A Season of Romance

by Wendy Soliman

  Adela bit her lip. ‘My aunt.’

  ‘Ah.’

  ‘Quite. I’m afraid I got a little carried away. She is starting to try and ingratiate herself into my household, which I cannot tolerate. So I made her aware that she would get no financial help from me, and that I would not consider an offer from her son.’

  ‘That was impetuous. You have forced Ripon’s hand.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose I have.’ She bit her lower lip in that endearing manner of hers. ‘Even so, I prefer for there to be no misunderstandings. But now you have created a much worse situation with your selfless actions. If Daniel is as desperate as you suppose, if he did shoot at us and attack Mr Harker today, there’s no saying what he might do.’

  ‘Lock your door at night and he cannot do anything.’ He touched her hand. ‘This will all be over in a day or two, at least insofar as the traitor is concerned.’

  She sent him a startled look. ‘How can you be so sure?’

  ‘Instinct. Anyway, once we have unmasked him, we will be at leisure to deal with your troublesome cousin.’

  ‘That, my lord, is not your fight.’

  He glanced down at her hand on his sleeve. ‘It is now,’ he said softly.

  ‘If you insist upon singling me out, everyone will expect you to propose. You assume you are safe because I know you are trying to protect me and I will pretend to have declined an offer that you will not actually make.’ She sent him a mischievous smile. ‘But what if I insist upon your making it?’

  ‘Then I shall marry you, naturally.’

  ‘How very romantic,’ she said, wrinkling her nose. ‘But don’t worry. I shall never be tempted to promise to love, honour and obey you. Not unless I can convince myself that I shall be able to keep that promise.’

  ‘You are not an easy lady to impress, Lady Adela.’

  ‘And you are a little too self-assured, Lord Bairstow.’

  Harker paused beside them, toting a tray loaded with glasses brimming with champagne. Ezra took two and handed one to Adela.

  ‘Thank you. I am in need fortification after your little display of possessiveness,’ she said, taking a sip and sneezing as the bubbles went up her nose.

  ‘His lordship being dictatorial again, is he, m’lady?’ Harker asked in an undertone and with an irreverent grin splitting his face.

  ‘More than you can possibly imagine,’ Adela replied, rolling her eyes.

  ‘Go about your duties and keep your eyes peeled,’ Ezra said wearily.

  ‘Everyone is looking at us,’ Adela said, as Harker disappeared and they strolled the length of the room. ‘And talking about us too, from the snippets I have overheard.’

  ‘Get accustomed to it. I want them to talk about us, and you only have yourself to blame if all the men in this room are salivating at the sight of you in that gown.’

  ‘You mean to make me feel uncomfortable, but it won’t serve. I enjoy being unconventional and breaking the rules.’ She grinned up at him. ‘Shall I be banned from the best drawing rooms for fear of being a bad influence, do you suppose?’

  ‘Unlikely, since you have secured my interest.’

  She shook her head. ‘Have you any idea how arrogant that sounds?’

  ‘It wasn’t supposed to.’ He let out a heavy sigh. ‘It’s just the way things are. I am wealthy and will one day be a duke, so anything I do and anyone I take up with instantly becomes fashionable; their idiosyncrasies overlooked.’

  ‘I would find that trying beyond belief.’

  ‘Now you begin to understand.’

  ‘Is that why you became a spy? You wanted to do something worthwhile out of the public eye.’ She nodded, without waiting for him to respond. ‘I can quite understand that desire. As for me, being raised away from all of this…’ She spread a hand to encompass the entire room, full of elegantly-attired socialites who abided by the rules she found so ridiculous. ‘It has made me independent, I suppose. I have learned to be myself, and frankly I don’t much care if society frowns at my behaviour.’ She smiled up at him, her expression full of mischief. ‘It’s quite a liberating attitude in many ways.’

  ‘I don’t mean to pressure you,’ he said after a brief pause, ‘but have you had an opportunity to go through your father’s papers yet?’

  ‘No, but I have taken them all up to my room and locked them away there. I couldn’t risk Daniel breaking into the library, which I would not put past him.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Why is no one attempting to speak with us?’ she asked after they had strolled a little further in companionable silence.

  ‘Because they are more interested in seeing what I do.’ He picked up her gloved hand and kissed the back of it. ‘There, that will give them something to gossip about,’ he said, grinning at her affronted look.

  ‘You really do like playing with fire, don’t you?’

  ‘Not as a general rule, but you bring out the worst in me.’

  She laughed aloud. ‘I doubt whether you need much encouragement to misbehave.’

  His expression turned deadly serious. ‘Be careful, my sweet. There is only so much provocation a man can take. If you continue to bait me, I might feel inclined to retaliate.’

  ‘Oh.’

  Her cheeks warmed, her eyes sparkled and she looked very interested indeed in the subject he had so foolishly raised. Damnation, he must not flirt with her! He was severely tempted by her unconventional spirit and had long since ceased to think of her as being plain. Attractive females were ten a penny but none of them had a tenth of her intelligence, irreverence and joie de vivre.

  ‘Someone should tell you cousin that it’s rude to scowl in public.’

  ‘Oh, Daniel is a law unto himself.’ Adela wrinkled her brow. ‘Do you really think it was he who shot at us yesterday and attacked Mr Harker this afternoon?’

  ‘I certainly think he’s stupid and desperate enough to do both of those things. He knew where you were going this afternoon, since you were obliging enough to tell his mother. Even though he was in London yesterday morning, I fail to see how he could have known you intended to ride early in the park, though.’ He paused. ‘Unless someone in this house spies on you.’ Adela shivered. ‘You suspect someone?’

  ‘My maid,’ she replied instantly. ‘There’s something about her attitude that rankles. But I don’t suppose her path ever crossed Daniel’s before she came here, so why would she risk her position?’

  ‘I will mention your suspicions to Harker. He has a way of getting to the bottom of things. I am not comfortable with the thought of Ripon living beneath your roof.’

  ‘I don’t want him here either, but I can hardly throw him out. That would upset Mama, and I’m not prepared to go that far.’

  Ezra laid his hand over her much smaller one that rested on his arm. ‘I would not ask you to. We shall just have to find another way to put an end to his shenanigans. Now then, I suppose we had better circulate. I have monopolised you for too long. But you can be sure that I shall not leave until the last of the guests has gone. In the meantime, I’m about to do a little snooping.’

  She blinked at him, but since he had left her with her mother and a circle of other ladies, she could hardly question him about his intentions. He knew that she would be kept busy fending off dozens of questions about very different intentions. Ezra chuckled, mentally wishing her luck with that endeavour. There was duty, of course, but he found himself now in an area that was above and beyond simple duty. It was new territory for him. He had never even contemplated the idea of dallying with an unmarried female’s affections for the sake of King and country.

  And that was the only reason why he had taken that course. Wasn’t it?

  Chapter Twelve

  Daniel stared at Adela and Bairstow with ill-disguised disbelief.

  ‘You assured me that he had no serious interest in her,’ he hissed in a furious aside to his mother.

  ‘I am as astonished as you are, but I still cannot bring myself to belie
ve that his interest is genuine. He must be playing some sort of game. I hear tell that he indulged in covert work for the government during the war.’

  ‘Good lord, Mother.’ Daniel’s head jerked up, but his tone turned condescending. ‘Everyone knows that Bairstow is an idle aristocrat who would never risk his neck anywhere near a battlefield.’ Daniel hadn’t either; not in a red coat, anyway. But he chose to ignore the apparent similarities between himself and the man who seemed determined to stand between him and his plans. ‘Where do you hear these things?’

  ‘I have my sources. Anyway, my advice is not to underestimate Bairstow. There is more to him than meets the eye. If I am right about his occupation then I imagine his interest in our Adela has more to do with her father’s career, although I have absolutely no idea why.’

  ‘Would a man of that ilk set tongues wagging for the sake of duty, when the war is over and won? If he needs to win Adela’s confidence for some reason, there are surely less drastic ways of going about it. The chit is clearly besotted with him and would tell him anything he needs to know. And yet he called specifically to see my aunt before we came down. That can only mean one thing. He is serious about her.’

  ‘Since you are not, you will just have to forget about recovering what we both know should have been yours and cast your net wider.’

  ‘Not a chance!’

  ‘Use your sense, Daniel! I am as angry and frustrated as you are, but facts must be faced. We have both seriously underestimated the extent of Adela’s determination to do as she pleases, regardless of her obligations. She has made it clear that she has no interest in you. Even if she may have had, Bairstow’s attentions have turned her head.’ His mother gave a disgusted little tut. ‘Just look at the way she laughs with him, fluttering her lashes like a common doxy. She will earn herself a reputation if she continues in that vein. And as for that gown…well, words fail me.’

  Daniel, who thought the gown flattered her very well, didn’t respond.

  ‘Anyway, there’s nothing you can do to harm Bairstow. Recognise your limitations, my dear, and fix your interest elsewhere.’ She nodded across the room at Miss Dillon, who kept casting encouraging looks in Daniel’s direction. ‘She has a decent dowry and seems to like what she sees in you.’

  ‘Nothing in comparison to this house and the fortune my uncle left to his daughter when it should have come to me.’ Daniel ground his jaw. ‘Besides, Miss Dillon is a mouse. I spoke to her yesterday for ten minutes and she bored me rigid. Adela, for all her impertinence, is challenging and never tedious. Besides, I rather like the idea of taming her.’

  ‘Which I have been encouraging you to do. But now Bairstow has her in his sights you will be wasting your time. Every unmarried female in England has her heart set on him, and many of the married ones too. Adela’s head will be turned, you just mark my words. Either exercise patience, wait until Bairstow has got whatever it is that he wants from her and withdraws, or forget her all together.’

  ‘The library is locked; did you know that?’

  ‘No, I did not. Presumably her father’s papers are inside. I dare say Bairstow is keen to go through them for some reason. It would explain why he’s dancing attendance upon Adela, but the little minx knows it and is playing him at his own game.’

  Daniel grunted and wandered further into the room, intent upon being charming and pretending he didn’t have a care in the world. But in actual fact his cousin’s behaviour had aroused his competitive spirit. Bairstow’s interest in her worried him for very different reasons. He wanted her more badly than ever now—and not just because it would seem like justice to beat her conniving father at his own game.

  He wanted her because she was so unconventional. And because she looked more beguiling than she had any right to in the gown that so offended his mother’s sensibilities. Damn it! Daniel turned away before she caught him gawping at her. The chit had got him into such a lather of jealousy and desire that he felt like hitting something.

  Or someone.

  Bairstow’s taunting features filled his mind’s eye. How he would love to give the arrogant cove the thrashing he so richly deserved. But he could not, would not, demean himself. He would bide his time, wait until Bairstow tired of Adela and then defend her honour. She would be heartbroken at that point, of course, and grateful to him for coming to her defence. He would be magnanimous and offer to marry her even if Bairstow had beaten him to the spoils, thereby saving her reputation.

  Feeling a little better now that he had a plan of sorts, convinced that Bairstow would tire of her, he joined the nearest group and made conversation without thinking about what he said. Several of the unmarried ladies gathered around him, but he barely spared any of them a glance. They didn’t interest him.

  ‘We are all green with envy,’ one of the girls told Daniel in a private aside when Adela and Bairstow promenaded past them, eyes for no one other than each other. ‘Your cousin seems to have attracted Lord Bairstow’s exclusive attention. He never ordinarily attends events like this one, and if he does he never stays for long.’

  ‘You wonder what he sees in her, I would imagine, when you are so much prettier than my cousin.’

  The girl preened at the compliment. ‘Well, I’m sure I don’t know about that.’

  Daniel could have told her that she had no idea of the way men’s minds worked. Physical beauty was not the be all and end all, and she didn’t come close to comparing with Adela in so many important ways. She would not have understood. Daniel barely understood it himself.

  He excused himself, slipped quietly from the room and headed for the door to the library. None of the guests had reason to venture into that part of the house and the servants were too busy to do more than rush past it, attending to the needs of the guests milling about in the drawing room. Daniel urgently wanted to discover what was so important that Adela felt the need to lock it away. And why the most eligible bachelor within the ton was willing to risk becoming leg-shackled in order to get his hands on it.

  He turned the handle, more in hope than expectation, and was shocked when it opened to his touch. Since he was a guest in the house and the door was unlocked, the need for caution no longer existed. The room was in darkness and there was no fire. Daniel felt along the mantle until his hand fell upon a tinder box. He struck a light and held it to a candle, glancing around with interest as the flame flickered, casting a shadowy glow over book-lined walls and a large desk situated beneath the window. There was nothing on its surface, other than a high shine. Daniel placed his candle down and started rifling through the drawers.

  They were empty of everything expect blank paper.

  ‘Why lock the door?’ he muttered aloud. ‘There must be something.’

  He conducted a methodical search of the rest of the room, but found nothing to excite his suspicions. He wondered if Bairstow had already found whatever it was he had come in search of. If so, why the very public display of partiality for Adela? Unless, of course, he felt the same undefinable draw towards her that Daniel himself did. He shook his head to dispel the notion, well aware that men of Bairstow’s wealth and consequence did not give in to passing attractions—at least not in connection to a single lady of quality, who would have expectations.

  He glanced at the long clock in the corner of the room, startled when it struck the hour. He couldn’t linger here any longer. He had an appointment to keep. Perhaps the person he was about to meet would be able to throw some light on the situation regarding Adela.

  Daniel extinguished the candle and left the library, closing the door softly behind him. Instead of returning to the party, he headed in another direction entirely.

  *

  Adela was not accustomed to feeling conspicuous. But the searching looks directed towards her when she rejoined her mother without Ezra’s presence to deter the curious made her the centre of attention. Many not so subtle questions were posed in various guises. One of two of the single ladies with expectations of their own se
nt her uncomprehending looks. She heard one bad-mannered girl confide in her friends, deliberately loud enough for Adela to overhear her, that Lord Bairstow must have taken complete leave of his senses. Another speculated upon his being short of blunt. Another still suggested that his lordship required a mousy, biddable wife who would provide him with an heir and then be content to remain quietly at home so that he could do as he pleased. Everyone knew, apparently, that the duke was growing impatient because his son stubbornly refused to marry.

  Adela wanted to laugh aloud at the absurdity of it all. A less biddable creature than herself it was hard for her to visualise. Despite finding the avid and petty conjecture diverting, Adela disliked being at the heart of such speculation. She preferred to stand back, going largely unnoticed, and observe everyone else. But that pleasure would be denied to her tonight. She fended off the questions posed to her, half her mind still dwelling upon Ezra’s extraordinary behaviour.

  She knew why he had singled her out. But going so far as to set the gossips’ tongues wagging by asking for his mother’s permission…well, that simply beggared belief. Even so, a small, irrational part of her felt euphoric because occasionally he looked at her in a way that implied he had done so simply because he wanted to. It was ridiculous, and she tried to chase the notion away before she became as besotted as the silly girls who despised her for stealing something that had never been theirs.

  And would never be hers.

  She wanted to have a quiet word with her mother and find out exactly what Ezra had said to her and what explanation he had offered for his out-of-character request. But it would be impossible to do so until they were alone. And perhaps not even then. Mama would be thinking the unthinkable, and on reflection Adela would prefer not to talk about Ezra with her at all.

  Her aunt was not so circumspect, and caught Adela when she was temporarily alone, just as the first of the guests were taking their leave of her mother. They had outstayed their welcome, partly Adela suspected because they were aware that Ezra had not left and were keen to see how he behaved towards her when he did so. Adela would be more interested to know where he had gone, especially since Daniel was missing too, but her aunt’s presence prevented her from going in search of either of them.