Testing Miss Toogood

by Stella Cameron

  “The place wasn’t even crowded,” Nathan said. “Wretched. Only a handful of interesting women there. And no cards.”

  “Fleur was there,” Dominic said, popping to his feet again. “She’s interesting.”

  He confounded her with his abrupt compliments, particularly since they invariably sounded grudging.

  Nathan showed more of his teeth than usual. “Of course Fleur is interesting. Was she supposed to entertain a houseful of men?”

  “Oh,” Fleur said, anxious about the direction of the conversation. “I found the evening really pleasant. Such a lot of nice people.”

  “You mean you enjoyed having crowds of eligible males vie for your attention, and more than a few who weren’t eligible?” Dominic didn’t even look at her when he spoke.

  “No—”

  “That was despicable, Dominic,” Nathan said. “Fleur has been to only a handful of parties and she’s coped very well. Just how many men does she have to meet to find the one meant for her—if there is one?”

  “What do you mean?” Dominic said. “If there is one? Of course there’s one meant for her, but we both know that, don’t we? I think Fleur’s quite taken with Best. It’s obvious that a last-minute gathering like that, sumptuously done as it was, had to be because he asked his parents to do it—and his only motive was to have Fleur there.”

  “You were the one who introduced Franklin to Fleur,” Nathan said.

  Dominic ignored him. “You will have noticed Noel wasn’t invited.”

  “He wasn’t there. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t—”

  “Yes, it does. He wasn’t invited,” Dominic said. “Nor any man she may have spoken more than a word or two with. I’d stake my life on it.”

  “Mr. Best’s parents thought it would be wonderful to have a small gathering to help fill in the gaps left by the canceled events,” Fleur said. She also got up, planted her feet a few inches apart and swayed. Dominic had made her furious. He was mean. “They spoke with me at length and they are charming people. And it was a lovely party. The music swept me away—Hattie, too.” Hattie had insisted Fleur use her given name.

  “And from what I could see, young Best also swept you away,” Dominic said. “I never heard so many waltzes played—one after the other. Or, as far as I can remember, seen the same unattached man and woman dance together so often. I thought I had warned you about men who seek to take advantage by any means they can.”

  “He didn’t,” Fleur protested.

  “No, he didn’t,” Nathan said. “Seems to me some soul-searching might be in order for you, dear brother. You think you can hide the truth about your motives—”

  “Enough of your damnable bibble-babble,” Dominic snapped. “Why did you want to see us, Mother?”

  “I declare it’s hard to remember with the two of you being so unpleasant,” the Dowager said. “No, really, I think I must stop this entirely. You should be ashamed of yourselves, behaving so in front of Fleur. She cannot be accustomed to such nastiness. Nathan, I wish to talk with you alone. Dominic, you look pale. Kindly take Fleur for a walk—perhaps in Green Park. Relax. It will do you good. Also, I know Hattie would appreciate your help in dealing with this wretched redesign of the grounds. I understand the tenants are complaining because the landscapers are dropping mountains of debris around their cottages.”

  “Then I must tend to that at once,” Dominic said. “I’ll take Lawrence with me since he collects the rents and he knows everyone by name. Nathan, take care of Fleur, please.”

  “The tenant issue can wait,” the Dowager said sharply. “Lawrence has already reassured them that their problem will be taken care of. You can speak with them later. I asked you to walk with Fleur since I need to speak to Nathan.”

  Fleur retied the strings on her bonnet—tighter—and picked up her reticule. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” she said, making sure she didn’t sound miffed. “I have a great deal to do this afternoon so I must start out now. I should say, I’d like to start out now,” she amended, dropping a curtsey to Lady Granville.

  She hardly took a step or two when Snowdrop came in with Chloe, who held her yellow-eyed black cat in her arms and seemed in immensely good spirits. She took Raven and nestled among some pillows.

  Fleur positioned herself so that only Snowdrop could see her face. Then she mouthed, “Well?”

  “Fleur,” Snowdrop said, “I saw a color as I came in and I think it would look wonderful on you. Excuse us a moment, please.” She led the way into the hall, then popped her head back into the sitting room and said. “My lady, I was just sent to let you know your sisters are expected from Bath tomorrow.”

  Absolute silence followed but Fleur was too busy rushing behind the staircase with Snowdrop to care.

  “That green,” Snowdrop said, pointing to the silk wall hangings. “In case they ask you. We’ve been lucky. Lord Dominic doesn’t seem to have taken off in the night all this week.”

  “He’s going to,” Fleur said. “I overheard him saying to Lord Nathan that it’s time to get Olivia Prentergast alone—and that he intends to return to St. James Street and search for ‘the place.’”

  “When?” Snowdrop leaned close and her dark eyes filled with anxiety.

  “After the ball here on Saturday evening. Did you come up with an idea for me to be anonymous in the street?”

  “Yes. I’m afraid for my health if any member of the family finds out, but as long as we’re careful we shouldn’t be discovered.”

  “You are not going,” Fleur said. “No, don’t argue with me. Just tell me what you think I should do.”

  “Pretend you’re a nobody, and drunk, and practicing the oldest trade in the world.”

  Fleur stared at her. A noisy barrage of conversation had broken out in the sitting room. “What is that trade, exactly?”

  Snowdrop rolled her eyes. “They’ve even got ’em in the Bible so you must have read about ’em. An article, a baggage, a bit o’ calico. A lady of easy virtues.”

  “A prostitute,” Fleur whispered and sucked in a breath.

  “Exactly. I’ve gathered some cast off maids’ uniforms—scullery maids—and dolled ’em up a bit. Strings around the necks of the bodices—real loose—and gathered the skirts up in the front—leaving a petticoat, of course. I even got some of them beauty marks and there’s caps with lots of ribbons. And a Chinese box of color to paint up our faces. Juicy red mouths we’ll ’ave to ’ave.”

  “But, Snowdrop, we’re likely to get approached by men. Dressed like that we’ll be more obvious than if we went as we are.”

  “You know we can’t go as we are. And you’re wrong. We’ll melt into the background.”

  “You’re not coming,” Fleur said and frowned.

  Snowdrop gave her an innocent look. “Then I’ll just have to make sure you know how to behave, won’t I? I used to know one, y’know and I saw her about often enough.”

  The last thing Fleur could imagine was posing as a prostitute. But she supposed Snowdrop was right when she said such people were part of the London night scene.

  “That is if you don’t want to dress as a boy like I suggested first.”

  “Absolutely not. That’s silly.”

  “I agree,” Snowdrop said.

  “Very well. This afternoon I have another fitting with Mrs. Neville, then we can get together in my room and see what you intend. After the ball on Saturday evening, I shall be quickly in place to follow Dominic. I may be able to do nothing to help, but there’s a chance I can be invaluable. Did you get it?”

  Snowdrop looked more miserable than Fleur recalled seeing her. She looked at the marble floor and crossed her arms.

  “Snowdrop?”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “You do have it?” Fleur pressed Snowdrop.

  “If the Marchioness finds out, she’ll never forgive me.”

  Fleur chose her words carefully. “Hattie doesn’t give me the impression she’s a stranger to worldly matters.�
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  “She isn’t. Oh, no, she’s known an ’ard life. She almost died an ’orrible death but the Marquis and Lord Nathan and Lord Dominic helped her get away, not that she wasn’t fighting for herself.”

  “So.”

  “Oh, all right, then. Yes, but it’s a bit bigger than I’d like, and heavier. I’ll have to take you somewhere private and show you how to fire it.”

  “I’ve fired a pistol before,” Fleur informed her. “My papa is a man of peace but he believes his girls should be able to defend themselves in any dire situation. He taught me just in case he was ever away and someone tried to get into the rectory.”

  Snowdrop’s surprise almost made Fleur laugh. “Bring it with you to my room.”

  “The last thing we need,” Dominic said loudly from the sitting room, “is the aunts mixing everything and everyone up. Sorry, Mother, I know they’re your sisters, but you’ve managed without them quite well for a long time so I don’t know why you feel it’s such a good idea to have them here now—when we’re already stretched so far beyond comfort.”

  He meant by her presence, Fleur thought.

  “Good old Aunt Enid and Aunt Prunella will liven the lot of us up,” Nathan said.

  “Well said,” his mother agreed. “And I don’t think I have to ask your permission to invite my sisters here, Dominic.”

  “Auntie Enid and Auntie Prunella,” Chloe squeaked, apparently thrilled that these latest relatives were coming. “It will be just like home. They make me laugh and I make them laugh. Most agreeable.”

  “Fleur, where are you?” Dominic strode into the hall. “There you are. Let’s go now, please. Snowdrop, keep an eye on your charge. Don’t let her out of your sight, mind.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Snowdrop curtseyed and managed to give Fleur a sly wink.

  Once they were outside—and alone—Fleur said, “I only intend to walk right here in the immediate grounds. There is no need for you to accompany me.”

  “You are not to walk alone. My mother has assured me there is always a servant close enough to assist you when you are out on the estate.”

  “Yes,” she said, her mind tumbling to find a way out of having this unpleasant person accompany her anywhere. He walked beside her like some great, furious animal, perhaps a big cat (she smiled at the thought) like a black panther.

  “You meant what you said when you declined going to Green Park?”

  “I certainly did. My afternoon is far too busy for such a long excursion.”

  “Good. Lead on then, and I’ll stay with you.”

  How charming. How exhilarating. She did hope she would be a match for his sparkling conversation.

  She set off for the open spaces, the fields where no animals grazed and no crops were sowed. Tender grass grew there where the land lay fallow until next year. In each field a track, she assumed used by the tenants, cut through from gate to gate.

  “Where are you going?” Dominic asked when they left the formal gardens and the stands of trees behind and set off to the left and an empty field. “You said you didn’t want to leave the immediate grounds.”

  “It’s easier to stretch one’s legs when there are no obstacles,” she said. “So I use the beaten paths through the fields. The grass smells sweet and one gets a little more sun than is strictly approved of. I love it. I’ve even been known to make a daisy chain or two.” She smiled, more to herself than at him.

  At the gate he took her hand and helped her climb over. “You do enjoy forbidden fruit, don’t you, Fleur?”

  “Because I make daisy chains?” She thought of the biblical connotation of forbidden fruit and smothered a grin. “Forgive me for being flippant. I supposed I’m opposed to rules, if that’s what you mean.”

  The field sloped upward. They crossed to the other side, climbed the gate and walked through oak trees to another field. Fleur marched on, over stiles and through narrow trails in knee-high grass. She heard her skirts swish behind her.

  “A mountaineer, are you?” Dominic called out. “Well, I think you’re almost at the summit.”

  “I am,” she told him. “It’s beautiful up there. Have you ever seen it?”

  He laughed. “I grew up here. I could probably name the rocks on the ground. Of course I’ve been to the top. Not recently, that’s all.”

  Fleur reached his “summit” and leaned on a stone wall built to keep livestock from wandering.

  “I’m glad you like it up here,” Dominic said, standing beside her with his elbow almost touching hers. “Appreciation of something like this view shows you have a heart and an imagination.”

  Until now he doubted that? “How odd it must be to look around and know that all you see is yours.”

  “It isn’t,” he said. “It belongs to John, to the Marquis. But it has always been my home.”

  He was a straightforward man.

  “Nathan and I each have property but it’s worked just as it has always been worked—without a master in residence.”

  “I see.”

  The wind blew hard up here and ballooned in Fleur’s skirts. She noted how Dominic’s long, black hair whipped beneath the ribbon tied at his nape.

  “If you want to go back,” she said. “I shall be perfectly safe finding my own way down.”

  “That is a guess, Fleur, because you don’t know you’re right. Anyway, I’m perfectly happy where I am, thank you.”

  “Do you keep your hair back when you sleep?” she asked, and wondered why her tongue was so reckless.

  “No.” Muscles in his jaw tightened but he didn’t look at her.

  Fleur pushed her bonnet off and let it trail from her neck by its strings. She turned her face to the wind and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she found Dominic watching her. “Do you understand how complicated life can be?” he said. “How we can’t always have what we might like because we have duties we must not neglect?”

  “I’m not sure.” She turned sideways and leaned on the fence again. Watching the wind have its way with him excited her. “I believe we must balance our lives. If, for example, we don’t allow ourselves any pleasure, our hearts will eventually break.”

  “Piffle.” He drew his lips back from his teeth.

  “You’re entitled to your opinion.” But his protestation made her sad. He feared admitting to human needs.

  “Do you wear a nightcap to bed?” he said.

  She grinned at him. “No. I hate them. I do like to pull the covers over my head, though.”

  He raised his chin and looked down at her, his gaze speculative.

  Fleur wondered what he was thinking.

  She changed the subject. “I don’t think it will be long before The Cat starts giving away the identities of his victims. He’ll spread them throughout the beau monde just to enjoy the embarrassment and gossip he causes.”

  Dominic tipped his head to one side. “Yes,” he said. “Just what I’ve been expecting. But you surprise me. It would seem you can think more like a man than a woman.”

  “Because I don’t always look for a pretty picture so that my sensibilities need not be troubled? You don’t have any idea how I think.”

  “Perhaps not, or perhaps I do. Tell me this. If the Cat releases the names of the women he kidnaps, why will families continue to pay ransoms?”

  “To keep their daughters alive.”

  Dominic looked sideways at her. “Quite. Are you a heartless woman?”

  “Because I don’t simper or avoid the truth?” she said. “Or swoon at the mention of unpleasant things?”

  “I interest you because you find me challenging, but you don’t like me.” He faced her and his eyes turned a burning blue in the sunshine.

  She hadn’t seen the statement coming.

  “You don’t have to like me, Fleur. You do have to listen when I say things in your best interest.”

  “Why do you provoke me?” she asked. “Is that part of what I must do, too? Listen to you when you’re mean?”

 
“I’m not—”

  “You are, my lord. You make no attempt to cover your moods or to wait until you are alone to deal with them. I am powerless here. Do you think yourself brave to pick on a powerless person? I know you’re trying to please your mother by watching over me but you hate it and it is you who don’t like me. And I don’t think I can continue this charade, not for anyone’s sake.”

  His fingers, settling gently on her lips, shocked Fleur.

  “Can you do it for me?” he asked softly.

  Fleur didn’t try to answer but her eyes filled with tears and she was so angry at her weakness.

  “I can’t make you believe me, but I want you to be happy and I want to know you’re cared for.” His hand went from her mouth to the side of her face. He smoothed her wildly blowing hair. “I wish I were free to do whatever I want to do.”

  Her legs turned shaky. “You are free.”

  “Not completely.” His thumb brushed over her cheek. “I entrap myself. I wonder if you could ever understand that. My commitment to the duties that fall to me, and certain other responsibilities, mean that choosing to do what I want—for myself—would be selfish. And it could be dangerous, not for me but for another.”

  Fleur inclined her head a little and pressed her lips into his palm. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt his other hand settle on her neck. He must think she wouldn’t guess that he was giving reasons for not allowing himself to love her.

  Her heart set up a desperate pounding. She could not bring herself to look at him. She said, “I do like you,” but stopped herself from saying more. The less she said, the less there would be to regret.

  “I’m a man who is accustomed to spending time alone. Lots of it. I would never ignore someone I cared for out of malice, but I might forget to be attentive.”

  Dominic slid a hand around her neck and exerted enough pressure to tip her against him. She didn’t resist. Neither did she attempt to hold him.

  “Remember how I said I believed any man who thought to marry you should have his own list? Questions to ask you in response to the ones you intend for him?”