Harlequin Historical July 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Virginia Heath

  ‘There are other activities,’ he countered, amused. ‘Ladies make calls on one another and spend a great deal of time shopping for gowns, shoes, pelisses, shawls, and other feminine fripperies. Gentlemen gather in clubs to gamble and gossip and visit their tailors and go to Tattersall’s to buy horses. All this frantic activity is interspersed with attending the occasional opera or theatre where one can show off the afore-mentioned finery.’

  ‘Opera or theatre performances where I’m betting they ignore the stage and continue gabbing about fashion, entertainments, and the latest juicy gossip.’ She huffed in exasperation. ‘I’d go mad in a month. I will go mad in a month, so it’s fortunate that I didn’t promise myself to stick with it longer than that.’

  ‘What would you be doing if you were not here?’ he asked, genuinely curious about what life was like in a stratum of society so different from his own.

  ‘Besides working with Father, I’d be attending my mother. Assisting in parish visits to the poor, the sick and those in need. Tending the herb garden, riding, visiting friends. Reading and studying. Papa often brings home to dinner associates from work. And yes, from time to time, there would be dinners and musical evenings with other families.’

  ‘Doesn’t that amount to a social round very similar to London society?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not really. There’s nothing as formal as the London Season, more gatherings of friends and family punctuated by cotillions in town. But the subscription Season is short, and opportunities to attend private balls or the theatre is much more limited.’

  ‘How do families fire off their daughters, then?’

  ‘Through connections among families rather than formal presentations. Often the young couple has a good deal of choice in the matter, which from what I’ve overheard thus far, often does not happen in your world.’

  He nodded. ‘Very true. Marriages in the ton are generally made to enhance status, add wealth to the family coffers and to form links of blood to people with power. Surely families in your world want that for their children as well.’

  ‘To some extent,’ she admitted. ‘First and foremost, they want daughters to wed men who can comfortably support a family, and sons to marry amiable girls trained to take care of that family. Beyond that, if business links can be solidified through marriage, that’s all to the good. And I suppose there is gossip—people are people, whatever their rank—but it doesn’t seem so malicious.’

  ‘You seem to find the entire aristocracy rather repellent,’ he observed, thinking it made it even more interesting that she’d agreed to this foray into society.

  ‘I told you I spent a year at an exclusive ladies’ finishing school. The most miserable year of my life! Almost all the girls were gentry born and they never let me forget I was not. Aside from me, the few students from wealthy merchant class families toadied to the others, tolerating the slights and condescension, always trying to ingratiate themselves and make connections they thought would help them marry into the gentry. A highly unlikely outcome, in my opinion. I tried to be cordial to everyone, but I had so little in common with any of them, I mostly stayed to myself. Even at that, I received all the condescension, insults and ostracising I needed for a lifetime. After the warmth and closeness of my family, I felt dreadfully alone.’

  ‘Why did your parents insist you remain, if it was that awful?’

  She sighed. ‘I never told Mama how bad it was. She was so excited to send me there! She wanted the best for me, and thought exactly like those merchant class girls—that by attending the school, I would make social connections that could assist me in marrying well and perhaps help Father’s business, too. My father knew the truth, but as he did in this current situation, for my mother’s sake he asked me to endure it for as long as I could, after which he would support my desire to leave. So I managed to finish out the year. Neither of us wanted to disappoint Mama, and she would have felt terrible if she’d known how bad it truly was.’

  ‘You made no friendships at all?’ Ton females must be more shallow and snobbish even than he’d thought if they were able to overlook this intelligent, interesting person in their midst.

  Or perhaps, recognising she added wit, beauty, and charm to her wealth, they were jealous of her advantages in the deadly serious competition for the most prized marriage prospects.

  Miss Cranmore laughed. ‘I’ve not yet encountered any of my former fellow students in London. If I should, I suspect the only reason they wouldn’t give me the cut direct would be their shock at finding me sponsored by a baron’s wife and elevated into their midst.’

  ‘Sounds dreadful.’

  ‘It was—mostly. There was one small group of girls who, like me, had little interest in beaux and balls and talk of advantageous marriages. But they were older, and though they were kind enough when I encountered them, they were gentry born as well, so I never tried to get to know them better. Although Miss Henley was very encouraging.’

  ‘Henley?’ Crispin echoed. ‘Emma Henley?’

  ‘Why, yes. Do you know her?’

  ‘Not well. But Miss Henley—Lady Theo Collington now—is a dear friend of my good friend Gregory Lattimar’s sister.’

  ‘Lady Theo?’ Miss Cranmore laughed. ‘So much for her intentions to disdain marriage and work on reform causes.’

  ‘You mustn’t think she abandoned those efforts. She is still very much involved with the Ladies’ Committee on Parliamentary Reform. And the man she married, Lord Theo, is becoming a well-known artist, so she didn’t turn into some conventional society matron.’

  ‘I’m pleased to hear it. But enough about my sad past. I visited Papa’s office this afternoon, and his solicitor told me you’d invested in the Great Western. Bravo! I think you’ll realise a handsome return.’

  ‘I hope so. If only to further confound my father.’

  ‘So you’ll be looking for your next venture. Any idea what it might be?’

  ‘There are a number of bills before Parliament now. The most promising will link London with areas to the north, south and west.’

  ‘I told my grandfather that he would soon be able to journey from Newcastle to London by rail, much faster and in greater comfort that he does by riding! Which schemes are being proposed now?’

  For the duration of the dance, she encouraged him to describe the bills that interested him, asking about potential routes, elevations and right of ways that would need to be acquired, which landowners would have to be persuaded or placated to have the routes pass through their land. A useful device, for talking about his greatest enthusiasm helped him block out the sensual appeal that might otherwise have his thoughts headed in other directions.

  ‘When do you plan to ride out and inspect the next potential investment?’ she asked after he’d concluded.

  ‘Once we decide our bargain is over.’ He laughed. ‘I’ll want to be well away from my father for some time after that anyway. A nice, long ramble around the English countryside should be just what’s needed.’

  ‘How exciting! I wish I could ride about exploring like that. I so enjoyed accompanying Papa along the way to Bristol. I, too, envision a network of rails that would run from one end of our island to the other, north to south, east to west. A way to move goods and people that won’t be affected by bad weather, the availability of horses or oxen, or the stamina of animals.’

  ‘And eventually, a more comfortable as well as more efficient means of transport,’ he replied. ‘At present, the wagons that transport people are rather basic. But I can envision entrepreneurs building carriages that are as opulent as the fanciest travelling vehicles designed for the wealthy. Larger ones, too, that could double as dining rooms or gentlemen’s clubs.’

  She laughed. ‘Imagine, having a gentleman board the railway in the morning, have his breakfast, read his paper, play a hand of cards with friends, lunch, dine and disembark in the eveni
ng at his destination, halfway across the country!’

  ‘Exactly,’ Crispin said, pleased to find that she shared his vision. Though he knew he’d have to release his hold on her at the end of the dance, reluctant to lose her completely, as the last measures sounded, he said, ‘Thank you for the dance. Can I escort you in for some refreshment?’

  ‘Please! The longer you can protect me from the attentions of others, the better I will like it,’ she said, putting her hand on his arm so he might lead her off the floor.

  Guiltily aware of how much he relished that touch, he said, ‘Alas, I can’t monopolise you for the entire rest of the evening, but it will be permissible for us to share a glass of punch and have one more dance. Will I be aggravating too many other suitors?’ he asked, interested to learn how her debut was progressing.

  ‘Only a few have entered the lists,’ she said with a smile. ‘There’s Mr Farnsworth, a widower of good family who is seeking a rich young wife to give him the male heir he lacks and to fund dowries for his five daughters. Lord Tolleridge, whom I understand lost a fortune on a banking scheme and needs a fat dowry to restore his finances. Both are polite, almost obsequiously flattering—but under it all, there’s still that overtone that I ought to feel grateful that gentlemen of their breeding would condescend to court me.’

  Though he knew such treatment was probably to be expected—his father’s advice to marry the chit and then relegate her to the country echoed in his head—it still irritated him to hear that she’d been subjected to that indignity. ‘Surely Lord Charles isn’t so snobbish.’

  ‘Oh, no. I probably like him best of the bunch. To be honest, I feel a little sorry for him. Of course, his real reason for pursuing me is his need of a fortune, but though he hardly has wit enough to follow a conversation from one end to the other, he has a kind heart. From some of the things he’s mentioned, he’s often been made the butt of jokes by cleverer men, which makes him more sympathetic to my position, I think. We share a love of horses, so I’m happy to encourage him to ramble on about his favourite mounts and the ones he aspires to purchase.’

  She laughed as Crispin handed her the glass of punch. ‘He declares I’m a “capital good fellow” to allow him to wax enthusiastic about them, since most females aren’t the least bit interested.’

  Crispin waved a finger at her. ‘You’d better be careful. He had a rather besotted look on his face tonight. Give him much more encouragement, and he’s liable to make you a declaration.’

  ‘Oh, dear, that would never do!’ she said with a look of alarm that reassured him. It was all well to insist she didn’t wish to wed into the aristocracy, but when it came down to it, with her family pressing her on, he wasn’t sure she’d truly be able to resist the temptation to claim the title and status. Even if it were only to become Lady Charles, wife of a marquess’s younger son.

  ‘I’ll be careful to head off anything of that nature,’ she replied after sipping her punch. ‘I wouldn’t wish to hurt his feelings by refusing him. Unlike Lord Hoddleston. I’d not regret wounding his sensibilities if it would discourage him from pursuing me!’

  Recalling the anger on the Baron’s face the night he’d routed him on the terrace, Crispin frowned. ‘Is he still bothering you?’

  ‘Not “bothering”, exactly, but certainly not giving up, despite my marked lack of enthusiasm for his company. He actually told me he will be like the Grim Reaper—the final contender who’ll claim me after all the rest had fallen away. An apt analogy, because being wed to him would be worse than death!’

  So the man hadn’t really taken to heart Crispin’s warning that night on the balcony. ‘I shall have to be more vigilant at protecting you from him,’ Crispin said, silently vowing to do so.

  ‘I’d love to give him the cut direct, but Lady Arlsley won’t allow it.’ She sighed. ‘Like Hoddleston, her ladyship believes that you’ll never come up to snuff, and therefore insists I must keep all my options open. And before you say her standards must be low indeed if she’d approve of me bestowing my hand on the Baron, I assure you they are.’

  ‘I wish you’d been found a more protective protector,’ he retorted.

  ‘I can’t fault her too much. She’s been placed in a difficult situation, forced by her husband’s indiscretion to lend her name and status to sponsor someone she doesn’t consider worthy. Although I can’t make myself like her, I do sometimes feel bad that I’m running this rig on her, accepting her patronage while having no real intention to marry. But then she says or does something condescending, and my sympathy evaporates. I tell myself that when this is over, she can congratulate herself on having done her duty to her husband while escaping the onus of foisting undeserving me on some well-born family.’

  ‘She’s a fool if she hasn’t by now realised you are deserving of the highest place,’ he said with some heat.

  Looking up, she coloured. ‘Thank you, Dellamont,’ she said softly. ‘How very...chivalrous.’

  An odd warmth filled his chest as he realised he meant every word. ‘It’s not idle gallantry. I told you I only say what I mean. In wit, intelligence, ability you are superior to every female in this room. Despite that, I would have you return to the place you feel you belong, and end up in a marriage that lives up to your dreams. And I hope when you leave society, we can find a way to remain friends.’

  ‘I would like that, too—very much,’ she said, holding his gaze while that odd tightness in his chest intensified. The desire to kiss her washed through him again. Needing to resist it, he looked away and made himself take a gulp of punch.

  Looking away as well, she set her own cup back on the tray. ‘I suppose we must return to the ballroom.’

  He’d rather find some quiet place to continue talking with her—but she was right, they needed to re-join the company before they exceed the time they could spend with their heads together without raising expectations of an imminent engagement. And he needed to be squiring her about on the dance floor, consciousness of the roomful of people observing them helping him overcome this nagging desire to kiss her.

  Offering her his arm, he said, ‘You’ll let me know if Hoddleston needs more...cogent persuasion to cease annoying you.’

  ‘I will. He warned me that you are only amusing yourself by seeming to court me, and will drop me once the novelty of it fades. I told him if that were true, he ought to be relieved rather than annoyed about your attentions, since my supposed disappointment at your desertion would make me more amenable to marrying someone of lesser status.’

  ‘I wouldn’t provoke him too much,’ Crispin said, a niggle of worry troubling him. ‘I’ve never heard that he had a bad reputation with women, but I understand his financial situation is precarious. I’d not put it past him to try to compromise you into marriage, if gentler persuasion failed.’

  ‘I’ve already had some indication of his readiness to proceed in that direction, so I stay on my guard. I never dance with him except in a ballroom full of people, never agree to go driving with him or to walk with him in Lady Arlsley’s garden when he calls. And I keep Mary nearby. She doesn’t like him, either, and has proclaimed she’d be happy to “cosh him on the noggin” if he gets out of line.’

  ‘Bravo for Mary. Still, you’ll let me know if his attentions become too pressing. I’ll administer some additional “encouragement” for him to find redress for his financial problems elsewhere.’

  She looked up at him, wide-eyed. ‘You would do that for me?’

  ‘We have a bargain to protect each other, don’t we?’ The intensity of his concern about Hoddleston made him realise he felt a good deal more protective towards her than he’d anticipated when he proposed this alliance.

  He’d be just as protective of his sister or any other innocent female, he reassured himself, dismissing a stir of unease over the strength of his reaction.

  ‘A bargain I believe I’ll be getting the be
st of!’ she was saying. ‘Father has already promised to support me when I decide to abandon society. Whereas you will incur the wrath of your father.’

  ‘But I’ll have that long inspection trip in the countryside to look forward to. There hasn’t been anyone else bothering you, has there?’

  ‘I’ve just described the sum total of my four most assiduous suitors, save you, of course. So,’ she continued as he led her back into the ballroom, ‘to end the evening on the most pleasant note, I’ll look for Lord Charles and entice him to dance with me again. Then you can claim your second waltz. After that, if I’m lucky, I can plead fatigue and persuade Lady Arlsley to let us leave.’

  ‘Sounds like a good plan. Which entertainment will you be attending next?’

  ‘There’s a musicale at the Dellaneys’ two evenings from now.’

  ‘Are you musical?’

  ‘I am, actually. It’s my one feminine accomplishment. Not the harp, although the instructors at Miss Axminster’s school recommended it as the best instrument for a girl to play in order to display the elegance of her figure. Which about sums up the quality of instruction at that school,’ she added, wrinkling her nose with a distaste that set him chuckling. ‘I prefer the pianoforte. Do you play?’

  ‘Indifferently. But I’ll arrange to get myself invited to the Dellaneys’, so I may enjoy your performance.’

  ‘Good. I’ll count on seeing you there.’

  By now, they’d reached Lady Arlsley’s side. ‘As I will you. Until I claim that next waltz?’

  ‘I’ll save it for you.’

  ‘Excellent. In the interim, I’ll go have a word with my mother. Miss Cranmore, Lady Arlsley.’ Giving them a bow, Crispin walked off.

  * * *

  He found his mother in the card room, a smile on her face as she chatted with several friends. Love for his gentle mother welling up, Crispin told himself it would be worth whatever blistering scold he had to endure from his father when this was over to have been able to give her this treat.