Lady Swinborne, however, was not inclined to serve as a shield. She rose immediately, saying, “I am sure you two have much to discuss. I shall see that these flowers are put into a proper vase, and return in precisely half an hour.“ She gave her niece a pointed look and added, “I expect everything to be settled by then.”
Teresa watched her aunt leave the room and felt suddenly bereft of all support. She could not do this. She could not sit and talk with this gentleman all alone. She felt herself begin to panic and looked wildly about the room for some way to escape. There was no pianoforte to hide behind. There was no one but herself and the Marquis.
Her gaze slipped over Richard and then flew back to him. He was looking at her with such concern in his eyes. Could he sense her fear? He leaned toward her from his chair across the carpet.
It must have been the expression in his sad eyes. Her fear began to evaporate, and, in its place, her anger from the day before returned with full force. She looked at him, this fine gentleman, and remembered how easily he had lied to her, and how he had hurt her with his false kindness.
Richard’s voice finally broke through the stillness that had settled on them. “Miss Seton … Teresa…” He stopped.
Teresa tilted her head, “My lord?”
“Richard.”
“What is it that you were going to say, my lord?” Teresa said, ignoring his correction.
Richard frowned, but then smoothed his features into an expression of sincere contrition. “Teresa, I apologize.”
“Apologize for what? For lying to me or for kissing me?” she queried, a hard edge to her voice.
“I did not exactly lie to you.”
“Oh no? What do you call it then? Perhaps my English is not as good as I had thought. You told me you took care of the house.”
“I do take care of the house,” Richard defended himself weakly.
“Yes. It belongs to you. You must have simply forgotten to mention that little detail.” Teresa could not stop the sarcasm.
Richard glared at her, his hands clenched. “I, I did not intend to lie. But I did not want you to tell everyone that you had met the Marquis of Merrick at his home. I have not let anyone know that I am in town. Also, you would not have been able to come and practice on my pianoforte if your aunt had known that I was there.”
If he imagined that she was going to forgive him on that flimsy excuse, Teresa thought to herself, he was sadly mistaken. She was still very angry, and she was not going to make this easy for him. She looked at him, carefully keeping her expression impassive.
Richard stood up and faced her. “Teresa, the point is that now you have to marry me. I am sorry if that is not what you had wanted or expected, but that is just the way it needs to be.”
“Why does it need to be that way? It was only my aunt and Lady Jersey who saw us, and it was only one little kiss.” Teresa realized that she was now the one making weak excuses.
“You know that Lady Jersey is one of the biggest gossips in London. She, herself, said yesterday that she was going out immediately to spread the word of your downfall.”
Teresa opened her mouth to refute this, but found that in all honesty she could not — her aunt had told her as much the day before. She was ruined and there was nothing she could do about it. She thought longingly for home and the comfort of her father’s side.
“I promised Papa I would marry for love,” she said quietly, a tear escaping from the corner of her eye. She brushed it away quickly, but clearly not fast enough.
In a moment, he was on his knees in front of her. “Teresa, I am so sorry.”
Teresa noticed that he no longer smelled of soot. No, now he had a very male smell of soap and spicy bay rum shaving lotion. She resisted the temptation to lean closer so she could smell him better.
He grasped her hands strongly in his own, bringing her mind back to the problem at hand. “Teresa, you must marry me to save your reputation, but I promise you, it will simply be a marriage of convenience.”
His hands were firm and warm on her own, but his words were like ice to her heated dreams of love. She tried to remove her hands from his grip, but his fingers only tightened around hers.
“My lord, I will not agree to such a scheme. I cannot,” she said, with as much conviction as she could.
His grip tightened, as if he could bend her to his will simply by force. Teresa winced at the pressure, but forced herself to remain silent.
Finally, he let go of her and stood up. Running his hands through his hair, he looked down at her and shook his head in exasperation. “Perhaps you do not understand, Teresa. No one will marry you. You will not be able to marry for love, for there will be no one with whom you could fall in love. Your invitations will stop all together. Even your aunt will be shunned by society.”
Teresa felt a constriction in her throat. Her aunt would suffer? They would be shunned? No, he had to be lying again. How could she possibly trust him? This man who had said that she was beautiful, who had lied to her about his identity, who had kissed her with such tenderness and then left her to attend to some other business while she waited in vain for him to come and do the right thing by her. It was true that he had come, but not for nearly twenty-four hours. No, he was clearly untrustworthy.
Teresa raised her chin a fraction of an inch and spoke her mind. “I do not believe you. I do not trust you.”
Richard’s eyebrows drew down over his eyes and she knew the he was extremely angry and hurt by her words.
“You still do not believe me? You wound me, Teresa, but at this point you have no choice but to trust me. You will marry me.” His voice was firm.
“No.”
Teresa would not back down. She looked him directly in the eye.
He was the first to blink. “You are a stubborn woman, Teresa Seton. I am proposing a marriage of convenience to save your damned reputation. I did not say that we needed to stay married forever. You can still go to parties looking for your true love. And when you find him, we will have our marriage annulled. You will be free to marry again and you will be untouched by me, so you can assure the gentleman that any children you have will be his. What more do you want?” His words were clipped and short.
There was no doubt that he was angry, but there was also no doubt that what he was offering was the best thing that Teresa could ever hope for in this situation.
She looked up at him looming over her, considering his proposal carefully. “The marriage can be annulled?”
“Yes, quite easily. I need only fill out the marriage license incorrectly. You can protest the error and our marriage will be declared null and void.”
Teresa’s already large eyes widened. “You would do all this for me?”
The tension in the room lessened considerably. “Yes. I like you, Teresa, and I do not want to ruin your life due to my indiscretion.”
She nodded, finally coming to a decision. It was not one that she liked, but if it would save her aunt from social censure, she would have to live with it. “Thank you, Richard. You are very kind to me.”
He smiled and relaxed. “Not at all. If I were truly kind to you, I would never have gotten you into this mess at all.”
Teresa tilted her head. “You are sorry, then, to have kissed me.”
His lips twitched for a moment at her unintentional flirting, but then his face became serious. “No. I am afraid that I am not at all sorry for that.”
Teresa felt her color rise hotly to her face at his provocative words, and the huskiness of his voice as he said it. All of a sudden, the room felt too small to contain the both of them.
The door opened just then, and her aunt came loudly into the room. Teresa was never so happy to see her aunt as she was just at that moment.
Richard turned toward her. “Everything is settled, Lady Swinborne.“ Then, putting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out a small box. “I almost forgot. This is for you.“ He handed the box to Teresa.
A brilliant ruby surrounded
by diamonds sparkled up at her. She gasped as she took out the magnificent ring.
Richard took it from her hand and slipped it onto her finger.
“It was my mother’s engagement ring, and my grandmother’s before her. There is, in fact, a whole matching set, but I think I will give that to you after we are married,” Richard said with a twinkle in his eye.
Teresa could barely keep her eyes from the beautiful ring on her finger. No one had ever given her anything so lovely.
Lady Swinborne nodded approvingly. “I believe we should begin planning a ball to be held in honor of your marriage. To ensure that the gossips have as little to discuss as possible, we must be certain to show that this alliance has the full approval of both families. Have you discussed when the wedding will be?”
Richard sat down again, clearly realizing that this interview was far from over. “No, we had not. When do you think would be appropriate?”
Lady Swinborne sat down as well, and thought about this for a moment. “I do not think we should wait for the banns to be posted. One week, perhaps two? It is a lot to be done in that short a time, but we cannot risk taking too much longer, since it will be public knowledge by this evening exactly why you are getting married.”
Richard nodded. “I will get a special license. That is not a problem. A ball is probably a good idea, although I do not have much family left to approve or not.”
“Surely you have aunts and uncles. I know that you have your cousin, Mr. Fotheringay-Phipps.”
Richard’s lips twitched with laughter. “Ah yes. Poor Fungy, he will be so put out when he hears that I am to be married again. He is next in line for my title,” he explained to Teresa.
Teresa felt quite excluded from this conversation. In all honesty, it really did not matter when they were married, since it would not change the fact that it would be a loveless marriage.
What was worrying her most at the moment was the ball. How would she manage being the center of attention at a ball held in her honor? It scared the wits out of her just thinking about it. “Are you sure that we need to hold a ball, Aunt Catherine?” she said, finally voicing her fears.
Lady Swinborne looked up from her thoughts to scrutinize her niece. “Yes, my dear, I am certain of it. I will even write to invite your Uncle Abington, although I am not at all certain that he would come, as he very rarely comes to town. But it would be a boon were he and Erwina to attend. And you, young lady,” Lady Swinborne wagged a finger in Teresa’s direction, “will not shirk your duties and hide behind the foliage as you are want to do.”
Teresa felt the heat rise in her cheeks once again as she stole a look at Richard. He was looking rather serious, and not a little worried. Perhaps with Richard at her side, she thought, she would be able to untie her tongue.
Lady Swinborne continued, “I believe it would be best if you, my lord, were to be seen escorting Teresa from now on.”
Richard gulped audibly, but quickly coughed to try and cover it up. “You truly feel that to be necessary? Perhaps I can begin after the wedding…”
“You will begin this very evening,” Lady Swinborne said in her most stern voice. “We will be attending Lady Anson’s soiree.”
Teresa looked sympathetically at Richard. An idea came to mind, and she acted on it immediately. “Oh, no, Aunt Catherine. He surely could not do so tonight. Why, just look at his clothes! They are sadly out of fashion. I am sure that Lord Merrick has not been to his tailor in nearly a year.”
Richard jumped at Teresa’s opening. “Indeed, I have not! It would be most inappropriate of me to attend any social gathering dressed in my outmoded clothing, Lady Swinborne. And Teresa should certainly not be seen in public without me. I am afraid that you are going to have to either cancel your plans for the next week or simply go alone.”
He turned away from Lady Swinborne and gave Teresa a wink and a smile. Teresa could not contain her giggle, but put her hand to her mouth to stifle it as best as she could.
Lady Swinborne looked from one to the other, a frown on her face. Then her stern visage eased a bit around the corners. “I think this match is better made than any of us had previously thought.”
Chapter Eight
Lady Swinborne had finally allowed that Richard could not attend any social functions until he had seen to his wardrobe, but she did not dismiss her niece. Unfortunately, her insistence on Teresa attending the soiree that evening was quickly found to be a mistake after all.
Lady Anson had been all that was good and kind when they first arrived. “My dear Miss Seton, am I to understand that congratulations are in order?” she had gushed, without reserve.
Teresa felt her cheeks warm as Lady Swinborne responded in like manner. “Oh to be sure, my dear Lady Anson!” she had said enthusiastically, “Indeed, we are extremely lucky that Teresa has done so well as to catch the eye of one so eminently suitable.”
After this warm welcome, though, Lady Swinborne’s friends did not swarm toward her as readily as usual. Teresa was relieved not to be immediately surrounded and forced to make her attempts at polite conversation. But soon she grew uncomfortable in the realization that instead of people coming up to speak to them directly, there were whispers and guarded glances shot in their direction. Looking at her aunt, she found that Lady Swinborne’s smile had also become forced.
Teresa was relieved when she noticed the young lady she had met at Lady Jersey’s standing nearby. Miss Peyton saw Teresa at the same time, and had turned to speak to her when her mother caught her arm.
“Prudence, you are not to speak to that girl. Caught in such a compromising position. You do not want to be seen associating with such people, my dear. You have your own reputation to think about.” Lady Peyton’s whisper was loud enough to be heard by those around her.
Teresa opened her mouth to comment on the unfairness of such cavalier treatment — as if it were her fault she had been kissed and caught. Her aunt, however, spoke first, taking her arm and pointedly turning her back to the rude woman. “My dear Teresa, just look about you. Why, there is not a girl here who will do as well you have done. To have the esteem and affection of such a handsome and wealthy marquis is something that no other young lady will be able to boast of this season.”
A rather loud “Humph” was heard as Lady Peyton and her daughter moved away, followed by a few appreciative titters from the ladies standing just behind Teresa and her aunt.
Teresa looked at her aunt with gratitude, and said quietly, “You are very kind, Aunt Catherine.”
“What? I only speak the truth, my dear,” Lady Swinborne said, patting her niece’s arm affectionately.
Just before they were about to turn towards the refreshment table, they were approached by a trio of gentlemen. Two were dressed with elegant distinction. The third, however, was attired to such a degree of ridiculousness that Teresa had a hard time keeping her laughter from escaping.
So high were his shirt points, and so bright the many gold buttons on his green and gold embroidered waistcoat and sharply cut-away lemon yellow tailcoat, that Teresa almost felt as if she needed to shield her eyes from his magnificence. He sported no less than five fobs, and his matching yellow breeches were so tight that she was sure he would not be able to sit were he given the opportunity.
His clothes were evidently cut to show off his fine figure. Teresa, however, could not help but remember that Richard’s shoulders were somewhat broader and his legs much more muscular than this fine gentleman’s, even though the two were probably about the same height.
The exquisite bowed with a flourish over her aunt’s hand.
“My dear Lady Swinborne, such a pleasure to see you here this evening,” he drawled.
Lady Swinborne’s face had become wreathed in smiles at the gentleman’s approach. Now she almost giggled like a young girl at his exaggerated attention. “The pleasure is entirely mine, dear sir.”
He bowed his head graciously and then said, “Would you do the honors?”
Lady Swinborne looked perplexed for a moment, and then, with a guilty look, remembered her niece’s presence. “Oh, of course. Miss Teresa Seton, may I present Lord Merrick’s cousin, the Honorable St. John Fotheringay-Phipps?”
Teresa curtseyed as the gentleman kissed the air just over the back of her gloved hand.
“I am given to understand, Miss Seton, that you are soon to become one of the family?” Mr. Fotheringay-Phipps drawled. He somehow managed to maintain his façade of boredom while scrutinizing her rather closely.
“I, er, yes, that is correct. Your cousin was kind enough to offer for my hand today,” Teresa stammered, overcome by the gentleman’s inspection.
He finally nodded with apparent approval. “Well, in that case, please call me Fungy. Might even venture to call me cousin.”
“Thank you, ah, Cousin Fungy.”
“I say, Fungy, would you mind?” one of his companions complained.
Teresa redirected her gaze to the two gentlemen standing just behind him. While both maintained the quiet elegance prescribed by Beau Brummell, one of them was quite remarkable in his dark coloring. Teresa realized that he must be the Eurasian peer who had taken society by storm a few years ago. While he seemed good-humored and easy-going, his companion was more saturnine, with slashing eyebrows dominating a devilishly handsome face.
“Ah, truly sorry. Lady Swinborne, Miss Seton, may I present Julian Ritchie, the Earl of Huntley and Sinclair Straten, Viscount Reath?” Fungy said pointing first to the darker gentleman and then to the other.
While the gentlemen bowed to the two ladies, Fungy turned back to Teresa and asked, “So, where is Merry?”
“Merry?” Teresa asked, perplexed.
“Lord Merrick,” said Lord Reath.
“M’cousin,” Fungy replied at the same time.
“Yes, you remember him. Tall man, rather fair, blond hair. You are engaged to marry him?” Lord Huntley added, with a smile twinkling in his turquoise eyes.
The Merry Marquis Page 5