Miss Verey’s Proposal

by Nicola Cornick

  ‘Good morning, Miss Verey.’

  It seemed he was about to pass her without another word, but Jane put out a hand.

  ‘A moment, if you please, sir!’

  Lord Philip paused. ‘Madam?’

  ‘I need to speak to you, sir,’ Jane said clearly, determined not to lose her nerve. ‘It is a matter of extreme importance!’ She saw that he was about to refuse and added, ‘Please!’

  Lord Philip gestured to her to fall into step with him on the gravel path, but his expression was not encouraging, nor were his words. ‘Well, Miss Verey?’

  ‘It concerns our projected marriage, my lord,’ Jane said, fixing her gaze firmly on the plane trees in the far distance. ‘I do not wish to marry you and I have observed that you do not wish to marry me, so I propose that we join forces to avert a horrid fate!’

  There was a startled silence.

  ‘Are you always so outspoken, Miss Verey?’ Lord Philip said, tight-lipped. He cast her a quick sideways glance, which she met with a blithe smile.

  ‘Always! I find it is much better to be honest, or one might find oneself married to the wrong person! I have been quick to notice that you have a certain admiration for Miss Marchment, a regard which might lead you to wish me in Hades!’

  Lord Philip swallowed convulsively. They had reached the summerhouse and he paused, turning to look at Jane properly for the first time.

  ‘Has Miss Marchment…? That is…did she say that she-’ He broke off, looking suddenly boyish and eager. ‘She is the most delightful creature, Miss Verey! A veritable angel! When she smiled on me that night at Almack’s I believe I counted myself the most fortunate man in the room!’ A shadow fell across his face as he realised the absurdity of addressing such sentiments to his intended bride. ‘I beg your pardon,’ he muttered. ‘You are most fortunate in your friends, Miss Verey!’

  ‘Pray do not apologise!’ Jane said sweetly. ‘I am very fond of Sophia! She is the dearest girl imaginable and I wish to see her happy. Which is why I wanted to talk to you, sir! Let us sit down together and put all to rights!’

  They sat on the seat in the shade of the summerhouse veranda. ‘Let us be straight with one another, sir,’ Jane said practically. ‘Neither of us wish to be joined in matrimony with the other, but we need not repine. If we work together we may be able to thwart your brother’s plans for us!’

  Lord Philip’s face had brightened, only to fall again. ‘I appreciate your plain-speaking, Miss Verey, but if I may be equally blunt, it is a matter of money! Alex will only pay my debts if I marry you!’

  He drove his hands into his jacket pockets. ‘It is not that I am extravagant, precisely, although I do find that Alex keeps me on a ridiculously tight allowance, but…’ he frowned a little ‘…the matter cannot be avoided. For whatever reason, he favours this match and no other. I fear we are doomed!’

  It was at that exact moment that Jane looked up to see the Duke of Delahaye, magnificent on a raking chestnut hunter, approaching them down the ride. He sat the horse with negligent skill. He had not seen them yet, but Jane knew that it was only a matter of time.

  ‘If we can persuade your brother that all looks set fair for a match between us, we have the advantage,’ Jane pressed. ‘Trust me, sir, I will think of a scheme to avoid the marriage and to pay your debts! Then you may marry Miss Marchment and we shall all be happy!’

  Lord Philip was looking slightly stunned at this force majeure. ‘Can you contrive such a plan?’ he asked weakly.

  ‘Indeed! Look how easily I hoodwinked you!’

  Lord Philip tried to look disapproving, but could not prevent a smile. Jane realised that she was warming to him.

  ‘Yes,’ he said reluctantly, ‘you took me in magnificently, Miss Verey, and by rights I should be out of charity with you for such a shabby trick!’ He cleared his throat. ‘I have a bad conscience about that night, however. I know I behaved churlishly, but I was so angry with Alex for forcing me into the situation! I did not mean to denigrate your home and hospitality, or-’

  He broke off and flushed bright red.

  ‘I heard the maid come up to your room,’ Jane said helpfully. ‘Let us not speak of it, nor of the unfortunate rumours about me which circulated about Town after your visit…’

  Lord Philip looked mortified. ‘Miss Verey…’ He was positively stammering, ‘I did not mean…how did you…?’

  ‘Forgive me, I know I should not have mentioned it.’ Jane was trying not to laugh. She was starting to feel a real affection for Lord Philip, who reminded her of nothing so much as an overgrown schoolboy. ‘Let us start afresh,’ she added, in kindly fashion. ‘I can understand that your brother must be a sore trial to you!’

  ‘Oh, Alex is a good enough fellow,’ Philip said grudgingly. ‘It’s just that he can be rather forceful at times! Perhaps you have observed it, Miss Verey!’

  Jane could see the Duke approaching now. She smiled blindingly. ‘Perhaps his Grace is not accustomed to polite society,’ she agreed sweetly. ‘His address certainly lacks polish!’

  Philip gave a crack of laughter. ‘Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard Alex criticised for his skills in the petticoat line, Miss Verey!’

  They were still laughing together when the Duke reined in beside them.

  Philip turned to his brother with a grin. ‘Morning, Alex! Lady Dennery not riding with you?’

  ‘Her ladyship does not care to ride,’ Alex said, unsmiling. ‘Good morning, Miss Verey. Are you walking unaccompanied?’

  ‘Obviously not, Alex! Miss Verey is walking with me!’ Philip said with a grin, throwing himself into the part of Jane’s beau with convincing alacrity. ‘We are becoming better acquainted! Don’t spoil sport, I beg you! Miss Verey and I wish to converse alone!’ He saw his brother’s lips tighten angrily and added, ‘It is all perfectly respectable!’

  Jane was aware that Alex Delahaye’s penetrating gaze had hardly wavered from her even when he was speaking to his brother. There was something disturbing about such single-minded attention, nor could she understand why he was bestowing it on her. Did he suspect of them of play-acting? She had to admit that it was a rather sudden turnabout, but since this was precisely the outcome the Duke wished for, she could not understand why he was looking so furious!

  ‘Forgive me,’ he said through his teeth. ‘I had no intention of interrupting a romance! I will see you at breakfast if you can tear yourselves away from the beauties of nature! Good day!’

  ‘Well, we brushed through that rather well,’ Lord Philip said, seemingly unaware of his brother’s anger as the Duke galloped away. He stood up and held out a hand to help Jane rise, giving her a look of genuine admiration. ‘What a capital girl you are, Miss Verey! I had no idea!’

  Alex Delahaye was able to work off much of his bad temper on a gallop across the parkland, but as he trotted into the stableyard in more decorous fashion he was aware that a niggling irritation still troubled him. He slid from the horse, patted its heaving flank with appreciation and handed it over to the groom with a word of thanks, before turning towards the house. Lady Eleanor was waiting for him at the top of the wide terrace steps and her eyes were alight with satisfaction and a certain complacent self-congratulation.

  ‘I told you so!’ she said in greeting. ‘I knew that a week in the country would do the trick! Miss Verey and Philip are out walking together and looking absolutely épris! I told you!’

  ‘You did indeed!’ Alex said wryly, feeling all his bad temper return with a rush. He could see his brother and Jane Verey wandering slowly up the path from the lake and appearing to be engrossed in each other’s company. Jane’s hand was tucked through Philip’s arm in a way that seemed positively confiding and their laughter was for themselves alone. Alex felt a pang of something that was uncommonly like jealousy…or possibly pain.

  He had felt nothing akin to it since the terrible time, years before, when his wife had told him that his unsophisticated ways bored her and she had taken a lov
er to provide some entertainment. He could still remember the look in her eyes: the hard cruelty, daring him to reproach her, goading him to lose his temper. It had seemed inconceivable to him that matters between them had altered so desperately. They had been entwined in love when they had married, Madeline eighteen, he twenty, but the pursuits and entertainments of Town had undermined that love. Madeline was weak and easily led; soon she became a spendthrift, complaining when Alex had tried to reason with her and finally scorning him publicly as an old-fashioned and tedious husband, old before his time. He might have come to accept that they shared no interests, but her taunts had hurt and the blow of her infidelity had destroyed Alex’s still-cherished belief that all might be saved. If only they had never gone up to London, if only he had taken her back to Hayenham before it was too late, if he had been stronger…

  Alex followed Lady Eleanor back into the salon, allowing the door to slam behind him with unwonted ferocity. At least Francine Dennery would not rise for another couple of hours-that was one irritation that he was spared! Lady Dennery’s increasingly unsubtle hints about their relationship had aroused nothing but indifference in him and he was already regretting the impulse that had led him to invite her to Malladon. Lady Eleanor had implied that it was tantamount to a declaration and Alex was annoyed to think that she might almost be correct. It was a complication he would rather do without. For a moment his imagination compared the slender but devastatingly desirable curves of Jane Verey with the overblown charms that Lady Dennery was trying to place at his disposal. Jane would be so soft and sweet, innocent but waiting to be awakened. He felt himself suffused with so potent an desire that he had to turn away.

  The door opened again to admit Jane and Lord Philip. With curiously sharpened observation, Alex noted the pink colour in Jane’s cheeks, whipped up by the breeze, the way that one windswept black curl rested in the hollow of her throat, the brightness of laughter in her eyes. His fists clenched as some nameless emotion clutched him by the throat. It was just that she had disappointed him, he told himself. She was like all the other debutantes after all, a little wilful, perhaps, but ready to see the benefits of a good match in the end. Lady Eleanor had been right when she had predicted that Jane Verey would settle down and accept the betrothal. Alex had just not believed that it would be so easy.

  He told himself that his disappointment stemmed from the fact that the game was over before it had really started. He had expected that Jane Verey would been made of sterner stuff and he felt obscurely discontented to have been proved wrong. He knew that he was lying to himself. The problem was that he had already started to consider an alternative plan for Miss Jane Verey, and now apparently it would not be needed. He would have to treat her as a sister-in-law after all. Ironic, when he had promoted the Verey match so actively, but that had been before he had realised that he wanted something else-

  Lady Dennery’s fluting voice suddenly impinged on his notice.

  ‘God damn it!’ Alex said violently under his breath and, before any of his startled relatives could utter a word, he had turned on his heel and walked straight out of the door again. They did not see him again until dinner.

  ‘You are perfectly sure that you are happy about this, Sophia?’ Jane asked, as they reined in their horses at the top of the hill and looked down on the roof of Malladon nestling in the valley below. ‘You do not feel uncomfortable with Lord Philip apparently paying open court to me? For if you do, you have only to say the word and we will stop at once!’

  Sophia threw back her head and laughed. Her face was flushed and her blue eyes sparkling. She was in excellent looks and Jane was surprised that no one else had spotted the improvement in her friend’s spirits, but then she could only be grateful that it was so. To rouse the suspicions of Lady Eleanor-or worse, the Duke-would defeat her plan utterly.

  They had been three days in Hertfordshire and matters were progressing precisely as Jane had intended. Lord Philip was playing her devoted suitor to the top of his bent in company and, whilst ostensibly monopolising his attention, Jane had in fact been engineering opportunities for him to court Sophia. Lady Verey and Lady Eleanor were lulled and off their guard, and with Jane drawing all the attention, Sophia’s actions went almost unnoticed. Lady Dennery had also proved a staunch if unknowing ally, for she had kept the Duke occupied throughout.

  Jane smiled contentedly. She could see Lord Philip galloping towards them up the hill, having set off for a ride before them with the intention of meeting up once out of sight of the house. Lady Verey had felt reasonably at ease in allowing the girls to go riding together within the estate, for both Jane and Sophia were country-bred and unlikely to come to harm so near to home.

  Lord Philip drew up beside them and raised his whip in salutation. He smiled at Jane before turning to Sophia and engaging her in conversation. The horses walked on slowly, with Philip and Sophia a little ahead and Jane careful to stay out of earshot. She was well pleased with her strategy, for it had the additional benefit of keeping Lord Philip in a very good mood indeed and with both him and Sophia as allies, Jane felt immeasurably stronger. The only problem was not getting caught out…

  ‘I saw Alex driving Lady Dennery over to Moreton Hall,’ Philip said over his shoulder, with a grin for Jane. ‘He looked in a very black mood, but he only has himself to blame for foisting that creature’s company on to us! A more ill-bred, rapacious woman would be difficult to find!’

  Sophia hushed him reprovingly. ‘Philip! At the very least we may be grateful to her for keeping your brother occupied!’ She shivered. ‘It frightens me to think that he might find us out!’

  ‘I’ll protect you, my love,’ Philip said cheerfully, and Jane saw Sophia blush becomingly at the endearment. Once again she felt a moment’s concern as she watched them ride on ahead together down the track between the beech trees. It would be a dreadful thing to be conspiring in the romance if Lord Philip was not in earnest! But surely she could not have mistaken his sincerity? Jane frowned. She was certain that it was only the need for secrecy that held Lord Philip silent and that as soon as he could he would make Sophia a declaration…

  The Duke had returned in time to witness the three of them riding into the yard together at the end of their expedition, with Lord Philip very firmly at Jane’s side by this time. Alex had been leaning over the stable door and chatting to the head groom, and he straightened up as they clattered past, a frown descending on his brow. Jane noticed it and reflected that he seemed to have frowned far more since she had reached an understanding with his brother. He had been noticeably better tempered when they were at odds!

  Dinner that evening was a far from comfortable meal. Lady Dennery had evidently indulged in some disagreement with the Duke and vented her spleen through sharp comments on how slow the country was and how poor the company. Alex barely bothered to respond to her barbs and, with such a lack of amity between them, the others fell quiet and ate in almost total silence. When the ladies withdrew, Jane thankfully took the opportunity to slip away to the library for a little peace. She selected a tattered copy of Tom Jones and Maria Elizabeth Jackson’s Botanical Dialogues from the shelves and curled up on a window seat.

  It was a good hour and a half before the sound of footsteps recalled her from the pages and then a dry voice said,

  ‘Escaping into literature, Miss Verey? No doubt you find it more congenial than the atmosphere in the drawing-room!’

  Alex Delahaye was standing before her, a quizzical lift to his black brows as he assessed her choice of reading matter.

  ‘Are you a student of botany, Miss Verey? There have been some interesting studies in recent years.’

  Jane nodded. ‘I have read a few of the books and done a little studying at Ambergate,’ she admitted.

  ‘It is certainly an interesting contrast to Tom Jones,’ Alex observed. ‘I scarcely think that your mama would approve, Miss Verey!’

  Jane put her book to one side with reluctance. ‘No, indeed she would
not! She particularly told me that I should not read it before I married! But-’ She broke off, on the edge of giving herself away by saying that she believed she would never marry. That would never do, given her supposed affection for Lord Philip! She had a sudden conviction that Alex could accurately follow her every thought process and see right through the deception. A guilty blush stole into her cheeks and she stood up hastily.

  ‘Excuse me, your Grace. I should rejoin the ladies.’

  She was about to slip past him, when he put hand on her arm. ‘A moment, Miss Verey. I will escort you back, but there is something I would like you to see first.’

  He drew her across the room, to where a huge oil painting hung in a recessed alcove. Jane had noticed it when she had first entered the room but it had been wreathed in shadows and she had not paused to study it. Now, as Alex moved a lamp so that more light fell on the picture, she stood still and considered it.

  The subject was a lady, fair and delicate, dressed in the high fashion of a decade before. She looked very young. She was reclining with languid grace on a chaise-longue, one white hand resting on the collar of a small dog that was gazing up at her with undisguised adoration in its eyes. Jane considered it a poor painting, studied and artificial, and yet there was something compelling about the beauty of the sitter and the sweetness of her expression. So this was Madeline Delahaye! No wonder the Duke was still so attached to the memory of so gentle and gracious a lady. Looking at the vacant, painted face, Jane wondered what had happened to change so unspoilt a girl into the selfish pleasure-seeker who had apparently betrayed her husband with such blatant disregard for his feelings and public opinion. Remembering Alex’s bitterness when they spoke at Almack’s, Jane thought she understood. Evidently he had chosen to ignore his wife’s infidelity and concentrate on the happier times they had experienced when first married. The fact that he had kept this early portrait in so prominent a position seemed to underline his attachment to her and his determination to keep her memory alive.