‘But of course,’ Leo said.
He glanced at Cecily and flicked his head to the stairs.
She nodded her understanding, smiled at Rosalind and said, ‘I shall look forward to meeting you in the park directly, Miss Allen. Come, Olivia, it is time you and I changed our gowns.’ And she ushered a protesting Olivia back up the stairs.
Alex had already wandered off towards the back of the house and the servants’ stairs that led to the basement and Rosalind remained at the foot of the main staircase, watching suspiciously as Leo and Freddie moved out of earshot.
‘Am I correct that my sister has been alone with you in your study?’
‘You are indeed.’ Conflicting expressions chased one another across Freddie’s features. How torn the poor lad must be—so excited by his new job and yet intent on protecting his sister’s virtue. Little did he realise that bird had already flown.
A slash of colour appeared high on Freddie’s cheekbones. ‘Do not think I am ungrateful for your offer of employment, but I must say this and if, after hearing me out, you feel compelled to withdraw that offer, then so be it.
‘I have to inform you that I object in the strongest possible terms to your placing my sister in such a compromising position. I should like to know, sir, what you—’
‘Freddie?’ Rosalind appeared at Freddie’s shoulder and she touched his arm. ‘There is no harm done. I—’
‘There is every harm done, Ros. I read the newspapers. I know all about the gossip and the tittle-tattle that can ruin a lady’s reputation. Is that what you want?’ He lowered his voice. ‘You were alone together in his study, and the entire household is aware of it. Think how it will impact Nell. I acquit you of anything other than naivety, but His Grace was very much aware of the implications and... Where is your hat?’
Rosalind’s hands flew to her hair and her cheeks blossomed pink. ‘Oh!’ She hurried back across the hall to the study.
‘Allen,’ Leo said, ‘I am pleased you take your duties as a brother so seriously and you have my word I shall never do anything to harm your sister. I knew I was not mistaken in your character.’
Freddie’s jaw clenched and Leo placed a placatory hand on his arm.
‘My intentions are entirely honourable. It is your sister who has yet to make up her mind.’
Freddie stared at him, then at Rosalind, who had emerged from Leo’s study, bonnet now firmly on her head. Leo waited for the young man to catch on to his meaning. After several seconds, Freddie visibly relaxed. His lips pursed and his eyes creased.
‘Well, I wish you luck if you think to force her hand, Your Grace,’ he murmured. ‘Although, had you thought to ask my advice, I could have told you my sister is doubly resistant in the face of any form of coercion.’
‘Coercion? You misunderstand, dear Frederick. I am merely helping her to appreciate that my way is the best way. Now, perhaps you would be so good as to go and finish your tour with Alex whilst I smooth your sister’s ruffled feathers?’
Freddie sucked in one cheek and shook his head, grinning. He kissed Rosalind goodbye and then went to join Alex. His scepticism did little to dent Leo’s confidence. He could barely recall the last time he did not get what he wanted. One of the many advantages of being a duke, he supposed. And he wanted to marry Rosalind. The sooner she realised it was inevitable, the better all round.
‘Why were you so ready to believe the worst of me?’
Leo started. What bee had she trapped beneath that bonnet of hers? ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Last night,’ she said. ‘The minute you saw me, you believed I had set out to trap you into marriage. I want to know why. What makes you so cynical?’
Margaret’s image drifted into his head. What indeed? Past experience. But he did not wish to sully his relationship with Rosalind with the memory of Margaret and her infidelities.
He forced a nonchalant shrug. ‘I have come to expect attempts to either cajole or trick me into marriage. There are plenty of females in the ton for whom the lure of being a duchess overrides any other consideration.
‘Now, is it not time you returned to your sister?’ He cupped her elbow and steered her in the direction of the entrance hall, where Penny still patiently waited. ‘You will no doubt wish to change your clothes in readiness for your outing to the park.’
Rosalind gave a puzzled smile, then glanced down at her gown. ‘I do not need to change. This gown is perfectly adequate.’
Leo tutted and shook his head, pleased his distraction had worked. ‘You will soon find that no lady can be expected to manage without at least four changes of clothing per day. You should prepare yourself for Lady Glenlochrie’s insistence that you change your gown before walking in the park.’
‘Well, that,’ Rosalind said, ‘seems not only a waste of time but also exceedingly extravagant.’ She halted just out of earshot of Penny. ‘What about your wife?’
‘My wife?’ He used his most forbidding tone.
‘Yes. The mother of your children. Will you tell me about her? Was it she who made you so distrustful?’
Stubborn, infuriating woman. What good would talking about it do? It was history. He had no need to discuss it. He gazed into the depths of her wide eyes, close enough to see the golden flecks in her irises, and all he wished for was to haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless.
‘Not now, sweetheart. That must wait for another day.’
Chapter Twenty-One
‘Papa?’
Leo tore his attention from the papers on his desk. It was Freddie’s first day of work and already he had cleared much of the backlog of correspondence that Capper had left behind, leaving Leo to read through the documents and sign where required.
‘Yes, Olivia?’
Leo laid his pen aside, pushed his chair away from the desk and stretched his arms above his head as Olivia crossed the study and sat down.
‘You have been at your desk all day,’ Olivia said. ‘I thought you might like to accompany Aunt Cecily and me on our walk in the park.’
Her gaze travelled around the room with a studied air of nonchalance. Leo bit back a smile as his daughter avoided catching his eye. She was up to something.
‘I am not certain I can spare the time—’
‘But, Papa, you are constantly telling me how important it is to go out into the fresh air and take exercise.’
‘And so it is. But I think I should prefer to ride rather than walk and have to make polite conversation with—’
‘But you must come with us.’
‘Must?’
Olivia pouted. ‘Please, Papa. It is important.’
‘Then why do you not tell me why it is of such importance and allow me to judge for myself?’
A frown wrinkled Olivia’s brow and her lips pursed. Leo waited.
‘I could tell you,’ she said, at length. ‘After all, I only promised not to say a word to Aunt Cecily.’
Leo tensed, but forced himself to remain outwardly relaxed. The idea that anyone was encouraging Olivia to keep secrets from her aunt... All kinds of suspicions slithered through his thoughts. If he tried to force the information from her, however, she might clam up and then he would never know.
‘Would it help if I promise not to tell anyone you told me?’
Relief flooded her face. ‘Yes, for I should not like Helena to think I cannot be trusted, but with you and Miss Allen being such...well...particular friends—’
‘Livvy,’ he growled.
Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘Well, you are, Papa...and I like her, too, Papa, very much, so you need not worry...and that is why I think you should know what Helena told me, but it was in confidence and, if you will agree to walk with us in the park this afternoon, you would see it for yourself and also if Cousin Anthony makes a nuisance of hi
mself again then you could stop him, because he listens to you even if he doesn’t like you, so Aunt Cecily and Uncle Vernon say, and—’
‘Whoa!’
Olivia snapped her mouth shut.
‘Slow down and tell me what it is I need to see for myself. Although, first—what do you mean, Aunt Cecily and Uncle Vernon told you Cousin Anthony doesn’t like me?’
Surely they would not discuss Lascelles with Olivia. His daughter caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
‘They might not have told me, precisely,’ she said. ‘But they were speaking very loudly in the parlour, just as I happened to be passing, and—’
Olivia fell into silence in response to Leo’s raised hand. He might have known. There was little that went on in his household that his inquisitive daughter did not know about. He stifled a sigh. Not for the first time, he wished he could turn back the clock and make her ten again. She was much easier to manage then. The thought of the havoc she might wreak once loose in society made his heart quail.
‘Enough,’ he said. ‘I have the gist of what happened there, Olivia. Now, tell me what Helena told you.’
She eyed him for a moment. ‘When you were in here with Miss Allen yesterday did she tell you about Lady Tring?’
The mention of Lady Tring set Leo’s mind racing. She was the daughter of Sir Humphrey Hillyer and, therefore, Rosalind’s maternal aunt.
‘No.’
‘Helena said they met Lady Tubthorpe when they went shopping and she was with Lady Tring, and she was nasty to Miss Allen—Lady Tring, that is—and then Cousin Anthony came up to them and she had to be...well, less nasty...and then Miss Allen felt obligated to Cousin Anthony and he escorted them along Bond Street and he asked if he could call upon Miss Allen, and she said no, but then he said “You shall not deny me” and Helena said his voice made her cold.’
She paused for breath and Leo sorted through what she had said.
‘And why do you believe that necessitates my presence in the park this afternoon?’
Olivia cast him a reproachful look. ‘I have not finished yet, Papa. Anyway, Helena said Cousin Anthony was nice on the surface, but she didn’t really like him and she is worried her sister trusts him too much and then, yesterday afternoon in the park—after Miss Allen came to visit you, Papa—Lady Tring gave Miss Allen the cut direct, even though she spoke to me and Aunt Cecily and Helena, only Aunt Cecily was talking and she did not notice, but I did and that’s when Helena told me all about it and she says...’ she inhaled before rushing on ‘...that Miss Allen pretends it doesn’t matter that her mother’s sisters disapprove of her, but they are the only family she has apart from her grandfather, although he might be dead, and she says Miss Allen only pretends not to care because she does not want Helena to be upset, and so she says things like “I shall give them something to gossip about”, but she does care, really...’ Olivia heaved in another deep breath ‘...and then afterwards, I saw her—Lady Tring—speaking to other ladies and gentlemen, and they all looked at Miss Allen as if she were a...a...doxy, or something, and—’
‘Olivia! Where did you hear a word like that? It is not a term a lady should use.’
‘Well, Alex says it—’
‘That is enough. You know you should not listen to Alex.’
Leo pushed his fingers through his hair. He had noticed a few silver strands at his temples in the mirror that morning... It was a wonder he wasn’t completely grey-haired by now, having to cope with both Olivia and Alex. Thank God Dominic had a level head.
‘I was right to tell you, Papa, was I not? You can only make it right if you know about it—that is what you always tell us.’
She looked at him so trustingly Leo’s heart turned over in his chest. Suddenly, she was a child again, not a young lady on the brink of her come-out. He had always told his children that they could rely upon him to solve any problems they might have and they had grown up knowing they could confide in him.
‘You were right to tell me, Livvy. What time do you leave?’
‘Aunt Cecily has ordered the carriage for quarter to five. We have arranged to pick up Helena and Miss Allen from Lady Glenlochrie’s house and then drive to the park, where we shall walk.’
‘In that case, I shall meet you in the park.’
It was but a short walk along Upper Grosvenor Street from Grosvenor Square to the park. Leo was beginning to understand Rosalind’s way of thinking. If he were to arrive with Cecily and Olivia this afternoon, she would most likely interpret it as him pressing her to come to a speedy decision. If, however, he were to meet up with them, quite by chance, and offer Rosalind his arm—why, that would convey two messages at the same time. It would not only signal to Lady Tring and any others inclined to follow her lead that Rosalind Allen had the full approval of the Duke of Cheriton, but it would also fuel speculation about his intentions towards her.
And that could only further his cause.
Olivia smiled—a far-too-satisfied smile for Leo’s comfort... How did his daughter get to be so knowing and manipulative?—and rose to her feet.
‘Thank you, Papa. I shall see you in the park.’
‘Livvy,’ he said, before she left the room.
‘Yes, Papa?’
‘Do not forget to be surprised when we meet later, or Helena will guess you have told me.’
‘Yes, Papa.’
* * *
‘I fail to see why we needs must walk, when we have any number of perfectly good horses eating their heads off in the stables.’ Vernon twirled his cane as he strolled by Leo’s side through Hyde Park.
‘The walk will do you good. And, if we are on horseback, we would need to dismount if we are to converse with all the interesting people we may meet.’
‘Converse? Interesting? Who, may I ask?’ Vernon swished his cane horizontally, indicating a wide swathe of parkland where the haut ton walked, rode and drove in order to see and be seen at this time of day.
They passed a group of four young women promenading in the opposite direction. Leo merely tipped his hat, but Vernon paused, raised his hat and bowed.
‘Good afternoon, ladies.’
His greeting oozed seduction. Leo glanced back. His brother was gracing the group with his most charming smile, provoking blushes and trills of giggles from the ladies.
Leo did not break his stride and, before long, Vernon caught up with him.
‘Do you care to enlighten...? Ah, now I understand.’
Leo followed his brother’s gaze to where several people strolled along the bank of the Serpentine. He recognised Rosalind at once. She held Susie by the hand as she approached three ladies, one of whom he identified as Lady Tring.
‘What does she think she is about?’
Olivia’s words came back to haunt him: I shall give them something to gossip about.
Thankfully, Cecily and Olivia were nowhere to be seen and nor was Helena. It was just Rosalind and Susie. As he watched, Lady Tring halted before quite deliberately turning her back upon Rosalind. He now recognised Lady Tring’s companions as Lady Slough—Rosalind’s other aunt—and her daughter. They, too, cut Rosalind. Then a tall dark figure separated from a group passing nearby, waved his companions onward and went to Rosalind, bowing over her hand. Every muscle in Leo’s body hardened. Lascelles. What the hell does he think he’s doing?
Protecting Rosalind, even from her own folly, was Leo’s role. He changed direction, heading directly for the group on the bank.
‘Leo? Who is that child? Is she Miss Allen’s...?’ Vernon caught up with Leo and now matched him stride for stride.
‘No! That is the child I told you about. Susie.’
‘The little runaway? Isn’t she a bastard?’
‘She is.’
‘But...does Miss Allen not realise what will be said abo
ut her if she parades the girl around in public?’
‘I believe,’ Leo said, through gritted teeth, ‘she is only too well aware of it.’
Vernon emitted a disbelieving whistle and then there was no time for more, for they were almost upon the small gathering.
‘An utter disgrace to the Hillyer name,’ Lady Tring was proclaiming in a shrill voice, her back still to Rosalind.
‘My name,’ Rosalind said, quite calm, ‘is Allen. And this is Susie, my protégée.’
‘Protégée?’ This from Lady Slough. ‘Is that what you call her? No decent person will—’
Lascelles intervened. ‘Lady Slough,’ he said, his voice smooth but steely, ‘I should be most careful how you phrase what I suspect you are about to say. As you may witness, I am happy to acknowledge Miss Allen and I am certain you would not care to insult any member of the Beauchamp family, no matter which side of the blanket they were born on.’
* * *
Rosalind’s pulse raced and skittered, but she refused to back down in the face of her aunts’ deliberate snub. Susie’s hand was hot in her grasp and she could feel the little girl tremble as she pressed close. Why had she not stopped to think what effect this confrontation might have on an innocent child? It was too late for regrets, but what on earth had she hoped to achieve?
You wanted to prove to your aunt that you don’t care a jot for her opinion of you. Instead of which, all you have done is made a spectacle of yourself and risked tarnishing Nell by association.
Nell, who had tried so hard to persuade her to wait for Lady Cecily and Lady Olivia to collect them in their carriage as arranged.
Oh, why didn’t I listen to her?
God help her, she was actually relieved to see Lascelles when he appeared. Her relief was cut short, however, by Leo’s arrival, his eyes icy. With one glance she understood his fury was directed in the main at her, not at her aunts. Her insides shrank and shrivelled. He was, rightly, disgusted. This was not how a lady should behave.
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