‘Are you enjoying this, Miss Ianthe?’ he asked abruptly.
‘Yes, very much so, my lord.’
‘You are not afraid of me?’
His question took her by surprise, but she didn’t hesitate to reply. ‘No, should I be?’ She realised she wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest, at least not in the way he meant. The way his touch made her feel was another matter altogether and much more frightening than the silly rumours about him being a murderer.
He nodded, as if that short exchange took care of his supposed misdeeds, and changed the subject. ‘I take it you had not done much dancing previously this evening?’
She smiled ruefully. ‘Not any evening, my lord. I am seldom asked.’
His eyebrows lifted again, in that haughty manner she had found fascinating from the very first moment of seeing him. ‘And why is that, Miss Ianthe? You are not plain nor do you suffer from a squint.’
She laughed, but stated matter-of-factly, ‘Bluestockings are not usually singled out for attention, my lord, with or without a squint. I have no idea why you chose to do so, but I am grateful for the opportunity to dance the waltz this once. It’s heavenly.’
‘Twice,’ he corrected.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘We will stand up for two dances. It would be impolite otherwise.’
‘Oh, would it?’
Confusion swirled through her and she couldn’t help but wonder what game he was playing. Asking her to dance once was strange enough, but twice? Everyone was sure to remark upon it, even though it was permitted. She glanced in Serena’s direction and wished she hadn’t. Her sister, although smiling at her beau, Lord Robert, managed to shoot a dagger look in Ianthe’s direction which didn’t bode well. Serena’s temper tantrums were legendary in the Templeton household and Ianthe knew they were sure to be treated to one later on. She decided to forget it for now and resolutely put it out of her mind. She was determined to enjoy every moment of this dance; she would not allow Serena and her foul moods to ruin it for her.
‘May I ask why the patronesses allowed you to come to Almack’s if they had no intention of persuading young men to dance with you?’ Lord Wyckeham was saying.
‘I believe Lady Jersey insisted I should come along just to spite my mother. They … do not get on. One of the other patronesses granted vouchers to my sister Serena, but Lady Jersey sent one for me too with a note saying they couldn’t very well ask my sister and not me since we are twins. Naturally Mama couldn’t refuse to bring me, even though she knew it was a waste of time. Lady Jersey did try to persuade a few of the young men to dance with me the first time, but they were already promised elsewhere.’
He frowned. ‘I’m surprised Sally would put up with that.’
‘She is not always here and I think once she had forced Mama to bring me, she lost interest in the game.’
‘I see.’
They danced the second dance in silence, and Ianthe wondered if perhaps she had said too much, but when Lord Wyckeham led her back to her mother, he seemed unruffled. He bowed over her hand and she thanked him for the dance.
‘Not at all, the pleasure was mine.’
And with that, he turned on his heel and left the room.
‘Well, I never!’ Lady Templeton stared after him, perplexed. ‘What was all that about?’ She looked her daughter up and down. ‘Were you ogling him?’
‘Me? I wasn’t even looking at him,’ Ianthe protested, although that wasn’t strictly true, of course.
‘You must have offended him then.’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
Lord Robert, who had by now returned with Serena and overheard their remarks, tried to smooth things over. ‘You mustn’t mind my brother,’ he said with a smile. ‘He is a strange fellow and never does what one expects him to. I’m sure he didn’t mean to upset anyone, it’s just his way.’
Neither Serena nor her mother looked convinced however, and as soon as Lord Robert had left them to dance with Miss Gardiner, Serena hissed at Ianthe, ‘You must have done something to chase him away, but we’ll speak about it later,’ before sailing off to dance once more with the Earl of Somerville.
Ianthe sighed and returned to her pillar. To her surprise, however, she wasn’t left to prop it up for long. It would seem the young men in the room had been galvanised into action by Lord Wyckeham’s interest and everyone suddenly wanted to dance with her. She marvelled at their fickleness and thought to herself that they were nothing but a flock of sheep, going only where someone else led. Still, it was a vast improvement on being bored silly, so she ought not to complain.
By the time they reached home in the early hours of the morning, Serena was incandescent with rage at her sister’s surprising success, but Ianthe was too tired to care.
‘You’d better keep your hands off the earl,’ was Serena’s morning greeting to her sister the following day. ‘And don’t even think of setting your cap at the marquess. Not that he’d have you, as he’s apparently sworn never to marry again, but I might try and see if I can change his mind.’
Ianthe looked up from the gothic novel she was reading at the breakfast table and tried not to let Serena rile her. She knew if she rose to her bait, open warfare would ensue, as it always did. ‘I’m not interested in the earl,’ she replied evenly, ignoring the last part of Serena’s sentence.
Her sister shot her a dark look, as if she didn’t believe this for a moment. ‘I should hope not, because—’
She was interrupted by a knock on the door which heralded the arrival of a couple of housemaids carrying two vases of flowers each, followed by a footman with another bouquet.
‘These arrived for the young ladies,’ one of the maids said with a curtsey. ‘Mr Balfour said to bring them in straight away.’
Ianthe was astonished to find that two were for her and gazed in wonder at the gorgeous bouquets. No one had ever sent her flowers before. The larger one consisted entirely of enormous red roses interspersed with greenery, while the slightly smaller one was made up of a mixture of pink and yellow blooms. Serena’s bouquets were identical, and when Ianthe inspected the cards that accompanied the flowers, she found that one had been signed simply with a large ‘W’, while the other read ‘Lord R W’. Wyckeham and his half-brother. A frisson went through her and she glanced up to find her sister looking daggers at her again.
Serena came over and snatched the cards out of Ianthe’s hand. ‘This is intolerable,’ she snarled. ‘Why are they bothering to send flowers to you?’
Ianthe was about to reply, but her mother forestalled her. ‘Now, now Serena, they are merely showing us that they are polite young men. They are new in town and since they have only just made our acquaintance, they’re not to know that you are usually the only recipient of floral tributes. Perhaps they thought to get in our good graces by buying bouquets for both of you? You are twins after all. And look, you have a lovely bouquet here from the earl as well. Ianthe doesn’t.’
Serena mulled this over and flounced back to her seat, where she picked absently at a piece of toast. ‘You may be right, but I’ll not have Ianthe ruining things for me.’ She turned to her sister and fixed her with a glare. ‘At the musical soirée tonight, you’d better stay out of the way or else … It’s not as if you have any interest in marrying anyway.’
‘And what if I have?’ Ianthe asked, goaded into anger at last by her sister’s threats.
‘Then find your own suitors. Don’t poach on my territory.’
‘Girls, girls, really, this is most unseemly,’ Lady Templeton admonished, but Serena paid her no heed and merely swept out of the room without a backward glance. Ianthe was left to glare after her, more angry with herself for becoming entangled in the argument in the first place than with her sister for being so horrid.
‘I hope she marries soon so the rest of us can have some peace,’ she muttered.
‘She is doing awfully well, you know,’ her mother commented mildly. ‘The young men seem to f
lock to her side, but then you didn’t do too badly yourself last night. Whatever the marquess’s faults, at least he did you a favour by dancing with you. You must try to capitalise on that tonight. Do your best to encourage the gentlemen who danced with you yesterday.’
‘Oh, Mama, must I go? I do so hate musical soirées. A lot of screeching if you ask me. I’d rather stay at home.’
‘Have you taken leave of your senses? Now that you’ve finally managed to attract some attention you can’t mope around at home! Now go and find something suitable to wear. I noticed you didn’t make much effort for Almack’s. I shall expect better of you today. Wear your best gown, the jonquil muslin.’
‘That makes me look sallow, Mama, and—’
‘Nonsense. Now do stop arguing with me. You’re giving me a headache.’
With a sigh, Ianthe left the room, resigned to an evening of boredom, unless … No, there probably wasn’t much hope of the marquess attending a musical soirée. Or was there?
CHAPTER FOUR
It was as awful as Ianthe had feared. Their hostess had been too penny-pinching to hire a professional musician or singer, and instead called upon a number of young ladies of her acquaintance to show off their skills with the pianoforte, the harp or their voices, Serena among them. It was purgatory.
Ianthe cringed as yet another girl warbled her way through a ballad of some sort, missing several notes and mangling the rest. She decided that enough was enough. ‘Mama, I’m going to the ladies’ withdrawing room for a moment. I feel faint,’ she whispered to her mother, fanning herself vigorously to demonstrate just how ill she felt. Lady Templeton frowned impatiently but nodded her acquiescence.
‘Very well, but don’t be long.’
As she’d had the forethought to sit at the end of a row, Ianthe was able to slip out fairly easily into the large hall next to the drawing room. And when the footman closed the door behind her, mercifully shutting off the screeching, she breathed a sigh of relief.
‘That bad, is it?’ The voice, oozing lazy amusement, came from just to her right. Ianthe jumped and turned quickly to find the Marquess of Wyckeham smiling at her before giving her a conspiratorial wink. She couldn’t help but smile back.
‘Yes, absolutely excruciating. It was making me feel quite faint, so I thought I’d go and freshen up.’
‘Very wise of you.’
‘And what is your excuse for skulking out here, my lord?’ she dared to tease him.
‘I arrived late, so naturally I couldn’t be so rude as to interrupt. Far better to wait out here until it’s over, don’t you think?’ His eyes were sparkling with amusement and she decided she liked the way they crinkled at the corners. It was most attractive.
‘Definitely, and it has the added bonus of allowing you to retain both your sanity and your hearing,’ she said.
He laughed and held out his arm. ‘May I escort you on to the terrace? Or would you prefer to sit down somewhere?’
‘The terrace would be lovely, thank you.’
She placed her hand on the proffered arm. His coat sleeve was slightly rough under her fingers, but she could also feel the warmth of his skin radiating through the material and the hard muscle underneath. The sensation sent a shimmer of excitement through her.
He led her to the back of the house and outside through a large French window and over to the balustrade of the terrace, where they stood in the semi-darkness, breathing in deep lungfuls of delicious night air. Lanterns had been hung in the nearby trees and they twinkled prettily when the wind stirred the branches, making the garden look almost ethereal. Ianthe was aware of the fact that she ought not to be out here on her own with the marquess, but she’d been unable to resist. She found him fascinating, but she also knew he had a reputation with the ladies, while she was young and naïve and perhaps easy prey.
As if he had read her thoughts, he said reassuringly, ‘Don’t worry, you are quite safe with me. I only seduce innocent young ladies on Thursdays.’
‘Today is Thursday.’
‘Is it? Good Lord, I must mean Fridays then.’
She laughed and shook her head at him in mock exasperation. ‘You’re impossible.’
‘So I’ve been told. I have to live up to my nickname, you know.’
‘You know about that?’
‘Of course.’ He smiled and shrugged ‘The gossips aren’t exactly subtle.’
‘Yes, well, you’re also very generous – I must thank you for the flowers you sent this morning. They were exquisite.’
‘You don’t have to thank me if you don’t want to,’ he said, a teasing note in his voice.
‘Of course I want to, I only meant … Oh, you know exactly what I meant.’
He chuckled. ‘Sorry, couldn’t resist. You are lovely when you’re flustered, but you don’t need to be when you’re in my company, you know. I don’t bite and contrary to popular belief, I do have a sense of humour.’
His strange compliment made her tingle with pleasure, but she tried to continue with the flippant tone as she didn’t want him to notice. ‘I’m very glad to hear it. I can’t stand people who don’t.’
‘You are very forthright. I like that.’
‘Do you? Not many men find that a desirable trait in a woman.’
‘Well they should. Can’t abide mealy-mouthed females; they are so dull. No, give me a spirited one any day.’
They were standing very close, their forearms touching where they rested on the balustrade, and Ianthe was suddenly very aware of him staring at her intently. She wondered if he felt it too, this strange connection between them, then told herself not to be so silly. He was a man of the world. Merely standing close to a young girl surely wouldn’t affect him one whit. Especially one who was not a diamond of the first water like her sister. She looked away, feeling her face suffuse with colour.
‘I … perhaps we ought to return indoors,’ she said. ‘The concert must be nearly over.’
‘Yes, and no doubt there will be a stampede as everyone tries to escape as quickly as possible, in case the young ladies are contemplating an encore.’
She laughed at the image his words conjured up. ‘Then hadn’t we better position ourselves so that we are first in the queue for supper?’
‘Good idea.’ He held out his arm once more, and brought her inside and over to the double doors leading into an adjoining room which had been set aside for eating. The two footmen flanking the entrance opened the doors just as they arrived, and at the same time people began to spill out of the other room. ‘Just in time,’ Lord Wyckeham said and was about to lead her over to a table when an elderly matron hailed him loudly.
‘Wyckeham, my boy, haven’t seen you for ages. Heard you were in town wife-hunting on your brother’s behalf. That true? Come and talk to me.’
He turned to look apologetically at Ianthe. ‘I’m sorry, but that is my great-aunt Augusta. Would you excuse me? Perhaps I shall see you later.’
‘Of course. Thank you for keeping me company.’
‘It was a pleasure I would not have missed for the world.’
She watched him walk away and gave herself a stern talking to. He is not for you, and he is not paying you any more attention than he would any other young lady. You heard the woman; he’s helping his brother select a suitable wife and he’s merely passing the time by flirting a little. Don’t read anything into it.
But she couldn’t help but wish it were otherwise.
Jason listened to his great-aunt’s monologue with only one ear, while surreptitiously keeping an eye on Ianthe across the room. He saw her glancing in his direction several times, and then averting her gaze when she caught him watching her. She looked positively glowing and if anyone had asked him, he would have stated unequivocally that she was by far the prettier of the twins.
He had left Almack’s the previous evening determined to ignore the attraction he’d felt for her. But somehow he found it impossible to stay away from the soirée once Robert informed him the siste
rs would be there. He wanted to see her again, talk to her some more, listen to her enchanting laughter, and he hadn’t been disappointed. Out on the terrace just now, she had sparkled, her ready wit and obvious intelligence pleasing him as much as her lovely countenance. He realised he simply enjoyed being with her.
‘Oh, this is ridiculous,’ he muttered.
‘What was that?’ Great-aunt Augusta frowned at him.
‘Nothing, dear aunt, nothing. I was just looking at that young fop’s waistcoat over there. Ridiculous.’ He nodded towards a young man sporting a particularly garish garment in a violent shade of lime green. ‘Sorry to have interrupted you. Do go on.’
His aunt rambled on and Jason’s thoughts returned to his previous preoccupation. What is the matter with me? A spurt of irritation shot through him and he frowned at no one in particular. Surely he hadn’t fallen for Miss Ianthe? She was too young, too inexperienced, too … altogether perfect. He hadn’t come to London to find a bride for himself and he didn’t want to fall in love, but did one have a choice in these matters? It simply happened.
He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, then interrupted his great-aunt in mid flow. ‘Excuse me, Aunt Augusta, but I see an acquaintance over there is trying to attract my attention. Fellow’s been after a word with me for ages, so I’d better oblige. Wonderful to see you looking so well. I’ll speak with you soon.’
And before she could protest, he’d left her side and headed across the room. Not to speak to anyone though, but to leave. He had to get out of here so he could be alone with his thoughts.
He had a decision to make.
The following morning further floral tributes arrived, but this time Ianthe only received one. It was enough, however, since it was a huge bouquet of yellow roses with a card signed simply ‘W’. Her heart began to beat a little faster.
Regency Romance Collection From Christina Courtenay Page 12