Chapter Eleven #2
Her rambling thoughts were interrupted when the door was thrust open and Templeton’s solid frame filled the opening.
Mama had remarked the previous evening that she thought of him as a charming neighbour whose company she welcomed.
But then Mama was incapable of seeing past a moderately handsome face, especially if its owner was a well-placed member of the aristocracy who plied her with compliments and attention.
‘Lady Farrah.’ He made an exaggerated bow as he closed the door behind him and reached for her hand. She looked away, barely acknowledging him as she lowered herself into a chair to avoid his touch.
‘This is a very unorthodox arrangement, Lord Templeton, and I have no desire to prolong it, so please have the goodness to explain what you know about my father’s whereabouts.’
‘So young and so outspoken,’ he replied in a mocking tone, remaining standing.
Farrah wished now that she had not taken a seat since it required her to look up at him and made her feel even more disadvantaged than she already knew herself to be. ‘Do sit down, sir. Looking up at you creates a crick in my neck.’
Fortunately, the remaining single chair was situated some distance away from hers. The thought of any accidental physical contact with the man was repulsive to her. The manner in which he regarded her as though he would like to consume her whole disturbed her even more.
She should not have come.
‘Then I shall get directly to the point,’ he replied, lowering himself into the chair in question, still regarding her with a disconcertingly direct look. ‘Your father has got himself into something of a dilemma.’
‘That much I already know,’ Farrah replied impatiently, tapping the gloved fingers of one hand on the arm of her chair.
‘And you, I think, are the only member of your family who is seriously attempting to do something about it.’
‘If by that you mean to imply that I am anxious to discover my father’s whereabouts, then you are in the right of it. But naturally the same could be said for my mother and sister.’
He shook his head. ‘That I very much doubt. I took it upon myself to speak with your lady mother for a considerable amount of time last night, but perhaps you were too taken up with the duke’s attentions to notice, in which case you can be sure of my forgiveness.’
Farrah tutted irritably, unwilling to put him straight about the duke’s intentions. It was none of his affair; nor was it her fault if he had misinterpreted. ‘You are too kind,’ she said, a sarcastic edge to her voice.
Templeton roared with laughter. ‘You are indeed singular. I can quite see what the duke finds so attractive.’
Farrah sat a little straighter and fixed the odious man with a disdainful look. ‘May we stick to the matter in hand. I cannot stay for long.’
‘Mind you, I was ahead of him and observed your … allure long before Alton. Our paths crossed at a soiree during your season. I shall try not to be offended if you do not recall the occasion.’
‘I do not.’ Farrah flapped a dismissive hand. ‘Nor do I see its significance.’
‘You were berating a highly eligible gentleman for overstepping the mark,’ he said, ignoring her interruption. ‘The scene caused quite a stir.’
Farrah did recall the occasion, but she did not remember Templeton.
The supposedly eligible gentleman whom she had apparently insulted was in fact arrogant and entitled and had made a highly inappropriate suggestion to Farrah.
When she objected, threatening to expose him, he’d simply laughed and said that no one would accept her word over his.
He appeared to think he was invincible, and so she had slapped his arm with her fan, a social faux pas that the entire room observed and which earned her a subsequent dressing down from her mother.
‘If you have summoned me here to discuss my past transgressions,’ she said, losing all patience and standing, ‘then we have nothing more to say to one another.’
‘Sit down, Lady Farrah.’ His tone brooked no argument, and she did as he suggested, sensing that he really did have something of value to tell her but was simply enjoying himself by taunting her first.
‘I admire your determination to run your father to ground,’ he continued.
‘He should not have left you in that position. Lady Dalton on the other hand, seems oblivious to the precariousness of your family’s situation.
I made of point of trying to discuss Dalton with her last night, but she changed the subject quite forcibly.
We were intimate with your parents before you were out in society, and I wrongly assumed that she would have looked upon me as a dependable confidante. ’
‘Where is he?’ Farrah demanded, losing all patience with a man who seemed determined to toy with her for his own amusement.
‘Perhaps a better question would be with whom has he disappeared?’
‘He is with a lady?’ Farrah couldn’t prevent her shock from being apparent.
‘Possibly. All I can tell you is that he has a good reason to lie low and is not short of female admirers.’
Farrah swallowed. ‘I see.’
‘Your father entered into increasingly desperate ventures in an attempt to recover his position, having frittered away a vast part of his fortune.’
‘He told you that?’ Farrah tilted her head and sent Templeton a disbelieving look.
‘That he was a wastrel?’ Templeton waggled a hand from side to side. ‘Perhaps not in so many words, but the evidence was there for those who took even a passing interest in his affairs to see for themselves.’
‘He is not a committed gamester, to the best of my knowledge, but he does play. As do all gentlemen.’ Farrah couldn’t be sure about any aspect of her father’s character anymore, and wished rather than knew it to be so.
‘He doesn’t play often, but when he does he is reckless and inevitably loses. He also has expensive tastes and, excuse me, a wife who does not know the meaning of economy.’
Farrah reluctantly conceded the final comment with an impatient tilt of her head but said nothing, sensing that Templeton was finally getting to the point.
‘He endeavoured to involve me in several of his schemes, but I do not need to be that reckless.’
‘Reckless in what respect?’ Farrah frowned, frustrated by this game of cat and mouse. ‘What is it that he attempted to draw you into?’
‘Ah now, that is the question.’
‘And one you do not seem willing to answer.’ Farrah stood, and this time she had no intention of resuming her seat.
‘I do not know why you insisted upon this private meeting. A meeting I might add that I have undertaken at considerable risk to my reputation, since it is clear that you know nothing about my father’s current whereabouts.
Nor have you made any suggestion about where I should start looking. ’
Templeton stood too and stepped towards her.
Farrah attempted to move out of his reach, but the room was small, and she collided with the wall behind her.
She lifted her chin defiantly, refusing to be intimidated by his bulk, even though her heart palpitated wildly and her legs felt too weak to support her weight.
‘I know a great deal about his embezzlement,’ he said tauntingly.
‘Embezzlement?’ Farrah gasped. Surely he would not … ‘What on earth do you mean by that?’
‘He tried to drag me into the affair, but I immediately smelled a rat. Others were not so suspicious and agreed to invest. They, as far as I am aware, have received none of the promised returns and are out for his blood, which probably explains his disappearance.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Farrah replied, even though a part of her did. ‘If he was in debt then those he owed money to would have knocked at our door long since.’
‘Not if the scheme they invested in was illegal. And undocumented. An agreement sealed with a handshake between gentlemen. They would have no redress in a court of law and could only pressure Dalton to honour his commitments – which, as I say, is most likely why ?’
‘Why he has disappeared,’ Farrah finished for him, biting her lip, no longer able to defend her father.
‘Precisely.’
‘Tell me everything.’ Farrah knew she was pleading but couldn’t seem to help herself.
This was the closest she had come to gaining any intelligence about her father’s activities.
Templeton seemed to be taunting her, but she also sensed that what little he had told her was the truth. ‘I urgently need to find Papa.’
Templeton shook his head, a mocking smile playing about his lips. ‘I do not wish to become involved in such a tawdry business.’
‘And yet here you are.’
‘To warn you.’
‘Which you could have done last night.’ Farrah placed her fisted hands on her hips, feeling the full weight of her reticule as it swung on her arm.
As a precaution she had loaded it with heavy pebbles before leaving home, suspecting that Templeton might have ulterior motives for getting her alone.
It seemed she had been right in that respect.
That being the case, could she really believe a word he said?
Had he seen Papa recently or actually had any dealings with him at all?
It was impossible to be sure, and she felt reluctant to ask, convinced that he wouldn’t tell her the truth because for some inexplicable reason he appeared to be fixated upon her.
‘It was hardly a suitable topic of conversation for a crowded drawing room.’
‘You have told me nothing to help my search and have wasted my time,’ she said, pushing past him now because she was afraid of the changes in him. The fiery determination she detected in his expression as he looked at her made her skin crawl. ‘I am leaving now.’
He caught her upper arm in a vicelike grip. ‘I can tell you a great deal more, but there has to be something in it for me.’
‘Other than behaving like a gentleman, which you clearly are not,’ she replied, sending a scathing look in the direction of his hand on her arm.
‘Ouch!’ He released her. ‘You intrigue me,’ he said speculatively. ‘The lord above only knows why. You caught my attention in town that time and engaged it again last evening. I want to know you better.’
‘If you are suggesting what I think you are, then you are not only insulting but deluded,’ Farrah replied, tossing her head. ‘Shame on you, Lord Templeton! If it is a mistress you seek then look elsewhere.’
‘I am not accustomed to rejection,’ he said so quietly that she barely caught the words.
‘And I am not accustomed to selling myself to resolve my father’s self-inflicted problems.’ He continued to block her path to the door. ‘Get out of my way,’ she demanded.
‘Think about this conversation,’ he said, standing aside. ‘I can make your life and that of your family very comfortable if only you will be nice to me. Think of your sister. Her prospects will be greatly improved if you are not on the brink of bankruptcy.’
‘You cannot have deep enough pockets to resolve the problem – and even if you have, the answer would still be no. You have insulted me in every possible way, and I want nothing more to do with you.She was on the point of swinging her laden reticule at his groin when Templeton
inclined his head and offered her an elaborate bow.
‘Think about what I have said to you, Lady Farrah. You will soon come to realise that you hold the power to maintain your family’s position in society in your own hands.’
‘You assume that I have any interest in maintaining it,’ she said, walking through the door with her head held high. She didn’t once look back at the hateful, presumptuous man. Only when she was clear of the tavern did she quicken her step, worried that her trembling legs would fail to support her.