Chapter 10 #2
King sat down on the edge of his bed and returned a weary smile.
“You might say that, so listen closely. After dinner last night, I had a drink in the parlour and then took Captain Dearborn up on his offer of a game of cards. I drank rather too much and came back here this morning, now, with a sore head, for which you mixed me one of your special concoctions. You’d best go down to the kitchens and ask for the ingredients. Got that?”
“Certainly, sir,” Repton said, for he was never slow on the uptake, thank the lord. “You may rely upon me.”
“I do, Repton, you know I do,” King said with a smile, touched when he saw the man swell with pride at this encomium.
Before he went, Repton divested King of his boots and coat and ensured his comfort before going to find the ingredients for his hangover cure. He returned twenty minutes later and woke an indignant King, who glowered at the vile creation the man held out to him.
“I don’t actually want to drink the filthy brew,” he said, glaring at it.
“Well, what ought I to do with it? I can’t throw it out the window, and there’s no other way save drinking it.”
“You drink it, then.” “Sir!” Repton exclaimed reproachfully.
“I’ll give you a sovereign to drink it yourself!” King exclaimed, impatient to catch up on some sleep.
“Done!” Repton’s hand shot out, and King grunted with amusement, shaking it.
“Now go away and leave me in peace,” he added. “You may wake me at midday.”
“Very good, sir,” Repton said, and left his master to sleep.
Anne went to the front desk upon hearing the bell ring and smiled warmly as she saw who awaited attention.
“Reverend, how good to see you,” she said, hurrying forward to take his hands.
“Ah, Anne, what a vision of loveliness you are as always. It does an old man’s heart good to see you. It does indeed,” he said, giving her a toothy grin and raising her hand to his lips.
Anne laughed. “You are a shocking flirt, Reverend, and lucky that I am so fond of you, for what a stir I could cause, shocking all the old tabbies with tales of your gallantry.”
The reverend chuckled, rather pleased with this description of himself, but turned and gestured to the front door, which had been left slightly ajar. A young man Anne recognised, though barely, peered around it before coming inside.
“Is Mr King in, do you know, Anne? I believe he is expecting us,” Honeywell asked her. “Young Tommy here is going to work for him.”
“So I understand,” Anne said, smiling at the boy, who looked as though he’d been scrubbed so thoroughly his skin was still pink.
His hair had been cut close too, and looked shiny and clean, and he wore a suit of clothes that, whilst a shade too big for him, were the neatest and most complete articles she had ever seen him wear.
“You look very well, Tommy. I’m sure you’ll be happy working for Mr King, for he’s a kind fellow, I think. ”
“Indeed, he is,” the reverend replied, regarding Anne thoughtfully. “Though there’s few people who have the wit to realise it.”
Anne turned away before the reverend could see how her cheeks glowed at his words.
“You say he is expecting you?”
“He is, though we did not arrange a time.”
Anne nodded. “Well, follow me, if you please.” She led them up the stairs and along to King’s room, aware that Tommy’s eyes grew wider with every step they took.
“Cor…” he murmured, glancing into an unoccupied room where Martha was hard at work cleaning and had left the door ajar. “I never saw nothing so pretty,” he said in a rather loud whisper to the reverend.
“Mrs Adamson’s hotel is most elegant,” Honeywell agreed, smiling at Anne.
Feeling a ridiculous surge of anticipation, Anne knocked on the door of number six. King’s remarkably supercilious valet opened the door but unbent enough to smile upon her.
“Good afternoon, Mrs Adamson.”
“And to you, Mr Repton. The Reverend Honeywell and young Master Tanner are here. I believe they have an appointment with Mr King?”
“Show them in,” called a deep voice from the interior of the room.
Repton nodded and stepped back, gesturing for the reverend and his charge to enter. “Then I shall leave—” Anne said, turning away.
“Hold there a moment!”
She looked back, startled by King’s voice as he appeared in the doorway. “Repton, look after my guests,” he ordered, before stepping into the corridor and closing the door behind him.
“Shall I order tea?” she asked, struggling not to feel flustered by his sudden proximity.
He nodded, a glittering look in his eyes. “Yes and ask Mrs Fairway to send cake and biscuits. I doubt Tommy has tasted the like before, the poor fellow. He’s all skin and bones.”
“I shall see to it.” Anne nodded, aware she sounded a trifle breathless. “If that is all—”
“No, it isn’t all,” King said, grasping her wrist before she could turn away. “Not by a long chalk. Have dinner with me.”
Anne shot him an incredulous glance, even though her reckless heart leapt with joy at the suggestion.
“We have trod this path before, Mr King, and we both decided it would lead to no good.”
“Did we?” King asked, lowering his voice. “Or did you tell me you could take pride in me, that you would call me your own, and gladly? You said you meant it this morning. Do you still this afternoon, or have you thought better of it?”
Anne glared at him crossly. “I did and I do, for I am not so frivolous or shallow as to say such things and recant them a few hours later, but how does that help anyone?”
“It helped me,” he said, gazing at her. “It helped me to decide what it was I wanted from the rest of my life. I’m in no position to make offers yet, and you deserve a good deal more than I’ve given you these past days, but…
but I want to know I’ve the chance to win you.
Honourably, and in full view of the world. ”
Anne gasped, her hand moving to her heart, for that poor organ was leaping around like a demented rabbit and her wits seemed to have gone begging, for she could not grasp his meaning.
“The w-world? Win me?” she stammered, gazing at him and hardly daring to hope she had heard him correctly. “I… I don’t understand.”
“I think you do,” he said with a grin, and leaned in, stealing a kiss from her before she even knew what he intended. “Are you brave enough, Mrs Adamson, to show the people of this town you care nothing for what they think of me or of you? For I will if you will.”
Too stunned to speak, Anne merely nodded. King smiled with delight, such a smile that made her heart skip and dance and her breath catch.
“I’ll not beg for dinner then, for you’re right, it’s a risk. From now on, we’ll do this thing properly. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
With that, he went back into his room, winking at her before closing the door.
Anne stood there for a long moment, her senses reeling. She lifted an unsteady hand to her lips, trying to remember exactly what it was he’d just said to her but in too much of a tizzy to think clearly.
“Is everything all right, missus?”
Anne almost leapt from her skin, having forgotten Martha was working down the hallway.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Yes. Yes, indeed, I was… I was just wondering if… if we ought to light the fire in the parlour. It’s rather early, but it’s such a dismal day and it feels so cheerful, even if no one will use it until this evening.”
“I’ve got to put all the dust sheets on in number four,” Martha said doubtfully. “And then sweep the carpets in the hallway, and…”
“I’ll get Mr Cogger to see to it, don’t worry, Martha,” Anne said hurriedly, and made her way down to the kitchens.
Mrs Fairway, who was up to her elbows in bread dough, took one look at Anne and sighed. “What’s he done now?”
Anne moved to the nearest chair and sat down a bare moment before her knees gave out.
“I…” she began, and then shook her head.
“Lord save us from men,” Mrs Fairway muttered crossly.
Having shaped the dough into a large round, she put it in a bowl with as much care as if it were a sleeping babe and covered it with a tea towel.
She left it in a corner, close to the range cooker, then bustled off and washed her hands, coming back a moment later with a bottle of brandy and two small glasses.
She filled them both to the brim and pushed one towards Anne.
“Drink that and tell me what the wicked fellow said to you.”
Anne regarded the glass for a long moment before reaching for it and downing it in one swallow. She sucked in a breath as the brandy burned a path down her throat and then sighed as the warm glow chased away some of the shock that was still vibrating through her.
“Tea and cake for Mr King and the Reverend Honeywell and Tommy Tanner,” she said faintly.
Mrs Fairway made a sound of exasperation. “That ain’t what’s put you in such a pelter, I know.”
Anne shook her head, still turning over King’s words and trying to discover if there was another way to interpret them.
“Well, out with it!” Mrs Fairway said impatiently. “Do I need to take my cleaver up and chop off his—”
“Hilda!”
Mrs Fairway threw up her hands. “What do you expect me to think? What with you coming down here all flushed and out of sorts and looking like you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
At her indignant words, Anne did laugh. It began as a giggle that escaped her before she could catch it, but a moment later she was nigh on hysterical, with tears running down her face.
“So help me, child, I shall slap you!” Mrs Fairway exclaimed, by now quite frantic.
“Oh, I’m s-sorry, Hilda, truly, I am. It’s only… It’s only… I think… I think…”
Mrs Fairway got to her feet, looking as if she really might run for her cleaver if Anne did not explain herself. “Anne! For the love of everything holy, spit it out!”
“I think he means to… c—court me.”
Mrs Fairway sat down again, so suddenly the chair legs screeched upon the tiled floor. “You’re not serious? Jasper King, take a wife? I don’t believe it.”
“I’m not sure I do either, but… but he seemed to be in earnest,” Anne said, though she felt increasingly doubtful upon seeing her dearest friend’s reaction.
“Well, I never did.” Mrs Fairway lifted her glass and downed the entire thing, then filled both empty vessels to the brim once more.
“Oh, Hilda, we’ve dinner to get through yet,” Anne remonstrated, but took up her glass anyway.
“Medicinal,” the lady said firmly. “For the shock.”
Anne laughed. “I never thought to take a husband. I could not bear to have anyone interfere in my business, but…”
“That had better be an exceptionally well thought out but,” Mrs Fairway said grimly.
“I know, but he admires what I’ve done here. He listens to my opinions, he likes that I have opinions. Mr King thinks I ought to consider politics, for it affects my business, and he likes that I’m… rather…”
“Bossy?”
Anne narrowed her eyes at her oldest friend. “Managing,” she corrected primly.
Mrs Fairway snorted. “And what about all his dodgy dealing, eh? We’ll have a constable down here, you mark my words. Sniffing about, searching the place, and that’s your reputation ruined, my girl, and the hotel’s too.”
“Oh, Hilda, I don’t know! There is too much I do not know about him, and much he does not know about me either, but if he wishes to court me, then, perhaps we can learn those things and then in time we shall see if—” Anne broke off as Mrs Fairway folded her arms and rolled her eyes heavenwards. “What?” Anne demanded.
“Nowt, my girl. Only that you’ve already made up your mind to have the devil, even if he is the devil. I only hope you know what you’re doing.”
Anne swallowed and returned a rueful smile. “So do I, Hilda. So do I.”