That was finally accepted, and obviously pleased her sisters. They left soon after, discussing plans for their rout.
“No. I do not feel like ‘Ella, Sit by the Cinders,’” Sibyl protested to her cousin a second after the door closed.
Kate sat in the window seat of Sibyl’s bedchamber. The Swanson girls had questioned her, too. But it was their sister they’d asked about. They hadn’t for a moment thought either man she’d met in the park had been interested in her. They didn’t consider their cousin much more than a jumped-up servant.
“I have a soft bed,” Sibyl went on, bouncing on it for emphasis. “I eat good food, and have any number of gowns. No one beats me, my sisters usually ignore me, in fact. I just have to wait until they marry before I am courted. And,” she added, before Kate could speak again, “even if I could receive gentlemen callers, I wouldn’t want either Leigh or St. Erth. Leigh is quiet as a clam, and he never stops watching people, so who knows what he’s thinking? It makes me anxious. As for St. Erth! He’s so big, so dark…so overwhelming! I don’t even know how you managed to speak with him!”
“I didn’t,” Kate said glumly.
“Because he’s everything you said and worse. Terrifying! And Viscount Leigh? I wonder why he doesn’t just take out a scale along with his quizzing glass when he studies a person. Who’d want either of them? Apart from my sisters, of course. I’d want a comfortable husband, a man I don’t feel nervous with.”
Kate almost agreed, until she remembered that though Sir Alasdair had terrified her, it was a delicious sort of terror, like when she was a child and went swinging too high, feeling her stomach drop as she did. Then she remembered how she always begged someone to push her so she could swing that high again. And it wasn’t precisely her stomach that had reacted to him, although the region wasn’t that far from it.
She changed the subject quickly. “Thank heavens your mama told your sisters the gentlemen must have been asking about them!”
“Well, I couldn’t lie that much,” Sibyl said, “but I didn’t have to. They believed it. I can almost pity those two men. Now my sisters are going to be watching them like hawks whenever they see either one of them.”
“So they’ll arrange not to see them,” Kate said. “Those two are resourceful. And who knows? Maybe they might be interested in your sisters. I know, Sir Alasdair said he had to thank me. But who can tell what really goes on in a mind like that? At least it’s over for me. He thanked me, and that’s that.” There was wistfulness in her voice when she said it.
Sibyl heard it. “You’re the one who’s sitting by the cinders,” she said sadly.
“I’m sitting by the fireside in London now,” Kate said, forcing a smile, “and that’s something to remember!”
She told her cousin only half the truth. Because she also knew that the notorious baronet was something never to forget.
Viscount Leigh stood in his friend Alasdair’s dressing room, watching him as he raised his chin and wound a clean white neckcloth around his neck.
“I hope you purchased an extra length,” Leigh commented. “The only longer neck I’ve seen is at the Tower menagerie. But that fellow also had hooves, horns, and spots all over his back.”
“I’m spared that,” Alasdair commented as he slowly lowered his chin and settled it into his precisely tied neckcloth. “At least the spots. I manage to conceal the hooves and horns. And tail.”
“I wasn’t commenting on your resemblance to the devil. I was remembering a giraffe. But speak of the devil, why did you ask me here today?”
“I didn’t,” Alasdair said, putting his arms out as his valet held up his jacket for him. “I merely asked to see you at your leisure.”
“All I have is leisure. I’m at your service.”
“Are you?” Alasdair mused, shifting his shoulders as he got the tightly fitted jacket on. “Yes, that will do. Very good, thank you, Pierce,” he told his valet.
The man nodded, picked up the clothing his master had decided not to wear, and quietly left the room. When the door had closed behind him, Alasdair fixed his guest with a long look. “I paid an interesting call on an old friend yesterday. Now, what I’d like to know is why Viscount North felt impelled to make inquiries into my relationship with his distant relative, Miss Corbet? Kate Corbet, the little lady we met in the Park the other day, in case you’ve forgotten.”
His voice became cooler as he stared at Leigh. “But I doubt you’ve forgotten. You see, Jason North’s an old friend of mine. And he tells me it was you who urged him and his good wife to take Miss Corbet into their home and under his protection, because of the dangers facing an untried girl here in wicked old London Town. Naturally, Jason asked me why my name was brought into this equation. Though I understand the wicked part, of course, I confess, it made me wonder, too.”
Leigh’s expression grew shuttered. He looked away from his friend and studied his walking stick instead. “Dear me,” he said with an attempt at flippancy, “I’d no idea you two were old friends. A misstep, that.” He raised his gaze. His eyes were steady. “The truth then. I worried about the girl.”
“Woman,” Alasdair corrected him, turning to view himself in the looking glass. He seemed totally preoccupied with his appearance, but kept careful watch on his friend’s face, reflected behind him. “She’s three-and-twenty, North says. And clever as she can hold together, as I thought. Well able to handle herself. Was it my handling her that worried you?”
Leigh grimaced. “It wasn’t her morals so much as her heart I was worried about, Alasdair. Even if her morals failed, I trust you know the precise line you can walk in a flirtation with a lady of quality. You always have in the past. But you had plans for her, you said as much. You also blithely said you felt she could fend for herself. I just didn’t think it was fair to involve her in your machinations. The Swansons certainly aren’t interested in her welfare. Someone had to be. She may be three-and-twenty but anyone can see she’s not a woman of experience.”
“I see,” Alasdair said gently. “You’re interested in her, then? If that’s the case, I’ll gladly step aside, and congratulate you on your unexpected good taste in women. She’s charming.”
“No,” his friend said quickly. “She’s charming, but I’ve no plans for her. You do. That’s what bothers me. Be damned to it, Alasdair! I’d have the same reaction seeing a snake eyeing a mouse.”
“Snake? Giraffe? Lord, you think well of me,” Alasdair said as he buttoned his jacket.
Leigh sighed. “Alasdair, you want the girl to help you revenge yourself on the Scalbys. From what North told me, and believe me I know how to ask in a roundabout way so he didn’t guess my intent, they aren’t close to her. There’s a thought! Why bother with an untried chick? Why not use one of the Swanson women instead? They’d love your company, if only because it would call other men’s attention to them.”
“It’s not merely a question of aesthetics,” Alasdair said, adjusting a sleeve. “They aren’t related to the objects of my interest. The Corbet woman is, on her mama’s side. The Swansons are connections to her father. And if my attentions would delight the ogresses, why shouldn’t they please Kate Corbet as well?”
“She doesn’t have any town bronze. She’s obviously more sensitive and sheltered,” Leigh persisted. “North said her father’s relationship with all his London relatives is distant, in every way. So you won’t find out anything about the Scalbys from her. Why not just give up the idea?”
“Oh, but I don’t need any more information about them,” Alsadair said, running a hand back over his raven hair. “I have enough to hang them three times over now. Speaking metaphorically, of course. They have enough money and titles to keep their necks from the noose. Their crimes are many and heavy but not punishable by anything but eternal flames. But certainly enough to make them lepers in polite society forevermore.”
“That’s not enough for you?” Leigh asked.
“No.” Alsadair said, his mouth suddenly twist
ing as though he’d bit down on something bitter. “I want to see their faces when I reveal all. But how am I to do that?” he asked, recovering his bland expression again. “They’ve become hermits since they returned to London, or at least, since I have. I can hardly set fire to their town house to smoke them out, can I? Now Fate’s thrown me a chance to do that in another way. Come, my friend,” he said, turning to face Leigh. “That’s all I want. Not much is it? Not after what’s owed me. If I keep company with their relative, I’m bound to see them, sometime, someplace, in public. That’s all I’m after. A chance for a public denunciation. How can that hurt the young woman you want to protect?”
“You told North this?”
“No, of course not. But North knows me and trusts me. Do you?”
Leigh ignored the question. “And when you’ve done it?” he persisted. “What’s to become of the girl?”
“The woman,” Leigh said patiently. “I won’t take anything from her, if that’s what’s bothering you. Not her maidenhead, not her reputation. Good God, man, I have discretion and control, you know. Nor will I leave her wanting, either. The Swansons are keeping her a secret. My squiring her around London will bring her to the attention of many more eligible gentlemen.”
Leigh still looked troubled. “And if she loses her heart to you?”
Alasdair laughed. “She won’t. You spoke about my knowing which lines to walk. Trust me to know the ones I can’t cross.”
“She seemed infatuated with you.”
“Infatuation is no bad thing,” Alasdair said with a smile. “It can be amusing and, if handled properly, can be a learning experience so that when she meets a man who suits her, she won’t be tongue-tied or awkward. Infatuation can only grow to love if there’s fuel to feed it. Trust me, I won’t do a thing to nourish any grand passion. I’ll entertain the woman. But I won’t let her entertain any misconceptions.” He threw back his head and laughed loudly. “There’ll be no conceptions of any kind, I promise you!
“So then,” he added, sobering, “if I promise to be good and bring nothing but good to her? You’ll stop trying to have her far-flung relatives rescue her from my clutches?” His expression grew gravely serious. “Leigh, I’m asking if you trust me. No. I’m asking for your trust. Do I have it?”
There was a moment of silence, then Leigh looked at him gravely. “You’re my friend, and I have no friends I can’t trust. But what if the Scalbys don’t rise to your bait?”
Alasdair smiled, and shrugged. “Then I’ll settle for merely ruining them without the joy of seeing their expressions when they realize I’ve done it. Half a loaf is better than none.” But his smile showed he wasn’t a man who settled for half of anything. “You can see for yourself.”
“Yes, I’m afraid I will,” his friend said with regret.
5
Sir Alasdair and Viscount Leigh presented their cards and then were left to cool their polished bootheels in the Swansons’ drawing room. It wasn’t a thing they were used to doing. Or a thing they wanted to do, either.
“If it were for anyone but you,” Leigh finally said softly as he paced the room, “I’d be down the street by now.”
“If I were anyone but me, I’d be three steps ahead of you,” Alasdair answered. “But I can scarcely come calling by myself.”
His friend looked at him with bemused inquiry.
“I’ve faced assassins in dark alleys and violent men at knife point,” Alasdair explained, “but even I draw the line. I will not take on the Swanson women alone. Apart from the fact that coming here by myself would give rise to even more speculation.” He shot Leigh a keen look. “You didn’t have to come along. Are you obliging me? Or playing watchdog?”
“Don’t worry about it. A watched dog never bites,” Leigh said lightly. “I’m just interested. You’re throwing yourself to the lionesses. Such entertainment doesn’t often come my way.”
Alasdair gave a cough of a laugh. He looked up as the door to the drawing room opened. Leigh stopped pacing. Both men stared.
They were stared at, too. The three older unwed Swanson daughters entered the room with their mama. The popular quip around London these days was that one Swanson girl was worse-looking than the other, and the other wasn’t good to look at either. This morning they bore that out. It wasn’t their gowns, which were made by the best dressmakers in town. One wore white, one yellow, and one was draped in flowered muslin, but none of the gowns was flattering. It was difficult to flatter forms or faces like theirs. It wasn’t just because the women were large and ungainly, a smile could go a long way to soften anyone’s appearance and bring charm to the plainest face. But they wore identical expressions, and the only word for them was smug.
Two of London’s most eligible bachelors had come calling. Whatever the Swanson daughters didn’t have, they believed they had what these gentlemen callers were after. One of these attractive men probably needed money, and the other had to have a highborn wife. The Swanson women didn’t flutter or simper or try to make themselves attractive to gentlemen once they knew they were suitors. Instead, they frankly eyed their callers, as though they were on display in a window, for sale. But there were three of them and only two suitors, so each finally smiled as she curtsied, while her mama gushed greetings.
“My lords! How charming to see you again,” Lady Swanson exulted.
“My ladies,” Alasdair said, bowing. “The delight is ours, I assure you. I come this morning on an errand of some delicacy.”
Lady Swanson beamed. Her daughters preened.
“My friend Leigh came to bear me company,” Alasdair said. “You see, I’ve a message for someone you harbor under your roof, and an invitation for her, too.”
Lady Swanson smiled more widely. She knew how to dissect flowery speech. The “under your roof” part filled her with glee. The invitation also sounded promising.
“My friend North told me his cousin, Miss Corbet, is staying on here in London with you,” Alasdair went on. “I encountered her by accident the other day in the Park. As it happened, I told him I’d done so. Well, the moment he heard he begged me to present her with his greetings and an invitation to take tea with him and his lady today. Another invitation. It seems he’d asked her to come visit when she came to London, but she has not yet done so. Miss Corbet seemed to me to be somewhat reclusive. I told him that, and added the fact that I didn’t know if she could or would visit him on such short notice. But I promised him I’d try to convince her to. Sometimes sudden invitations can result in instant decisions. Thinking about social engagements can make them seem more terrifying to the timid.
“At any rate,” he went on smoothly, “I’ve come to relay the message and offer to escort her if she wants to visit her cousin.”
There was a stunned silence. But Lady Swanson hadn’t already married off three of her difficult daughters for no reason. “Why, certainly,” she said as soon as she recovered her wits. “She ought to have visited her relatives here in town, and so I’ve told her. But she was so occupied with seeing the sights. How kind of you to offer to take her. Of course she should go. And so I’ll tell her, I promise you. But, though you two gentlemen are certainly good company, she’ll need the escort of a respectable female, won’t she? Might I suggest one of my daughters and her maid accompany you, too?”
Frances smirked at her sisters as their expressions grew sulky. She was the eldest, and would be the one who got to go.
“What a good idea!” Alasdair said. “Yes, I should have thought of that. Your daughter Sibyl, of course. It was clear to see the two were best of friends. That should certainly put poor Miss Corbet’s fears at ease. How clever of you, ma’am.”
Lady Swanson excused herself and left the room to tell her daughter and Kate about the invitation. Her other daughters sat and stared, thunderous as an August afternoon, unblinking as lizards, as the two gentlemen struggled to make polite conversation with them.
Both men looked ready to bolt by the time Lady Swanson came
back. She breathlessly reported that her cousin accepted the invitation, but that Kate and Sibyl had to dress for the outing. “So if you don’t mind waiting a few more minutes?” she asked the gentlemen, and shot a significant look at her mute and angry-looking daughters.
They got the hint. Frances began asking Leigh about his ancestors. Henrietta asked Alasdair about his estate and what sort of repair it was in. Chloe wasn’t as subtle. She asked both of them about their families, finances, and plans for the Season.
When Sibyl and Kate appeared, they were greeted by the two men as though they were seeing dawn after a long, dark night.
“Well, time to depart,” Alasdair said quickly as he stood. “I’ll take every care of them,” he told his hostess, “and have them back directly after tea. Good day, ladies, it’s been a great pleasure,” he lied, bowed, and hurried to shepherd the two young women from the house.
Once outside, Alasdair looked down at Kate, seeing her clearly for the first time that day. She was wearing her pink gown, and her unruly curls escaped from under the pretty straw bonnet with the pink paper rose on it. But she was obviously upset. Her eyes were downcast, her face pale, her lips held in a tight line. Poor little thing, Alasdair thought with a surprised pang of sympathy, she really is timid. My work’s cut out for me.
Leigh saw a blushing Sibyl into the coach, her maidservant following, then Alasdair handed Kate up into it. He was the last to enter the carriage, and the first thing he saw was Kate’s blazing eyes as she leaned toward him.
“How could you!” she hissed at him.
“I beg your pardon?” he said, taken aback.
“Well, you should! I mean, really!” she said, her voice shaking with suppressed fury. “I told you I didn’t need to see you again. I said I didn’t want you thanking me or singling me out. To accost me in the park was bad enough. But to ask me out? Do you know what problems you’re making for me? And poor Sibyl!”
Edith Layton Page 6