The Diabolical Baron

by Mary Jo Putney

  After three hours of being draped with fabrics and discussed as if she weren’t present, a dazed Caroline realized that being fashionable was much more work than she had anticipated. While she was being dressed—not unlike a leg of mutton, as she pointed out with resignation—she amused herself by drifting into a creative haze.

  The obvious subject was a musical fantasy on the subject of fashion: strong on the violin, to convey the gauzy fabrics; some delicate flutes showing the fluttering hands; an erratic oboe passage to add to a general effect most whimsical.

  A pity she lacked access to the musicians needed to turn the composition into living sound; she had the overall piece clear in her mind by the time her two experts declared the results worthy of Lord Radford. Now it only remained for his lordship to agree.

  * * * *

  Ten days later, all was in readiness for the trip to Wildehaven. Madame Arlette’s underpaid minions had labored mightily to create the staggering quantity of clothes deemed essential to Lady Radford. An expert hairdresser had been called in to pull, trim, and tug Caroline’s hair into a multitude of new styles, and her newly acquired personal maid was drilled in their execution until the master was satisfied with her competence.

  The new styles were pulled back more from Caroline’s face, emphasizing the pure line of her profile, the exquisite complexion and delicate features, and the dramatically blue eyes. She felt uncomfortably exposed without her hair to hide behind, but she accepted the change meekly, in keeping with her promise to Jessica to try her best with her future husband.

  When he arrived to pick her up in Adam Street, Jason thought her appearance lacked only vivacity to qualify her as a remarkably attractive woman. Unfortunately, even the best shops in Bond Street could not supply that, but he was well satisfied with her improvement. She was ready promptly, another point in her favor. Not only could patience not be listed as one of Jason’s good points; it was so low on the list of his virtues as to be nonexistent.

  He bowed as she entered the salon. “You look most charming today, Caroline. Madame Arlette has surpassed herself.” This last was no surprise; he had learned of Madame’s expertise while outfitting various mistresses over the years, and knew her skills could be relied upon. “We have perfect traveling weather. The rains of the last two days will have laid the dust, and now we have sunshine to light our way. In truth, I am anxious to return to Wildehaven. Courtship has kept me from home longer than I like.”

  Caroline’s smile was less enthusiastic as she contemplated the ordeal ahead of her. “I look forward to traveling with your famous team of grays. If they are the equal of the chestnuts that pulls your phaeton, they must be praiseworthy indeed.”

  “That they are, and steady as they are handsome.” And mine to keep now, he added silently. “While my men are loading the luggage, I would like to pay my respects to your parents. I trust they will be able to visit Gloucestershire soon.”

  While Jason was exercising his manners on Lady Hanscombe, Caroline received a quick farewell hug from Gina, who assumed that all newly engaged maidens were as happy as herself. She and her mother were leaving for Lincolnshire the next morning, and Gina looked forward to meeting Gideon’s parents with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

  It was not yet ten o’clock when they reached the Sterling house, where they had arranged to pick up Jessica and her daughter. The little square where they lived was not fashionable, but it was a pleasant pocket of peace that hardly seemed to be in London. When they had been let into the house, Caroline excused herself from Jason and went upstairs to see if her assistance was needed.

  “You look particularly splendid today, Jess,” she said, admiring the gold traveling costume that rivaled her aunt’s red hair for sheen and brilliance. “Letting the Diabolical, sorry, Dashing Baron know that you are a force to be reckoned with?”

  “Exactly so,” her aunt laughed. “You know me too well. But in life’s uneven battles, we poor females must use all the weapons at our disposal. We can’t have the Dashing Baron think your chaperon is a cipher who can be ignored with impunity.”

  “A good excuse to justify a new dress, though you usually don’t bother with excuses. And as for being ignored! If you walked down St. James in that dress, all the clubs would empty of gentlemen and they would follow you down the street as if you were the Pied Piper. Is Linda ready?”

  “I believe so. Apart from the fact that I said she couldn’t take Wellesley, she has been ready to leave anytime this last week. If you’ll go to her room and take her down to the salon, I’ll be along in a moment.”

  Caroline grinned inwardly as she went to Linda’s room. Trust Jessica to make a grand entrance; she would have done splendidly at Drury Lane.

  Pacing around a parlor too small for his restless energy, Jason was pleased when Caroline and her cousin entered so quickly. “Jason, I would like to present my cousin Miss Linda Sterling. Linda, Lord Radford.”

  The child bobbed a very proper curtsy. With the ruthless directness of the young, she said, “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Lord Radford. I trust you intend to take proper care of my cousin?”

  Caroline’s stern “Linda!” was drowned out by Jason’s chuckle. “You are clearly a soldier’s daughter, with a talent for attack. I assure you I have every intention of treating your cousin as she deserves, and I will expect you to call me on my failings.”

  Linda nodded, satisfied with his answer. Jason continued, “Your name is unusual; how came you by it?”

  Linda gave a pleased smile. “Linda means ‘pretty’ in Spanish. My mama says when I was born my father said I was the prettiest little thing he had ever seen, and insisted no other name would do.” She paused; then her natural honesty compelled her to add, “Mama says I actually looked like a proper bit of underdone beef.”

  Jason chuckled again. “A surprising degree of candor for a new mother. No doubt your father was seeing into the future and realizing what a heartbreaker you would grow to be. It sounds like your mother coming now. I am anxious to meet her.”

  Moving into the entrance hall, Jason looked up the curving stairs to the source of the footsteps. The heart he thought had died in him more than a dozen years before twisted into painful and unwelcome life at the sight of the golden figure descending.

  Hair like flame, a figure that would keep a Cyprian wrapped in jewels for life, and he knew she would ride like Diana. Glowing with a radiant warmth that surpassed the dazzling loveliness of seventeen; beautiful even beyond dream and memory. Jessica.

  * * * *

  Jessica was chuckling to herself as she came down the staircase, anticipating the trip and the challenges ahead. Though she maintained her own household for the freedom it gave her, London sometimes made her feel claustrophobic.

  Several weeks on a grand country estate with good horses and wide-open spaces to ride them in was a prospect that could not fail to please. There should be a lively social life as well, since Radford would wish to introduce his bride to local society.

  As Jessica came from the brightly lit upper hall, her eyes took a few moments adjusting to the darker vestibule. From the stairs, she saw a tall, dark figure that could only be his lordship, and fixed her best social smile on her face.

  Her first impression was of leashed power and a formidable elegance. Midway down, her step faltered and she stopped, holding the rail to support herself as the blood drained from her face.

  God in heaven, she thought wildly. How can Caroline’s Diabolical Baron possibly be Jason Kincaid? As she stood stock-still, her eyes adjusted enough to see the dark frowning brows.

  Gone was the reckless, open boy, replaced by a man used to power and impatient of obstacles. It was still the handsomest face she had ever seen, but its hard lines made him seem older than his years, accounting for Caro’s misjudgment of his age. The well-cut mouth was set in a tight line, and black eyes bored into hers, icy with anger. Clearly he recognized her, and had forgiven nothing.

  As Caroline
and Linda came into the hall, Jessica was pleased to hear her own voice saying coolly, “Such a surprise, Caroline. I had no idea your Lord Radford was an old acquaintance of mine from before my first Season. When I knew him he was plain Jason Kincaid.”

  Continuing to the bottom of the stairs, she extended her hand to him. and went on, “Indeed, your lordship, I must congratulate you on your high estate. Were you a cousin who came unexpectedly to the title?”

  He bowed punctiliously over her hand and stepped back, answering, “My father was Lord Radford, but I was merely a younger son until my brother met his end. I came into the title five years ago.” He paused, then added coldly, “Of course it is not to be expected you would know how I was placed, since our acquaintance was of the slightest.”

  Jessica flinched at his casual dismissal of what had been the most intense experience of her life. Her emotions tilted wildly from believing he remembered her to being convinced he had forgotten—no doubt he hardly recalled her amongst all the famous society beauties he had known through the years. Consistency was not prominent in her thinking at the moment.

  Since she was about to become his aunt by marriage, the dead past must stay that way—dead and buried beyond redemption.

  Caroline looked uncertainly back and forth between the two tall striking figures. She heard the polite words, but deep in her viscera she could feel murky undercurrents swirling. Jason looked like Zeus about to hurl a thunderbolt, and even her aunt’s unshakable composure seemed forced.

  Given his apparent preference for docile ladies, he must have hated Jessica’s headstrong independence when he knew her in the past. Since she was now less wild but even more independent, he wasn’t likely to appreciate her any better.

  Given a choice, Caroline would have preferred to slip out of the room and disappear; anywhere would be preferable to seeing her betrothed looking like he wanted to murder her dearest friend and relative. But she was responsible for this meeting, so she bravely moved into the breech. “How interesting. You did not know my mother was a Westerly, Jason?”

  His face was stiff but he answered civilly enough. “I must apologize for inadequate research into your antecedents. Having met you, I felt no need to know more. Shall we leave, my dear?” He offered Caroline his arm. She blinked a bit at the endearment and the speech; it was the most lover-like thing he had ever said to her.

  As she took the proffered arm, she smiled brightly and said, “Of course. We have quite a journey to make and I am anxious to be off. Jess, are you and Linda ready?”

  Jessica answered, “Since the luggage is going on the second carriage, there is no reason to delay. I’m sure Lord Radford’s driver can be trusted to take care of the loading. Linda, do you have your shawl? It will be cooler outside of London.”

  Linda nodded. Oblivious of atmosphere, she was intent on her own affairs. Considering the states of mind of the three adults, it was hardly surprising no one noticed the straw basket under her cashmere shawl.

  As they climbed into the carriage, Jason was cursing himself for having chosen to ride within rather than alongside. It had seemed a reasonable step in his plan to further his acquaintance with Caroline, but now the prospect of traveling in such close quarters with his future aunt appalled him.

  Since his shattered nerves still hadn’t recovered from shock, he was abrupt to a point just short of rudeness to Caroline’s conversational sallies. Jessica said nothing at all; only Linda showed any pleasure, peering out the window excitedly and pointing out worthy sights and familiar landmarks on the road.

  Less than an hour sufficed to get them out of the city’s confusion and into the green countryside. Caroline had succumbed to the atmosphere of vibrating tension and sat silent, feeling her temples throb. If this is how the next weeks are going to be, she thought miserably, I’ll be ready for Bedlam. Why can’t the wretched man make some effort to be civil?

  For lack of anything better to do, she took refuge in mentally transforming the situation into a concerto for chamber orchestra. Her knowledge of orchestration was imperfect, but she was sure of one thing: the composition would emphasize drums.

  Lost as she was in her work, at first she missed the small, high-pitched cries. The unexpected noise was almost inaudible over the noises of the creaking carriage, horses’ hooves, and jingling harness, but her sensitive musician’s ear caught it.

  She looked sharply at Linda, who sat across from her, next to Jason. The next time the cry came, she noticed Linda quickly made some remark about the passing scene.

  She had a lively suspicion of what might be the problem, but hesitated to mention it in the strained atmosphere. Her indecision was solved by a new cry that could not be overlooked by anyone present.

  Jessica looked sternly at her daughter and said, “What was that sound?”

  “A ... a hiccup, Mama,” Linda said falteringly.

  “I have never yet heard a hiccup that sounded like that. Have you disobeyed me and brought your kitten?”

  Linda hung her head. “Yes, Mama.” There was no point in lying; the evidence would have overwhelmed her in any case.

  Apparently realizing he had attracted the attention he sought, Wellesley was starting to yowl in earnest. Jason looked on with a nasty glint in his eyes that clearly showed what he thought of women who couldn’t control their children.

  “All right, miss. Where have you hidden him?” Jessica said with resignation.

  Linda reached down and pulled a covered straw basket out from under her trailing shawl. Lifting the basket’s lid, she said, “Here he is, Mama.”

  Lifting the lid proved a serious mistake. Frantic at his confinement, the kitten gave a bloodcurdling cry and exploded out of the basket.

  He cleared his jail in one bound, ricocheted off the blue velvet squabs, and swarmed to the top of the highest available object, shrieking as if a pack of pit dogs were after him.

  Unfortunately, the object he chose to treat as a tree was Lord Radford. The three females stared in horror as the orange ball of fluff came to rest on his lordship’s impeccably tailored shoulder, mewing piteously and leaving a faint trail of colorful fur in its wake.

  Jason’s face was a study in conflicting emotions, none of them pleasant. The appalling moment stretched interminably, punctuated only by continuing cat cries.

  Just when it seemed the tension would explode of its own accord, the silence was broken by a burst of laughter from Jessica. Shaking with mirth, she gasped, “Oh, Jason, if you could only see!”

  Freed of her paralysis, Caroline found herself joining her aunt’s unseemly laughter. “Indeed, my lord, it is so very droll. That such an insignificant beast should perform such an act of lèse-majesté!”

  Torn between outrage and the gales of merriment surrounding him, Jason’s sense of humor won out. Chuckling in spite of himself, he reached up and detached the clinging needle-fine claws. Scratching behind the cat’s ears, he held it up to eye level and said, “And who might this insignificant creature be? It is more than a kitten but much less than a cat.”

  “Wellesley, my lord,” Linda said while she tried to subdue her giggles.

  “After the Iron Duke, you know,” Caroline added helpfully. Unfortunately, this useful information sent her and her aunt off again/

  Some time passed before they were sober. Jason continued stroking the cat; he was no feline expert, but the principle appeared to be the same as for dogs. Wellesley recognized safety in a fellow male and settled down comfortably on the lordly lap.

  When she was capable of rationality again, Jessica said, “I am very sorry, Lord Radford. It has always been a mistake to give my daughter orders that don’t make sense to her.”

  “Doubtless you were exactly the same at her age.” Jason’s tone was dry but no longer hostile. All of the strain in the carriage had vanished during the feline frenzy.

  “Unfortunately yes,” she sighed. “Linda, I should have explained that it was not caprice that made me forbid you to bring Wellesley. Cat
s make your grandmother ill; she sneezes and has trouble breathing. We really can’t bring a cat into the house, and I’m afraid a kitten like Wellesley will not do well among the barn cats.”

  Before Linda could volunteer to sleep in the barn with her pet, Jason said to her, “We can take the cat on to Wildehaven. Unfortunately you will still be deprived of his company, but I trust we can keep him safe.”

  “I suppose that would be best,” Linda said sadly. “I’m sure you will take better care of him than he would have had in London.”

  “Indeed, it is most generous of Lord Radford,” Jessica said.

  “Since we still have a lengthy journey ahead of us, may I ask about the, er, practical arrangements for his care?” Jason inquired, still speaking to Linda.

  Linda turned over what he said and then blushed when she realized what was meant. “Indeed, sir, I brought some food for him but I didn’t think of the other thing.”

  “Never mind,” Jason said soothingly. “We can get a box with some earth in it when we stop for refreshment.”

  The remainder of the journey was considerably more pleasant than the first part; it was hard to tell whether Linda or Wellesley was having the better time.

  Having had scant experience with either cats or small girls, Jason watched them both with amusement. Wellesley proved to be a good traveler when he was allowed the freedom of the coach, distributing his favors impartially as he moved from lap to lap.

  They made good time and arrived at the Sterling family home in Wiltshire at sunset. The small manor had been the secure center for generations of military men and their families, and the party was welcomed warmly.

  Caught up by a gaggle of cousins, Linda raced off to the stables to see how her pony had survived her absence. The adults were glad enough to retire to their rooms with their various uncomfortable thoughts until the pleasantly informal dinner was served.