Regency Rumours/A Scandalous Mistress/Dishonour And Desire

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Regency Rumours/A Scandalous Mistress/Dishonour And Desire Page 41

by Juliet Landon


  ‘My dear Miss Chester,’ he replied, ‘I think you need say no more about it. Had I not been there, you would have done it alone. Your love of life is stronger than you think at such times. You might have been a few minutes slower—’ he smiled ‘—but then, I have a tendency to hurry where you’re concerned, don’t I? Now, shall we put it to the back of our minds for good? We have more interesting developments to discuss, I believe.’

  ‘Well,’ she said, hoarsely, ‘you may be able to banish it to the back of your mind, Sir Chase, but I shall find it harder to do so. I have not had my life saved before. It’s a novelty to me.’

  ‘Of course. I quite understand. I hope it remains a novelty. But I am in a similar position regarding marriage proposals, which are a novelty to me but not to you. May we discuss that, if only to put me out of my misery? Come in!’ he called to the tap on the door.

  The door opened, and soon the table was covered with cups and pots, plates of cakes and biscuits as big as cartwheels, the distribution of which gave Caterina time to take in what Sir Chase had just admitted to her. Replacing her cup on the side-table, she said, ‘You’ve never offered for anyone before?’

  ‘Never. Believe me, I’m an utter novice.’

  ‘Then you may be wishing you had not. There’s still time to change your mind.’

  ‘Ah,’ he said, looking at her over the rim of his cup, ‘that sounds rather like a hope that I might. Or even that you regret what you said to your father on Tuesday evening. So, my dear lady, I have to tell you that it is too late. I am not so charitable. I shall not allow you to change your mind.’

  ‘That was not my intention,’ she whispered. ‘You misunderstand me, sir.’

  Leaning forward, he reached out to take her hands in his, making her look at him. ‘Do I?’ he said, softly. ‘I understand that you are still angry with me, and with your father. Am I correct?’

  ‘Yes.’

  He nodded. ‘But you will become my wife, for his sake?’

  ‘Is that what he told you?’

  ‘Yes, that you are a dutiful daughter, if somewhat headstrong.’

  ‘Then he has misled you. I am not dutiful. I am doing this for my sister’s sake. I left him in no doubt of that.’

  ‘Well, you know,’ he said, ‘I was never one for filial duty in all things either, especially in affairs of the heart, and I’d much rather you married me for love of your sister than out of any sense of duty. Perhaps one day you’ll discover an even better reason, but meanwhile I’ll accept that. Were there angry words? Is that why you left so suddenly?’

  ‘No angry words. I had already decided before …’

  ‘At Sevrington Hall?’

  ‘Yes.’ It was too late to take the admission back. Now he would know what had persuaded her, apart from Sara.

  ‘Then you still have a choice, and I shall not insist on spoiling it.’

  ‘A choice, sir?’

  ‘Your father seemed quite convinced that you would want to seek the advice of your governess, and now we’ve met again in the most unusual circumstances and you’re probably fearing that I shall not let you out of my sight.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose I had thought that.’

  ‘No. You must choose whether to keep your own company while we’re here, or whether to share your time with me. Do you have a preference?’

  Her croaky reply came with a convincing readiness. ‘Oh, yes, I would prefer to share it with you, Sir Chase, if I may. So far, I have not been too much at ease here on my own. My plans have gone rather askew, and now Millie is far from well, so I cannot take her out with me.’

  ‘Reasons I shall have to be satisfied with, but better than I feared.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound quite like that. Yes, to be perfectly honest, when I first discovered you were here I was about to return at once in that horrendous pink post-chaise.’

  ‘But you resisted the temptation. Very courageous.’

  ‘Then I realised that you were perhaps allowing me … er … giving me …’

  ‘Giving you your head, lass?’ he said, tenderly. ‘I was warned you might make a dash for it, but one doesn’t cure a filly of bolting by keeping her in the stable, you know. You’re free to run until we’re married, and even then you’ll not be confined. You have nothing to fear there.’

  ‘Then you’ll be leaving me to my own devices while you go away?’

  ‘I didn’t say that. You’ll certainly not be left to your own devices.’

  ‘Oh.’ Her hands remained in his as unspoken queries advanced and retreated in both their minds, too delicate, too contentious to be spoken. ‘There is one thing,’ she said, ‘which concerns my stay here at the Castle. I would not mention it except that it’s been a source of concern to me.’

  ‘I can help. What is it?’

  ‘I expected to stay with Miss Vincent, you see, and I brought only small funds with me. So I may have to return sooner than I intended.’

  ‘I have a confession to make,’ Sir Chase said, keeping a very straight face. ‘I intercepted your message to Lady Dorna. You will not be travelling home in four days’ time in that appalling conveyance again. No—’ he held up a hand ‘—I’m sorry, but no future wife of mine is going to be seen in that vulgar monstrosity with its tassels and twiddly bits everywhere. You will be returning with me, and I shall be settling all bills for accommodation, so there’s no need to concern yourself on that score.’

  ‘Sir Chase, I cannot possibly allow you to do that. I have no objection to travelling back to Richmond with you, but all I need is a loan to be sure that I can—’

  ‘Miss Chester, have you formally accepted me, or not?’

  She blinked. ‘Er … yes, I think so.’

  ‘That’s what I thought.’ Stretching an arm across the tray of cups, he collected a small package wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. Placing it on her lap, he continued, ‘Then perhaps you would oblige me by wearing that, just to remind yourself in case of further misunderstandings about who pays for what. I do like to have these matters clarified so that we all know what we’re about. You’ll not be leaving me at the altar, my girl.’ When she sat gazing at it, he nudged it with one finger. ‘Come on, open it. It won’t bite.’

  Knowing what it would be, she pulled open the bow and peeled back the paper to reveal a small polished wooden box with a mother-of-pearl rose set into the lid. Inside, resting on a white satin cushion, was a gold ring set with a large emerald surrounded by diamonds flashing with rainbow fires. It was almost too precious to touch.

  Seeing her reluctance, Sir Chase removed it from its bed and, taking hold of her left hand, slid it on to her finger. ‘There,’ he whispered, ‘I think that makes it official. Did the other two get this far?’

  ‘No, sir, they didn’t.’ He had already gone further than they had in other directions. Even so, she sensed that there might be an element of competition in his needing to know, in his references to her previous engagements.

  ‘Good. This is yours, whatever happens. Will you wear it, to please me?’

  ‘If it will please you, sir, I will wear it. Thank you.’

  ‘But?’ he said, lifting her chin with his knuckle.

  ‘It’s very precious and beautiful.’ It was not what she had wanted to say.

  ‘So you can see now why I encouraged you to stay afloat this morning. It would have been such a pity to have missed the chance to wear it, don’t you think? Was it worth swimming for?’

  She had to smile at his banter. ‘I didn’t realise it really was you by my side. I heard you somewhere inside my head, but I thought it was a … oh, dear … what am I saying?’ A rosy pink blushed over her cheeks at the memory of what had happened, her reference to his exact whereabouts in her mind giving away more than she had intended.

  It appeared to please him, however. ‘That’s as good a place as any, for the time being. But now we shall hear no more about the funds and loans, because that is my department, and yours
is to grace my side, as you do so perfectly.’

  She sat very still, gazing at the magnificent jewels against her skin, suddenly subdued and, for once, unsure of how to proceed. She had been betrothed twice before, on neither occasion with rings or mentions of escape. This time was quite different, and irrevocable for all the wrong reasons. ‘I have nothing to give you, Sir Chase,’ she said, ‘but you need not fear I shall change my mind at the last moment as I have done before. Things have gone too far for that.’

  ‘Caterina, listen to me. I know what’s gnawing at you. This was not the way you wanted it. You feel helpless, and thwarted, and deceived, too. But despite the circumstances, I feel we should be able to get on tolerably well together once things have settled down. Domestic things, I mean. As soon as we’ve tied the knot we can be away from Richmond within days. Leave it to me.’

  ‘Marriage, so soon?’ ‘Oh, yes. I want you out of that place.’ Not, then, I want you in my arms, Caterina. I cannot wait another moment for you. Nothing to do with the emotions. Businesslike. Efficient. So that we all know what we’re about.

  Shivering, she reached for her cup and saucer, taking a sip of cool chocolate before answering him. ‘That is soon, sir, but Hannah will be relieved to hear it. She needs my room rather urgently.’

  ‘That was tactful of her, and no mistake.’ ‘Not really. She and my father expect an addition.’ There was the slightest pause before he let out a slow breath. ‘Then I’d say our timing was near perfect. Now, is there any other matter you need reassurance about? We can talk over the details when you’re feeling more yourself, perhaps?’

  Near the front of her mind had lurked the secret hope that he might seal their betrothal with a kiss. A man like Sir Chase could not be expected to miss an opportunity like that without a very good reason. But he did not, and she could only assume that it was because she was not quite herself. Or because he did not care to.

  ‘Of course,’ she said, replacing the cup. ‘May I take one of these cakes up to Millie? Then I must visit the apothecary. Her cough needs attending to.’

  ‘Write a note telling him what you need, and I’ll send my man with it.’

  She tilted her left hand to catch the light, feeling the strangeness of the ring’s pressure and excited by its exquisite presence, its relevance to her future.

  ‘Like it?’ he whispered.

  When she looked up, half-smiling, there were pearls of moisture along her lower eyelashes. She nodded. ‘I like it very much, sir. Thank you.’

  In many respects, the events of that morning brought together the loose ends of a tangle, holding them securely and leaving Caterina with the impression that she had, after all, exercised some choice in the matter of her betrothal, whether this was imagined or factual. Whatever notions she had sifted through her mind about making things difficult for him now began to look futile and childlike against his obvious determination to pursue her, even to the extent of keeping a watch on her safety. His reputation as an habitual victor was not without foundation.

  She did not, of course, intend to cry off at the last moment any more than she had intended to on the last two occasions. Not at the start, anyway. But the giving of a ring did not automatically level the playing field, nor did it banish her resentment, nor make her into the responsive woman he apparently wanted. Recognising her anger and the reason for it, he could not be faulted for his careful and gentlemanly manner, and if there was a tendency to be masterly at this early stage, it had been for her comfort rather than his own. Only in his unseemly haste to ‘tie the knot,’ as he put it, did Caterina still feel entitled to procrastinate.

  There was, however, a problem there, too, for while she was being reluctant to oblige him in this, the strong emotional side to her artistic nature had begun to respond to him despite all her attempts to ignore it. Worse, she had already been foolish enough to reveal what she should have kept hidden from him. He was not supposed even to guess at her growing partiality.

  Once they were man and wife, it would prove very difficult for her to pretend indifference to his lovemaking, her ultimate weapon destroyed completely. On the other hand, was his restraint that morning an indication of how things would be in the future? Was he expecting her to dictate the pace, or would his masterly side take over, sweeping away all her false reserve in seconds, as it had before? Whatever the answers, some progress had been made which was not altogether abhorrent to her, even if the circumstances fell far short of her need for romance. In place of that, she had acquired a resolute man and a ring, and it remained to be seen how soon he returned to his other life of gambling and fast living. How long would it be, she wondered, before he looked elsewhere for a woman to chase? And how long would she be able to hold him off?

  With Millie receiving proper medication and Caterina’s fatigue responding to rest, the invitation to take a gentle stroll after lunch was accepted without the added irritant of being ogled by the local militia who had nothing better to do. The Season had not yet begun, and the closure of the Castle’s great ballroom was no real disappointment when the inevitable questions about her newest betrothal would have been an effort to answer. A walk with Sir Chase, Millie told her, would do her good.

  As it was, time spent in Sir Chase’s company was anything but dreary, as she had discovered on her first ride through Richmond with him, and once her defences began to lower, she found that their time together flew, that he became less of a challenge and more of an enigma about whom there was much more to discover than she had thought. Away from the nagging obligations of home, that first afternoon as his betrothed was memorable for a new kind of freedom he had promised her, better even than the freedom she had hoped for on the day of her arrival, for now there was security, too.

  Predictably, the young officers kept a respectful distance as Sir Chase and Caterina walked arm in arm around the huge fountain on the Steyne, or delved into the book and perfume shops crowding into Castle Square, or strolled around the perimeter of the Royal Pavilion, safe from invitations while the Prince Regent was in London. Usually, Sir Chase told her, he would be obliged to inform the resident Prince that he had arrived, then wait for an invitation to attend a dinner to which the host would arrive late, and drunk, and which would not finish until the early hours of the morning, when breakfast would be served. To decline was never an option.

  Though sorry for the Prime Minister’s demise, Caterina was glad that something important had kept the Prince at his duties. ‘Did you ever wish to decline?’ she asked.

  ‘Not at first. When I was in Brighton on duty, it was a good way to pass the evenings. Now I’ve discovered other ways to spend my time.’

  Believing she knew the other ways, she did not ask him.

  Only a stone’s throw from the Pavilion was the entrance to the Royal Stables, an impressively large domed building erected only a few years ago. They lingered, gazing at its exotic ornament. ‘Would you like to take a look inside?’ Sir Chase said. ‘It’s where Prinny keeps his horses.’

  A team of magnificent carriage-horses was being led through the entrance as he spoke, greeted by neighs and the distant clank of buckets. Through the carved gates, light flooded through a massive glass dome on to a sawdust-covered arena in the centre of which a fountain jetted water into an octagonal trough. All around them, Indian-style doorways and sparkling glass made a riot of pattern as the sunlight and shadows moved across, taking Caterina’s breath away with its sumptuous eastern beauty. Archways led to multiple stalls, to carriage halls, to tack rooms and workshops and, on the balconied upper floor, to the stable-hands’ quarters.

  ‘It’s … it’s incredible!’ Caterina said. ‘It’s like an Indian palace.’

  ‘Stabling for over forty horses,’ Sir Chase told her. ‘Cost over thirty thousand to build, and heaven only knows what it costs in running expenses. Some critics say that the horses are better housed than the Prince himself.’

  Overawed by the grandeur and scale of the building, she went with him thro
ugh a decorated arch into a room where stalls housed six handsome mares, their fine dark eyes rolling with curiosity at the intrusion. At the far end, two mares were being rugged-up and led out for their daily exercise.

  ‘They’ll be going up on to the Downs,’ he said, reaching up to caress the nearest mare’s head, pulling gently at her ears. ‘Shall we ride up there tomorrow and watch? We can drive the curricle, or borrow two of these, whichever you prefer.’ His hand swept down the silky forelock to the pink trembling muzzle, fondling the velvety skin, his eyes resting on Caterina, waiting for her answer, but telling her also that he would rather be fondling her than the mare.

  All at once, they were in another realm that had nothing to do with horses or future plans. In here, it was shadowy, private and peaceful, away from the grooms and their chores, sounds muffled by sawdust and straw, intimate and strangely erotic with overtones of seduction in a Moorish harem glimpsed through ogee grilles and fretwork. The setting and the ambience affected her as much as his exciting presence by her side, sending a surge of weakness from thigh to stomach that she could not control, wanting him, his arms, his mouth, and more. Unable to think of a reply, her lips parted with the ache of yearning as she watched him leave the soft muzzle and take her gloved fingertips in his, keeping her eyes locked in a message as readable as words, telling her that he would comply if only she would speak the words of command. So far, in this matter, she had acted under duress. He would not give her cause to blame him further.

  The mare tossed her head, whinnying softly for attention.

  ‘Well, my girl?’ he whispered. ‘What is it to be?’

  She knew what he was asking, but preferred to take the safer route. To give in to him so soon was not the way to keep his interest. ‘The Downs?’ she said. ‘What if we were to do both, drive round Brighton in the morning and ride up to the Downs after lunch? Do you think I might be allowed to borrow this one? She’s such a beauty.’

 

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