‘I see.’ Lady Radcliffe leant back against the velvet upholstery and I saw how tense she had been. ‘No, that was a foolish thing to say. I do not see in the slightest, but my mind is set at rest, a little.’
‘I am grateful that you supported the story of who I am at Lady Reece’s house.’ Her lips quirked into a wry smile. ‘But, of course, you were concerned to protect your sons. Where are we going?’ I glanced out of the window, recognised Jermyn Street from the church and saw the Comte de Hautmont sauntering into a shop as we passed.
‘To our Town House in St James’s Squ – ’ The gunshots, the shower of breaking glass as the offside window shattered, the thud of something hitting the squab beside my head, wrenched a scream from her.
I jumped, grabbed her by the shoulders, pushed her down to the floor in the narrow space between the seats away from the broken window and threw myself over her as a succession of shots from across the street rang out over our heads, all around us.
The carriage lurched, rocked, then hit something. There was a nasty crack and the whole thing slumped to the side, fortunately towards the pavement, not towards the direction the shots had come from. ‘Stay down, lie still. I think an axle has broken.’
Silence. They were probably reloading. Where is Garrick? I scrambled up and tugged desperately at one of the seats. As I’d hoped, it came up as a piece, revealing the frame beneath. I lifted it and jammed it against the broken window as another shot cracked out. The upended seat bucked in my hands, but nothing came through.
Lady Radcliffe sat up, pushed off her bonnet and rummaged in the empty space revealed beneath the seat. ‘I thought so.’ She held up two heavy pistols. ‘Can you use these?’
‘Are they loaded?’ I countered. I’d had no firearms training – Special Constables didn’t – and even if I had, those things looked like something Dick Turpin would have been at home with. Could I shoot someone? I supposed I could if they were threatening to kill me. It looked as though I was going to find out.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘They aren’t cocked.’
What the devil was the coachman doing? I thought as I became aware of screaming and shouting outside. What the devil was Garrick doing, come to that? Please let him be OK. No-one was shooting now.
How many shots had there been initially? More than three, I was sure, but with the answering shots from the grooms, the keeper and, I hoped, Garrick, it was hard to tell. I dragged back the hammer on one of the pistols, almost dislocating my thumb in the process and swore. There was a tsk of disapproval from the floor.
‘If you don’t want me to swear, then don’t kidnap me and drag me along to places where I get shot at,’ I snapped.
Luc’s mother laughed. For a horrible moment I thought I was dealing with hysterics on top of everything else, but it was a genuine snort of amusement. I was beginning to like this woman. ‘Here, hold this.’ I shoved the cocked pistol at her as she huddled on the tilting floor, feet wedged against the door, and grabbed the other one. This time I had the knack of it and the trigger clicked back at the first pull.
Then the undamaged door opened, almost precipitating us both out, and a man ducked in. I raised the pistol in both hands. ‘Don’t move, this is loaded.’
‘So I should hope, Mademoiselle Lawrence.’ It was the Comte de Hautmont. ‘Lady Radcliffe, are you unharmed? There is blood.’
We were both bleeding from flying glass, I realised. ‘Stop right there,’ I warned, with no idea if I was capable of pulling the trigger or not. Then I realised that his presence had to be a coincidence. No-one could have known that Lady Radcliffe would encounter me or that she would turn around and take me back to her house instead of continuing on with her calls. We had been followed on horseback or in a carriage and the Count had been on foot.
I shifted the muzzle away from him. ‘Have they gone?’
‘I believe so. Your coachman has been shot in the arm, Lady Radcliffe, but not seriously.’
‘Garrick – he was driving the carriage behind us.’
‘Miss Lawrence.’ I could hear him behind the Count. ‘Are you unhurt?’
‘Just small glass cuts,’ I called. ‘Is it safe to come out?’ I almost threw up, the relief of hearing his voice was so great.
‘Aye. Stay together.’
The Count moved aside and Lady Radcliffe and I stumbled out onto the pavement, shielded by Lady Radcliffe’s gamekeeper on one side and Garrick and the Count on the other.
‘The horses, my driver – ’
‘I’ve left the grooms with them,’ Garrick said. He pushed us into a shop where startled-looking male assistants were standing around clutching armfuls of waistcoats. ‘Back door,’ he snapped and one of them hurried us through to where a door opened onto an alleyway.
I’d no idea there was such a warren of little streets and mews in the area. We hurried along and finally Garrick opened a high gate in a wall opening onto a garden. He pushed us all in, then took a heavy bar and dropped it across to secure the entrance.
‘Grandmama!’ Two small boys came running across the small patch of grass sending hoops and balls flying. They stopped, mouths open, when they saw the blood.
‘Darlings.’ Lady Radcliffe swooped forward and hugged them. ‘Such excitement – the carriage broke an axle in Jermyn Street and then the window broke and we’ve lots of tiny little cuts from the glass. You must kiss them better for me in a minute.’ She had exactly the right tone and my admiration went up another notch.
The two boys went from lip-quivering alarm to wide-eyed excitement in a flash. Then I looked up and there was Luc. He was sheet-white, fists clenched. Garrick went to him, murmured something low-voiced in his ear with a nod towards us. Luc closed his eyes for a moment then said, with a calm I didn’t believe for one second, ‘How very alarming for you, Mama. Perhaps we had better discuss it when your woman has seen to your cuts and found something for you and Miss Lawrence to change into.’
He gave the under-keeper a significant look and the man came forward, slinging his long gun over his back. ‘Boys, run along with Hodgkins and let Grandmama and Miss Lawrence come inside and shake the glass from their skirts.’ They scampered away, reassured by the adults’ calm, and Luc strode across the grass, kicking toys out of his way, and grabbed hold of both his mother and me in a vast hug. ‘I am going to kill whoever is behind this.’