by Claudia Dain
“Lady Dalby, you have left me,” Jed said, his eyes twinkling. “I fear the conversation has twisted out of my hands. I am a simple man. I beg you to show me mercy.”
“Lady Dalby is not known for showing mercy,” Lord Ruan said abruptly, “though she may be partial to men who beg, Captain Elliot. You would do well to show her the same caution you practice when facing an unidentified ship.”
“But Lord Ruan, how absurd,” Sophia said, her voice soft and her gaze sharp. “I am flying my colors boldly, as is my practice. There is no mystery attached to me.”
“Lady Dalby, you are a woman,” Ruan responded, his green eyes searching Sophia’s face. “You are as mysterious as the sea. As turbulent. As unfathomable. As compelling.
And as dangerous.”
Sophia said nothing for a moment, but there was something that passed between them, something sparkling and hot, something buried and smoldering. It was gone almost before it had begun. Jane was left with the shimmer of it before her gaze, and then it vanished.
“Which is why Jane will come home with me,” Jed said.
“I would see her stay a calm pond of decorum and not become a turbulent sea of mystery.”
“Lovely,” Jane muttered. “I suppose that was intended as a compliment?”
“Of course,” Jed said, looking both annoyed and befuddled. Typical.
Sophia laughed. “But, darling, she is your sister and, like any brother, you do not see her clearly at all. Miss Elliot is already a sea of mystery to any man who is not related to her.”
And, naturally, both Jane and Sophia could not resist the impulse to glance at Edenham, who was still staring.
“The sea can be calm at times, usually the most inconvenient times, is that not so?” Edenham said, sparing a glance for Jed. “There is no cause to anticipate any trouble for Miss Elliot. I cannot think but that Hyde would care for her as a beloved daughter.”
“Now I am a calm, inconvenient sea?” Jane said. “Can not a new metaphor be framed? I grow weary of this one as it does nothing at all to flatter me.”
Sophia laughed, as did Jed and Joel, which was something of a relief. Edenham smiled. Ruan did not; he studied her, which she did not enjoy at all. Lord Ruan was capable of a very focused gaze. She was not certain that was destined to be flattering to her either.
“You must forgive the Duke of Edenham, Miss Elliot.
He is confounded, I do believe, by your beauty and your originality, a product of your American education, I should guess,” Sophia said.
“Ah, something acquired then,” Jane said, smiling. “Not something I possess innately.”
“You possess your beauty innately, Miss Elliot,” Ruan said softly. “Only your education, your way of thinking and expressing yourself, could have been acquired.”
“I see you know very little of women, Lord Ruan,”
Jane said, upon which Sophia chuckled without apology.
“I acquired what beauty I display by the same method I acquired an educated mind: by exhaustive effort.”
“I don’t believe a word of it,” the Duke of Edenham said quietly, his gaze riveted to her face. The man was as subtle as a thunderclap and her brothers were far from being witless.
“Believe it, sir,” Joel said. “I’ve been witness to the transformation myself. It has been a wonder to behold.”
“Oh, shut up, Joel,” Jane snapped good-naturedly.
“There’s no need to make a complete pudding of me. I was a gangly child,” she said, risking a sliding glance at Edenham. He stared. Tedious, to be sure. “I was all teeth and eyes and knobby limbs.”
“Very true,” Jed said, nodding. “’Tis why I christened the third Elliot ship the Plain Jane. For my sister, and rightly so.”
“You see what toil I have struggled against,” Jane said, elbowing Jed in the ribs. He grinned and grabbed her hand and held it against his waistcoat.
“And by toil you grew into your eyes, your mouth, your form,” Ruan said, looking at her with such a look, with such a soft look filled with appreciation, that she was in danger of blushing like a girl with plaited hair and mud-splattered stockings.
“Exactly so, Lord Ruan,” she said, lifting her chin. “Let no one convince you otherwise. Certainly no woman would ever do so.”
“How utterly true,” Sophia said. “Every woman knows that beauty requires payment, and not every woman is prepared to pay its price.”
“Payment?” Jed said. “You have lost me again, Lady Dalby. I fear ever to be outdistanced by you.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Captain Elliot,” Sophia said lightly.
“I shall allow you to catch me if, or when, I decide to be caught.”
“Much like a ship under sail, coming about to level her guns a broadside,” Ruan said, breaking the seductive spell Sophia was weaving.
“How nautically put, Lord Ruan. That’s it precisely,”
Sophia said, her dark eyes glittering.
“The Plain Jane,” Edenham said. “You were not insulted?”
“Of course I was, your grace, but what does a brother care for that when he is doing the insulting? It is only when others insult me that their blood boils hot.”
“And are you insulted often, Miss Elliot?” Ruan asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” she said.
“Why unfortunately, Miss Elliot?” Edenham asked.
“Because I should like to see what happens, your grace.
My brothers have promised hideous things to befall the man who does so. I have yet to see a single thing. It’s most disappointing, I assure you. It’s all talk, as far as I can tell.”
“Which is exactly as it should be, Jane,” Jed said. “It’s hardly proper for a gently reared girl to be privy to such things.”
Gently reared, indeed. With their home on the East River, the ships docked right outside the house? Did Jed think she did not have eyes and ears? What did he think she did whilst he was at sea? Embroider by the fire? Hardly.
“Is that a confession, Jed? Have you trounced some fellow behind my back? I require names and dates, if so.
A woman must have a record of such things. It adds might-ily to her appeal, which is certainly obvious, even to a man who happens to also be a brother,” Jane said.
“I confess nothing,” Jed said, trying for a stern look and failing, at least with her. He might have much skill at sub-duing a fractious seaman with a mere scowl, but she was his sister, which was a very distinct advantage to possess.
“Nothing to confess,” she said. “I thought as much. It is a sad thing when a woman cannot tempt a man to even the small danger a brother offers. Plain Jane, indeed. Most apt.”
“A most clumsy attempt at garnering a compliment, Jane,” Joel said. “Shameful.”
“To arrange for a compliment?” Sophia asked. “How completely absurd. If a woman cannot ask for what she wants, and certainly deserves, why, what sort of woman is she? And indeed, what is she fit for? Does the shame, if we must deal in shame, not belong to the man who stubbornly and willfully refuses to give a woman what she wants and, without any question at all, deserves?”
The men, by which she meant her brothers, looked abashed in the extreme. It was quite comical. The other men, by which she meant the English ones, looked mildly amused. That was also quite comical. Sophia did have such a way about her, such a wonderful way of putting men both at ease and at a disadvantage. It seemed quite a tricky thing to learn, but so useful on so many occasions. Jane was determined to try and develop a talent for it.
“And upon such counsel I become more determined than ever to see Jane safely upon the deck of my ship,” Jed said.
“But darling,” Sophia said softly, “I can make you less determined easily enough; it is only that I perceived you to be the sort of man who would prefer not to be managed by a woman. Was I wrong in that?”
Jed chuckled, his dark blond brows pulled low and his mouth surrendering to
a grin. “Lady Dalby, you are managing me even now.”
“Am I? I do apologize if I am. Some would say that it is a most appalling habit of mine, and though I can’t agree that any sort of skill at managing anything could possibly be appalling, still, I can’t think how I might have acquired such a useful habit. Can you?” Sophia smiled at both Jed and Joel without a particle of shame. Indeed, she was obviously delighted.
“Lady Dalby,” Jed said, dipping his head in salute, still grinning, “I don’t believe it is possible for you to have any appalling habits. On the contrary. Most definitely on the contrary.”
“Naturally, I find myself quite fully in agreement with you, Captain Elliot. And as we both agree,” Sophia said, smiling at each of the Elliots in turn, “I shall be delighted to take Miss Elliot under my wing, as it were, and, together with your Aunt Molly, make certain that darling Jane has the most splendid visit in London that any American woman has ever enjoyed. As my habits are flawless, and as your aunt is devoted, and as Miss Elliot is clearly eager, the matter appears to be quite completely settled. Wouldn’t you say?”
Jed and Joel had been rendered speechless, that much was obvious. Jane smiled and held her tongue, knowing that it was entirely possible to break the spell Sophia had woven about them. Before anyone could think to argue, and only Jed might have done so, stubborn as he always was, Cranleigh arrived and, murmuring something about someone they must meet, bustled them away from Sophia and across the room.
Sophia had neither been denied nor decried.
And that was when Jane knew for absolute certain that she was going to remain in London after all.
Three
“What a remarkably attractive family,” Sophia said as the Elliots were escorted off by Lord Cranleigh. “How fortunate that they were here to witness the marriage of Lord Iveston to Miss Prestwick. And how delicious that darling Miss Elliot shall remain in London for a time. I do think she’ll enjoy herself to the full, don’t you, Edenham?”
She did not include Lord Ruan in her remarks. She was slightly irritated with the Marquis of Ruan. She had thought that, after his weeks of devoted attention, he would continue on as he had done and that their flirtation would culminate in an entertaining affaire that would last for as long as she liked, and then he would disappear back into whatever shire had consumed him until this current Season. For she had never met him until now, and the more she pondered that, the more the fact intrigued her. Where had he been? What had he been about for all the long twenty years she had dwelt on English soil? It was not possible that she had been out in Society and not caught a glimpse or a word of the tantalizing Lord Ruan.
Or, he had been tantalizing until he had stopped his pursuit of her. A man who did not ardently pursue was a complete bore and not worth a single thought. And so she had refused to think of him. She was very adept at controlling where her thoughts roamed and so she had neither sought out nor seen Lord Ruan for a full three weeks, if not more. Seeing him now aroused nothing in her.
Nothing at all.
Sophia glanced at Edenham and he looked only slightly less besotted than he had when facing Miss Elliot. She swallowed every inclination to smile and waited serenely for his answer. She even allowed her gaze to shift over Ruan for a moment or two. He was looking at her with all the intensity of a wolf, which was perfectly fine, but just a few weeks late, wasn’t it?
“I can only hope so,” Edenham said, his eyes still upon the spot where Miss Elliot and her brothers had disappeared from sight. The blue reception room at Hyde House was quite large and quite well appointed, but it was also quite filled with the very cream of London Society. The marriage of the Duke of Hyde’s heir was not a celebration to be missed, Molly Hyde had made certain of that. “You are convinced Miss Elliot will be staying?”
“You are not?” Sophia said, the barest of smiles teasing her lips.
“I’m convinced,” Ruan said, “though I was not asked, was I?”
“No, Lord Ruan, you were not,” Sophia said, staring fully into his eyes. Remarkable eyes, like green blades.
She looked again at Edenham. “A shameful oversight. I do hope you will forgive me.”
“Yes, your shame is quite apparent, Lady Dalby,” Ruan said, his voice calm and controlled.
Yes, well, they were both calmly in control, weren’t they? Perhaps that was the problem. Neither one of them was the sort to give in or give over, not for anyone and not for any reason. That was never going to change.
“Darling Lord Ruan,” she said pleasantly, looking at him again, “shame should never be apparent. That is in such poor taste, is it not? To feel shame is quite sufficient.
One need never trot about in gauche displays of shame.”
“’Tis a private thing,” Ruan said, staring at her in much the same fashion that Edenham had been staring at Miss Elliot. She was nearly moved by it. But she was not. “You are adept at keeping private things private, are you not, Lady Dalby?”
“I am, Lord Ruan,” she said. “I do believe the same should be said of everyone. If it is not, it is to their . . .
shame.” She could have smiled, had she chosen to, but she did not choose to.
“As to private,” Edenham said, “I had not heard of Hyde’s American relations. There is no disaffection between Hyde and the Elliots, no shame at the connection?”
“Not at all, Edenham,” Sophia said, turning her attention fully upon Edenham. “I surely would have heard of it. It is merely that oceans and governments stand between them.”
“And wars,” Ruan interjected, just to be troublesome, she was certain.
“Long over now,” Sophia said. “Yet even then, Molly and Sally remained as close as it was possible to remain under the circumstances.”
“And the circumstances are?” Edenham asked, lifting a brow in a truly ducal display.
“Quite as simple now as they were complicated then,”
Sophia said, waving her fan in the region of her bodice.
Ruan’s eyes stayed fixed upon her face. How very like him. “Molly and Sally, as I’m certain you must have sur-mised, are sisters who were reared in Boston within a shipping family. Molly met and married Hyde, and when things in Boston became difficult for Loyalists, moved to England with all the lovely heirs she had provided for Hyde. Sally married Timothy Elliot whilst in New York visiting a cousin, I do believe, and as Captain Elliot was and is a determined Patriot, the sisters were thus divided.
And yet did they not remain sisters? Of course they did.
They waited out the war, held their families together, and insisted upon maintaining a familial connection between them. They did so with rare skill and their children should, and I’m certain do, thank them for their foresight and loyalty to this day.”
“Loyalty?” Ruan said softly. “Yet not to country.”
“I was speaking of family loyalty, Lord Ruan, though they were certainly not disloyal to country, were they?
Would any dare question Hyde’s loyalty? He fought determinedly for his king whilst in the American colonies, did he not? His record is well-known. But, were you not aware of it, Lord Ruan? How can that be? Where have you been that you are not in full possession of those particular facts?”
Ruan smiled, his eyes sparkling devilishly. “I know the facts, Lady Dalby. It is the peculiar arrangement of the facts and the shadows they create upon a life that I find intriguing.”
“Yes, you would,” she said. And meant it. That was the entire problem with Lord Ruan, he seemed far too interested in mining the depth of facts concerning people. It was most inconvenient of him. What had he been doing this past month? Mining, most like. A most disagreeable practice for a man to devote himself to. She wanted no one mining the facts of her life, looking for shadows.
“So they are close, then,” Edenham said. “Harmonious.”
“I should say they are,” Sophia said, “which is so pleasant to observe within families, and yet so rare
ly seen. I do wonder why that is? Lord Ruan, you have never mentioned your family. Is there no harmony between you? Do confess, what is the source of your family discord?”
Ruan smiled fractionally, his gaze shuttered. “I make no confessions, Lady Dalby, to either harmony or discord.”
“A private shame, then?” she said crisply. “How noble of you. It is most agreeable of you not to parade your shame publicly. I do hope you haven’t suffered too egregiously.
Have you? Will you confess that much?”
“Not too egregiously, no,” he said. “Though as to suffering, I make no claim to surpass others of my acquaintance in that. We all suffer, do we not, Lady Dalby? It is how we bear up beneath the weight of it that is the measure of us. I take your measure, and you take mine, and by so doing, we learn the mettle and the merit of each other. It is what we do, isn’t it? It is how we know and understand each other.”
Ruan’s gaze had grown quite serious, and she did not care at all for his line of thought. Far too solemn and far too philosophical; of what use was any of it? One lived as best one could. Suffering? Merit? They were words nailed to ideas. They had no meaning. They served no purpose.
“I have always found, Lord Ruan, that I prefer a more physical understanding, a more animal knowing. I had hoped you shared my inclination. As you do not . . . ” she said softly, and then she shrugged delicately and turned, dismissing Ruan, to face Edenham. “But darling Edenham, I have been remiss. How are your precious children? Thriving still?”
“I would not bore Lord Ruan with observations about my children that would surely fall upon disinterested ears,”
Edenham said.
“Oh, but perhaps Lord Ruan has children of his own,”
Sophia said, turning her eyes upon Ruan again. “Do you?”
Ruan smiled and bowed curtly. “I do not, though not for lack of trying, Lady Dalby. It is my most endearing flaw, I can assure you. But if you will excuse me?”