Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind

by Heidi Ashworth

  Ginny forced herself not to react to her first shock of surprise and curled willingly into his arms and chest. He slowed a little and gripped her tighter to him with a convulsive jerk so that she could smell the mixture of cologne, starch, and skin where her face lay against his neck.

  “Curse them all to the devil,” he said, his voice ragged with passion, lack of breath, or both.

  “Does that wish extend even to your fiance?” Ginny asked, berating herself even before the words were out for having said it.

  Ginny could not see his face so was unable to see his reaction. His only response was to say, “I suppose I should put you down now. We are almost to your door.”

  “Yes, I suppose you should,” she replied, but he didn’t, nor did she expect him to.

  He fumbled with the latch, managing to undo it despite his burden, and kicked the door open. In a moment he had lain her on the bed. “Do you need anything? Where is Nan-is she still ill?”

  “No, she is quite recovered, but I don’t know where she is.”

  Sir Anthony sank to his knees. “I shall find her for you, then” Instead, he stroked the hair from her face with such a tender expression in his eyes, Ginny thought she might melt.

  It seemed at this moment he would do anything for her. “Anthony,” she said, “you must call off the duel! I do not think I could bear it if anything were to happen to you.” She felt her chin tremble and hot tears prick her eyes.

  Sir Anthony dropped his hand from her face. “I can’t do that, Ginny. It’s a matter of honor.”

  “The same honor that won’t allow you out of your obligations to Lucinda?”

  “You mean the same engagement I am at such pains to break?” He smiled and took her hand in both of his. “Have I not proven that my honor does not come before you? I am guilty of more than one ungentlemanly act in your presence. In point of fact, it would seem your very presence precipitates the most alarming desire to throw all caution to the winds!”

  Ginny had to laugh. “I would cry innocence only I know I am guilty, not only by chance but by design. I had to know if there was anyone behind all that pomp and circumstance that I could love”

  “My little shrew!” he said, kissing her hand. He looked searchingly into her eyes. “But now that you have let Caliban out of his cage, is he all you hoped for? Or is he to be a prisoner of his broken heart forever?”

  Ginny reclaimed her hand and laid it to his cheek. “You are far more than I had dreamed. But are you sure I am what you want? Wouldn’t you rather have the reformed Kate of my soliloquy?” She smiled into his eyes. “I fear I shan’t make you a very comfortable wife.”

  “That is what I am counting on! I find that I relish your brand of discomfort,” he said with a most alarmingly wicked smile. “Oh, I can do without the flying objectsin fact, I will have to insist upon that, but I wouldn’t change any other moment I have spent with you”

  Ginny felt her cheeks grow warm. It was a most improper conversation, part of a most improper evening. Sir Anthony was right; he had behaved ungentlemanly in the name of love, over and over and over again.

  “Anthony, if you are so willing to smudge your honor for me, then why continue on with this false engagement? And the duel! Why that?”

  “Ah!” he said, standing up and brushing the dust from his pantaloons. “Because one is my solution to the other. If we duel and he wins .. “

  Ginny sat bolt upright. “He wins?!”

  “Never fear, I haven’t quite decided which will work best in our favor. As I said, if he wins, he will look the hero to Lucinda and she, I pray, will tell her parents the truth about last night. That should do nicely for letting me out of the predicament in which I find myself. If I win, Lucinda won’t be able to hide her distress for Avery and will be forced to drop this play-acting of hers. Once again, she tells her parents the truth”

  Ginny was aghast. “You can’t be serious ! Either way, doesn’t someone have to get shot? The best I can hope for is that you are killed or must flee the country as a murderer?”

  “Tut, tut!” he said with a smile. “Have you so little faith? I am known to be somewhat of a crack shot and plan to aim for injury, not death. Nothing drastic, just enough to make him the object of interest and fascination throughout the county. That should give Lucinda all the romance and drama she has been craving. Why, she will be the most fortunate girl she ever knew. Having a duel fought over you is a sight better than a coming-out, any day.”

  “Yes, I can see the truth in that. However, what of his skills? Does he have any?”

  `By that do you mean skills with anything other than poetry, drama, and tears? I can’t say. He has no reputation with pistols whatsoever. However, he is sure to see it the same as I. He no doubt has no more desire to flee the continent than do I”

  Ginny had to agree, but wasn’t it just this afternoon Lord Avery had spoken to Ginny about fleeing somewhere? She wasn’t sure she could count on Lord Avery’s motivations, but she knew she could trust Sir Anthony now that she could see the man behind the mask.

  Come morning, Sir Anthony sat alone in the breakfast parlor, contemplating his fate. Matters most certainly had changed since the day he had first laid eyes on his intended, a lady he had grown to know and to dislike intensely. What great irony existed in the world, for the woman to whom he had lost his heart was the same he could not abide little more than a week ago.

  He stabbed a sausage off his plate with his fork and scrutinized it. No, the answer wasn’t there either. Hours pacing the floor in his room hadn’t revealed a way out of his predicament nor had cudgeling his brain or riding Champion hell-bent-for-leather all through the night.

  The sweetest part of it all and the most painful as well was that Ginny loved him. He knew that now. There had been no shrinking away from him when he carried her in his arms, no flying objects coming at his head. Then again, he had not tried to kiss her. He hoped she would be more amenable to his kisses on their wedding night-if he could manage such. He smiled. It would probably be wisest to have all easily-thrown objects removed from the room just in case.

  But first there was Lucinda to deal with. And Lord Avery. For some reason he was casting out lures for Ginny. Perhaps he should just put a bullet in Avery at the duel and be done with it. He would have to leave the country, but that would not be so dull if Ginny fled with him. That would take care of his difficulty with Lucinda as well. He felt sure her parents would not insist the marriage go forth after he had killed a peer of the realm.

  He was smiling grimly to himself, thinking his plan not half bad, when Ginny appeared in the doorway looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Breathless at the sight of her, he took a moment to confine the image to his memory.

  Her glossy chestnut curls were bound with a ribbon of pale apricot to match the soft folds of her gown, and a sash of emerald green, accentuating her trim waist, lit an emerald fire in her gray-green eyes. He thought she looked older and a bit wiser than she had a week ago. There was a radiance about her, a warm glow that he had never noted in her face before.

  “Good morning,” he managed to say. “You look … exquisite.”

  As he said the words, Ginny stepped into the room followed closely by Lucinda. He wondered if she would assume his words were for her.

  She did. “Why, Sir Anthony, thank you. It must be all the excitement. Today is the last day of our confinement, and I declare, it hasn’t come soon enough.”

  “Yes, at least we have our costumes for the ball to keep us busy today,” Ginny said with a distracted air.

  “Oh yes! Sir Anthony, you should see the gown I am to wear. It is-“

  “Lucinda,” Ginny interrupted. “We wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, now would we? If we are to get anything done today, we should hurry with our breakfast and be on our way.”

  “All right, but there should be time for Sir Anthony to at least guess the color I will be wearing. I am such a slow eater.”

  “You are too g
enerous,” Sir Anthony replied. In fact, it shouldn’t take any time at all to guess. He couldn’t imagine Lucinda wearing anything but blue, her best color, for such a momentous occasion.

  “Ah, here you are, Sir Anthony” Mrs. Barrington bustled into the room and took a seat at the table. Waving away the pot of coffee Lucinda proffered, she said, “No thank you, my dear. I have already eaten. No, I come to speak to you about the intruder, who once again darkened our door last night.”

  Sir Anthony’s gaze flew to meet Ginny’s. Gone was the recrimination he expected to see, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “The squire refuses to do anything about it,” Mrs. Barrington complained. “He feels sure it is one of the servants sneaking out for some kind of tryst. We shall see” She sniffed. “I intend to set a trap, the nature of which I will keep to myself. I trust you all will do the same and not repeat what I have said to anyone? Especially the squire.”

  Sir Anthony gave his word, as did the others. Satisfied, Mrs. Barrington left the room, but within moments Lord Avery took up her chair.

  “Miss Delacourt, Miss Barrington,” he said with a nod to each of the ladies. Turning to Sir Anthony, he said, “I would like to have a few words with you in private, if I may”

  “Certainly.” Sir Anthony wiped his mouth and tossed his napkin to the table. It was an interview he had been looking forward to most eagerly. “Shall we, then?”

  He led Avery into the hall, noting how wretched Ginny looked in comparison to Lucinda, whose eyes shone in anticipation. The chit was a monster of depravity! Someone should take her over his knee and give her bottom the paddling of her life. Only, it wouldn’t be him. He had already tamed his shrew.

  Lord Avery was succinct and to the point. “I have heard from my seconds. They will meet us tomorrow at dawn. I would have been most happy to make it today, but what with the quarantine not quite over, I did not wish to risk anyone harm by exposure to the sun”

  “No, indeed,” Sir Anthony said gravely. “We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone.”

  “Naturally,” Avery snapped. A frown creased his brow for a moment, then was gone. “That is, except for you … you … ignorant pup.”

  “Ignorant pup? Avery, surely you could do better than that.”

  Avery turned scarlet, then turned on his heel and hurried away.

  It would be good putting a bullet into him, even just an arm or a leg. He supposed he would have to be satisfied with a graze to the shoulder. The sooner Avery was over his injury, the sooner he would get down to the business of taking Lucinda off the marriage market. He returned to the breakfast parlor feeling lighter of heart with enough appetite to demolish that sausage.

  Lucinda was on her way out as he entered, which meant he had Ginny once more all to himself. “Well, it is settled. The duel is set for dawn”

  “Oh, Anthony, I still can’t like it! What if he is good with a gun and he hurts you? Or what if he isn’t and he accidentally kills you?”

  “My darling, upon my honor, I swear to do my best to keep all in one piece.”

  “Truly? Because if you don’t, I will die an old maid, Sir Anthony Crenshaw, and I shall lay all the fault in your dish!” She gazed up at him, her eyes shining.

  How he had longed for this evidence of her adoration. “Yes, truly,” he said, considering the wisdom of kissing her breathless and keeping a wary eye on the silverplate. “Everything is going to be all right.” He wasn’t going to let down this woman, whose capacity to love was rivaled only by his fear of being loved wholly for himself.

  Ginny left the breakfast room feeling much lighter of heart than she had since she took up a seat across from Sir Anthony in Grandaunt Regina’s coach. She supposed her situation might appear hopeless to another. The man she loved, who incidentally was engaged to another, was about to fight a duel that could decide their future happiness. It was a coil, to be sure, but somehow, some way, she knew Sir Anthony would set things to rights.

  Love was truly a wondrous thing. Perhaps she was being blind to reason, but the thought only made her happier. Wasn’t it said that love was blind? And she was most certainly in love. She hugged the thought to her, wrapped it about her like a velvet cloak. She felt different in this guise, almost like a confection in gay papers or a princess in her grandest gown.

  Come the night of the ball she would look the part as well. How Sir Anthony’s eyes would shine when he saw her in the pink panniered gown she had chosen to wear. Mrs. Barrington had found her an old, pale pink wig, the curls piled high on top with one or two ringlets escaping to hang down in coquettish abandon. There was no need for jewels; the trim of emerald green leaves embroidered around the neckline and hem and the silver netted overlay were adornment enough.

  Feeling most content, Ginny went upstairs to join Lucinda in the continuing preparations for the ball. “Do you think we should wear masks?” she asked upon entering her room. “It would add to the fun, but I can’t think we could possibly go unrecognized.”

  Lucinda only sniffed and, tossing her curls, returned to her book.

  “What is that you are reading? It must be very compelling, else you would be all-consumed with the ball preparations.”

  “If you must know, it is a copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets.”

  “Oh, have you not read them before?”

  Lucinda shut the book with a snap. “No, I have not, and if you had read them for yourself instead of just hearing those few Eustace quoted, you would know they are much more interesting than some silly old ball!”

  Ginny resisted the urge to rush to Lucinda’s side and check her head for injuries. “You seem a bit out of sorts this morning. Is something wrong?” Surely being engaged to the wrong man must seem nearly as unbearable to Lucinda as it did Ginny.

  “Yes. No! What I mean is, it is rather hard to be married so young when there are still so many men in the world who haven’t as yet had the chance to admire me. Why, it hardly seems fair!” Lucinda said, moving to the mirror and touching up her curls.

  “It is a hard thing you have been asked to bear, I’m sure,” Ginny said dryly. “But you are luckier than most girls in that you have been engaged to not one but two men before you have even come out.” It was time to educate this girl on the meaning of “fair.”

  Lucinda’s face brightened. “That is true! I suppose I will be famous for that after I am married.” She said the word “married” as if it carried the same meaning as “confined” Did the girl wish to be married to more than one man at a time as well? “But I truly do love him, so I suppose I shall be terribly happy”

  “You do?” Ginny could believe that Lucinda might marry Sir Anthony to satisfy her own sense of drama, but she would never believe she loved him the way she loved Lord Avery. “I felt sure it was Lord Avery you preferred.”

  “Of course!” Lucinda said, indignant, then her face crumpled in confusion. “Uh, that is, I did. Now I love Sir Anthony. Ask anyone. I mean to marry him.” Then she cocked her head as if listening to some unheard voice. “Did I say that right? Yes, I believe I did.”

  Throwing up her hands, Ginny left the room. She would rather pay a visit to the tooth puller than continue to attempt sensible conversation with Lucinda in her current state. As much as she hated that Lucinda was engaged to Sir Anthony, she could feel a measure of empathy for her. What kind of marriage could she hope for when they each loved someone else?

  Ginny awoke the next morning, alarmed and confused. She had not intended to sleep, in fact believed it impossible to do so with her mind in such turmoil. She had lain herself on her bed fully dressed only to rest for a moment! However, she had been so very tired, what with putting the finishing touches on her costume, cutting and arranging bowl after bowl of redolent roses, and bustling back and forth from the ballroom to the servant’s hall to relay instructions.

  She had not seen Sir Anthony through the course of the day, though she thought she had once or twice heard the murmur of his voice coming from another room. She won
dered how he was spending his time on the cusp of such momentous events.

  Now it was morning and the angle of the sun suggested that the duel must already be in progress. Blessing the fact that she was gowned, Ginny hurried into the hall and down the stairs. The house was very quiet. Surely if someone had been hurt, the household would be in an uproar. Ginny moved to the kitchen, certain news would walk through the door there first, be it good or bad.

  She was surprised to find Mrs. Barrington and Lucinda up, dressed, and in the kitchen before her. Of course, Lucinda would be eager for news as well, but Ginny hoped Mrs. Barrington had been kept completely unaware of the duel whatsoever. Clearly it was too late. She braced herself to deal with a hysterical Lucinda and her prostrate mother.

  “I have found him out!” Mrs. Barrington cried upon spying Ginny. Her eyes were wild and her manner alive with energy, taking Ginny aback. “I lay in wake all night long, and now I know the truth.”

  Confused, Ginny looked to Lucinda. “Mama thinks Papa is the one who has been sneaking out of the house. She has been hiding here all night and says that three men left the house before daybreak”

  “Separately,” Mrs. Barrington hissed, as if the word were damning evidence.

  “What reason would the squire have for sneaking out of his own home?” Ginny asked. “Besides, as surely as two of those men were Sir Anthony and Lord Avery, the squire was only going along”

  “Yes, of course, Mama! If I were a man, I would have loved to go and watch the duel. I wish they would hurry back” Lucinda threw a look of apprehensive excitement at the door.

  Mrs. Barrington did not appear to be mollified.

  “You do not say in what order they left the house,” Ginny pointed out. “Perhaps the squire was acting as Sir Anthony’s second and went on ahead”

  Lucinda nodded. “Yes. That must have been it, for though Eustace’s, er, Lord Avery’s friends have been staying in town since yesterday, Sir Anthony has had no time to find someone to act for him. Papa would have no choice. He would have to be Sir Anthony’s second, because it would be very rude not to when Sir Anthony is his guest.”