by Fish, Aileen
“Girls—”
“Yes, Lady Ringley?” Clara said, smiling wide at the use of Lavinia’s married name.
They all laughed.
“This is my friend from London, Miss Charlotte Harrow. Do let her sit with you.”
“Of course,” Selena said, waving at a footman to bring another chair.
“Have you been friends long?” Mattie asked.
“We met—” Charlotte began.
“I’ve known—” Lavinia said over her. After another round of laughter, Lavinia said, “I can see she’ll be quite comfortable with you. I must return to Ringley.”
Charlotte answered the question. “We met several years ago in Town at a speech given by a paleontologist.”
Selena’s eyes widened. “I had no idea she had any interest in that.”
“I believe she was more interested in the young scientist who was an assistant to the speaker.” Charlotte grinned. “I’ve never heard her mention fossils again.”
“You live in Town year ’round?” Mattie asked.
“I do. My father’s a barrister.”
Clara looked shocked at the idea. “Don’t you go mad during the winter when everyone is at their country homes?”
“I still have friends to visit in Town. It’s no different to the entertainment you find in the country. You each should come stay a while with me. I’ll show you all the places you miss during the Season, and introduce you to my friends.”
“That would be delightful,” Mattie said. “I’ll be so very bored until the spring.”
“The Season just ended,” Selena pointed out.
“And already I’m looking forward to next year.”
Clara leaned close to Charlotte and kept her voice down. “Mattie has suffered a great disappointment and needs the company of new gentlemen.”
Gasping, Mattie whispered harshly. “I need no such thing. Please don’t pity me, Charlotte, or listen to anything these girls say about me. May I write you when I return home and discuss plans with you?”
“I look forward to it,” Charlotte said, and the conversation moved on to other things.
By going to London, Mattie hoped she’d finally find herself in the company of people who knew nothing of her situation with Markham.
They didn’t really have a situation, she reminded herself, but Clara’s mention of it said otherwise. As long as people discussed them in the same sentence, Mattie would avoid the company of people she knew.
***
The last of the guests at Stanhope Abbey left three days after the wedding, and Markham was finally free to return to London. Although he spent little time in their company, Mother insisted he be there as long as their friends stayed.
In addition to the usual business that took him to Town, he wanted to continue proving Sir Rollo was a cheat. With Ringley busy setting up house, Markham would call on his friend the Duke of Thornton. Thorny might have ideas that hadn’t occurred to him.
The morning after he arrived in Town, Markham called on Thorny at his home in Mayfair. After filling the duke in with the details of the wedding, and pointedly skipping any pertaining to him and Mattie, he focused on the true reason for his call.
“Ringley made me aware of a man, Sir Rollo Walford, who wins uncommonly often at the gaming hells. Do you know him?”
“He was pointed out to me once, with a suggestion I never play against him. What does Ringley know?”
“We played Vingt-et-un against him. He wins more than odds allow, whether he’s banker or not.”
“That’s curious. He must be using several methods. Why do you mention him?”
“I promised Ringley I’d have the man banned from the clubs. It seems Sir Rollo left a friend of his with pockets to let.”
“How do you plan to go about it, and how does it involve me?” the duke asked.
“I need a compatriot. Catching him counting cards might be easy enough, but it’s unprovable. I suspect he also shorts the bank when he sells it to another player. If there are two of us buying the bank and actually counting it each time, we can catch him.”
“A recount after several hands would be hard to show a shortage in, unless one wrote down each win for the bank. You don’t think he’ll question your note-taking?”
“I plan to do the addition in my head.”
“All those plays…you can keep track from one change of banker to the next?”
Markham nodded. “What I need is a second man to take some of the action away from Sir Rollo and anyone working with him. Additional pontoons will improve the odds of taking over as banker and being able to count the money.”
“I understand. When do you plan to begin?”
“Tonight, if you’re free. The sooner I accomplish this, the sooner I can enjoy my own pursuits again.”
“Very well. Where will he be?”
“I’m not certain. Shall we meet outside White’s and go from there?”
“Excellent. I’ll see you there.”
***
The trip to London in her father’s carriage was terribly tiring, but Mattie’s energy returned when she arrived at Charlotte’s home.
Charlotte rushed out the door to greet her. “I’m so pleased you’ve taken my offer. I told my friend, Lady Adam St. Peters, of your coming and she invited us to dine this evening. Is that too soon? Should I suggest we plan another night?”
Following her inside, Mattie removed her hat and gloves. “Tonight will be fine. I’m excited to meet your friends.”
“Excellent. I’ll send word right away.”
After a short nap, Mattie had her maid restyle her hair for evening, and then help her decide what to wear. She hadn’t asked Charlotte who else they might meet, so she wasn’t sure how formally to dress. Lord Adam was a duke’s son, Charlotte had informed her, so Mattie used that as her guide.
While Mattie sat as still as possible so her maid could style her hair, Charlotte—already dressed, her hair simply done—began to tell her all about her friends.
“Lord Adam and Mary Jane—Lady Adam, I should say—are brother and sister-in-law to the Duke of Thornton, and they have another close friend, the Duke of Noblegreen. Both men are unmarried.”
“You don’t believe I came here solely to find a husband, do you?”
“Why else would you come? Oh, I don’t mean to suggest you are taking advantage of my friendship, but if a lady can’t introduce her friends to the gentlemen of her acquaintance, she’s not much of a friend, I say.”
Mattie laughed, then cringed when a hairpin scraped her scalp. “Ouch. Charlotte, I do think we’ll be the best of friends. If you ever choose to marry I’ll be happy to help you find a husband.”
“I see Lavinia told you much about me.”
“Not too much. Only that you prefer political meetings as opposed to balls. It can’t be true. Those meetings are so dull!”
“And I find it dull standing among strangers who have nothing to say beyond how lovely the weather is.”
When her maid set down the hairbrush, Mattie rose. “I see your point. I enjoy the challenge of seeing who I can encourage to dance with me. I rarely have intelligent conversation, unless someone like Lord Markham is there.”
“He’s a handsome one, isn’t he? Those fine eyes and gentle smile. Lavinia mentioned he was returning to London. Is he the reason you’re here?”
Mattie was shocked, both that Markham had come here, and that Charlotte would presume such a thing. “That’s twice you’ve suggested I’m only here to meet men. I thought you honestly wanted me to come.”
Charlotte shook her head, her gaze downcast. “Forgive me. I’m quite blunt in my manner and have been told I’m off-putting. I look forward to a long friendship with you, but we must have some challenge before us to keep the visit entertaining. Now, was I right? Do you care for Lord Markham?”
“Can I tell you while we’re in the carriage? If I begin now we might never reach your friends’ home.”
Chapter Seven
On the ride to Lord Adam’s home, Mattie gave her new friend the abbreviated version of the recent events involving Markham, which took them right to the door of the town house they’d been invited to. Not dissimilar to her father’s town house, this was in an area more in demand, with a parkland in the lot down the road.
Lady Adam St. Peters greeted Mattie with a hug. “Call me Mary Jane, please. A friend to Charlotte is most certainly a friend to me.”
“As I told you, Mattie, she’s quite excited to meet you.”
“I’m an old married woman now,” Mary Jane said. “I no longer attend the majority of assemblies, so I don’t meet as many new people as I wish.”
She led the girls into the drawing room and motioned for them to sit. “My husband will join us shortly. And we’ve invited a few others to spend the evening with us. Do you know the Duke of Thornton and Lord Markham?”
Mattie’s chest froze and she couldn’t inhale.
Charlotte saved her. “I met Lord Markham at his sister’s wedding, but Mattie has known him for some time.”
“Yes,” Mattie squeaked. She cleared her throat. “We’ve been acquainted many years.”
The irony! While she had come there to avoid boredom, she’d hoped to cross paths with Markham at some point. To have it happen so soon in her visits was better than she’d imagined.
She tried to focus on conversation, and blamed her travels for her inattention, when either woman asked. Tiredness couldn’t explain why she jumped at every sound from the street, or footsteps in the hall. When would he arrive?
Finally, the butler announced the two men.
Thornton entered first and Mattie joined the other two women in curtseying. He was handsome enough, but he didn’t compare to Markham in the least.
Markham, himself, entered next, looking more handsome than she remembered. Well, she’d gone longer than a few weeks without seeing him and noticed no change, so her attraction to him must be what had changed.
He smiled, even in his eyes, when he met her gaze. “Lady Matilda, I had no idea you were in Town.”
“I only arrived today. I’m staying with Miss Harrow. You remember her from the wedding?”
“Yes.” He nodded to her. “I’ve known her for some time. Are you acquainted with His Grace? Thornton, Lady Matilda is one of my sister’s dearest friends.”
One of his sister’s dearest friend. No mention of their own friendship. That should be all she needed to hear to put aside all thought of him.
But she’d thought of him so long, she didn’t believe she could ever stop.
Lord Adam entered behind his friends, and Mattie was introduced to him, too. Not long after, they ate a splendid meal with four courses, and returned to the drawing room sated.
Markham stood behind Mattie’s shoulder, resting a hand on the back of her chair. “What brings you to Town? Merely your friend, Charlotte?”
“Yes. We got on quite well at Stanhope Abbey.”
“How charming. And what will you do for entertainment?”
She was about to claim she wasn’t easily bored, but that was precisely her reason for coming. That, and the hope of seeing him, and she couldn’t mention that, either. “We…haven’t decided. As I said, I’ve only just arrived.”
“Well, I can make some recommendations, if you wish.”
“I thank you, but Charlotte has many ideas, and not everyone has returned to the country. We’ll attend the opera, or the theatre. Charlotte’s brother and his wife live not far…you see, we have many entertainments at hand.”
“Very good to hear.”
Was that disappointment in his voice? She glanced back at him. “Of course, I include you among my friends, Lord Markham. May we look forward to your company before I return to Nottinghamshire?”
His smile gave her shivers. “I’d be delighted.”
***
Taking their leave from Lord and Lady Adam, Markham and Thornton rode to White’s to begin their search for Sir Rollo. As luck would have it, they found him there and were able to join his table.
“Markham and Thornton. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Sir Rollo was banker, as usual, and he dealt to the two of them as well as the other three men at the table.
“I never miss a good game of Vingt-et-un.” Markham turned up his face-down card. Added to the face-up one, he had a total of seventeen. He’d watch the others before deciding to ask for another card. Most importantly, he watched Sir Rollo.
“I’m surprised you aren’t at Shipley’s tonight,” Thornton said.
“Once I’ve beaten a man repeatedly, he rarely wants to join me again.”
Markham stared at the man with his near admission of cheating. “Do you attend a different club every night? Or do you have to go to more than one in an evening?”
Sir Rollo chuckled. The others requested additional cards or stuck with what they had, and Sir Rollo flipped his second card to show a pontoon. He’d had an ace showing, and revealed a king. Twenty-one.
No one else held more than twenty points, so the money went into the bank. Sir Rollo wasn’t a meticulous player, leaving the coins piled rather than stacked. Even if he wasn’t concerned about the man stealing coins from the bank, the sheer disorder of it all drove Markham mad.
In the next hand, Sir Rollo went bust, dealing himself twenty-three, so he paid back the bets.
Several hands later, Thornton’s face up card was an ace, increasing the odds he had a pontoon. His expression after checking his first card didn’t change, so Markham had no idea what he held.
Markham went bust, and he watched the other players finish their play, all waiting to see what the dealer, Sir Rollo, had. He turned up two tens.
The other three men flipped their cards, muttering about losing again. Thornton waited until last, watching Sir Rollo’s expression when he turned up a jack. His pontoon beat dealer’s twenty, so the bank and deal moved to Thornton.
This was what Markham had been waiting for. Thornton slid the pile of coins in front of him and very slowly and carefully stacked them so everyone—most importantly Markham—could calculate the total.
Not knowing how much was in the bank before they arrived, Markham couldn’t determine how much, if any, the total was off. But now he could keep track. They might have to play late into the night to have the bank return to Sir Rollo and then back to one of them, but they’d do so tonight, and the next, and as many as it took to catch the man at his game.
Chapter Eight
Even though she didn’t see Markham during the next week, Mattie felt assured he was thinking of her the entire time. She didn’t need deliveries of fancy words and phrases on a card with posies to know he cared. His words had said so, and she trusted him.
One evening on the way to the opera, Mattie told Charlotte how she felt. “I’m so happy you invited me to come. I’ve had more fun with you than in an entire Season. And it’s not because of Markham, although he does play a very large role. You, Mary Jane and Adam are so good to me. I hope you’ll come visit me in Nottinghamshire in the fall or winter.”
“I’d enjoy that, thank you. But let’s not talk about your leaving. There’s still so much we can do. I’m pleased you’re here in time to see the last opera of the year. Father and his friends share the box throughout the Season, and he always reserves it for the final show. Have you been?”
“Yes, once. I’m thrilled to be going again.”
So many carriages arrived at the same time that they had to wait for a time until they drew close to the entrance on Drury Lane. Gentlemen and ladies were dressed in finery even more lavish than they wore to Almack’s or the grandest balls. Mattie wore her peach silk gown with embroidered hem and a matching fascinator, carrying her head high when they walked upstairs to their box.
Mrs. Harrow made certain Charlotte and Mattie had the better seats in the small space, and Mr. Harrow bought the book containing the cast and libretto. They were perched for a perfect entertainment.
“Who can we see?” Charlotte leaned forward and scanned the other boxes and the people filing in to the seats below.
Mattie looked also. “Is that Lord and Lady Castlereagh? And Lord Byron!”
“Not as many recognizable faces as I would expect,” Charlotte said.
Mattie searched the boxes opposite them, part of her wishing to borrow Mrs. Harrow’s opera glasses, and the other part feeling that was too much an intrusion into those people’s lives. She wouldn’t want someone watching her that closely.
In the third box from the stage, Mattie saw the one face she never expected. Markham. Why hadn’t he asked her to join him? His words and manner when she last saw him made her think he would. They had yet to attend any event on their own, however, so maybe he wasn’t as earnest as she assumed.
As she watched, he was in conversation with the person next to him, who was blocked from Mattie’s vision. Then that person leaned forward. It was a woman, and not one Mattie recognized.
The woman was older, perhaps the wife of a friend? But no one else sat with them, even after the opera began. Mattie was unable to concentrate of the performers, so distressed was she. Who was the woman? Was she the reason Markham never spoke of a future together, insisting he wouldn’t marry?
Charlotte nudged her arm and whispered, “Who has your attention?”
Mattie sat back and looked toward the stage. “No one.”
“You’ve watched one of those boxes more than the actors.”
“No one, I said.”
Charlotte continued to observe the patrons in the boxes. Then she gasped. “What is he doing here, and who is that woman? Do you know her? Is she a relative?”
“I’ve never seen her.” Mattie’s voice cracked. I will not cry, I will not cry.
Patting her thigh, Charlotte said, “Do not fret over it. I’ve seen him when he’s with you and know how much he cares for you.”