Chapter Forty-Eight
Judith and Jack got to ride alone to the ball in one coach, their parents following in the other. Jack’s armed escort—all four of them—was with the girls, though, and had been with Jack ever since they’d returned to London. Although the men dressed in livery, they were too big and brawny to look like servants. James had insisted on the guards, and they were going to remain with his daughter indefinitely. Judith thought that could be why Jack’s moods were far from sterling. She wouldn’t like being hemmed in.
She glanced at Jack, who was staring out the window. They both sparkled tonight. Jack’s gown was dark pink silk, but a layer of white chiffon over it created an appropriate pastel color. Even her jewelry was pink, rose quartz mixed with diamonds.
Judith’s gown was new, ordered the day after they got home, even though she already had a half dozen others she hadn’t yet worn. But she didn’t object when shopping calmed her mother, and Roslynn had needed calming after learning what had happened. The new gown was Judith’s favorite color, pale blue. Half of her wardrobe was that color. But she’d boldly picked a much darker blue for the edges, a mere inch. Roslynn didn’t complain when she saw how the color matched Judith’s eyes. And of course Roslynn had seen to buying Judith more jewelry immediately, too. So her gown was complemented by sapphires tonight.
“You look magnificent tonight, Jack. I wish I could wear pink like you, but Mother thinks it makes me look wan—are you listening?”
“What?”
Judith sighed. “I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong. You’re either distracted or snapping at me over something—more often snapping. If your eyes were red, too, I’d think you’re going through what I went through with Nathan. You aren’t, are you?”
Jack snorted. “Believe me, when I fall in love I’ll know it. And you’ll know it. Everyone will, because I’ll drag him straight to the altar, kicking and screaming if I have to—well, my father will see to that.”
Judith couldn’t help chuckling over the image that created. “Very well. I was just worried you might have gotten overly attached to Quintin.”
“I might have, if we’d had more time together, but no. Bastard cut that short.”
Jack was still calling her abductor by that name, and she usually got angry every time he was mentioned. Not just snappish, but really angry. But Jack’s tone had been even just then, so Judith wasn’t going to press it, when anger was the last thing Jack should be taking to a ball.
Instead Judith said, “And any of these new lords who’ve been courting you since we got back?”
“Not yet, but we’re in no hurry, remember?”
How could she forget that? They weren’t supposed to fall in love anytime soon, either, but so much for well-laid plans. So she took another guess, nodding toward the roof of the coach where the escort was riding. “You hate these precautions, don’t you?”
“My guards? No, actually, they’re nice enough chaps.”
Judith was running out of ideas, so she tried her mother’s tactic. “Jacqueline Malory, you’re going to tell me right now what’s been bothering you. I insist!”
Jack snorted again. Judith was encouraged. Jack’s snorting was normal. “I don’t like being so helpless, as I was during—it’s made me hate being a woman!”
Judith was taken aback. She would never have guessed that could be the problem, and yet she should have. Jack was always so in control, always in the lead, always sure of herself and her capabilities. To have lost that control, even for a little while, would have hit her hard.
But Judith replied pragmatically, “Nonsense. D’you think a man really would have fared better? A man would merely have been knocked out and dragged off, instead of being carried off. And he would have been bound before he woke. Truly, Jack, men can be rendered just as helpless in such a situation. But—is that really all that’s been bothering you?”
Jack wrung her hands in indecision, then admitted, “No.”
“Then what?”
“I didn’t tell my father everything.” When Judith’s eyes rounded, Jack added, “No, nothing like that. But there was another note, the original one penned by Bastard’s boss. When I found it, I accused Bastard of not leaving any note at all, so my father would have no idea what happened to me. I could have killed him that day. Actually, I tried to. But he assured me that Catherine had sent a more polite version of the original one.”
Eyes still round, Judith said, “A polite kidnapper? Are you serious?”
Jack actually grinned for a moment. “I had that exact thought at the time, you know.” But then she wrung her hands again. “I was afraid that if I told my father about it, it would stir an old memory for him, and he’d know exactly whose idea it was to abduct me and where to go to find him. The original note from Bastard’s boss implied he would. And I don’t want my father to go after him, at least not when they are expecting him to. I couldn’t bear it if my words led him into a trap.”
“Don’t you think you should let your father decide the matter?”
“I’ll tell him, after enough time has passed for his anger to wane a bit so that he doesn’t hie off and get himself killed.”
“But it’s been weeks since we got home.”
“I know, and maybe Bastard has warned his boss to change the location of his lair and this can all just be forgotten.”
“Is that who you’re trying to protect?” Judith asked carefully.
“Gads, no, he should be drawn and quartered!” Jack spat out.
Judith sighed. “It’s your choice, Jack. I just hope this decision doesn’t come back to haunt you someday.”
“You can’t imagine how much I’ve been agonizing over this. The indecision was making me furious with myself. But I’ve never been so afraid for my father before. They were going to control him through me! Kill him because of me! I am going to tell him, whether it helps or not, but after the Season is over. Besides, by then he’ll probably have more information. Uncle Clinton assured him that all the Skylark captains who pass down that way will keep an eye out for Catherine, Andrew, and Bastard. Something is sure to come of that.”
Judith didn’t usually disagree with Jack but she tsked now, “I hesitate to say it, but I think you should simply have more faith in your father. As long as he doesn’t have the rescue of loved ones to contend with, he won’t be restrained. And you know how that works out.”
Jack grinned, then laughed. “Yes, I know. I’m just making sure it does happen that way, by letting enough time pass so whoever did this won’t be expecting him. That’s all, Judy. I just want my father to have a better fighting chance. And I did consider how torn up he’d be if he missed my Season just to wrap this up.”
That was sound reasoning, so Judith said no more on the subject. And Jack obviously felt better for having made a clean breast of it. She was still smiling when they arrived at the ball.