introduce us, after all, for which I must always be grateful. As my dear wife says, it seems we owe you our profound thanks.'

The Duke stepped forward from his place of concealment and moved to take Georgie's hand in his, but he was not to have the opportunity to do so. With an enraged bellow, Captain Hart burst from the undergrowth where he had been hiding and charged straight at him, fists upraised in threat. His Grace was astonishingly swift in his recovery and stepped aside neatly, and the Captain whirled and came about again. They stood facing each other, both of them taking on a pugilistic stance and circling each other warily, and the Duke smiled. ‘What a surprising afternoon it has turned out to be,' he said coolly. ‘And who in the devil's name are you?'

‘He is Captain Hart!' Georgie cried. ‘You know I told you of my foolish entanglements last year…'

‘I see,' replied her husband, enlightened, still smiling, perfectly relaxed. ‘The importunate gentleman you struck down with a poker, I collect? What an excellent thing – I don't recall ever encountering anyone who deserved it more. I wish you might do it again, my love. But this does not explain what you are doing here now, Hart. I do not?—'

The Captain launched an impetuous attack as the other man was still speaking, but it seemed he had signalled his intent to his more experienced opponent by some incautious motion of his body, for the Duke sidestepped him once again – he was the taller, heavier man but somehow much the faster – and struck him flush on the chin with a powerful and unexpected blow from his left fist that set the Captain reeling. A neat blow from his right followed it, and Hart collapsed groaning at his feet.

Mrs Aubrey had been watching all this, unheeded, and now she stepped forward. Any self-control she had previously laid claim to had deserted her when she saw her precious schemes all thwarted, her brother floored, and in Georgie's eyes she now appeared quite distracted. Her eyes were wild and her hands were trembling. ‘To answer your question, Duke,' she said, pulling a small pistol from her muff and pointing it at him, or in his general direction at least, ‘he is my brother, and if he cannot make you pay for what you have both done to us, I will!' She added between gritted teeth, apparently having reached the end of her patience and passed some way beyond it, ‘I have observed in the past that I must always do everything myself! You owe us money, both of you, and you shall give it to us before you leave this place!' Glancing down at her brother with what seemed to Georgie a contemptuous look, she added, ‘Or should I say, you shall give it to me?'

‘I cannot see that shooting either of us would do you the least good,' said Gabriel, preserving his calm as the pistol waved disconcertingly about and Georgie stood frozen in disbelief. ‘Unless you have an unaccountable desire to end your life at Tyburn Tree, of course, which surely cannot be the case. Put down your weapon, madam, and we can converse. You must perceive that the Captain is not seriously hurt. Nothing that cannot be mended has happened here yet.'

‘You can't intend to kill anyone, Caro,' added Georgiana urgently. ‘Gabriel's right. You can still walk away from this.'

‘She doesn't know how to,' said the Duke coolly and, his wife could not refrain from thinking, unhelpfully. It was true – she could see that Mrs Aubrey was in a trap of her own making – but there was no need to remind her of it. They stood in a tense little triangle, quite close together, the outside world near but forgotten, Hart groaning helplessly as he lay disregarded by all of them. It was hard to see how matters were to be resolved without harm coming to one of them, since Mrs Aubrey seemed determined to cling to the only advantage she had: her pistol.

And then there was a sudden, shockingly loud sound nearby – a cry, a scream, a child, a bird, it was impossible to tell, and Georgie saw Caro's finger tighten in reflex action and knew with sickening certainty that she was going to fire, more or less by accident, not deliberately or not wholly so, and that if she did she would hit Gabriel and kill him. Without pausing to think, for there was no time for that, she flung herself in front of his body, pushing Caro down in a rush as she did so. There was a crack, and Georgie crumpled insensate at his feet. She was hit.