Regency Romance Collection: Regency Fire: The Historical Regency Romance Complete Series (Books 1-5)

by Bridget Barton

  At the beginning of the afternoon, Spencer had been most attentive. He had continually checked upon her physical comfort, asking if she were warm enough and had had enough to eat.

  However, as the next race began, and Clarissa’s excitement began to build, she became aware of the fact that Spencer and Gabriel were no longer particularly watching the race. Instead, they had sat back down in the enclosure, side-by-side, and seemed to be deep in conversation.

  Clarissa continued to watch the race with great interest because Spencer had kindly sent one of the footmen down to the track to place a bet for her. She was rather enjoying the guilty pleasure of gambling and found the race suddenly so much more interesting for the simple fact that she had the merest amount of money riding on it. When the horse she had bet upon had come in first place, Clarissa had been inordinately excited.

  “I say, he did it! My horse came first!” Clarissa was almost bouncing with excitement as she turned to call out to Spencer.

  Spencer, however, simply looked up and gave her the briefest of smiles and a nod before turning his attention back to his brother. It rather struck Clarissa that their conversation had not missed a beat, despite her excited interruption.

  “Oh, do not let their curious behaviour distract you, my dear Clarissa,” Evelyn had said kindly. “They are simply talking business.” She gave a shrug which rather told Clarissa that the beautiful young Duchess was more than used to such a thing. “I shall ask the footman to run down for your winnings.” Evelyn smiled brightly and with some excitement.

  However, as kindly as Evelyn’s excitement and participation was, Clarissa could not help feeling a little flattened by Spencer’s behaviour.

  With yet another lull in between races, all four were sat at their ease once more.

  “That was terribly exciting, was it not?” Clarissa spoke of the race immediately, somehow determined to make a point, although she knew not what that point was exactly.

  “It certainly seemed that way.” Spencer gave her a broad smile and laughed.

  “I do think we need to do a little more surveillance on the area, Spencer. It is not yet time to go charging in and show our hands to our enemies.

  “I agree entirely, brother,” Spencer said in a serious tone that Clarissa had never heard him use before. “In truth, I rather think I might perform some of the surveillance myself. After all, I think secrecy is still very much the key to our success.”

  “Although at some stage, we are going to have to involve others. I have drafted a list of possible surveyors to examine the area for us. I think perhaps we ought to sit down and discuss each man by merit and between us come up with our final choice.”

  “Yes, of course. I daresay that before we set somebody to work in that regard, we ought really to be absolutely sure if the Cunninghams have mounted a watch of their own on the area or not.”

  “Yes, that is rather a sticking point. How are we to assess that particular situation without being seen to do it? If the Cunninghams do have a watch on the place, we would certainly be seen, would we not?”

  “I suppose it is simply a matter of creating the correct diversion. Adding a decoy, perhaps?” Spencer spoke quickly and competently with no sign of the humour and fun that Clarissa had previously found so very attractive.

  Rather it struck her that there was a certain intent in his eyes, almost as if the most important thing to him at that moment was impressing his older brother. The idea of impressing Clarissa had clearly fallen by the wayside.

  “Would you care for another pastry, Clarissa?” Evelyn Farrington asked in the most caring manner.

  “I am afraid I am not terribly hungry, but thank you kindly.” Clarissa smiled warmly at Evelyn, grateful for the woman’s attempts to cheer her.

  However, Clarissa could not help feeling so terribly flat. Surely, she and Spencer Farrington were still in a courtship phase. That being the case, for him to simply ignore her whilst he discussed business with his brother, at an event to which she had been most particularly invited, seemed to Clarissa to be rather remiss.

  After all, if he could fall into such behaviour so early on in their courtship, whatever would married life be like? What would married life be like when he had already secured her and no longer had to impress her or woo her in any way?

  Clarissa wanted the other Spencer back; her Spencer. The man who had rather hilariously fired several of his arrows into the many trees at the back of the Delbrook estate. The man who had encouraged her to sneak away from her family and sit with him alone at a table at Lord and Lady Borden’s winter ball. Clarissa wanted the man who was amusing and attractive and, above all things, interested in her.

  “Please do not make yourself upset by it,” Evelyn said so quietly that Clarissa had almost not heard her. “It is a little curious at first, but you will find you get used to it.” She reached out and touched Clarissa’s hand briefly.

  “I say, Evelyn Farrington is awfully nice, is she not?” Harriet said as if pleased to hear such an account of the Duchess. “But I do rather see what you mean about Spencer Farrington’s behaviour.”

  “If that is what I am served early on in courtship, what on earth shall married life bring?” Clarissa shrugged a little sadly.

  “Perhaps it might be better if you spoke to him on the matter. After all, at all other times, you and Spencer do seem to have such an easy manner between you. I am quite sure that he would not be annoyed by such a conversation.”

  “Perhaps you are right, Harriet,” Clarissa said thoughtfully.

  “And you never know … he might surprise you. He might truly not have realised how his behaviour was affecting you, and he might, in all truth, come to rectify it when he learns how upset you were. It is always better I do believe, to tell things as they are. I am rather afraid that when one leaves a man guessing, he never guesses the thing correctly.”

  “How very true, Harriet.” Clarissa laughed, highly amused by her dear friend.

  In truth, as much as Spencer’s inattentiveness had upset her, still, she did not want to give up entirely on the idea of their courtship. Perhaps she was being just a little sensitive and, as Harriet had suggested, nothing more than a simple conversation might indeed put the matter to rest once and for all.

  Chapter Six

  Just days later, Clarissa’s spirits were lifted more than she could ever have imagined by the sudden and unannounced appearance of Spencer Farrington at Delbrook Hall. Clarissa had been sitting quietly in the drawing room quite content by the warmth of the fire and entirely absorbed by the intricate embroidery she was working on.

  The first she realised that her family had guests was the sudden appearance of her father striding into the drawing room with Spencer in tow.

  Clarissa immediately put her embroidery to one side and rose politely to her feet, performing the customary small curtsy in greeting.

  “Good morning, Lady Kensington.” Spencer, under the eyes of Clarissa’s father, performed his bow of greeting. “I do hope that I am not disturbing you in any way.”

  “No indeed, Sir. I was simply at my embroidery. Yet another handkerchief for Papa.” Clarissa smiled at her father who looked curiously grateful at the idea that he was to receive another carefully monogrammed handkerchief.

  “Then I rather wonder if you would care to take a short ride in the countryside? The day is almost warm.” He began to laugh. “Or certainly as warm as a spring day can be.”

  “I shall take you at your word regarding the warmth of the day, Sir, but as to the idea of it being spring, we are only just in March, and you have more than two weeks yet to wait.” Clarissa laughed.

  “I simply go by the crocuses and the burgeoning daffodils, My Lady. My knowledge of days and dates is truly lacking.” He laughed and shrugged disarmingly.

  “So, you are a man of nature.” Clarissa nodded. “And I should, perhaps, rely upon your own judgement if you can, indeed, rather sense the thing. I shall declare it spring and go and get my cloa
k.” Clarissa grinned.

  “Well, when you are both returned from your ride, perhaps you would care to stay for luncheon, Lord Farrington?” The Earl of Delbrook asked hopefully.

  “I should be very pleased to, Lord Delbrook.”

  “Well, Clarissa, go and make yourself ready for riding out, and I will see to it that your horse is saddled for you.” Clarissa’s father smiled before nodding at them both and turning to leave the room.

  “Well, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I shall make myself ready.” Clarissa smiled warmly at him and, when her smile was returned, all the reasons that she found him so very attractive seemed to come flooding back and almost engulfed her.

  “I must admit, I am rather glad that you have agreed to come out with me this morning, especially after my behaviour at the horse racing,” Spencer spoke in a flurry of apology the very moment they had set off on their horses at a gentle walk out of the Delbrook estate. “I really am most terribly sorry.”

  “What a very unusual thing for a man to apologise,” Clarissa mused out loud. “And I must say, I really am most terribly grateful for it. I accept your apology, Sir, and I thank you for it.”

  “Well, when a young lady is as adept with a bow and arrow as you are, it is incumbent upon a man to apologise, if anything, for his own safety.”

  Indeed, it is.” Clarissa laughed heartily as the crisp spring air whipped at her cheeks.

  Finally, she had her Spencer back. He was funny and witty and making such comments as he knew he could just about get away with. As much as Clarissa had not entirely answered the question of his dualism to her own satisfaction in her mind, still she did not particularly want to dwell on it.

  The last few days had found her feeling rather flat and, with the idea that things had, more or less, returned to normal, Clarissa felt too high in spirits to want to even question it. She simply wanted the feeling to remain, and for Spencer Farrington to be as charming and appealing as ever he was.

  “You do look awfully pretty today, Lady Kensington.” Spencer looked sideways at her as they continued to slowly walk their horses along the pathways which bordered the fields of the open countryside.

  “I thank you, Sir. But, in truth, you did not give me any warning, so it is rather more luck than judgement on my part if I am, indeed, as well turned out as you say.” Clarissa smiled.

  “I daresay it is not entirely your apparel that I am complimenting you on. And, of course, when I say you look awfully pretty, I truly mean that you are beautiful.” Spencer looked down at the back of his horse’s neck for a moment, seemingly just a little nervous.

  Something about the very brief moment in which he seemed to lack confidence made Clarissa’s heart swell. It was as if his minute display of nerves rather tended to suggest the veracity of his words. Surely if he did not mean the thing, he could speak it with more confidence. But, when a man truly meant what he was saying, there always seemed to be much more riding on it. Hence the nerves.

  “You flatter me, Sir, but I am truly grateful for the compliment. Thank you.” Clarissa felt a little nervous herself.

  “Shall we head off to the east?” Spencer said, already beginning to turn his horse.

  “Certainly, I have no particular objection or any idea in mind of a destination.”

  “Oh well, then perhaps today I shall be the guide.” He grinned and seemed relieved, almost as if he was glad that he had found the courage to make his compliment and that it had been well received.

  “Going east would tend to lead towards your own lands, would it not?” Clarissa said, feeling quite sure of her geography.

  “Yes, it certainly would. Although it is fair to say that the Duchy lands are quite vast, and there are parts which I do not manage to get to from one year to the next. I daresay we shall end up in some field or other that I have not seen since I was a very much younger man.” He laughed.

  They continued their ride in easy and comfortable chatter, each making the other laugh and both clearly enjoying the company.

  When they had been on the Duchy of Calgarth lands for almost twenty minutes, Spencer seemed to grow a little vague in his conversation. As he slowly walked his horse, he seemed to continually look past Clarissa, almost as if there was something drawing his attention a little way off in the distance.

  When he finally pulled his horse to a halt without any explanation, Clarissa turned to see if she too could see what it was that Spencer was looking at.

  “I say, is that something of a hole in the ground?” Clarissa said, equally vaguely as she squinted some two hundred yards into the neighbouring land.

  “Yes, it certainly seems to be,” Spencer spoke a little as if he was in a dream, and finally, Clarissa’s suspicions began to mount.

  “And why pray tell, are we staring at a hole in the ground?”

  “Oh, no particular reason. I simply found it interesting.” Spencer pulled himself together for a moment and laughed before entirely turning his attention back to her.

  “A curious thing to find interesting, Sir, but I shall take you at your word.” Clarissa smiled and gently heeled her horse once more.

  As they resumed their gentle pace, Clarissa noted how Spencer’s eyes flitted to and fro and that his attention towards her had once again drifted.

  “Tell me, Lady Kensington, if you look out across the land to my right, do you see anybody particularly in the area?”

  “No, I see nobody.” Clarissa shrugged and felt rather confused.

  “Not so much in the open, Lady Kensington, but rather around the edges. Just turn your attention, if you will, to the hedgerows and the trees which border the fields. Do you see anybody lurking?”

  “Lurking?”

  Clarissa fought confusion and, as she remembered the conversation between Spencer and the Duke at the race track, she rather thought that she had managed to work it out.

  “So, whatever it is that you and the Duke thought needed some surveillance, I am assuming this is it?” Clarissa said and was surprised by the coolness of her tone.

  “I beg your pardon?” Spencer said but was clearly playing for time.

  “If I remember rightly, you and your brother were discussing making a study of an area, whatever area that might be, to see if there were any watchman set upon it. Did either you or your brother not mention some sort of distraction to your own surveillance activities? Did you yourself not mention a decoy of some sort?” Clarissa felt herself suddenly a fool.

  All her high spirits from his sudden appearance in her home had left her. Clarissa knew with certainty that Spencer Farrington had simply called upon her with the idea of using her as a decoy so that anybody watching them would not suspect him of making some sort of secret surveillance of the area. Rather, he simply looked as if he was out enjoying a mid-morning excursion with a young lady.

  “My dear Lady Kensington, please do not think that I purposely brought you out this way,” Spencer said, panicking somewhat, “I mean, that was not particularly my intention in coming to see you. It is more the case that we rather wandered this way and, forgive me, I rather saw an opportunity to look at something that, ordinarily, I might not be able to study without … without …”

  “Without a decoy.” Clarissa shook her head. “Sir, I find myself most thoroughly insulted all of a sudden.”

  “Lady Kensington,” he began. “Clarissa, please.” He turned his horse to bring him just a little closer to her side.

  “I do not particularly enjoy being the decoy, Lord Farrington.” Clarissa’s annoyance was riding high. “And I do not care to spend any more time with you here. I shall make my own way back to Delbrook Hall.”

  “Clarissa, please do not leave,” he began. “At least allow me to escort you home. And I should very much like to explain. And Clarissa, I should like to apologise.”

  “I really think that a gentleman should limit himself to only one apology per morning. Anything further would begin to make the apologies hold a little less meaning, do y
ou not think?”

  “I daresay I deserve this.” Spencer winced.

  “Oh, I know you deserve this.” Clarissa was serious. “And there is no need for you to escort me home. I can clearly see Delbrook Hall from here and am sure that I shall be quite safe.”

  “But at least if I could .”

  “No, I am quite determined. I do not want to spend the rest of the morning with you, Lord Farrington. I shall bid you good day.” And with that, Clarissa turned her horse sharply and trotted away.

  By the time she had once again reached the edge of the Delbrook estate, Clarissa had dried what few tears she had cried on the way back. In truth, they were really rather tears of anger and frustration more than anything else. Clarissa had decided that she would not dwell upon Spencer Farrington’s finer points and all the things which had made him so very attractive to her. It would be a pointless exercise which would serve no purpose other than to truly upset her feelings and lead her to shed more tears. It would be quicker and quieter if she simply focused her attention on his poor behaviour for a while before letting go of it and forgetting about him entirely.

  Chapter Seven

  For several days, whenever Clarissa thought of Spencer Farrington, she shied away from thinking about how much she missed him. Every time her heart seemed to tend in that direction, Clarissa always diverted it to her feelings of foolishness and annoyance.

  It was in just such a mood that, some days later, Clarissa found herself at the very rear of the gardens at Delbrook expertly firing arrows into the target that one of the footmen had obligingly set up for her just that morning.