A poor head for claret combined with the very natural assumption that dowerless females past their first blush cannot afford to be choosy, caused him to lay his hand on her thigh. Instantly, the blue-green eyes impaled him with something not quite a smile.
‘Remove it,’ said Adeline quietly. ‘Now.’
He did so and felt his colour rise.
The cutting-edge vanished as swiftly as it had come and she said, ‘Merely a misapprehension, I am sure … and one soon forgotten, sir. Now … you were delighting me with a description of your Venetian mirrors, were you not?’
And Mr Garfield found himself following her lead with a good deal less than his usual assurance whilst wondering just how positively he had been repudiated. Or indeed, by the time several glasses of port had joined the claret, whether he had been repudiated at all.
Back in the drawing-room, meanwhile, talk amongst the younger ladies had naturally gravitated to the forthcoming ball – now only five days distant and thus looming large on their horizons. Cecily informed the interested that she intended to dazzle the company with her mother’s rubies; Nell admitted a desperate desire to have her hair powdered for the occasion – something Rockliffe had previously always vetoed; and Diana regaled them all with a detailed description of her ball-gown – newly arrived from the mantua-makers and made of ivory satin, looped up over a petticoat of gold lace.
‘Such stuff!’ Having prowled restlessly about the room throughout most of this, Lizzie Pickering came eventually to roost beside Adeline. ‘All this fuss over a dozen or so couples standing up in the blue salon after the furniture’s been pushed back. I’ve no patience with it – and nor have you, I shouldn’t think.’
Adeline looked at her consideringly. So far as she could recall, it was the first time they had ever spoken. She said, ‘Perhaps not. But it’s rather different for me, isn’t it?’
‘Yes – but that’s not what I meant,’ came the blunt reply. ‘Andrew told me you once mended his spaniel’s leg after it got caught in snare. Is that true?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well they wouldn’t dirty their hands. All Diana and Cecily care for is which of them will catch a husband first. Di thinks she’ll win because she’s beautiful – and Cecy things she will because she’s an heiress. It’s a race. Have you ever heard anything so silly?’ She grinned suddenly. ‘It’s a wonder they’re not laying bets on it.’
‘And if they were?’
‘I’d put my money on Diana. I never met anyone so selfish or stubborn in my life. Not that I think she’ll get Rockliffe. From what I’ve seen of him, he’s got more sense. Did you know he’s offered to buy that temperamental black from Sir Roland? It’s almost enough to persuade me to make a push for him myself.’
‘Rockliffe,’ asked Adeline, with a hint of humour, ‘or The Trojan?’
‘Both.’ Without warning, Lizzie arose again and stood frowning at the small portrait adorning the wall above Adeline’s head. ‘I’ve a blue satin gown that my sister Amelia had made for me but I prefer my old green taffeta because it’s more comfortable and doesn’t make me look quite so freckled. I thought … it occurred to me that the blue might look well on you and that perhaps you’d care to borrow it. For the ball, I mean.’ She turned as if to go and then added abruptly, ‘It’s new or I wouldn’t suggest it – so I hope you’re not offended.’ And stalked back across the room to sit beside Althea.
Adeline was still trying to account for this surprising behaviour when the door opened to admit the gentlemen … and her Uncle Richard was before her.
‘You’re either a fool,’ he said softly, ‘or a great deal brighter than I had previously supposed. I wonder which it is?’
‘Why the latter, of course,’ she replied carelessly. ‘Which means, I suppose, that it’s you who are the fool, Uncle.’
His eyes narrowed and, for a second, she felt a prickle of something akin to fear. Then she took hold of herself and it was gone. Ridiculous to fear this absurdly-dressed mammet with his powder and patches and scent. One might as well be frightened of a tailor’s dummy.
Richard Horton toyed delicately with an elegant brisé fan. He said, ‘You are insolent, Adeline. It is a mistake … and a pity. But for that, I believe I might be able to help you.’
‘Really? In what way?’
‘To advance yourself. What else?’ A sneering smile touched his mouth. ‘It is beginning to seem possible that you have certain marketable qualities. You look surprised. I do not blame you. I am surprised myself. But it becomes apparent that Mr Garfield sees something in you – and so, unless I am mistaken, does our fastidious friend, Rockliffe.’ He paused and the cat-like smile grew. ‘I don’t admire their taste. But I might – if it suited me – be prepared to assist you to exploit it.’
‘If it profited you, you mean,’ said Adeline dryly. ‘The duns must be after you with a vengeance. I thought you were committed to advancing Diana?’
‘I am. But one may hedge one’s bets, you know. And Diana is set on Rockliffe – while you, whether by accident or design, have made an excellent start with the extremely rich Mr Garfield.’
‘Have I?’
‘Oh yes. That little scene at dinner … really, I am forced to congratulate you.’ He opened the fan and plied it gently. ‘Of course, marriage – though not entirely impossible – is probably a little too much to hope for. But an affaire can pay just as well and, if carefully managed, last almost as long.’
‘Can it really? You fascinate me.’
‘Yes. I thought I would. But you will need me, Adeline – or you won’t clear the first ditch.’
‘I see. And you, in return, would need to be sure of my continuing gratitude?’
‘Precisely. I am delighted to find you so direct.’
‘Are you?’ She rose, her honey-sweet tone contrasting oddly with the hardness in her eyes. ‘That’s nice. It enables me to tell you two things. Firstly – that I’d sooner beg from door to door than accept anything from you; and secondly, that – if and when I decide to prostitute myself – I’ll do it without the aid of a pander.’
She gathered up the despised straw-coloured skirts and moved to step past him but was detained by his fingers closing painfully around her wrist.
‘That was unnecessarily stupid,’ he hissed. ‘And you’ll regret it. Believe me.’
‘Tell you what, Dick,’ said Harry Caversham, blithely splintering the tension, ‘you ought to be doing your duty by Lizzie Pickering or the Garfield chit – not monopolising your own niece. It’s a scurvy trick, so it is!’
By degrees, the nasty glint faded from Mr Horton’s eyes and his hand left Adeline’s arm. Then, flourishing his fan, he said airily, ‘You wish me to remove myself? Consider it done. I feel sure Lady Elinor will commiserate with me.’ And he trod mincingly across the carpet to Nell’s side.
Adeline watched him go and then turned back to Lord Harry. His eyes were resting upon the finger-marks about her wrist and some of the customary good-humour was missing from his face. Then he smiled at her and said simply, ‘Your cousins are about to delight us with some music. Unfortunately, I have a problem.’
She found herself smiling back, mainly because it didn’t seem possible to do anything else. ‘Oh? And what is that?’
‘I’ve no ear for music. Absolutely none. So I thought you might keep me company and tell me what expressions of pleasure I may best employ when it’s over.’
‘Aside from “Thank God!” you mean?’
Harry laughed. ‘That’s it exactly. You see, the thing is that I’d like to escape the inevitable jokes at my expense.’
Adeline gave him an oblique glance. ‘From his Grace of Rockliffe, I presume?’
‘Rock? God, no!’ came the startled response. And then shrewdly, ‘You don’t know him very well, do you?’
‘Scarcely at all.’
‘I thought not. Rock might – and probably would – torment me in private. But in public? Never. No. It’s Nell I’m worried about,�
� he confided apologetically. ‘I’m rather against giving her the satisfaction of calling me a philistine – or of watching your aunt look down her nose at me. I’m suffering enough as it is.’
‘Are you indeed?’
‘Lord, yes! No effort too great, no opportunity neglected,’ said Harry cheerfully. ‘She’s trying to put me in my place, you see.’
‘I can’t help wondering why. However … what precisely are you doing?’
‘Turning the tables.’ His grin was the epitome of winsome innocence. ‘I knew you’d understand. After all, you take a similar line yourself, don’t you?’
~ * * * ~
SIX
‘I wish,’ said Nell in somewhat nettled accents, ‘that I could see what’s so fascinating about Diana’s cousin. It’s not as though she’s anything above the ordinary, after all … and that dreadful mulberry brocade she wore last night made her look at least forty.’
Rockliffe raised his eyes from the book he’d been reading and surveyed his sister without noticeable pleasure. It was the day before the ball and, in deference to the fine weather – not to mention the amount of work still to be accomplished inside the house – Lady Miriam had decreed that her guests should enjoy an al fresco luncheon in the park. Shuddering inwardly, his Grace had immediately escaped to Sir Roland’s book-room for a brief period of restorative peace – to which Nell, charmingly attired in pale pink tiffany and with time on her hands, had presently followed him. She had thought to make use of a few minutes of rare privacy … but, meeting the coolness in his gaze, she wondered if she had not perhaps made a mistake.
‘Well?’ she demanded when he still did not speak. ‘Haven’t you anything to say?’
‘Yes. You sound like Diana,’ he thought. And then, closing his book, ‘Several, in fact. And I’ll begin by observing that you are fast becoming a mannerless and ill-natured coquette. Also, I have heard you use that particular tone with Harry and can only marvel at his forbearance. You will not, however, be well advised to use it with me.’
Colour flooded Nell's cheeks and she said protestingly, ‘Wh-what do you mean? I’m not a coquette – and I wasn’t r-rude!’
‘No? I am beginning to wonder if you still have the ability to discriminate.’
‘That’s not fair!’
‘Unfortunately,’ said Rockliffe, coming smoothly to his feet, ‘it is. Your behaviour over the last few days has been both arrogant and vain. And I have not, I regret to say, been proud of you.’
The fact that he had never before – no matter what scrapes she had got into – spoken to her like that gave Nell pause. Looking stricken, she said, ‘Do you really mean it?’
‘Yes. I do. As for your unnecessary remark about Mistress Kendrick’s gown – it must be plain to an even meaner intelligence than your own that she is wearing cast-offs. And if you, my dear, had ever been forced to wear Lucilla’s or Aunt Augusta’s mistakes, you might perhaps be a little more tolerant.’
There was a long silence while Nell stared down at the beribboned straw hat in her hands. Finally, she said, ‘You’re right, of course. I hadn’t thought.’
‘Obviously not.’
‘And I’m sorry. For all of it. But all I really meant,’ she went on, ‘is that I don’t understand why Mr Garfield is suddenly so taken with her and why even Ha- Lord Harry has started seeking her out. It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Jealous, Nell?’
‘Certainly not! As far as I’m concerned, they’re both equally obnoxious.’
‘Ah.’
She eyed him suspiciously for a moment and then decided that the best method of defence was attack. ‘And it’s not just them, is it? I’ve seen you talking to her yourself.’
‘Have you?’
‘You know I have. Are you in love with her?’
His brows soared. ‘My dear! Is it likely?’
‘No,’ said Nell frankly. ‘What’s likely is that you’re either doing it out of devilment or to make Diana jealous.’
‘And which does your instinct suggest?’
‘I don’t know.’ She hesitated and then said abruptly, ‘The truth is that I’d hoped you might consider marrying Diana.’
‘I think I might be said to be tolerably aware of that fact.’
‘Oh. So will you?’
‘Will I what?’
Nell resisted a temptation to stamp her foot.
‘Think about marrying Diana. I know she’s not especially well-connected but her birth is respectable enough – even for Lucilla. And she has to be the most ravishingly beautiful girl you’ve ever seen. Also, although I really oughtn’t to say this … she’d head over ears in love with you.’
‘Dear me!’ drawled Rockliffe. ‘Is she indeed? I really had no idea.’
‘Perhaps not. But now I’ve told you … well, you must know that you could do a lot worse.’
A faintly crooked smile touched his mouth but he refrained from saying that he doubted it. Instead, he said mildly, ‘Correct me if I’m mistaken … but what you are really saying is that the match would please you.’
‘Yes. I think it would be perfect.’
‘That is honest, at least. But you will, I am sure, appreciate my difficulty.’
‘What difficulty?’
‘Simply that – while you are determined to choose your own husband – I am equally set on choosing my own wife.’
It was, as he very well knew, unanswerable … and, to her credit, Nell did not even try.
‘I suppose,’ she sighed, ‘that I should have expected that. Shall I apologise again?’
‘No.’ He tucked her hand through his arm and let her to the door. ‘Just try to be a little more civil to Harry. And who knows? Once you have become used to the idea, you may even find him less … er … obnoxious than you first thought.’
*
‘And that,’ confided Nell later to her dearest friend, ‘made me darkly suspicious, I can tell you. It would suit Rock admirably to have me safely betrothed – and to someone as eligible as Harry.’
‘But I thought he’d promised not to force you?’ objected Diana.
‘He did – and he won’t. But he’s quite capable of arranging matters so I’ll think I’ve pleased myself, when all the time I’ll really be doing exactly what he always intended that I should. You simply wouldn’t believe how sneaky he can be.’
Diana looked across the grass to where Rockliffe formed one of a group with Althea, Andrew, Lizzie and his lordship, in the shade of a large beech tree. She said inconsequently, ‘Do you know, I’m sure poor Lizzie gets more freckled every time I see her.’ And then, ‘Lord Harry is extremely attractive, though … at least, I suspect that Thea finds him so.’
‘Oh?’ Nell sniffed disparagingly. ‘Then she’d better be warned – for he’s also odiously interfering.’
‘I doubt she’d mind that. Not, of course, that she has the smallest hope of gaining his affections. She’s too much of a mouse, poor dear.’ She paused and then added wistfully, ‘I suppose … I suppose your brother hasn’t said anything about me?’
‘No – no.’ Nell took the tactful rather than the truthful path and had the grace to blush a little. ‘No – not a word. But you mustn’t give up hope. It’s just that Rock isn’t … well, one can never tell what he’s truly thinking. But you know I’ll do what I can.’
‘Dearest!’ Diana clasped her friend’s hand. ‘I know you will. And you can’t imagine what a comfort it is to me.’
Nell smiled weakly. And then, in order to extricate herself from the awkwardness of the moment, said, ‘I see Mr Garfield has attached himself to your cousin again. What do you suppose he finds to say to her?’
‘Who knows?’ shrugged Diana. ‘He’s probably boring on about his stupid house or telling her exactly what he paid for some thing or other. After all, he’s hardly likely to consider marrying her, is he? And I can’t see him giving her a slip on the shoulder either. She’s not nearly pretty enough.’
Nell’s eyes widen
ed a little at the vulgarity of the expression but she saw no reason to quarrel with its meaning. In this she was wrong for Mr Garfield was, at that very moment, working his way round to offering Mistress Kendrick a carte blanche – and finding it a good deal more difficult than he’d anticipated.
He realised, of course, that these things probably grew easier with practice and that he, having arrived at the age of twenty-eight with only one recognised liaison to his credit, was somewhat lacking in this respect. But he did not recall needing to tread quite so carefully with Betty – whom he had set up as his mistress more as a matter of form than anything else; and he’d certainly never had the peculiar sensation that she was more in control of his words than he was himself. Under Adeline’s dispassionate gaze, he knew both; and, unnerving though this was, it also increased his ardour.
He looked at her now, cool and restrained, the nut-brown hair demurely arranged and her neck rising slender and white above the dove-coloured gown. The blood rose to his head and he said baldly, ‘I’ll give you a house in London and a carriage of your own and as many gowns and furbelows as you like. I’ll even take you to Paris - or Rome, if you’d prefer it. Anything you want. All you need do is to name it.’
The narrow brows rose and Adeline examined him meditatively. At length, she said, ‘Dear me, Mr Garfield. Can it be that you are asking me to become your wife?’
His jaw dropped. ‘Wife?’
‘Yes.’ She smiled sweetly upon him. ‘What else could you possibly mean?’
Lewis stared at her aghast.
‘Well, in truth,’ he began weakly, ‘I … er …’
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