“You shouldn’t call me that.” She put her hands on her hips. “I’m a young lady now.”
That made him chuckle as he took her hand and walked toward her picnic party. Tristan lounged on the lawn, a blanket beneath him, Rowan, and Beatrice. Sandwiches and tins for water were spread out in front of them.
“I called out to you three times,” Tristan said on his approach. “Ronnie thought it a good idea to make sure you weren’t walking in your sleep.”
“My thoughts are preoccupied.” He tipped his hat to Beatrice. “My lady.”
“And a good afternoon to you, Lord Barrington.” She was filling napkins with food for the children.
“Parliament matters?” Tristan asked.
“Far from.” Leo sat on the blanket next to Ronnie.
“You are back from the Carletons early.”
There was a glint in Tristan’s eye, suggesting he had knowledge of why Leo was back. Was it so obvious he had had trouble with a lady friend?
“Bea,” Tristan said to his sister. “I’m going to have a round of the park with Leo.”
They both stood from the blanket and walked back down to the path that twisted around the Serpentine.
“Oddly enough,” his friend started, “when you warned me off Lady Charlotte, I had assumed you’d taken a moral obligation to her.”
“So you’ve decided against ruining her for marriage?” Leo nearly breathed a sigh of relief.
“It doesn’t matter what I’ve decided. I’m just trying to figure out when you became such a hypocrite.”
Leo stopped and turned to look Tristan in the eye. “True, I was at a house party with Ponsley’s daughter, but I had very little association with her.”
“Don’t get me wrong.” Tristan tapped his cane against the edge of the bench. “I’m not angry, but I can’t see why you would warn me off her when you couldn’t keep your hands off her chaperone.”
“What in hell are you talking about?”
Tristan looked at him quizzically and didn’t say anything for a few moments.
“It’s all about Town.”
“That’s not possible.” Leo hadn’t told a soul. Wouldn’t dare reveal to anyone what he’d done. Genny wouldn’t, either. Maybe someone had said something about the courting they hadn’t bothered to hide from those at the house party.
“The betting books have hit record stakes on whether you’ve taken a preferred liking to spinsters or if wallflowers will be your next target.”
What in hell had happened since he left the Carleton Estate? How had any of this happened? was the more likely question. “Are they betting because I took to courting Miss Camden?”
Tristan’s smile faded. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Stop equivocating and spit out what it is you mean to say.”
“You were caught red-handed, Leo.”
“Son of a—”
Leo walked over to the bench and sat heavily on it. Removing his hat, he thrust his hand roughly through his hair. Tristan sat next to him.
“Tell me what you know.”
“I don’t know much more than that. Someone saw you with Miss Camden, and rumor has spread like wildfire around Town. The damn Mayfair Chronicler even made note of it two days ago.”
“I need to go back to Genny, ask her for her hand and not take no for an answer.”
“You’d really marry the chit?”
Leo stood suddenly from the bench and pointed his cane threateningly in Tristan’s direction. “Don’t you dare insult the woman I have every intention of marrying.”
Leo put his hat back on. Where should he go first?
His friend grinned. “Never thought you’d be the first to go.”
“What are you blathering on about?”
“I always thought it would be Hayden,” Tristan said. “To marry, you dolt. Only, his split with his mistress seemed to do a great deal of damage. Good Lord, I don’t think he’s lain with a woman since. His balls are bound to shrivel up from inactivity.”
Leo didn’t have time for this. He had to find Genny. “I have to go.”
“It’s a day’s ride back to the Carleton Estate. Although I have doubts your lady friend will still be in residence.”
“She has nowhere else to go, Tristan. What in hell have I done?” He smacked his cane against the bench. “I promised to keep her safe from gossip. I broke my bloody promise.”
“Well, it’s not like it couldn’t be helped; you were in residence with the biggest gossip the ton has ever produced. Why did you leave anyway?”
“I told her.”
Tristan put his arm on the back of the bench and gave him an inquisitive look. “You told her what?”
“Our intentions regarding her cousin. What Jez wanted and what we thought to accomplish.” Leo sat down again. “She asked me to leave after that.”
“Do you know nothing about women?” Tristan crossed his ankle over his knee and leaned back on the bench as though getting comfortable to give a long lecture. “Their honor puts ours to shame. Why in hell would you tell her any variation of the truth?”
“Because she deserved to know what we had planned. Because I couldn’t keep it from her indefinitely.”
Leo’s voice had risen and passersby stared at them, probably curious to know what he was shouting about.
Tristan sat up from the bench and tipped his hat in greeting to those who were walking by and giving them strange looks. “You need to calm yourself, man.”
“If you felt the way I do, there would be nothing calm about you. I need to find Genny.” Where would she go? If this happened two days ago, could she still be at the Carletons? Would she be with Ponsley? For some reason he didn’t think so.
“So you ask the girl to marry you. What happens when she says no?”
“She won’t. She can’t.” Really, she’d have no choice but to marry him if she wanted to save her reputation.
Tristan laughed in that smug way of his. “Oh, I will guarantee that she’ll say no.”
“I’m glad you find amusement in this.” Leo sat on the edge of the bench, knowing he had nowhere to go at the moment. He needed to think. “Lady Carleton was her friend and would probably have invited her to stay on at the estate. It’s possible she’s still in Hertfordshire.”
“Since I seem to be the only rational person here at the moment, can I make a suggestion?” Tristan leaned back again, his smile ever present. “Never did think that kind of sentence would ever pass my lips.”
“Start talking,” Leo spat out impatiently.
“Let me send my fastest rider to Lady Carleton. He’ll be there and back before you make the trip one way. We’ll beg her assistance to find where your lady friend has gone. We should have an answer before the day is through.”
“And what if Genny hasn’t resituated herself?” She could be out on the streets. She could be walking back to London. His thoughts were a bloody mess and he’d get nowhere if he didn’t calm himself and let his friend help him think this through. “She could need my help now.”
“You’ll not find her if that’s the case. I have a feeling that if Lady Carleton is a friend, she’ll have put her up somewhere safe.”
“And what am I supposed to do while you send out your fastest rider?”
“To start…” Tristan rubbed at his chin pensively, as he stood from the bench they had occupied for too long. “You might as well set the books straight at the club.”
Leo threw up his hands in exasperation. His friend was intentionally trying his patience. “I don’t care about the bloody books. They won’t matter when I’m married.”
“Then you’ll need to pay a visit to the archbishop and obtain a special license.” Tristan slapped him on the shoulder, put his arm around him, and started walking them both back toward his picnic party. “Really, man, you need to screw your head on a little more straight. How are you going to get on for the next day if you can’t see where you’re going?”
“What
in bloody hell am I supposed to do to occupy me until tomorrow?”
“Language, Leo. My children are about and they don’t need to hear anything from your foul mouth.” Standing on the edge of the blanket, Tristan said to his sister, “Bea, I have some business that needs to be taken care of right away.”
“Papa,” Ronnie protested. “You promised a day out with us.”
Tristan knelt and put his face level with Ronnie’s. “And just as soon as I’m finished doing something very important for Leo here, I will make this up to you. It won’t take more than an hour. And when I’m done, I’ll take you for ices.”
Ronnie crossed her arms over her chest and turned away with a curt, “Fine. But I want two ices.”
Tristan chuckled and roughed up Rowan’s hair as he stood. “Do you think you’ll have two also, champ?”
He nodded his head fervently. “Yes, Papa.”
“Excellent. I’ll see you back here in an hour.”
“Thank you,” Leo said as they walked back to their houses.
“Don’t thank me yet. I still doubt she’ll agree to marry a lout like you.”
It wouldn’t matter so long as he knew she was safe. “I’ll convince her that she has no choice.”
“How romantic of you,” Tristan said drolly.
“This has nothing to do with romance and everything to do with necessity.”
Tristan slapped him on the shoulder and laughed uproariously. “I see you’ve learned nothing of women in all your years.”
“I know what makes them happy.”
“In bed perhaps.”
“Are you questioning my manhood?”
“Would I dare?”
“Tristan,” Leo said in warning. He had no compunction about rearranging his friend’s face just as soon as Tristan’s rider was sent.
“You deserved it.” Tristan backhanded Leo across the stomach in horseplay. “If you like the chit as much as you say, you wouldn’t have told her the truth.”
“When you are in this position, I will remind you of this conversation.”
“You do that.” They broke apart on reaching the street. Their houses were a block away. “I will see you at the club this afternoon.”
Chapter 24
Oh, sweet revenge, how doth you fare today? Do you remember the much older ne’er-do-weller mixing with the undistinguished much younger type of society I mentioned some weeks back?
One Lady H___ has been caught in flagrante delicto. The gent filling her secret-spilling, reputation-damaging mouth has moved up a notch on my scale for the way in which he handled being discovered with his trousers around his ankles.
The Mayfair Chronicles, August 9, 1846
License obtained and in his breast pocket, Leo walked into his club the next morning. He still didn’t have word from Tristan, but would follow up with his friend just as soon as he finished his task here. Everyone’s head turned toward him and a hush fell over them as he removed his gloves.
Slapping the leather against his hand, he walked to the mahogany pedestal that held the betting book open for all to see the latest on dit bid.
Sure enough, there were more than a handful of speculating names that he recognized. Their bets were on whether he’d seek out another spinster, who she would be, if he would take a virgin wallflower in her fourth and fifth seasons. The list went on in not very favorable directions.
Naturally, his friends had stayed out of the bidding. A shame they hadn’t tried their luck in a more positive direction.
Though it was considered bad form to engage in a wager when you were the one mentioned, Leo called over the steward with a wave of his hand. “Hand me a pen, Brett.”
“My lord,” the man said in a word of warning.
“Hand me a damn pen.” His voice was quiet but as sharp as the tip of a rapier.
No further protest was made as the man went to retrieve the requested writing instrument. Leo’s eyes focused on each and every name written in the ledger. Someone in the club started to protest but was quickly shushed. They would all clamor to know what he would write and whom he would side with so the debts could be settled the moment he left.
When the pen was set up in the inkstand on the edge of the pedestal, Leo nodded his thanks and turned the page to read the rest of the names. There were a number of bets against him not only from club members but other men and a few women who obviously didn’t want to be excluded from the chance to win the hefty sum entered on each line. That they cared to spend this much thought on his private affairs was simply pathetic. On reading the last name, he dabbed the nib on the blotter and wrote his name on the next available line. Estimating his wager based on the tally, he entered his total.
“Wax, Brett,” was his next demand.
Taking up a small handful of sand, he tossed it over the wet ink and waited a minute before blowing it off. And though there were some fifty-odd witnesses to his signing of the wager book, he took the heated wax from Brett, poured a small amount on the ledger, removed his signet ring from his pinky finger, and pressed the griffin fashioned around an old-fashioned letter B into the wax. He left the club without talking to anyone on his way out. He knew they’d rush over to the betting book the moment he was out of sight.
And really, none of them mattered.
It was time to find Genny.
He knocked on Tristan’s townhouse door. Ronnie pulled the heavy door inward. Rowan was next to the footman who stood to the side expressionless. It didn’t surprise Leo that Tristan let his children rule the house and servants much like they ruled his life.
“Papa said you’d come today.” Ronnie’s smile was a welcome sight even in his current gloomy mood.
Leo went down on his haunches and tapped Ronnie on the nose affectionately. “Did he, then?” He looked to Rowan who nodded emphatically. “Where do you suppose I’ll find your father this morning?”
“He’s still in bed,” Rowan said.
Leo pulled out his watch from his vest and flicked it open. “Since when does your father sleep past half ten in the morning?”
Ronnie crossed her arms over her chest with a pout. “I knocked on his door and he told me he’d see me later.”
“Do you think I might come in? I have business with your father.”
“You should eat lunch with us. He might come down for that.” Ronnie suggested, taking his hand to invite him in.
“I can’t refuse your kind offer, my lady.”
He stood, patted her head, and put out his hand for Rowan to take.
“Alberts, would you mind notifying his lordship that I am here? He is expecting me.”
Alberts, a young footman of average looks, bowed to him. “Yes, my lord.”
He hurried to do as Leo bid while the children led him farther into the house. The breakfast room was where they took their casual meals. There was an array of dishes set out in buffet style for the children. A kitchen maid, wearing a French uniform, stood by to help the children with their dishes. He nodded to her. What was going on in the Castleigh house this morning? Everything seemed … off.
“Where is your aunt?”
Rowan bounced in his chair, chewing a strawberry openmouthed. “Papa sent her out on errands.”
Why would Tristan have his sister, albeit half sister, run errands for him? Leo focused on the maid again. “Has his lordship been down from his room today?”
“No, my lord.”
“Has food been sent up?” He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest.
Her eyes went wide, so he was on the right train of thought. “Yes, my lord.”
He leaned in close and whispered, “One or two dishes?”
“Two,” she mouthed so the children wouldn’t hear their conversation.
“An unusual occurrence,” he mused aloud.
The maid put her head down. He hadn’t meant for her to feel bad for betraying her employer’s trust but he had all the right questions. Though he had no answer as to why Tristan
would have a woman here when he had a townhouse three streets over for his liaisons.
“What’s unusual?” Ronnie asked.
“Oh, these eggs here have double yolks,” Leo quickly said.
“Cook has a special hen that lays those. She says it’s double the luck and she lays more eggs than the others.”
“Very odd.” Leo turned his attention back to the children at the table to make sure they were settled in to their lunch and grabbed a sausage and ate it off a fork just as the butler walked in.
The man bowed again. “If you’ll follow me, my lord, I’ll take you to his study.”
“Excellent.” He popped the last of the sausage in his mouth and winked at the children. “Thank you for the lunch offer. We must do this again soon.”
Once he exited the room and followed the butler down the hallway, he asked, “Does he plan to be down soon, or should I send a white flag upstairs?”
“He is already waiting for you.”
“Perfect.” Leo pushed the study door open. The walls all around were paneled and stained in a mahogany four feet up; above the wainscoting was a dark green paper. The heavy desk at the center made the room feel smaller than it really was, but the big leather chairs made this room the most confortable to convene in.
Leo sat and put his feet up on the desk. “I hear you have a guest.”
Elbows on the table, Tristan’s hands were steepled in front of him. “Or so you’ve surmised.”
“You aren’t really going to deny it, are you?”
“I have nothing to deny.” Tristan’s tone was unusually cool. “Do you want word on your Miss Camden?”
“I do. And while I enjoy your company, I have important matters to look after today.”
“My news is not going to make your day any easier.”
“Why is that?”
Tristan hesitated. “Your lady friend was forced to flee from the house party. No one knows where she’s gone.”
Leo put his feet down on the floor and stood, placing his hands flat on the desk in front of him as he leaned closer to Tristan. “Is that what Lady Carleton said?”
“Not precisely.”
“Then how do you know anything at all?” he demanded.
“I expect Lady Carleton’s response within the hour but gossip has made its way back to me, and it was clear that she had to leave quickly. Miss Camden left the party after Lord Ponsley publicly dismissed her and sent her off with her tail between her legs.”
Wicked Nights With a Proper Lady Page 27