The Highwayman's Daughter Read Online Free PDF Page A

coachman. Of course. Jack should have known his father would have heard of the episode almost before it had come to an end. In fact, he would hear of any episodes involving his son and Rupert for as long as his loyal servants were present.
    ‘And I had a rapier at my throat,’ said Jack, irritation prickling between his shoulder blades. Too late he realised how churlish he sounded. No doubt his father’s informants had told him that too, and if he had chosen not to mention it, most likely it was because it was obvious that Jack had come to no harm.
    ‘Yes, so I hear,’ commented the earl drily. ‘Why didn’t you stay at the town house? You’re welcome there any time; you know that. Or you could have stayed at your club.’
    Jack sat down in front of him. ‘I didn’t want to open up the house just for one night, and as for staying at the club …’ He paused knowing that his next words would likely vex his father. ‘I thought it best to get Rupert out of town for a spell. The gaming tables were proving to be too much of a temptation.’
    ‘And since when have I appointed you to be his nursemaid?’
    ‘Since you let him loose in London to squander away the family fortune,’ Jack retorted and met his father’s eyes.
    The earl’s eyebrows rose. ‘Harsh words. Surely it hasn’t come to that yet?’
    ‘Perhaps not yet,’ Jack conceded.
    ‘So let me get this straight. Instead of letting your cousin lose a few harmless guineas in a den of iniquity, you both suffered losses because of a common thief?’
    Hardly harmless
, thought Jack, recalling the large sums changing hands. The highwaywoman had merely taken off with the dregs. Yet he felt himself flush at the rebuke. ‘Yes, that about sums it up,’ he snapped. ‘Clearly I acted without proper forethought.’
    ‘Steady on, son. I was merely concerned for your safety. Most people are aware that travelling across the Heath at night is bad for your health, but perhaps that piece of information passed you by? Remember what happened to poor Lady Heston? Both you and Rupert need to take the threat of highwaymen seriously and not go travelling late in the night. I’ll make sure I remind him of it too. You could have been killed.’
    ‘Fortunately it didn’t come to that.’
    ‘Fortunately indeed.’ This time the corners of the earl’s eyes crinkled with amusement.
    Jack returned the smile although inwardly he sighed. He was aware that his father made allowances for Rupert because he had lost his parents at a young age, but it still rankled that he was often taken to task for it and not Rupert. However, he had too much respect and affection for his father to let this develop into a full-scale argument.
    The earl seemed to share this caution. ‘Enough on the subject. After my cousin died, I swore I would see his children right, and I have no intention of going back on my promise. Rupert will soon settle down once he’s sown a few wild oats.’
    Jack nodded, although he didn’t share his father’s confidence. He sensed a recklessness in Rupert to which it seemed the earl was turning a blind eye. A wild streak bordering on ruthlessness, even, well-hidden behind the convivial exterior of an aloof and somewhat foppish man-about-town.
    While he ate, he regarded his father surreptitiously. The epitome of a perfect nobleman, the earl was dressed in a white cambric shirt, pale yellow waistcoat and dark breeches. His coat of fine red wool had been slung carelessly over the back of a dining chair, and he was leaning back in his seat with one arm resting on top of the coat. His once jet-black hair was now a courtly pewter, cut short for the ease of wearing a wig when formalities required it, but his brilliant blue eyes had lost none of their lustre to age.
    Not for the first time did Jack marvel at their different looks; with his own brown hair and hazel eyes he knew he favoured his mother, Lady Lampton. Even Rupert’s hair was black, as was Cousin