“I see that I have thrown you into a confusion,” he said gently. “Relax a moment and listen to me. Look at me.”
Taking a deep breath, Fanny raised her chin and met his eyes. They were full of gentle entreaty.
At that moment, Elise entered the room. “Oh, pardon me!” her sister said, obviously stunned by the captain’s posture. “I did not mean to interrupt.”
Deal came to his feet.
“Come in, Elise,” Fanny said, not certain whether or not she was relieved. “Convince this poor man that he does not need to offer for me, or duel for me, or pay the Earl of Warmsby two hundred and fifty guineas!”
Her sister turned white with shock. Glancing from one of them to the other, she said at last, “What . . . what in the world have you done, Fan? Marriage? Duels? Two hundred fifty guineas?”
Fanny stood and, going to her sister, embraced her. “I am afraid I am swimming in deep scandal broth. Warmsby caught me and told me he would ruin me unless I married him. Just then, the captain arrived and told him we were engaged. Warmsby wanted a duel or five hundred guineas. . .”
Her face set in stern lines, Elise interrupted, holding Fanny at arm’s length. “Warmsby! What scandal broth, Fanny? Where were you? I thought you were at the soup kitchen.”
Fanny rushed on, anxious to unburden herself. “I was going to wear a black wig and false teeth to audition. Nobody would have known it was me. Then I had actually decided not to do it at all, but with the theater so close, and . . . well, I could not resist. It was just my bad luck that Warmsby was there with one of his lightskirts.”
“Audition? You were going to audition at Covent Garden?” Elise’s eyes were large.
Fanny said, “You have your writing, Elise. You know how essential it is to express yourself in that way. Well, I have this overwhelming need to act. It is my dream and always has been. But do not fret. In the end, the manager had already chosen Warmsby’s . . . woman to play Rosalind.”
“Fanny Catherine Edwards, your immature self-indulgence will ruin us all!” Elise turned to the marquis. “It looks as though we must thank you for your intervention. I assume you followed her from the soup kitchen?”
“Yes. I was concerned when she became lost in the market.”
“You offered her your hand?”
“It would have come to that eventually, I think, your grace.”
Fanny stared at him. What was this? He was smiling sheepishly. His words and manner only added to her confusion.
“This impulsive, careless girl?” Elise said. “You want to marry her? Do you not know she will lead you from one coil to another?”
“I would not have it any other way. She refreshes me. I must confess that I have as little regard for the strictures of the ton as she does, but I also understand why we must attempt to live within them. Rosalind will have far more freedom as a married lady.”
“Rosalind! I believe you have encouraged her, Lord Deal!”
“I may have. It was unintentional.”
“I think we must have the duke.” Elise pulled the bell tassel. “Sit down, everyone.”
Fanny looked at the marquis. He winked. She scowled.
When Ruisdell finally joined them and heard of Fanny’s latest scrape and the marquis’s offer, he said, “Deal, I do not expect you to sacrifice yourself on the altar of Fanny’s selfishness. This is not your problem.”
“It would be no sacrifice for me. Your sister-in-law may feel differently, however.”
Fanny felt as low as a worm. His gallantry seemed to know no bounds. There was no way he could truly want to marry her when she had behaved in such a thoughtless manner. At the moment, she doubted that she would ever be able to master her stubborn will. Suddenly, it was all too much to deal with.
Getting up, she held her handkerchief to her lips and started for the door. “Pardon me . . .”
The marquis and the duke stood. Ruisdell said, “Fanny, I must ask you to remain in the room.”
“I know what I did was selfish and irresponsible, but I cannot bear to hear myself discussed as though I were invisible!”
“Then I will settle this business about the two hundred fifty guineas with the marquis, and leave the two of you alone together,” the duke said.
Fanny quailed at the thought, but sat down once more. The men resumed their seats, the duke insisting that he write a draft on his bank to pay off Warmsby.
“We can only pray that there will be no duel,” Ruisdell said.
“I am not frightened of the earl,” said Deal. “Remember, I have been fighting Frenchmen most of my life.”
“Just so,” the duke said. “If you fight and kill the man, you will have to leave the country. That cannot be seen as a desirable outcome. After you and Fanny have spoken, she will show you to the library, where I shall have a bank draft awaiting you.”
He and Fanny’s sister left the room.
“No doubt you feel thoroughly condemned,” Deal said, moving so he sat at the end of the sofa nearest her chair. “I am sorry for it.”
“I think there is something about me that will never be restrained. I am a sore trial to my brother-in-law, and you would wish me to the devil before the first week of our marriage had ended.”
“You forget, Rosalind, dear. I do not share all your family’s views. Last night, I was overly pompous and worked you into a lather. I know that, and I apologize for it.”
“You did, you know.” She kept her head down, unable to meet his eyes.
“If I promise not to do it again, and if you promise to come to me before you think you might do something mad, I think perhaps we may rub along well enough.”
“But I know you never intended to marry!”
“How do you know that, pray?”
“Viscount Westringham warned me. I believe he thought I was in love with you.”
The marquis sprang to his feet and slammed a fist into his left palm. “Blast the man!”
“So it is true.” She waited for him to deny it, but he failed to do so. Fanny had a flash of insight. “You just have an exaggerated sense of honor, taking care of all those sailors for so many years. What could you possibly want with an ungovernable chit like me?”
“Rosalind, it is not like you to be so despondent and to speak ill of yourself. It grieves me. Where is your sense of adventure?” Standing above her, he held out a hand, as though to raise her.
She took it and stood looking him in the face. “Adventure?”
“I think marriage is the one adventure I have never experienced. And marriage to you would be that, my dear, you have to admit.”
“But I cannot allow you to ruin your life! Now it is you who are being impetuous!” she said, even when her desire for him pulled her toward him. As she looked into his merry eyes, her heart speeded up, pounding loudly in her ears.
“I think this step is best taken like a leap into cold sea water,” he said. “Quickly.”
Gathering her into his arms, he cupped the back of her head with his large hand and pulled it down against his chest. “I will not keep you in irons, my Rosalind. I promise I shall be good to you.”
She could not hold out against him any longer. Fanny relaxed into his embrace. No one, from the time she could remember, had ever held her thus. It was uncommonly succoring. Closing her eyes, she let the feeling of surrender overtake her. Instead of feeling shame at the urgent flare of her impossible ambitions, she felt safe. Fanny had never realized that what she wished above all things was to be accepted for herself, and even cherished.
“Yes,” she said into his chest. “I will do it. I will marry you.”
She looked up. Her captain was grinning. He kissed the top of her head. “That’s the spirit.”
{ 17 }
IT PROBABLY SHOULD NOT HAVE SURPRISED BUCK that once he was behind the closed door of the Duke’s library, Ruisdell would try to talk him out of marrying his sister-in-law.
“This time, you are not at all responsible for what has occurred.
Why you want to take on this . . . shall we say, challenge? . . . is beyond me. You’ve always seemed a sensible chap.”
“You’ve misread me then. Actually, I’m game for any adventure. Miss Edwards captivates me, as she has done since the first time I saw her in your gardens at the Palace.”
“You are in love with her?”
“It is within the realm of possibility.”
“She had an extremely trying childhood. I don’t know if that is why she is so determined to go her own way now, but her will is well-nigh unbreakable.”
“That is one of the reasons I admire her. Most young women seem to swallow the Almack’s standard whole, without ever realizing how absurd it is. Miss Edwards can think for herself and is not put off by original ideas.”
“I must admit, I have never been to that benighted place in my life. And as for original ideas, they are that, I must say.”
“Do we have your blessing then?”
“I only hope there will be enough peace and calm in your lives to nurture some form of happiness.”
“Oh, I should think there will be. I’m not actually attuned to peace and calm after a life at sea, fighting the French.”
“Ah, so you have found the challenge to spice your retirement!”
“It would seem so.”
“Well then, I suppose I should wish you well and invite you to dinner this evening so that we may celebrate this surprising event. For what it’s worth, you will make Fanny a fine husband, I am convinced.”
It remained only for Buck to accept the invitation and to refuse the bank draft in no uncertain terms and then he was on his way. Once he was out on the street, he began to whistle a sailor’s tune. If he did not know better, he would think himself without a care in the world. He had what he wanted, didn’t he? Surely, he would adjust to this new situation and come about as he always had. And perhaps tonight, she would kiss him.
Hailing a hackney, he went to the office of the Morning Post to place the official announcement of his engagement. He told himself that it was good to be going ahead with this next stage of his life.
When this deed was done, he strolled to Ludgate Hill and entered Rundell and Bridge to select an engagement ring. An unusual ring for an unusual woman. Diamonds were too ordinary. Rubies would clash with her hair. Emeralds might do if her eyes were green. The moment he was shown an oval-cut turquoise opal, he knew he had found the stone he wanted.
“We could encircle it in diamonds, my lord,” Mr. Bridges said.
“I should prefer it to be set in a broad band of gold.” Asking for a writing instrument and some paper, he drew a sketch.
“Very modern, my lord. Are you certain the lady will like it?”
“She is a very modern lady.”
After placing the order for the ring to be made up, Buck returned to his rooms on Curzon Street. Simmons, his valet, managed to turn him out fine as fivepence for his engagement dinner. As his man arranged his cravat, he realized with some delight that he would soon be experiencing a honeymoon. Where should he take his little spitfire? This question went unanswered as he imagined caressing Rosalind. He would bind her to him in a way she would never forget. She was a passionate little thing. He had known that from the very first. Too bad he didn’t more resemble that foolish Orlando, with his penchant for hanging his worshipful scribblings in the trees. He would just have to be worshipful in other ways. Smiling to himself, he was reminded of the words of the marriage ceremony: With my body, I thee worship.
* * *
His wife-to-be was dressed that evening in a golden silk tissue gown. Her hair was dressed more elaborately than usual, threaded with a fine gold chain. The fabric clung to her form, and he was more enticed than ever.
Rosalind seemed a bit shy of him, however. As they sipped their Madeira in the drawing room before dinner, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “You need not be afraid of me, you know. I am a kind sort of chap.”
“There is no need to convince me further of that. I just wonder if your kindness to me has not exceeded your sense.”
“Rosalind dear, I have been in your thrall since I first saw you in your tunic with that hair loose and tumbling over your shoulders.”
“That is a whisker if I ever heard one! You thought me a most unpromising youngster!”
“Then why was I so anxious to see you again? Do you know I was ready to leave the Wyndham’s ball until I saw you below? You had intrigued me so much on that first meeting, I wished to see how you had turned out.”
She gave a short giggle. “And how did I measure up to your expectations?”
“You exceeded them, as usual.”
“Come now. You do not actually wish to marry me, do you? Ours would not be an ordinary marriage, you know.”
“I am well aware of that fact. I thank heaven for it.”
“I look like giving you more trouble than a vessel full of sailors!”
“You overestimate your powers. We shall undoubtedly fall into scrapes together.”
“Perhaps you should become a Radical politician.”
“I do not think there is a Radical Party in the House of Lords.”
“You could start one, then. And I could be your hostess.”
“The idea has its appeal.”
Further conversation was impossible, as the dinner gong sounded. For once, Buck was happy to lead a lady into dinner.
When he left Shearings that night, he was very pleased with the world. The duke and duchess had not ceased their vigilance, thus depriving him of the goodnight kiss he had envisioned, but that would surely come. He had asked Rosalind to ride out with him in Hyde Park the following afternoon at the fashionable hour. Their engagement would be announced in the morning paper.
{ 18 }
FANNY WAS SPENDING A DREAMY MORNING in her sitting room, trying and failing to envision her future. Reclining on her lime and cream striped daybed, she reflected on the fact that while the Morning Post had proclaimed her engaged to Captain Buckingham Kernow-Charles, The Marquis of Deal, it was only that announcement that had provided her with his Christian name. Buckingham. The Duke referred to him as Buck, but Fanny could not envision herself calling her fiancé by either name. What would he expect her to call him? There was so much she did not know about the man. Where was he raised? Were his parents alive? Did he like children?
When she thought about the warm sense of security and belonging she had felt in his arms, however, she supposed that whatever the answer to these questions, she could be very happy indeed married to the Marquis of Deal.
When she was dressed, she spent the remainder of the morning hours in the nursery with her sister and the children.
“Can you really believe there is someone in this world who actually wants to marry me?”
Elise pulled one of Fanny’s stray curls. “That is not the way to enter this marriage. I do not deny that you are willful, but you are also a very alluring woman.”
Fanny made a face. “Do you think Deal, er . . . Buckingham . . . finds me alluring?”
Her sister laughed. “If there is one thing in this world I am sure of, it is that. When I saw how he was looking at you last night, I knew that whatever else had happened, he had to marry you or we were going to endure far worse problems.”
Fanny blushed. “I will own, I felt remarkably secure in his arms. I wonder when he will kiss me?”
“I should think that will happen any time now. Be certain, if you will be so good, that it occurs somewhere relatively private, will you not?”
“If he wanted to kiss me in the middle of the ballroom, I do not think I could resist!”
“Now that I think of it, the first time Peter kissed me was on the terrace outside the ballroom. I am become a disagreeable old lady. Do not listen to me.”
* * *
When her fiancé came to call for her at the fashionable hour that afternoon, Fanny found she had stepped in her flounce and that it must needs be repaired. Urging Becky to hurry, she bit her l
ip in impatience.
Upon descending the stairway, she observed that the captain was scowling and pacing.
“You try my patience, madam. Was it your intent to keep me waiting?”
“I know that as a captain in the Royal Navy, you must value punctuality above all things, but I am afraid my flounce was dragging. You also value perfection in dress, do you not?”
“Of course. I forgive you. It is just that I have not seen you this age.”
Laughing, she asked, “Tell me what the weather is. I have not been out. Shall I need my pelisse?”
“Possibly. It is brisk. It may even rain, so bring your umbrella.”
The noisy traffic in the streets and in the park made it difficult to converse; however, they received congratulations at every hand.
“I did not know you had such a great acquaintance,” Fanny said.
“I do not. All of these felicitations are due to your popularity, I fancy.”
While it was very heartening to be the recipient of such good cheer, Fanny longed to be alone with her captain. He seemed to have something on his mind that was making him less than carefree. Was the engagement wearing on him?
When they finally were able to make their way out of Hyde Park and back to Shearings, the captain pulled up in front of the door and, before jumping down from the curricle, said, “There are some things we need to discuss.”
The gravity in his voice instantly caused Fanny to be wary. As he helped her down, she studied his face and saw his brow was creased.
Stevens opened the door, and once again, she led her fiancé to the downstairs sitting room. She sat on the couch, her heart racing and her hands damp with anxiety. He sat next to her, but did not try to take her hand.
“Is it Warmsby?” she asked. “Did he not meet you this morning?”
“He did. We transacted our business. Do not worry about Warmsby.”
“What is it, then?”
“I feel that there are some things I should have told you before you entered into this engagement with me. I apologize. My only excuse is that I was carried away by your loveliness.”
Rescuing Rosalind (Three Original Ladies and Their Gentlemen) Page 10