Vanquishing the Viscount

by Elizabeth Keysian

  Emma started pacing again. “What a huge fuss over nothing! Honestly, people go around being Good Samaritans all over the place, and none of it in expectation of being offered a Season. I don’t need to be rewarded for caring for a sick man. Tidworth’s demonstrated his gratitude by finding a home for us and offering a good price for Tresham. I don’t need or want anything more than that.”

  “I’m afraid it’s already been decided,” Mama said resolutely. “Papa is penning a reply as we speak. I shall write to George. He’ll be so pleased.”

  Now, that sounded like an eminently good idea. George was so solid, so sensible. He could intercede with their parents on her behalf. Even if she couldn’t go back to obscurity at Figheldene, George would see the danger in trying to hide the fact that she’d been a governess from the Rossburys.

  But would George be able to come right away? “How soon must we leave for Bath?” Emma asked.

  “It won’t take more than a day or two to pack up here—we’ve little enough left to bring with us. And Tidworth has already undertaken to furnish the new house in Daniel Street. ‘The new house in Daniel Street!’ How charming that sounds! You must choose your favorite articles—I’ll make sure they come with us so you’ll have something to make you feel at home when you visit.”

  “I still don’t like the deception, Mama. What if my past is discovered?”

  Her mother waved a dismissive hand. “Think how much gloss your reputation will have after you’ve spent the Season as the Countess of Rossbury’s protégé! Even with no dowry, you’ll have enough respectability to impress many more gentlemen than you could now. You could make a wonderful match—have a husband and children.”

  Emma sucked on her lower lip. Mama was right about that, at least. As much as Emma loved Mary and Willie Keane, she had often lamented not being able to have children of her own.

  So perhaps she would be a fool to turn down this opportunity.

  But it still irked her that James had orchestrated all this without consulting her or her parents. Such presumption, to play with their lives like chess pieces!

  Worse, with the d’Iberts gone and settled, he’d be free to do whatever he liked to Tresham. Her parents would never stand up to the man they viewed as their benefactor. The sale was going ahead—there was nothing she could do about that.

  But how could she possibly surrender herself into the care of the cold, disapproving Countess of Rossbury? Emma would be forced to see a good deal more of James than she wished to…but could she make that work to her advantage? Installed thus with his mother, she might be in a better position to make him change his mind about his “improvements” to Tresham.

  Taking a deep breath, she turned to Mama and said, “Very well. I will accept the Rossburys’ generous offer.”

  But at the end of the Season, she would tell the meddling viscount exactly what she thought of him…and take control of her own life once again.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The next few days were spent in a frenzy of packing, cleaning, auditing, and letter writing. George responded immediately, saying he’d help them unpack and settle in at Bath. He also said he’d taken the liberty of buying a new coat of dark green superfine—a necessity, he informed them, if they were going to be hobnobbing with earls and the like.

  A generous promissory note arrived from the Countess of Rossbury for Emma to purchase traveling clothes and for any other expenses she might incur before arriving in Bath.

  She stared at the money in her hand as if it were a vicious beast poised to bite her.

  Had James put his mother up to all this? Was it guilt over his appalling behavior that had prompted him? Had he remembered that Emma had lain with him that night? Had he finally realized it was she, not his angelic Belinda, he’d held in his arms in the makeshift bed?

  She prayed most fervently that he did not. If he ever taxed her with it—and she hoped he was too much the gentleman ever to do so—she’d persuade him it was just a feverish dream, the sort of thing that often accompanied an attack of the ague.

  Whatever his purpose, or the reasons behind his actions, the viscount had been thorough. He’d even organized the transportation of themselves and their possessions and paid for it in advance. It had never occurred to him they might not want to accept his offer—indeed, by having everything in readiness, he’d made it practically impossible for them to do so.

  Emma wrote secretly to Charles to inform him of these developments, and tried to explain her motives for agreeing to them. She begged him to forget that she’d worked as a governess at Figheldene and to mention the circumstance to no one in Bath when he came to visit his Aunt Letitia.

  She didn’t write to Mrs. Keane. She’d let James deal with that.

  George managed to arrive the day before they were due to leave Tresham. He was looking dashing as ever, proudly showing off his new coat with its W-cut lapels and silk lining and breathing new life into the exhausted and chaotic household.

  She tried—and failed—to have a private conversation with him, outlining her concerns over James’s plans for Tresham. It being July, they would be approaching the end of the Season in Bath, but activity here in the countryside didn’t stop. All around Home Farm the haymaking was going on in earnest, and it looked to be a good yield. The wheat, too, looked promising. But would any of that matter a fig to the viscount, when all he wanted to do was tear everything up and turn the place into a characterless army barracks?

  That final night, the rest of the family were all so tired they sought their beds while the sky was light and the thrushes still singing. Emma lay sleepless on her bed, gazing through a mist of tears at the bare walls of her chamber. How she would miss this place! The pink and orange sunsets of autumn, the mistletoe in the orchard, and the strongly scented box hedges of the old knot garden.

  How could she stand to live in a bustling town like Bath? They still wouldn’t be able to afford a carriage, so how would she be able to get out into the countryside? Would she never again be able to sit on a field gate at dusk and listen to the soft churr and liquid song of the nightingale?

  She must have fallen asleep at last, because the next thing she knew, the cockerel was crowing, and her mama was shaking her awake.

  The next few hours passed in a blur of carrying boxes, chasing around the house to make sure nothing important had been left behind, and saying an emotional farewell to their tenants and neighbors.

  Then followed a journey Emma had hoped never to make—the journey away from Tresham Hall.

  With no expectation of ever returning.

  Each mile traveled was harder than the last, and she felt as if she were being torn in two. How was she ever to survive the coming experience in Bath? And how was she to cope with the fact that once these short weeks were over, she’d no idea what was to become of her?

  Her mama believed she might make a good match, but Emma knew better. Her previous Season had proven she did not possess the kind of pleasing personality that prompted gentlemen to propose. Only the kind that made gentlemen take advantage of her, apparently. Even with the countess’s sponsorship, what were the chances? Especially in so short a time? She was too much of a realist to expect miracles.

  No doubt, she’d end up somewhere as a governess again. So what was the point?

  However, she made every effort to hide these gloomy thoughts from her parents, who seemed quite excited about going to live in the city. She must try to appreciate that. Although she saw James’s manipulations as thoughtless arrogance, to Mama and Papa his intervention was a godsend, the end to a tough period of trial.

  So she pasted on a smile and resolved to make the best of the situation.

  Her fear that being the Countess of Rossbury’s protégé would rob her of any control over her own life was confirmed upon their arrival at Daniel Street. Barely had they set foot in the door than a footman arrived with a note from her new protector requesting her presence. As soon as Emma had separated out her things—whi
ch the countess was adamant should take no longer than an hour—the viscount would collect her in the carriage and convey her and her boxes to Great Pulteney Street.

  Their coachman had driven them past the Rossbury’s house on arriving in Bath and paused a while so they could admire the edifice. It wasn’t as grand as Birney House, the Rossburys’ country estate, but for a townhouse it was magnificent. Emma could hardly imagine herself being allowed to go through the servants’ entrance, let alone the front door.

  As she bustled about in the unfamiliar surroundings of the house on Daniel Street, she wondered why on earth James was coming for her in a carriage. Great Pulteney Street was only just around the corner, the very briefest of walks. Their new manservant could probably have wheeled her few possessions over there on a handcart.

  Separating out her hat boxes from Mama’s, she grimaced. The reason was obvious. The countess wanted the Rossbury carriage to be seen out and about the town so Bath Society would be reminded what august personages were living in their midst.

  There was the distinct sound of an equipage drawing up in front. Here so soon?

  Her stomach felt like lead. She hated leaving her parents before they were settled. And how should she greet the man who’d engineered such a massive upheaval in all their lives? She hadn’t set eyes on Tidworth since he left Tresham the day his parents came to fetch him. She wasn’t looking forward to the encounter…for so many reasons.

  Curiosity won over caution, and she peeped around the shutters to watch the coach disgorge its occupant.

  There was the familiar form of the viscount, the sight of whom turned the lead weight in her stomach into a flock of fluttering doves. He turned back to the carriage and—to Emma’s great surprise—assisted a small female figure down the steps.

  Not the Countess of Rossbury, for she was taller. Why had James brought a woman with him? To make sure Emma didn’t rail at him in the carriage?

  She smiled wryly to herself. If he thought the presence of someone else was going to protect him from her disapproval, the man was fooling himself!

  Smoothing down her new gown, she tilted her chin and walked boldly into the drawing room.

  James stood by the fireplace, one booted foot resting on the empty fender, his hands clasped behind his back, emphasizing the breadth of his shoulders. Despite the heat of the day, his white neck linen was crisply pristine, his face fresh and smooth, framed by hair recently cut into the fashionable windswept style. With his long legs encased in tight-fitting buckskins and his light-blue tailcoat, he looked extremely dashing.

  But…remote.

  His gaze fastened on her as soon as she entered the room, and he stepped forward to give her a smart bow before brushing a kiss across the back of her hand.

  All her bravado melted away. She felt as awkward and shy as a girl at her first public ball. Mumbling out a greeting, she kept her eyes cast downward and turned quickly to the young woman standing by his side, attempting to give her a welcoming smile.

  The girl curtsied. She looked to be about eighteen, the same age as Philippa Keane. Her hair was rusty in color, and her face was smattered with freckles, quite the opposite of the current fashion in beauty. But the girl’s eyes—which she eventually turned up shyly to meet Emma’s—were an entrancing shade of green, and there was a charming air of innocence about her.

  “My cousin, Miss Jemima Pitt,” James announced. “Or should I say, second cousin. Jemima, this is Miss Emma d’Ibert.”

  “I’m delighted to make your acquaintance,” Emma said, curtsying in return.

  She was rewarded with a gap-toothed grin.

  Intriguing. If James had an amorous interest in the girl—despite his denials—it was certainly not on account of her looks. Such a pity he hadn’t yet rid himself of his obsession with Belinda.

  “I’m so happy to meet you and your family,” Miss Pitt said, smiling at Mama and Papa, then casting a quick look at George. “I’ve heard so much about you from my cousin. You did him the greatest favor, while putting your own health at risk.”

  “Not exactly,” George broke in. “The ague doesn’t pass directly from one person to another. It’s in the local environs, usually, and can be exacerbated by damp.”

  Miss Pitt flushed, and said, “How silly of me not to know that!”

  James leaped to her rescue. “Don’t worry. Mr. George d’Ibert is studying medicine, as his sister has so often informed me. They both speak like walking pharmacopoeias.”

  Wretched man! Emma glared at him, not at all in the mood for being teased. It had already been a long day, and there was still the trauma of being inducted into the Countess of Rossbury’s household to look forward to.

  “I wouldn’t call it a huge favor, either,” Papa said, breaking the awkward silence, “since Tidworth spent barely one night with us. He was no trouble at all. Was he, Emma?”

  She fought down the blush that threatened. If only Papa knew just how much trouble James had been in the small hours of the night! Feeling his intense gaze on her, she said, “No trouble. We were pleased to help.”

  James must never know how he’d made her feel that night. The man was her nemesis, and she was going to keep him at arm’s length.

  “I suppose we’d better be on our way,” he announced. “You’ll think us either lazy or vain, bringing the best carriage for so short a journey. But I thought to convey Miss d’Ibert around Bath a little, so she might get her bearings.”

  “How very thoughtful of you,” gushed Mama. “But before you go, you must let me thank you for finding us such a charming house, my lord. You have excellent taste.”

  This wasn’t going to be easy. Emma was determined to dislike James, but her parents had quite the opposite view of him. What would they say if she told them about how he’d surely behaved with Philippa, with Belinda, or, for that matter, with herself?

  He accepted the praise with a polite nod, then angled his head toward the door. “Shall we?” he inquired, proffering his arm to his cousin.

  Emma was just about to bid her parents farewell when George suddenly burst out, “Miss Pitt, I see you’re limping. Is there anything I can do for you?”

  A shocked silence fell on the room. What a horrifying lapse of propriety! What if the poor girl was hiding a club foot beneath the long hem of her carriage dress, for instance? What if one leg was shorter than the other, and she had a built-up boot?

  Small wonder Miss Pitt went beetroot red and fluttered her eyelashes a great deal as she stammered, “You are t-too k-kind, Mr. d’Ibert. I’ve pain in my heel.”

  “Is it worse after dancing or walking?”

  “George!” admonished Mama. “I’m sure Miss Pitt is perfectly well able to find herself a physician should she want one. A well-qualified one. We are in Bath, you know.”

  George didn’t look the least bit perturbed. He smiled at Miss Pitt. “If I may be permitted to call upon you in the not-too-distant future, perhaps I may examine the heel?”

  “That won’t be necessary, thank you,” James said stiffly.

  Emma narrowed her eyes. Was that a hint of jealousy coming to the surface?

  Good. He deserved to suffer the same fate as she.

  No! Wait! She was not jealous of Miss Pitt. Or the perfect Belinda. Why, the very idea! He was welcome to love whomever he pleased. Emma was completely indifferent.

  The farewells were made, then James handed Emma and Miss Pitt up into the carriage and seated himself opposite.

  So much for keeping him at arm’s length. If the coach lurched into a pothole, she’d find herself in the viscount’s lap.

  A vision flared in her mind of her doing exactly that, accompanied by a warm tingling of arousal.

  Good heavens. She sent him a mortified glance.

  Curse him! Why was he regarding her with that twinkling gaze, that upward curl of his lips—could he read her mind?

  If she couldn’t prevent her body’s reaction every time he was near, she was doomed.

 
Chapter Twenty-Seven

  James could scarcely believe the day had finally arrived.

  Emma was here in the flesh, her knees bumping against his as the carriage lurched into movement. Were it not for the occasional brushing of their bodies, he might not have believed she was real.

  This was Emma d’Ibert as he’d never seen her before—calm, poised, and elegant. Every inch the lady.

  Would Society welcome her, or would she be shunned as an upstart? How much weight did his mother’s patronage carry? If he were seen too much in Emma’s company, would his status help to elevate hers, or would her family’s comparative poverty undermine his?

  Mama had needed a great deal of convincing that this was the best way to make amends to Emma and her family for him being a burden to them. Admittedly, it hadn’t been for long, but the d’Iberts must have been horrified at the prospect of having him die on their hands—and he’d genuinely felt so ill, death had seemed a distinct possibility.

  Maybe he would have succumbed, if not for Emma’s speedy diagnosis and treatment. She’d done more for him than she’d ever know, and the gratitude he felt toward her had rapidly turned to a disturbing affection that promised to burgeon into something more.

  If only she would give him just a drachm of encouragement!

  His self-satisfied smile ebbed away. On the other hand, he’d thought Belinda was encouraging him—and how wrong he’d been there!

  Had James’s older brother not died after Waterloo, making him heir to the earldom, he would have felt less obliged to marry promptly. If he’d taken more time to get to know Miss Carslake, he might have realized how impressionable she was and made sure to secure her affections long before Cornwallis arrived back on these shores.

  Why did women seem so simple, yet turn out to be so devilishly complicated?

  He glanced across at Jemima and was rewarded with her smile. Such a sweet, open-hearted girl. Quite the opposite of Emma. Jemima never surprised, insulted, or wounded him. She was as good a friend as a man could hope to have.