The Duke Conspiracy: A Sweet Regency Romance Adventure (Mayfair Mayhem Book 1)

by Wendy May Andrews

  “The poor man. That particular shade would look perfectly lovely on someone else, I am sure but certainly not him.” Elizabeth paused for a moment in contemplation before continuing, “He is a widower. His wife died a couple years ago. It is just him and his daughter. You might recall the Chadwick girls mentioned that they had called on Lady Anne to interrogate her, I mean, ask her about dancing with the duke.”

  Rose was grateful Elizabeth was not looking at her while giving her that reminder, as she was certain her feelings were not well hidden, and she did not wish to be making up any more nonsensical explanations at the moment.

  Elizabeth was still speaking. “It would seem they are not terribly flush with funds. Perhaps the viscount has turned off his valet. If I recall correctly, I overheard my father mentioning that Lord Austen had made some bad investments since his wife passed. I do believe Lady Anne is in Town trying to make an advantageous match.”

  With relief, Rose heard the next performance striking up, so no further conversation was possible at the moment. Her mind raced with all the complications. She really should hate the duke, but she had never been able to bring herself to that point. They certainly were no longer friends. However, not that far in the distant past, he was her very best friend. Did that not require a certain degree of loyalty? And then there was the matter of the other man. The one who seemed to be orchestrating the scheme against Alex. Sir Jason Broderick. Another shiver slithered down her back. It was not at all pleasant.

  Something really did need to be done about the conversation she overheard. But to whom could she turn? Her father would be blind to the implications because it involved Wrentham. No one else could be trusted with what she knew. Not that she knew very much. And she certainly didn’t know very many people, so it was entirely possible she could trust someone else. Elizabeth’s father perhaps? Rose quickly dismissed that possibility as she continued to feign intense interest in the musicale. While the earl had seemed perfectly kind when she had been introduced to him, she could not imagine herself confiding in the man. Lord Castleton was a pleasant but distant gentleman. She could not imagine him welcoming her confessions.

  In this particular case, the fact that someone was trying to entrap the duke, Alex would be the best one to talk to. But if she spoke directly to Alex, he would want to know everything and there were so many details she absolutely could not tell him. Things she knew about Broderick from her time in Vienna. Things the always correct Duke of Wrentham would not welcome hearing from her. Could she manage to brazen it out, telling him only about the attempt to catch him in the parson’s mousetrap and leave out the details about why and how she knew so much about the conspirator? Surely his wealth and position as Duke of Wrentham could be explained as reason enough.

  Rose sighed in resignation. It was not the best plan ever hatched, but it was the best she could come up with on her own.

  “Are you all right?” Elizabeth whispered at her side.

  “As right as rain,” Rose answered with a grin.

  “That is a nonsensical expression, but you sighed just now, it made me concerned.”

  “Did you not find that musical number to be as moving as I did?” Rose asked, managing to keep a straight face despite her friend’s dubious expression.

  “Apparently not.” Elizabeth’s answer was dry before they were hushed back into silence by the other spectators.

  Once the musical portion of the evening was complete, Lady Yorkleigh announced that refreshments were being served in an adjoining room. The sound of many conversations swelled to fill the rooms, echoing slightly off the high, ornate ceiling. The crystals in the chandeliers shivered and tinkled with the vibrations.

  As the two friends made their way slowly to the other room to have a glass of punch, Rose intercepted Elizabeth’s inquiring look.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “You seem different since the beginning of the musicale. I just cannot put my finger on what has changed.” Elizabeth paused for a moment, gazing at her companion with her head cocked to the side. “You seem tense or on edge. Do you care to tell me about it?”

  Rose’s lips parted as she thought of a plausible explanation for her distraction or tension, but then she quickly remembered that she had claimed to be moved by the music. Someone moved by the music would not be so quick to be on edge, was her frantic thought, as she tried to come up with something believable to say. Bringing order to her disordered thoughts, Rose forced her shoulders to relax as she turned her face more fully towards her friend with a warm, brilliant smile.

  “How could I possibly be uptight at such an event as this?” she asked before lowering her voice in conspiratorial tones. “Aside from the usual reasons of this being a ton event, of course,” she muttered with a wink. “But did you not think those last couple of numbers were exquisite? I do believe we shall hear those musicians many times throughout this Season, as they shall no doubt be in high demand to perform at other functions.”

  Elizabeth did not look fully convinced but accepted Rose’s words with good grace. “I am sure you are correct. While I did not feel it to be the earth-shattering experience you seem to have found it, many of the performers did do remarkably well. We must find Lady Yorkleigh and express our appreciation.”

  Rose pulled a face at her friend’s words.

  “You, of either of us, should be eager to do so, since you enjoyed the performances so very much.”

  “Are you certain a note of appreciation would not be sufficient?” Rose asked plaintively.

  “Quite. Now hurry along if you have finished with your punch, let us go and speak with her now, there does not seem to be much of a crowd surrounding her at the moment.”

  ∞∞∞

  Rose was mentally castigating herself for her choice of words, as she was strangely reluctant to approach the countess. But in all reality, she had enjoyed the musicale and Elizabeth was correct, it was only right that they compliment their hostess in person.

  The Society matron smiled in welcome as the girls approached her. Rose admired the deep teal of her beautiful gown; the embroidery on the soft cotton organdy caught the light and nearly shimmered.

  “Lady Yorkleigh, thank you so much for your generous hospitality this evening.” Elizabeth began the conversation as they neared the countess.

  Rose quickly chimed in. “The performances were exceptionally well done. You must have put a great deal of thought into choosing your performers.”

  “Why thank you, you dear girls,” Lady Yorkleigh answered graciously. “I am so pleased that you are enjoying yourselves. I was not certain the younger ladies would enjoy a musical evening as much as a ball.”

  “Balls are all fine and good, but a musicale is food for the soul,” Rose enthused, much to Elizabeth’s amusement. Rose had to work hard to control her own giggles as she saw her friend struggling to keep her face from breaking into a grin.

  Lady Yorkleigh regarded Rose with elevated eyebrows. “Are you being serious, young lady?”

  “Actually, I am. I think music is one of the most beautiful things that was ever invented.” Rose had no struggle infusing her voice with full sincerity, as she really did love all things musical. “Of course, at a ball you can enjoy the music, too, but there are added complications that oftentimes interfere with the unadulterated pleasure of a well performed piece.”

  The countess’s smile increased in sincerity as Rose spoke. “How true that is, my dear Miss Smythe. I remember my first Season. There were many distractions to contend with. But are you enjoying the Season despite the complications, as you said?”

  “Oh yes, of course,” Rose stretched the truth a wee bit for the sake of tact. “Without the Season, I would not have made the acquaintance of my dear friend, Lady Elizabeth, which would have been a sad thing indeed.”

  The three well-bred ladies shared a smile over these words before their hostess inquired politely, “Have you two had a chance to have some refreshments and mingle wi
th the other guests? There are no doubt some here that you have not yet met, Miss Smythe, as this is your first Season. Would you like me to introduce you?”

  Despite her usual composure, Rose felt her cheeks beginning to blush with the pleasure of being thus singled out by the countess. “That is exceedingly generous of you, my lady. I would not wish to impose.”

  “No imposition at all. Now come along. I am quite certain I have invited some highly eligible young men that you absolutely must meet.”

  With those words, Lady Yorkleigh set off across the room. With a wry, questioning look exchanged between them, Rose and Elizabeth set off in her wake. Rose wanted to turn away from following the countess when she saw her heading toward a handsome young man who seemed engrossed in conversation. The other man had his back toward them, but Rose had a sinking feeling it was the man she had overheard earlier speaking to Lord Austen. She so did not want to talk to him!

  “Lord Edgecombe and Sir Broderick, I trust you are having an enjoyable evening,” Lady Yorkleigh began, causing the two gentlemen to quickly turn and bow respectfully to their hostess.

  “My lady, we are having a marvellous time,” enthused the handsome young lord as he bent over his hostess’s hand, placing a gallant kiss on the back of her wrist.

  “Who are your lovely friends, my lady?”

  Rose barely suppressed her shudder at the sound of Sir Broderick’s voice. She felt the slither all the way down to her toes. He put her in mind of the snake she had seen at a fair being held in Vienna. The romantic side of Rose had always considered that men with the title sir should always be even more gentlemanly than other men of the ton due to the origins of the knighthood. It seemed to Rose that Sir Jason Broderick had never been of the same mind. She managed to maintain her composure as the countess performed the introductions.

  Lady Yorkleigh began with Lady Elizabeth, but as she introduced Rose to Sir Broderick, Rose could not help interrupting.

  “Sir Broderick and I are already acquainted. We attended a few of the same functions while we were both in residence in Vienna, while my father was occupied with the Congress.”

  “Oh, how lovely,” Lady Yorkleigh replied, her tone correctly polite, although her bright eyes seemed to Rose to be looking right into her soul. Rose bolstered the sincerity of her smile as much as she was able. It became less difficult as she turned her attention to the conversation Elizabeth was having with Lord Edgecombe. She hoped fervently that the young viscount was not involved in any nefarious plots with Sir Broderick. Rose could not bring herself to trust anyone she saw conversing with the slippery knight.

  “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady,” he was saying. “And you, too, Miss Smythe. Are the two of you enjoying the Season thus far?”

  “Oh, yes,” Elizabeth answered promptly while Rose merely smiled politely, neatly sidestepping the question.

  Not allowing her off the hook, his lordship probed a little deeper. “I heard you mention you had been in Vienna with your father. Does that mean this is your first Season here in London?”

  “As a matter of fact it is, my lord. It has been an interesting experience thus far, I must say.”

  These words caused the viscount to throw back his head and laugh. Rose was torn between embarrassment over the attention brought to their small group and appreciation of his grasp of her subtle humour. She was relieved when he turned to Elizabeth and questioned her.

  “Tell me, my lady, have you found the Season to be interesting as well?”

  “Infinitely more so now that I have the enjoyment of the presence of my new friend Miss Smythe,” she replied, staunchly loyal, unsure if the viscount was making fun of Rose or not.

  As though he were feeling like he was being ignored, Sir Broderick took this opportunity to enter the conversation. “Have the two of you ladies been friends for long? I did not think Miss Smythe had been long returned to Britain’s fair shores.”

  Rose stiffened slightly at the implication that he was aware of her whereabouts but managed not to verbalize her reaction, leaving Elizabeth to answer the question directed at her however she wished.

  “In some ways it feels as though we have been friends forever, but you are quite correct, our acquaintance is not of a terribly long standing.” Elizabeth either picked up on her friend’s discomfort or took the knight into dislike on her own account; Rose could see that her usually sunny smile was noticeably dimmed as she turned it upon Sir Broderick. “Did you enjoy Vienna, my lord? Miss Smythe has been regaling me with amusing tales of her time spent there.”

  Rose was grateful that the knight had never become aware of any of her involvements in the Congress as he turned and gave Rose a look bordering on pity as he replied to Elizabeth’s question. “The ladies, of course, enjoyed the fairer aspects of life in that fine city while we gentlemen saw to the actual work of the Congress. Much of the time I was in Vienna I was far too busy to enjoy what the city had to offer.”

  “What a shame,” Elizabeth answered briefly before turning her attention back to Lord Edgecombe. “Have you ever visited Vienna? I must admit, I am a little envious of my friend as I have really been nowhere.”

  Rose nearly rolled her eyes as the young viscount hastened to reassure Elizabeth. “But my lady, that is not the case. You have been to London and really, that is all that matters. It is true that I have seen a little more of the world than you, having made the Grand Tour with my tutor after I finished school, but there is nowhere finer than our fair country, and the greatest city in the world is our very own London.”

  Lady Yorkleigh had remained with the small group during this exchange, and she stepped into the conversation at this point. “Your patriotic loyalty is to be commended, my lord. It is a shame the prince is not here to hear your words. He would, no doubt, be heartened by them. Now if you gentlemen will excuse us, I would like to bear off my friends to introduce them to a few of my other guests.”

  With those words, the countess swept Elizabeth and Rose off with her. After they were out of earshot, she paused briefly to comment to the girls in a tone low enough not to be overheard by the other guests. She kept a poised smile on her face so no one would be able to guess what they were discussing.

  “I apologize, my dears. I had not noticed that Sir Broderick was in company with Lord Edgecombe. Otherwise, I would not have directed you there for the introduction. While I think the viscount is a sweet, charming boy, I cannot quite bring myself to like Sir Broderick and would recommend that you be wary if you ever find yourselves in his company. He is an associate of my husband, which is how he ended up on my guest list this evening. I would normally not be so indiscrete as to tell you of my true feelings in a matter such as this, but I have decided that I like the two of you and thus needed to plant the warning in your ear.”

  Rose decided then and there that she quite liked the lovely countess. “Have no fear, my lady. You can be sure that neither of us will bandy about your words. And I had already come to my own conclusions about Jason Broderick long ago. You can count on the both of us to be cautious if we find ourselves in association with him in the future.” Dropping into a respectful curtsy, Rose continued, “We appreciate your kindness in taking the time to perform some introductions and for having a care about us. But we truly have no wish to monopolize your time, my lady.” Glancing around with shrewd eyes Rose concluded, “You have already done us a world of good just by singling us out in such a way, but we should really allow you to get back to the rest of your guests.”

  With a trill of pleasant laughter the countess grasped Rose’s hand in a warm clasp. “You are a dear minx. I shall enjoy furthering our acquaintance in the coming weeks. You really must call upon me at my next at home, which is two days hence. You are probably quite correct that the rest of my guests will not be overly appreciative if I spend too much time with any one guest, so I shall see you back to your mothers.”

  Lady Yorkleigh took a moment to greet Lady Smythe before she hurried away to
speak with others.

  “What a perfectly lovely lady she seems to be,” Rose’s mother commented a moment after the countess left them. “How kind of her to take some time to see to your introductions. You should cultivate the connection if possible, my dear. It could do you well. To be sure, you need all the help you can get as the awkward daughter of a mere baron.”

  Rose intercepted Elizabeth’s sympathetic look and felt the heat rising in her cheeks. Despite her heightened colour, Rose kept her face impassive. She excused herself from her mother’s side with a few choice words. “Elizabeth and I had been on our way to check out the refreshments when we encountered the countess. With your permission, we will return there for a few moments.”

  “Very well, my dear, but see that you do not stray too far. We should be taking our leave before too long.”

  The two girls strolled away. When they were out of earshot they shared a brief giggle.

  “Oh, my dear, I should not laugh as it really is at your expense, but your mother is just terrible at times.”

  “Laughter is the best way to handle her. But never with her around, of course.” The two girls shared another giggle over this before Rose continued. “In her defence, she has faced many disappointments in life and it has moulded her into the lady you now see. It is unfortunate that I did not make my debut before my brother’s death. She was a much different person back then. Of course, I was much too young then, but you know what I mean.”

  “Indeed I do. Now, let us go and see if there are any of those scrumptious-looking pastries left that I had spied earlier.”

  As the two girls sampled the treats and enjoyed another glass of the punch, they made small talk with some of their fellow guests for a few moments before being left on their own again.

  “Do you plan to take Lady Yorkleigh up on her invitation to call on her?” Elizabeth asked with curiosity.