Scandalous Scoundrels

by Aileen Fish

  Mr. Lumley introduced his mother to Joanna and Aunt Ophelia. Lady Bridgethorpe acknowledged them both, then spoke to Joanna. “I’m happy for the chance to get to know you better. My daughter speaks of you so often I feel as though we’re close friends already. You and your aunt must call on us when you’re free.”

  “That would be lovely, my lady. As soon as the others have arrived, we’ll pick our partners for cards. Perhaps you’d care to sit while we wait?” Joanna led the woman to an upholstered chair set to one side of the room.

  Lady Hannah followed, taking Joanna’s hand and pulling her to one side. “Tell me what gentlemen will be here. Whom shall I have as a partner?”

  “There are a few I’ve not met, but they are friends of Aunt Ophelia’s. I’m sure one will suit you, for at least an afternoon.”

  “I hope that is true. I grow tired of spending so much time with my brothers. I’m glad we are friends. I miss my sisters terribly.”

  “Oh look, Miss Clawson is here. Let’s hear how her night at Vauxhall went.” Joanna led Lady Hannah to join their friend. Mrs. Clawson sat with the other matrons who were already deep in conversation.

  After everyone had arrived, Aunt Ophelia walked to the center of the room and clapped her hands. “It’s time to find your partners for whist and take your seats.”

  Much scurrying and laughter followed as the younger people paired up. Joanna searched for Mr. Lumley, when Lord Henry Vickers stepped in front of her. “Have you a partner, Lady Joanna?”

  “Why, no, I do not.”

  “Wonderful! I’m an excellent player, never fear.”

  Losing at cards was not a large concern for her. Missing the chance to flirt with Mr. Lumley was. She searched the table to see if he’d found a partner and found him watching her, a bit of disappointment showing on his features. She smiled and motioned to an empty table. He nodded.

  Joanna turned back to Lord Henry. “Shall we sit here?”

  He followed her to the table and held her chair. Mr. Lumley walked up a moment later with the very plain daughter of Aunt Ophelia’s friend. Joanna realized the girl was his second choice, but it made her heart swell to see him coming to the aid of a girl who was not likely to be anyone’s first choice. Joanna smiled at the girl. “Miss Culpepper, I’m glad we’ll have this time to visit.”

  “Thank you,” she said and awkwardly sat to Joanna’s right.

  This put Mr. Lumley to Joanna’s left. All too soon, Joanna discovered what a distraction he was. If he’d been her partner, sitting across the table from her, she still might have smelled his cologne, the deeply musky scent, and would have seen every smirk and lift of the brow as he signaled his intent to play a certain card. That would have made concentration difficult enough.

  As it was, she had to keep her hands close to her, clutching her cards tightly on the small table when the desire struck to touch his sleeve as she talked to him. She made certain to speak more often to Lord Henry, since he was her partner.

  After the game had finished at each table, they rotated partners, but another young man paired with her before Mr. Lumley could. When this happened yet again on the third game, Joanna sent a silent plea to her aunt.

  “Shall we take refreshments now?” Aunt Ophelia asked when that game finished. She rang for the footmen to serve them, waving a hand at Joanna to find Mr. Lumley.

  He found her first. “I’d hoped to be partnered with you at least once.” He offered his arm and led her to walk about the room.

  “So had I, but it was not to be, was it?”

  At the back of the room sat a box of wooden alphabet blocks on table only large enough for two players. They would not be alone in the room full of people, but they’d be able to talk unnoticed by the others. She motioned toward the table. “Shall we sit here? It’s not cards, but we could play a game while the others refresh themselves.”

  “Splendid idea.” Mr. Lumley held her chair while she sat, then took the seat opposite. The table was quite small, the setting pleasantly cozy.

  Joanna opened the box and took out the small blocks. “Who shall go first?”

  “Allow me.” He picked out three letters and set them on the table before her.

  “You make it too easy on me.” She quickly put them in order, spelling joy. “Now my turn.”

  Mr. Lumley easily spelled patriot from her letters. The words bounced back and forth. Affection. Kindred. Court. Knight.

  They went back and forth in this manner for a bit. “Let’s make it more difficult.” He set four letters out, one above the other, which indicated she was to determine the words each letter began.

  Y

  S

  M

  H

  Picking up more alphabet cubes, Joanna made you from the first letter, and me from the third. She then spelled send, but was stuck on the last word. Mr. Lumley reached out and changed me to my. She ran words through her mind beginning with H, and after tossing aside horse, she spelled heart.

  But that meant send was incorrect. She took away the letters she’d placed there, and finally, perplexed, she looked into Mr. Lumley’s expressive eyes. He smiled, then one at a time, he slid letters in place beside the S. T. O. L. E.

  You stole my heart.

  Joanna’s heart fluttered in her breast. Her eyes jumped back to meet his. Did he mean it? His smile wavered slightly, then he gave a nod. Joanna smiled back, then quickly swept aside the blocks before someone else could read them.

  Aunt Ophelia stood in the center of the room and called out, “Shall we play another game? Loo, this time.”

  Everyone began shuffling toward the tables. This game didn’t require partners, so all they needed to do was find a table together and they could converse all they wanted without appearing rude. They couldn’t speak intimately, but Joanna didn’t care. Enough had been said already.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The reading room at the club was as quiet as a tomb, and equally dark and chilly. David scanned the papers for news of the race meetings around the country, taking mental note of which horses won and identifying Triton’s main competition, paying attention to the meetings where Patriot was not entered. By entering those meetings, Triton could build his reputation as planned, thus increasing his attraction as a stud horse.

  David looked around the room and wondered why so many young men were there. Were they taking refuge from the Marriage Mart, too? He’d taken the coward’s way out, slipping away before his family sat down to a light dinner. If he’d joined them in the dining room, Mother would have questioned him about their afternoon at Lady Ophelia’s. She’d been dying to get to know the infamous Lady Joanna, about whom he’d said little but his siblings had said so much. His mother had certainly seen his quiet chat with Lady Joanna when they played with the alphabet cubes, and undoubtedly had many questions. She couldn’t have half as many as he had.

  What had he been thinking? He was not thinking, that was the entire problem. You stole my heart. It was true, he couldn’t deny it, but apparently she’d stolen his sensibility, too.

  “I haven’t seen you in here lately,” Pierce motioned toward the billiard room. “Come. Let’s see if there’s a table free.”

  David followed him and took a cue stick from the rack. His distraction would make him an easy mark for Pierce, but at least the game would distract him from himself.

  “Have Lady Jersey and her ilk finally seen through you and ousted you for the cad you are?”

  “Quite humorous. That explains why I never see you in an assembly room, much less a stately home.” David lined up his shot for the opening break.

  “You’d be surprised to hear some of the stately homes I’ve been in recently. I just avoid the larger, more public gatherings.”

  “And that is why the papers are filled with innuendo about a certain Mr. P- and his current inamorata.”

  Pierce’s chest puffed out a bit. “Do they write about me? I’ve heard Lady Willowbrook is quite popular with the gossips, but hadn’t
realized I’d been recognized.”

  David laughed. “You make it sound as though you move about incognito. Quite full of yourself, aren’t you?”

  “Well, we can’t speak about me all night. What really brings you here?”

  Unsure how much to let on, David drew in a breath, but let it out again instead of speaking. Pierce was his closest friend and never one to judge, but David’s feelings were so new, he wanted to keep them to himself just a few more moments.

  Pierce noticed the hesitation. “Now I’m intrigued. Lady Bridgethorpe would not have commanded you to choose a wife just yet. And had Lady Hannah requested you stay away, you would have become her second shadow.”

  David nodded, walking around the table contemplating his next shot.

  “Which leaves…a lady you are avoiding?”

  David said nothing.

  “Aha. Some sweet young kitten is trying to hook her claws in your cloak, or her mama has looked at your income and decided it will do.”

  A scowl narrowed David’s vision and the cue ball missed its mark. He barked at Pierce. “Nothing of the kind. She is kindness and all that is good.”

  “I was right. The kitten has got her claws in you.”

  “I didn’t even see it coming.” As he said it, he knew it was a lie. “Well, I sensed something creeping up on me, but I was certain I was stronger than my traitorous emotions. I’ve no wish to marry, yet.”

  Pierce set both feet on the floor and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Is it serious, then?”

  “How do you determine serious from fickle? Other than through the passage of time. The lady doesn’t have the option of time.”

  “Northcotte’s sister.”

  “The very one.”

  “You believe you could make a happy life together after the conflict between your fathers?”

  “She seems unaware of any trouble, or she’s given me no indication of any ill will toward my family.” David leaned on his cue stick. “I doubt her father would have discussed his horses and any decision-making about them with her, or in her hearing.”

  “Isn’t she the one who spends much of her time in the stables?”

  “Yes. But there’s a difference between humoring the hobbies of one’s daughters and taking them into the family business.”

  “All right. I’ll grant you that. But does she know you wanted to have her brother charged with the death of Zephyr?”

  Bending to determine the best angle for the next move, he considered Pierce’s question. “I don’t know that I would have gone that far with the investigation. It was more likely their father who conceived of the poisoning, and he can’t be charged since he’s dead.”

  “He was dead when your horses took ill last year.”

  A sickly warmth crept over David’s skin, and his stomach knotted. “I know. I’m looking for reasons to believe I am wrong about the entire series of events. That someone else was responsible.”

  “Have you heard anything more about the groom who died?”

  “Knightwick said they thought he might have eaten something rotten. There will be no more investigation unless a witness comes forward.”

  “I don’t care what ill blood there was between your fathers, I don’t see Northcotte killing his own man.”

  David tapped a finger on the edge of the table. “I agree. There is really no reason to pursue this any further.”

  Pierce’s brows dropped and his gaze pinned David in place. “I think you have better reasons than that to quit this obsession.”

  “I know. I can’t have both. I can’t have Northcotte the villain and Lady Joanna as my bride.”

  Pierce said nothing. David resolved to close the book on this. He needed to discuss it with Knightwick, but his heart told him what was the wiser choice. However, letting go of six years of anger and frustration would not happen overnight.

  He’d have to convince his father and Knightwick to let it go, also. Knightwick might do so easily, but he had no idea what Father would say. Would he be willing to accept the daughter of his rival into the family? Bridgethorpe was a very loving man, and had always taken good care of the people on his estates. He was a generous landlord, well thought of by all. When David and Knightwick paid calls on their father’s behalf, the older tenants always sent a good word home.

  Now that he thought on it, his father had never spoken a harsh word about the former Earl of Northcotte. David and Knightwick came to understand the dispute between the two men by the way they glared at one another at a race meeting. By the tightness in Bridgethorpe’s voice when he spoke the other man’s name.

  He hated to admit it, but there was always a gleam in his father’s eye when his horse bested Northcotte’s. The rivalry ran deep.

  Stephen and Jane’s wedding was coming up. When David returned home, he’d speak to his father and brother. Until he did, he couldn’t let anyone else know of his feelings toward Lady Joanna. On the chance Father would not allow the match, David didn’t want anyone thinking he’d rejected her.

  ~*~

  Late Saturday afternoon, Joanna sat on a bench near Round Pond in Kensington Park with Amelia. Aunt Ophelia and Mrs. Clawson sat across the narrow path, chatting quietly.

  Joanna retied the ribbon on her bonnet. “I hope you don’t mind coming here today and not Hyde Park. I’ve no desire to be seen. Especially by any men.”

  “You’ve had enough of Town, then, I take it?” Amelia asked.

  “Of Town, of flirting, of being on my best behavior. Of smiling when my toes are trod upon. Really, this seems such a horrid way to find a husband. I wish it were more like choosing a sound horse.”

  “Lady Joanna!” Amelia laughed. “What would you do, run your hand over his limbs? Pry open his lips to inspect his teeth?”

  She tilted her head and looked into the distance. “I’m as likely to discern what kind of husband he’d make as he would by hearing me sing. This is all extremely one-sided. Our mothers spend hours investigating who plans to start a nursery soon, and what his income is, then they throw us in the paths of those men and hope we pass muster.”

  “You do make it sound like a horse auction. Don’t you believe in love?”

  Joanna sighed. “Of course I do. I’ve dreamed of it for many years. Dreamed of having a London Season. This is my second one. Neither has equaled what I’d imagined.”

  “I disagree. I think this will be the best time of our lives. Once we marry, will we be invited to many parties? Will our husbands agree to come to Town so we might see an opera or a play?”

  Joanna leaned close and whispered, “Maybe we’ll be so in love with our husbands, we’ll have no desire to go anywhere. Can you imagine a life like that?” She laughed softly.

  Amelia chuckled and glanced across the path at her mother. She whispered back, “My mother says they were that way, didn’t want to visit with family or have guests over. They were quite happy with each other’s company.”

  “I hope both of us end up that happy.”

  “I think I could be with Sir Richard. What about you and Mr. Lumley?”

  Joanna watched a pair of swans gliding on the pond beyond their chaperones and tried to mimic their calmness, hoping to quell the quavering in her heart. “I’m afraid to think about him. I wish he’d speak to Northcotte already, or give me a sign he intends to. I fear he won’t act in time and I would rather die than marry Sir Frederick.”

  “Don’t speak that way! Never tempt fate with statements such as that. My cousin always said she’d rather die than do whatever was her current peeve. She died at twenty, a week before her wedding day.”

  Joanna searched Amelia’s expression for sign she was joking, but her friend looked quite serious. “You don’t truly believe the two are connected, do you? That she brought about her early death?”

  “I don’t know what to believe. But I refuse to tempt fate.”

  “I don’t believe in fate. In some cases, perhaps, when one’s parents have planned one’s life since b
irth, it might be called fate. But you and I would not be here, in Town, searching for husbands if that were true for us.” If such a perfect man existed for her, he would have appeared by now, since her time was running out. She’d hoped Mr. Lumley was that man, but his failure to make his intentions known left her to think he was not.

  “But what if our fate is to meet a certain gentleman? Perhaps it was fate that brought Sir Richard to Town this Season and not the next one, or the previous one.” Amelia’s creased brow showed how much she wanted to believe this.

  “And fate led Lady Elizabeth’s father to turn down Sir Richard’s offer, so he might be free to pursue you?”

  Amelia’s mouth twisted. “When you put it that way is seems rather cruel. But when he speaks to me, I feel as if he was created just for me.”

  “I know what you mean. Mr. Lumley does appear to be the best man for me. Of course, any man who is as passionate as I am about horses might do just as well.” She thought about some of the men whom she’d met at races in recent years. In not one case had her stomach quaked with the sight of the man, nor had they brought a flush to her skin with a flattering remark. As much as she might insist it were true, there was not another man who made her feel quite as alive as Mr. Lumley.

  Sometime later, Aunt Ophelia rose and called to the girls. As they returned to Bayswater Road to look for their carriage, a curricle pulled up. Sir Frederick took off his hat and called out, “Lady Joanna, what a surprise.”

  “I doubt that,” she muttered to Amelia.

  He motioned to the seat beside him. “Would you care to take a ride with me?”

  “As you can see, sir, I am with friends. It would be rude to leave them.”

  “That is a disappointment. I just acquired this pair of horses and knew you’d appreciate how well they move together.”

  Her aunt and Mrs. Clawson walked up beside them. Aunt Ophelia said, “Perhaps another time. We are expected somewhere shortly and have no time for delays.”