The Marquess Meets His Match

by Maggi Andersen

  She perched on a gilt chair listening to his footsteps on the staircase while clutching her gloved hands together. What if Robert’s mother refused to see her?

  The butler returned and took Kate’s coat, then led her upstairs to the drawing room. She walked into a room furnished in the dainty chinoiserie style which suited its occupant perfectly. A pale blue and gold patterned Aubusson carpet covered the floor and swags of gold silk hung at the windows. Birds adorned the dull gold wallpaper. Hothouse floral bouquets in porcelain urns sat about on gilt-edged tables, perfuming the air. Lady Charlesworth rather like a flower herself, was dressed in a lilac round gown. She’d turned from where she’d been pacing, her embroidery flung onto the floor at her feet. A flush colored her cheeks and her gaze slid past Kate to the door. It occurred to Kate that she would have hoped her son accompanied her.

  The lady hurried forward. She took Kate’s hands in hers. “Lady St. Malin, how good of you to come.” She drew Kate to sit beside her on the blue damask sofa. “I have ordered tea unless you care for wine?”

  Grateful for something to ease her dry throat, Kate nodded. “Tea will be perfect, thank you.”

  Lady Charlesworth rearranged the cashmere shawl over her slender shoulders with quick nervous fingers. “I was aware that Robert’s uncle planned to have him marry the woman of his choosing.” She smiled. “But I confess, you were a surprise.”

  Kate hoped that no animosity lay behind her words. Robert’s mother was entitled to have wanted a better marriage for her son. She decided to get to the point before the moment turned awkward. “I’ve come to ask for your advice, Lady Charlesworth.”

  The older woman put a pale hand to her throat and threaded her fingers through her pearls. “I’m not sure I can be of any assistance to you, my dear. But I’ll certainly try.”

  “Robert appears troubled. I’m at my wits’ end to understand why.”

  “Troubled?” Tears sparkled in Lady Charlesworth’s blue eyes, disturbingly like her son’s. Her obvious distress sent a shaft of remorse through Kate. Should she have come?

  “He will be mourning his uncle of whom he was inordinately fond.” Lady Charlesworth put her hands to her flushed cheeks. “You must be aware that my son and I have been estranged for some time. I don’t expect that will change now. I used to pray for his forgiveness, but now I just want him to be happy.” Her lips trembled. “I’m sorry if he isn’t.”

  “Robert has told me nothing of this estrangement.” It had been obvious at the ball something was badly amiss between them. How stiff and aloof Robert had been in his mother’s presence, and when Kate had tried to question him, he’d cut her off.

  “No, that doesn’t surprise me. He keeps his own counsel.”

  Lady Charlesworth said no more, and Kate began to wonder if she’d done more harm than good coming here. She leaned forward. “I’m desperate, Lady Charlesworth.”

  “Oh?” Her ladyship’s fingers returned to her pearls. “I wish he would talk to you. It would be so much better for him.” She paused. “It might be helpful for you to know what you’re dealing with.”

  “I shall be discreet concerning anything you wish to tell me, Lady Charlesworth.”

  “The trouble between us, if that is what lies behind his present state of mind, began some time ago, when I married Lord Charlesworth a few months after Robert’s father died. It was far too soon for some, but I had no choice.”

  The recollection seemed to upset her. She drew a handkerchief from her sleeve and twisted it in her lap. “I became enceinte almost immediately, and my daughter born a month early. For some time, I was censured by the ton. Vicious rumors spread accusing me of committing adultery while Robert’s father lay dying.” Her eyes took on a stricken look. “As if I would do such a thing. The ton can be monstrously cruel. Once bereaved a man may marry immediately if he chooses, but a woman is expected to remain in mourning for a year or more. I could not afford to wait. The dreadful financial straits I found myself in made that impossible. I feared for Robert’s and my future. He but a boy, and away at Harrow. It must have been hard for him. I couldn’t tell Robert that the man who’d been a good father to him, was an inveterate gambler. You must do as you see fit, of course. But revealing it now would serve little purpose.” She scrunched the piece of lace in her hand. “My husband and Robert got off to a bad start. Robert never accepted him, which is a shame as he’s a good man. And then things grew worse after Robert became enamored of a young lady who did not meet with our approval. He and Charlesworth argued over it. That was the final straw, and Robert became estranged from us.”

  Kate’s heart swelled with sorrow for Robert. But might this be the reason things were not right between them? Did he still harbor feelings for her? “He was prevented from marrying the woman he loved?”

  “I don’t believe our disapproval prevented the marriage. She chose to marry someone else.”

  “How surprising.” Kate found it impossible for any woman to resist him if he loved them. He could be very appealing when he wished. If only Kate had been the object of his affection and saw that side of Robert: the ardent suitor, passionately seeking her hand in marriage. The swift rush of jealousy ebbed away into despondency.

  Lady Charlesworth nodded with a small smile. “After his separation from us, he grew closer to his uncle. I believe he would have forgiven me and returned to us if his uncle had not been there.” She drew in a breath. “I don’t mean to sound critical. I’m glad St. Malin gave him love and support.”

  Kate wondered if Lady Charlesworth had loved Lord Charlesworth when she first married him. Might it have been a marriage of convenience, too? She certainly seemed very fond of her husband now, and he protective of her, which gave Kate a small spark of hope for the future.

  A footman brought in a tea tray and placed it on the octagonal table in front of the sofa.

  Her ladyship presided over the tray. “Cream?”

  “Thank you.”

  Lady Charlesworth poured tea into flowery cups. She gestured toward the array of cakes on the silver tray. “Do have something to eat, please.”

  Not hungry, Kate politely selected a tiny iced almond cake. She laid a napkin in her lap and nibbled at the cake, without really tasting it. “There must be something I can do.”

  “Perhaps by just being you, my dear. I sense you are a sympathetic soul. I can’t tell you how happy you’ve made me, coming here.”

  “I’m glad I came.” While Kate sipped her tea, the door opened and two children burst into the room. A girl of about twelve with dark hair in curls down her back followed by a tow-haired boy in short trousers. Lady Charlesworth held out her arms. “These are my other two children, Clare and Frederick. Children, please come and greet Robert’s wife.”

  Frederick made a well-practiced bow.

  Clare curtsied, her attention caught by Kate’s wide-brimmed hat adorned with feathers and ribbons. “How pretty,” she said, edging closer.

  “Would you like to try it on?” Kate asked her.

  “Yes, please,” she said in a breathy voice.

  “Oh, no, my dear. You will spoil your coiffure,” Lady Charlesworth protested.

  “Lud, what of that!” Kate laughed. She removed the pin and took off the hat. Placing it on the young girl’s head, she set it at the right angle. “Very fetching! Go and see for yourself.”

  Clare rushed to the long gilt mirror and posed, turning this way and that. It was much too big, but she looked sweet in it. Her mother laughed.

  “Do you know any card tricks?” Frederick took a pack of cards from his pocket and set it on the table.

  “I confess, I’m afraid not,” Kate said.

  “I do. Shall I show you?”

  “Not now, Frederick,” Lady Charlesworth said. “Please say goodbye. Back to the schoolroom, the pair of you. Your governess will be waiting. We shall go to the park in a little while.”

  Clare reluctantly removed the hat from her head and returned it to Kate.

&n
bsp; “You have lovely children,” Kate said, after the door closed behind them.

  “Thank you. Do you… wish for children, my dear?”

  “I do. I hope to have several.” As she said it, a swift, deep yearning filled her.

  “How wonderful.” Lady Charlesworth’s eyes widened as she poured more tea into Kate’s cup.

  “I suppose it’s because I’m an only child that I like big families.” At this point she had no idea if it would ever happen. Robert needed an heir, but at this rate, they would never make peace with one another long enough to produce one.

  “Does Robert want a big family, too?”

  Kate had to be honest. “I’m not sure.”

  Lady Charlesworth shook her head. “Sometimes men need to be…persuaded.”

  “Persuaded?”

  Lady Charlesworth smiled. “Women have a lot of power over men, my dear. A clever woman can achieve what she wants with subtlety.” She gave a laugh. “They need never be aware that they have been manipulated.”

  “Robert recognizes the need for an heir,” Kate said, surprised to find Lady Charlesworth, who looked so demure, a little calculating. But might she be right? An older woman must surely be wiser in these matters.

  Lady Charlesworth smiled proudly. “He is a man of some consequence now, isn’t he?” Her fine brows rose. “Forgive me for saying this, but you love him very much, don’t you? I see it in your eyes when you speak of him. It’s difficult for one woman to hide from another.”

  Kate nodded. “I want a good marriage.”

  Lady Charlesworth smiled. “Then you shall, I’m sure of it. I suspect you are just what Robert needs.”

  “I do hope so.” Kate sighed, not at all convinced of it. “Thank you for inviting me into your home. I mustn’t keep you from your children.” She rose to put on her hat with an urgent need to find Robert and talk to him. Although what that would achieve, she wasn’t sure.

  Robert’s mother stood. She took Kate’s hands and squeezed them. “If only there was some way I might mend this hurt, but I’m afraid it lies in Robert’s hands. I wish you both happy, my dear. Could you, do you think, call on us again?”

  “I should be delighted. If you’d like me to.”

  Lady Charlesworth hugged her. “Oh do, please. Don’t stand on ceremony. Call anytime. We would love to see you.”

  Dusk closed in as the carriage bore Kate home through traffic-filled thoroughfares busy with the men of business seeking finance and trade. The coffee houses and elegant shops began closing their doors as dusk fell. London changed dramatically when night enveloped the city. Soon, the glow of oil-burning street lights would appear as the city came alive, and the playhouses, theatres, pleasure gardens, and gentleman’s clubs and gambling dens began a busy trade.

  The carriage stopped, held up by traffic when a cart lost its load of vegetables. The delay gave Kate time to think of what she had learned. How awful that Robert suffered the loss of his father when just a boy. She’d experienced the pain herself, although she’d been grown up when her parents died.

  And after, what he perceived as his mother’s betrayal, the woman he’d loved and wished to marry broke his heart. Kate tried to bury her curiosity about her. It was painful to think he’d loved this woman passionately. And no doubt, she very different to Kate in every way. Tall and fair perhaps, like Lady Elphinstone?

  Kate sighed.

  If nothing else came of this visit, she now better understood Robert, and why he was afraid to love again. To him, love must mean loss, betrayal, and heartache. She grew determined to make him understand that her love was constant. To gain his trust. She frowned. This would not be achieved in a day. She tapped her fingers on the window ledge, gazing out at the busy streets. The spilled cabbages had been swept aside, and the landau began to move forward.

  With a throb, her soft heart ached for Robert, and her love spilled over. Had she been wrong to push him away? What had Lady Charlesworth said? Sometimes men needed to be persuaded. She thought of the mistress Brigitte had told her about. If Robert felt more in control with a mistress, then Kate determined to act like one, to at least get closer to him.

  She called to the driver. “Please stop at my modiste in Albemarle Street, John.”

  *

  Robert spent the day in discussion with the manager of the pottery factory. He had decided not to sell. They’d devised a new business plan, to enter the porcelain market and broaden their range, which excited him. He called in to White’s to discuss it with a friend, who promptly invited him to dinner. He declined, surprising himself at the need for a quiet evening spent at home. He would like to discuss this venture with Kate who had first given him the idea. But there had been an icy silence between them since his clumsy attempted seduction, and like the coward he seemed to have become, he’d removed himself from her presence.

  And there was the matter of his mistress. Anastasia had requested that he visit her later tonight. He had been seriously neglectful. He wasn’t sure what he might do about that. Only that a man had needs and his were not being fulfilled.

  Chapter Eleven

  When Kate arrived home, she ran upstairs to her bedchamber carrying her parcel. Alone in the room, she held her new purchase up against herself with a shiver of anticipation. She tucked it away where Brigitte would not find it. It wouldn’t do to have the maid nodding approval and comparing her with some duke’s mistress. Even though Kate had decided to act like one.

  That evening, when Robert entered the salon before dinner, there was a small bruise and a cut on his cheekbone.

  She moved closer to inspect it. “What happened?”

  Robert touched the wound tentatively as if he’d forgotten about it. “I connected with a branch while riding in the park.” He held out his arm. “Shall we dine?”

  “In Hyde Park?” She looked at him doubtfully as they walked to the dining room, knowing what a fine rider he was. “You should be more careful. Have you had it attended to?”

  “It’s just a scratch.”

  “You can’t be too careful—”

  “Please don’t fuss, Charity,” Robert said as they entered the dining room. “I don’t need my wife to turn into a mother.”

  The footman seated Kate, then slipped from the room.

  Kate settled herself, tucking her skirts around her. “I have no wish to be. For you won’t allow your mother into your life.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  She swallowed, almost losing her nerve when she met his cool blue eyes. “Only that it should occur to you that an older and wiser woman is an asset to any family.”

  “I’ve got on quite well without my mother advising me. I am hardly in leading strings.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I dislike this conversation. Might we change it? I wish to tell you that I have an engagement later this evening.”

  “Where?” Suspicious, Kate frowned, as hot jealousy coursed through her. Her desire to make peace with him evaporated.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Something I promised a friend. Not something I desire to do.”

  “You treat your friends better than your wife, my lord.”

  He sighed. “You are yet to learn the way we live here in London, Kate.”

  “Perhaps I don’t wish to learn it,” she said heatedly. “Particularly if I must become cruel and careless of people’s feelings!” She was failing badly in her effort to be seductive. Maybe it went against her nature.

  Robert’s expression silenced her as Hove entered to decant the wine.

  The footman brought in the shellfish soup filling the air with fragrant steam. Aware she was making things a good deal worse, she picked up her spoon. There would be time enough later. His mother’s words still rang in her ears. She disliked being manipulative. It might work to bring them together, so she was willing to try. But she had to admit that her confidence of achieving success had reached its lowest ebb.

  *

  At nine
of the clock, Robert left the house with a shrug of frustration. Kate found so many of the conventions of the ton to be false, and through her eyes, forced him to see it, too. Not something to dwell on now, however, and he pushed the thought away. He lit a cheroot and attempted to ease his tense shoulders as the landau negotiated the London streets. His attempts failed because Kate’s disappointed face kept appearing in his mind’s eye. He was still as tense as a violin string after the carriage deposited him outside Anastasia’s building and he climbed the stairs to her apartment.

  As usual, the pleasure gardens were rowdy, and the performers lacked inspiration and talent. And Anastasia was particularly annoying.

  “We have not made love since you married,” she fired at him when they returned to her rooms when he’d again resisted an invitation to her bed. “I believe you are in love with your wife.”

  “You think so?” His cool look was meant to silence her.

  That failed also, for Anastasia wasn’t about to let the matter go. “I am not allowed to speak her name. If you’re so fond of her, why are you here?”

  “Why indeed?” Robert replied, as his unruly thoughts turned to Kate at home alone. “If a man must answer to his mistress as he does his wife, their association should end.”

  She poked him in the chest. “I agree. Despite you being an accomplished lover, I find myself in need of a patron who wants to come to see me. And bed me,” she threw at him.

  “No doubt you already have one picked out.” Robert opened the front door. He was surprised at how little he cared. With a curt bow he left her.

  “I have several,” she called after him and slammed the door.

  As he walked down the steps, Robert tucked his brass-topped cane beneath his arm, pulled on his gloves, and shoved on his hat. He entered the street, strangely light, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. What a fool he’d been! Women were such romantics. They thought love was at the root of everything. Might he be in love with Kate? He found more and more that he wanted to be with her. And his urge to make love to her was becoming impossible to bear. But dammit! It wasn’t unreasonable to desire a beautiful woman who was sleeping down the corridor, was it? He defied even a monk not to be continually bothered by it.