Lady Caroline thought she knew better than to place any deep underlying construction upon his compliment, and she accepted the accolade with a gracious nod. “Thank you, my lord. But what I meant was that I received your last letter not above a day ago and you made not one mention of surprising me in this fashion, wretch that you are.”
Lord Trilby had been making rapid inroads into the sandwiches, but at this he set aside the last one, unfinished. His former easy humor disappeared from his manner and his voice had of a sudden lost its lazy, half-amused drawl. “A few days ago I did not know that I would be visiting you, my lady.”
Lady Caroline’s mildly surprised gaze had followed the banishment of the sandwich plate. When she heard the change in his lordship’s voice, her eyes lifted swiftly to his. “My lord! What is it? Something has happened. You must tell me at once.”
Lord Trilby’s sudden smile was one of self-mockery. “I came to Berwicke for that express purpose, my dear. I am caught fast in a coil, one of my own making, I confess, and I harbor the hope that you will be able to aid me in extricating myself.”
“You know that you may call upon me. Miles,” Lady Caroline said quietly. Her heart was beating uncomfortably hard. She could not imagine what sort of difficulty the earl could possibly be in, but that it was of a serious nature was patently obvious to her. Lord Trilby’s uncharacteristic seriousness greatly alarmed her.
Lord Trilby was not given over excessively to any vice that she was aware of. He was wealthy enough that any losses at the gaming table would hardly be noticed, so she was easily able to dismiss the outrageous thought that he had come to beg a loan of her. She knew also that Lord Trilby was too even-tempered and moderate in drink to indulge in dueling or anything of that nature, even if provoked.
That left only the possibility that his lordship was having some difficulty with a woman.
At the thought, Lady Caroline’s fingers momentarily curled in her lap. The Earl of Walmesley was no saint, of course. There had naturally been the odd mistress or two that she had been told about by well-meaning friends, and each time she had died a little death. But she had not realized before how thoroughly she had dreaded the day that Lord Trilby would come to tell her that he had become seriously involved with someone.
“It is a female,” she stated, with what she thought was creditable calm in consideration of how violently she was shaking inside.
Lord Trilby looked at his companion with surprise and a heightened degree of respect. “Your percipience amazes, Caroline. You are exactly right, however it is that you fathomed it.”
Lady Caroline rose swiftly from the settee in order to put distance between herself and the earl, fearing that he might read her vulnerability in her expression. She went to the side table in pretense of wanting to freshen her cup of tea from the urn. Her hand shook as she poured. “What is it that you wish me to do?”
Lord Trilby studied her profile, faintly startled by a glimpse of something that he could not quite put a name to. “Are you not interested in the round tale, my lady?”
Lady Caroline gestured dismissively with her free hand. “I doubt it is much consequence to me. I am more interested in discovering how it is I may help you.”
“You are accommodating, indeed. But I suspect that in all fairness you should hear the whole before you commit yourself in any fashion,” Lord Trilby said.
Lady Caroline glanced swiftly back at him. “Tea, my lord? No? Very well, then.” She gracefully returned to the settee, her own cup in hand. Sinking down in her former place, she said with the glimmer of a smile, “I perceive that you are determined to tell me all, so proceed.”
It was Lord Trilby’s turn to rise, in testimony to his slight discomfiture. He took a quick turn about the room with his hands clasped behind his back. He frowned as he composed his thoughts. “The thing of it is, I am not all that certain that I have the right to call upon you,’’ he said at last, turning to regard her. “When I was in London and thought of you, I saw instantly how you might aid me. We are such good friends that it never entered my head at that time that what I meant to ask of you borders on the preposterous. Now, of course, I have had ample time for reflection, and it is not as simple as I originally believed.”
“Why do you not let me be the judge, my lord?”
Lord Trilby half-smiled in acknowledgment of her willingness to give him a hearing. “You are a rare one, Caroline. Very well. I suppose that you recall my occasional mention of my great-aunt, the Grandduchess of Schaftenzeits.”
“Yes, indeed. I believe her grace is the only personage that you have ever admitted to a dread of,” Lady Caroline said, smiling.
Lord Trilby laughed. “Yes. In any event, Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrande has written to me that she will shortly descend upon me for a lengthy visit.”
Lady Caroline regarded her companion with mild surprise and some bewilderment. This was not at all the confidence she had expected to hear. “I do not quite understand the difficulty, my lord, for if I am not mistaken, I seem to recall that you have always spoken of the grandduchess with enormous affection.”
“True enough; I do hold the grand old lady in the fondest regard. However, her grace is a regular tartar, making a career of ordering others’ lives for them. She is quite determined to arrange mine to her satisfaction while she is in England,” Lord Trilby said, his eyes glinting with rueful humor.
“Oh, dear, I begin to see,” Lady Caroline said with a curious lightening of her spirits. The earl’s difficulty had nothing to do with a young and nubile female, after all. “But I still do not understand what it is you believe I may do to help you. I should be most willing to do my part in entertaining the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits, if that is what you are hoping. I am, however, fixed here at Berwicke until Lord Eddington’s return, which of course you know. I assume, then, that you intend to bring her grace down to Walmesley?”
“Yes, I shall have her grace down to Walmesley for the entire length of her stay, she and her whole entourage. She never travels without being accompanied by at least a dozen servants, her secretary, and her pet pugs, all of which are loaded into four or five coaches drawn by large showy teams with liveried attendants,” Lord Trilby said.
Lady Caroline was amused. “Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrande sounds a character of the first water.”
“You may well say so. I could never fit them all comfortably into the town house, nor would I wish to make the attempt. The grandduchess detests London. She has informed me so on numerous occasions,” Lord Trilby said.
He leaned one shoulder against the mantel and regarded Lady Caroline with anticipation. “She has also advised me many times to give up my frivolous London life. She wishes me to settle at Walmesley with a good wife and an increasing nursery. I am to have no fewer than six children and at least half of those should be sons so that there will be a better-than-even chance that the family name will be carried on after my demise. It is my duty to marry and procreate, since I am the last of the British line. My honor is at stake, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Dear Lord,” Lady Caroline murmured, stunned.
Lord Trilby laughed at her bemused expression. “As you have gathered, the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits is a lady of formidable opinions, with which she is very vocal and very generous.”
“I can readily believe it.” Lady Caroline regarded his lordship with ready sympathy. “You fear that her grace’s visit will be one of vexation and discomfort, do you not? I know that you dislike excessively such situations. It will be very bad, indeed, if you are to be subjected to such strictures for weeks. The only thing to do, of course, is to provide enough entertainments so that the grandduchess’s attention is diverted from your bachelor state. It is rather a problem, since her grace so dislikes London, particularly since most of our neighbors are themselves away in London for the Little Season. But I think that even so we may stir up a few activities in our quiet county that might be relied upon to engage an elderly lady’s inte
rest.”
Lady Caroline smiled reassuringly at the earl. “Leave it to me, Miles. I am certain that I can manage a few respectable parties, at the very least.”
“That is not quite what I had in mind, actually,” Lord Trilby said slowly.
The slightest lift of Lady Caroline’s brows indicated her surprise. “Is it not?”
Lord Trilby crossed to sit down beside her on the settee. He took her hands, to hold them loosely between his own. “Caroline, I have come to ask you to help me deceive the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits—by pretending that there is an understanding between us.”
Chapter Seven
Lady Caroline stared at the earl in speechless astonishment for several heartbeats. She regained her voice, at the same time attempting to free her hands. “Are you mad, Miles?”
Lord Trilby tightened his hold on her hands, refusing to allow her to withdraw from him. “I told you it was a ludicrous notion, Caro. But now that I have said it, at least allow me to explain more fully before you reject it out of hand. Will you grant me that, Caro?”
Lady Caroline looked at his lordship. He so rarely addressed her by that intimate diminution of her name, doing so only in moments of great feeling. She nodded warily. “Very well; I shall hear you out. But I should give you fair warning that, at best, I suspect you mad, and at worst, disguised.”
“Foxed at teatime? You know me better than that, I hope,’’ Lord Trilby said, not at all offended at the aspersion she had cast upon his sobriety.
“Then you are mad,” Lady Caroline said decisively.
“Perhaps I am,” Lord Trilby admitted. “But you will listen, will you not?”
“I suppose I must, if I am ever to understand what has knocked loose your senses,” Lady Caroline said on a sigh. She glanced thoughtfully down at her entrapped hands. “Or even if I am to regain possession of my hands.”
Lord Trilby let go of her then with a laugh. He leaned back against the cushions of the settee. “I shall give it to you quickly, then. Several months ago the Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrande tired of my polite assurances that I would one day fulfill my duty and wed. She wrote to me that she wished to have me firmly committed to matrimony before she died, so that she could rest easily in her grave. Such dramatic rot I have never read before or since, I assure you. I thought I was very clever in conveying the reply that I had entered upon an engagement with a suitable young lady, just thinking to put her off a bit longer, you see. It was to be a lengthy engagement, of course, out of deference to the lady’s family situation. Later, I meant to inform her grace that the lady in question and I had agreed that the understanding between us be quietly dissolved, for reasons which by honor I naturally could not reveal.”
“Oh, Miles,” Lady Caroline said in quiet dismay. She was beginning to see at last the magnitude of his lordship’s difficulty.
Lord Trilby gave a self-mocking smile. “Caught myself finely, did I not? You have already divined it, of course. Weston warned me at the time how it would be, but foolishly I did not heed him. The upshot of it all is that the Grand-duchess of Schaffenzeits does not believe that my engagement exists. Moreover, since I have not seen fit to provide myself with a bride, she has decided to select a suitable helpmate for me.”
“Oh, my word! It is no wonder you pitched such a cork-brained suggestion to me,” Lady Caroline said, disgusted.
Lord Trilby laughed quietly. “You do not yet know the real facer, my dear. The Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits will be accompanied by the young lady of her choice, so that I may meet her formally before we are whisked to the church altar.” He expected that his last revelation would come as something of a shocking climax, but his companion’s reaction was not quite what he had anticipated.
After an astonished second, Lady Caroline threw back her head and pealed with laughter. She whooped so hardily that the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Still caught in the throes of her amusement, she made a helpless gesture that his lordship understood.
Lord Trilby obligingly offered his linen handkerchief to her.
Lady Caroline snatched it. She mopped her eyes, but they were still brimful with laughter when she looked over at him. At his pained expression, she bit her lip, suppressing a fresh outburst. She cleared her throat experimentally before she dared speak. “That is better. I can see your dear foolish face again,” she said. There was an unmistakable wobbling in her voice. “You have done it, haven’t you, Miles?”
“And for no better purpose than to provide you with such unholy amusement,” Lord Trilby said gravely.
That nearly set her off again. Lady Caroline gurgled protest, throwing up her hand in appeal. “Do not tease me, pray! I will be good, I promise.” She straightened her shoulders and clasped her hands in her lap in an attitude of grave attention. “There, you see? I have put on my most sober frown. I am ready to make all sorts of sympathetic noises and to offer well-meaning advice.’’ Despite her declaration to the contrary, an irreverent chuckle escaped her.
“I appreciate the massive effort, my lady,” Lord Trilby said, his eyes reflecting his own pronounced amusement.
Lady Caroline’s eyes danced irrepressibly. “My poor witless friend. What will you do?”
“I still harbor hopes that you will step into the breach, my dear,” Lord Trilby said lazily.
At once her high appreciation of his imbroglio was at an end. Lady Caroline shook her head quickly. “Not I! I value your friendship, my lord, but not to the point of ruining my reputation and yours. The risk of taking part in such a grand deception makes my faint heart flutter with fear. Lord, but think of the gossip and the scandal.”
“You said but a moment ago that most of the neighborhood has taken up residence in London for the Little Season. As there is no reason why any of our neighbors should ever hear of the arrangement, I begin to think that the possibility of a scandal is very nearly nonexistent,” Lord Trilby said.
Lady Caroline was taken aback by his calm assertion. “You cannot possibly be serious, my lord!’’ She saw by his thoughtful expression that he was indeed quite earnest. She raised a further objection, one which she was certain must weigh heavily. “You have forgotten my aunt. Amaris would of a certainly tumble to something being in the air if you were suddenly to pay assiduous court to me in the company of the grandduchess.”
Lord Trilby nodded, but slowly. His brows were slightly knit while he reflected. “Mrs. Burlington is a formidable hurdle, I agree, but I think not unapproachable. She need never hear of the arrangement. I shall not call upon you here with the Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrande. Instead, you may ride over to visit with my great-aunt over tea. Mrs. Burlington will not cavil at your paying a neighborly visit or two while I am known to be at Walmesley, and I do not anticipate that it will take more than a few appearances on your part before her grace is fully convinced of our ‘understanding.’ As soon as the grand old lady comes to accept it, I shall pack her off as speedily as possible, and then we may be comfortable again.”
Lady Caroline felt as though she was caught up in the unreal plot of the most lurid popular romance. “My aunt would never countenance my going to Walmesley without her chaperonage. Oh, I know that I have ridden over countless times in the past with only my groom in attendance, but I certainly cannot be expected to greet the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits in my riding dress. Really, Miles! I should have to come in the carriage, which would be certain to arouse my aunt’s suspicions. And if Amaris should hear even a whisper that such a grand personage is in residence at Walmesley, she will be bent upon inserting herself into the grandduchess’s presence.”
She paused, seeing that the frown had deepened on his lordship’s face, and when she spoke again, the thread of amusement had returned to her voice. “You know well enough that it is impossible, my lord. Do give it over, for it won’t do, you know! Just see, such a tiny consideration as Amaris’ wishing to present herself to the Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrande throws it all into a cocked hat.”
“Then don’t tell her anything,” Lord Trilby said simply. “Let Mrs. Burlington exclaim to her heart’s content at your frightful manifestation of independence. I’ll wager that there is not a personage in the county that gives serious attention any longer to that lady’s malicious utterances.”
Lady Caroline stared at him. She shook her head, marveling. “You have made it all sound altogether too simple, my lord.”
“I merely see that my original instinct was correct. The notion is not as ludicrous or as impossible as I had begun to fear,” Lord Trilby said, agreeing with her.
“But it is impossible!” Lady Caroline explained. “Quite, quite impossible.”
Lord Trilby leaned toward her and took hold of her unresisting hands. “My dear lady, will you not change your mind?” he asked in a persuasive voice. “Pray, will you not do me the honor of pretending to be engaged to me in order to foil the grandduchess’s horrid scheme to marry me off to some chit I have never laid eyes on before in my life? I shall be quite, quite rolled up otherwise, you know.”
With his lordship’s nonsense, the interview was once more placed upon the plain of the ludicrous. Lady Caroline couldn’t stop the smile that trembled to her lips. She shook her head. “My dear lord, you make it difficult indeed to deny you.”
Lord Trilby smiled at her in turn. “Dare I to hope, then?”
Lady Caroline did not immediately reply. She glanced down at their clasped hands.
The scheme was mad. It was ludicrous. It was fraught with pitfalls, not the least of which were her own well-hidden feelings. That, of course, was precisely the fascination of the idea. Such a pretense would be all too poignant a reminder of her once-close-held hopes that Lord Trilby would ask for her hand. Under such dangerous disguise, her heart might betray itself to him. But the temptation to agree to the deception was there, in the fast beat of her pulse and in the seduction of her fantasy that, once entered into, a pretended understanding might become one in truth. She felt her better sense wavering, even though she knew that she should not entertain the idea for even a moment.
Gayle Buck Page 5