“Olympia, Dowager Marchioness of Rowley, Lady Sirena Abbott,” the majordomo boomed, and then as Sirena and her mother entered the ballroom he announced, “Lord Septimius Morgan, Miss Allegra Morgan, Mr. Charles Trent.”
Zounds! Allegra thought to herself as her father escorted her to the reception line to greet her hosts, I have actually arrived. She was suddenly very aware of the many eyes upon her, then she caught herself, and curtsying said, “Good evening, Lady Bellingham.”
“Good evening, m’dear,” her hostess replied, and then introduced her spouse, who smiled at Allegra.
“Pandora’s gel, eh? But more your gel, I’m thinking, Septimius,” Lord Bellingham said frankly.
“Indeed she is,” Lord Morgan replied proudly, and then with a bow moved on with his daughter to join Lady Abbott and Sirena.
Allegra didn’t know where to look next. The ballroom was utterly magnificent. It seemed hardly possible that a house of this size could contain such a large chamber. The woodwork was all gold and white rococo. The chandeliers were sparkling crystal with gold fittings. The beeswax tapers burning in them were scented with honeysuckle. At one end of the room was an ornate gold baroque balcony thrusting out from the wall. Musicians, garbed in dark blue velvet knee breeches and matching coats, were seated on the balcony playing. The walls were covered in pale blue silk brocade and paneled with mirrors. Before each mirror was a gilded pedestal upon which rested a large blue Wedgwood urn filled with multicolored flowers. The floors were of polished wood. About the room were rose velvet settees and small gold chairs with sky blue velvet seats. Looking up, Allegra saw the ceiling of the ballroom was filled with gamboling cherubs.
Lady Abbott led her daughter and her niece to a settee, and sat down. “Now,” she said softly, “we await the bees to come to the flowers displayed so prettily before them.”
“Where did Papa and Charles go?” Allegra asked.
“To drink or play at cards with other like-minded gentlemen,” Lady Abbott replied. “Balls are for you young people.” She smiled.
About them the other mothers and guardians viewed with discreet side glances the two young women who were said to be the season’s greatest beauties, even though neither had been seen until tonight.
“Well, what do you think?” Viscount Pickford asked the Duke of Sedgwick.
“Which one is she? I was not looking when they were announced,” the duke replied. “The fragile little blonde?”
“No, the brunette with the pale skin, and the arrogant tilt to her head. God, she really is a great beauty, Quint! She’ll wear the family jewels with elegance,” the viscount finished.
Quinton Hunter laughed. “We have not yet met. I may need a rich wife, Ocky, but we must suit.”
“Come on!” the viscount said enthusiastically. “The dowager and my mother were friends in their youth. I can use that as an entrée. You get the heiress, but I want to be introduced to that delicious thing who is the dowager’s youngest daughter.”
“You haven’t stopped gathering gossip since we got to London,” the duke teased his friend as they walked around the crowded ballroom.
“Good evening, Lady Abbott,” Octavian Baird said. “I am Viscount Pickford. I believe you knew my mother, Laura Beauley, when you were girls together in Hereford.” He bowed politely.
“Of course,” Lady Abbott gushed. “May I introduce my niece, Miss Allegra Morgan. Allegra, this is Viscount Pickford. And of course, my daughter, Lady Sirena.”
“And may I introduce my friend, Quinton Hunter, the Duke of Sedgwick,” the viscount continued. Then he turned to Sirena. “Have you room on your dance card for me, Lady Sirena?”
Sirena blushed, and perused her card, which until now was empty. “I believe I have the third dance open, sir,” she said, quickly writing his name down. Thank you for asking.”
“No,” he quickly responded, “Thank you.”
“Sedgwick,” Lady Abbott said thoughtfully. “Your father was Charles Hunter, wasn’t he? And your mother Vanessa Tarleton?”
“Yes, Lady Abbott,” the duke answered.
“Your mother and I were distant cousins. We shared a great-grandparent, although I don’t know which one,” she told him.
“Indeed, madame,” he replied. Then he turned to Allegra. “Would you have a dance available for me, Miss Morgan?”
“Alas, Your Grace,” she quickly replied, “but my card is full tonight. If we meet again during the season, I shall promise you the last dance on my card.” She gave him a faint smile.
He bowed, and without another word walked away with Viscount Pickford.
“Are you mad?” her aunt demanded. “No one at all has asked you to dance yet. He is a duke! At least Sirena pretended that while she was engaged, she could still fit Viscount Pickford onto her card.”
“I did not like the way he looked at me, Aunt. As if I were a horse and he were judging my points,” Allegra said.
“Perhaps he is shortsighted,” her aunt replied. “I can only hope you haven’t insulted him so badly that he will not dance with you next time. You are just suffering from nerves, m’dear.”
Across the ballroom the Duke of Sedgwick watched Allegra and her aunt in their spirited conversation, a sardonic smile upon his face. “She had not yet accepted a single dance,” he said to his friend, Viscount Pickford.
“But she said her card was full,” Ocky replied.
“She lied,” the duke answered him. “Her open card was in full view.” Nonetheless he was amused more than insulted. This beautiful girl with her fabulous wealth and unimportant background had sent him away. She would, of course, pay for insulting him; and she would be aware she was being punished. He murmured something to Ocky.
The viscount chuckled. “Do you really want to do that, Quint?”
“Miss Allegra Morgan and I must understand each other right from the beginning, Ocky,” the Duke of Sedgwick responded.
Allegra sat next to her aunt, waiting to be asked to dance. Sirena’s card was shortly filled, but still no one had asked Allegra by the time the dancing had begun. She sat like stone in her beautiful gown as the other young women about her danced the night away. She refused to move when her aunt suggested they go into the banqueting room to visit the buffet. “You may go if you wish,” she said, her head held high despite her embarrassment.
“I don’t understand it,” moaned Lady Abbott helplessly.
“Why is Allegra not dancing?” demanded Lady Bellingham of Lady Abbott, once the situation had been brought to her attention.
“Someone started the rumor that her card was full,” Sirena said as her current partner brought her back to her seat.
“When I find out the mother who did this,” Lady Bellingham said furiously, “I will ruin her! ’Tis cruel! Cruel beyond imagining!”
The musicians on the balcony began tuning up their instruments for the minuet, the last dance of the evening.Suddenly the Duke of Sedgwick was standing before Allegra. He bowed politely, his face a mask of civility.
“I believe, Miss Morgan, that this is our dance,” he said.
Allegra’s eyes widened but she could not under the circumstances refuse him. She arose stiffly, and gave him her hand. Her silence was very eloquent.
“Hasn’t a crumb to his name, thanks to his father, and grandfather,” Lady Bellingham said as the couple disappeared onto the dance floor. “The estate is completely intact, I am told, but the house is in bad repair. Still,” her gray eyes narrowed thoughtfully, “I suspect if Allegra wanted to be a duchess, she could have him. What a coup for you all, Olympia! We must look into the possibilities.”
“He is said to be very proud of his bloodline, Clarice. Allegra can’t match him there,” Lady Abbott replied.
“But he is as poor as a church mouse, Olympia. His blue blood will dry up, and his line be gone if he doesn’t find a rich wife. There isn’t another girl here this season whose fortune can even come near to Allegra’s. Her wealth can buy her a duke.”
Lady Bellingham laughed heartily. “I am sure he did, but then he has rescued her from oblivion by dancing the last dance with her, Olympia. She will be grateful for that.”
“I think it is he who started the rumor her dance card was full,” Lady Abbott told her friend. “He asked her to dance before, and she claimed her card was full when in reality no one had asked her yet. I think he played a jest on her to teach her a lesson.”
“Why the devil!” Lady Bellingham chuckled. “I shall have to talk to him about playing such wicked tricks.”
“Allegra will be furious,” Lady Abbott replied. “She will find a way to repay him in kind, I am certain.”
“Then they are indeed well matched,” Lady Bellingham answered. “Quinton Hunter is overproud with regard to his heritage, and your niece, being the richest young lady in England, will not allow anyone to lord it over her. I see a wonderful match in the making, Olympia! It is up to us to nurture it along. There isn’t a mother in the room tonight who would give their daughter over to this penniless duke. This is a great opportunity! What did you hope for at best?”
“A viscount, or an earl,” Lady Abbott responded.
“But we have the chance of a duke, m’dear,” Lady Bellingham said. “Ohh, it will be the talk of the season, and to think it all happened at my ball!”
Chapter Three
April passed, and as the lilacs in Lord Morgan’s London garden came into bloom, it was obvious that despite Allegra’s best efforts to discourage the Duke of Sedgwick, Quinton Hunter could not be dissuaded from paying her his court. At each ball he took up more and more of her dance card until it became the subject of much gossip. Allegra was furious, but there was little she could do about the situation. There was no other gentleman in whom she had the slightest interest at all. Worse, it had become quite obvious that young Viscount Pickford and Sirena had fallen in love. Sirena had little time now for her cousin, and wasn’t in the least bit sympathetic regarding the duke’s behavior. She thought Allegra mad not to encourage the duke.
Knowing the two girls were going on a picnic up the river one afternoon, Lady Abbott, with her brother-in-law’s approval, invited the duke to tea. When he was shown into the garden she thought again what a very handsome man he was. The duke kissed her hand, and at her behest sat down opposite her.
Lady Abbott got right to the point. “You have spent the last month taking up a great deal of my niece’s time, Your Grace. I have been authorized by Lord Morgan to inquire of you regarding your intentions toward Allegra.”
“Do you consider me a fortune hunter then, madame?” he asked, his tone cold.
“No! No!” Lady Abbott quickly reassured him. “We are well aware of your circumstances, Your Grace. A man of your breeding could hardly be called a fortune hunter, but I have it on the best authority that you are seeking a wife. Is this so?”
He nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.
“Would you consider a match between yourself and my niece?” Lady Abbott asked him bluntly.
“Yes,” the duke replied as frankly. It pleased his vanity that he had not had to come to them on bended knee. They had come to him, which was as it should be. Allegra Morgan would be marrying into the finest family in England. She would be the mother of its next generation of sons.
“Do you love her?” Lady Abbott queried him.
“No,” he responded. “I do not believe love should be a factor in arranging a good match. My antecedents married for love. You see the result of their foolishness in my situation.”
“Your antecedents were also quite famous gamblers,” Lady Abbott reminded him, wondering briefly if she was really doing the right thing.
“I do not gamble. I have, in fact, an abhorrence of it as you may well understand. If a match can be arranged between Miss Morgan and myself, I promise you I will treat her with dignity and respect. We may even in the years to come gain an affection for each other,” the duke said. “And, of course, she will be the Duchess of Sedgwick.”
Lord Morgan entered the garden, followed by Marker with a large silver tea tray.
“Put the tray on the table, Marker,” Lord Morgan said. “Lady Abbott will pour today.”
“Very good, my lord,” Marker responded, setting the tray down, bowing, and departing back into the house.
Lord Morgan looked to his sister-in-law.
“His Grace has indicated, if I understand him correctly, that he would like to offer for Allegra,” Lady Abbott said tactfully.
“There are conditions, sir,” Lord Morgan said. “Conditions you may not accept.”
“And they are?” the duke responded.
“Allegra is my heiress. When I die she inherits everything. This house, Morgan Court with its two thousand acres, my tea plantations, my trading shares, my ships, my companies, everything. I ain’t ready to die by a long shot, however, so until I do I intend giving her an allowance of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year. It will be hers, and you can’t touch it. You’ll sign a paper to that effect, although no one has to know of our transaction. I’ll also give you an equal allowance each year of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. And I want your word that you’ll treat my daughter with kindness. She ain’t like any girl you’ll ever meet. Got her mother’s beauty and my intellect. If I know Allegra she’ll take her allowance and invest much of it. She’ll turn a profit, too. I’ve taught her well. And she can also do all those other female things Olympia thinks are so important, although maybe not well, but that’s what servants are for, eh?”
“Your wife had but two children,” the duke said, voicing his only concern.
“Pandora didn’t like children. After she had given me my son she decided her duties were done. When she deserted me I learned she had purposefully aborted three children before Allegra was born. Why she did not destroy my daughter I’ll never know. Be assured, my daughter will be a good breeder for you.”
The duke nodded. It was obvious that his future father-in-law was an honest man. It had taken courage to expose his former wife’s shortcomings. He obviously loved his daughter very much.
“Your daughter and I have not had the best of beginnings. She is still angry at me, I fear,” the duke said candidly.
Lord Morgan’s stern face softened, and he chuckled. “It was a wicked trick you played on her at the Bellingham ball. She fumed for a week, and has been considering ever since how best to repay you. She is a sensible girl, however, and will see the advantage to such a fine match as you propose. I will explain it to her when she returns later this afternoon.”
“When do you propose we set a wedding date?” the duke said.
“I understand that Hunter’s Lair is not in the best of condition to receive a bride,” Lord Morgan told him. “Your home must be modernized and renovated, sir, before you wed Allegra. However, I would advise a formal announcement be made at my daughter’s ball at the end of this month. In the meantime you and Allegra might attempt a détente between yourselves,” he finished with a smile.
“The tea will get cold if I do not pour it now,” Lady Abbott said. “Oh, look! Cook has made those delightful little salmon and cucumber sandwiches you so like, Septimius!”
“Your niece’s ball was lovely,” the duke said sociably. “The decorations were as delicate as Lady Sirena herself. She is a charming girl. My friend, Viscount Pickford, is going to offer for her, Lady Abbott. I do not believe I speak out of turn by telling you this. You will know soon enough. Ocky has already spoken to his father, and the old earl is absolutely delighted by the possibility of such a match.”
“Ohh, I am so glad!” Lady Abbott said. “Sirena has always wanted to be a June bride. We shall hold the wedding at St. George’s on Hanover Square just as the season ends. I imagine they will leave London immediately afterward. Then I shall return home to my dower house.”
She smiled. “It’s small, but at least I shall not have my daughter-in-law, Charlotte, glaring if I take a second piece of toast.”
They sat talking over their tea, and finally the duke arose.
“I had best depart before the picnickers return,” he said. “You will want to speak with your daughter before we meet again.”
“We are going to Almack’s tonight,” Lady Abbott volunteered.
“I will be there,” the duke promised her as he bowed over her hand. “I hope Allegra will be.” Then he departed the garden.
Lady Abbott put a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with what had just happened. Then, her hand falling away, she said, “We have done it, Septimius! We have made Allegra a duchess! There hasn’t been such a marriage coup since the Gunning sisters came over from Ireland with their father forty-four years ago! And Sirena, too! My baby will be a countess one day when old Pickford dies. It has certainly proved to be a very successful season so far, hasn’t it?”
“Neither of them is at the altar yet, and Sirena will be far easier to get there than Allegra. She is in love. I am not sure that I do not feel a certain guilt about sending Allegra into a loveless union with the duke. Still, I cannot disagree with him regarding love. Look what love has brought me, too,” Lord Morgan said sadly. “He seems a good man though. I have never heard anything untoward regarding his character. I believe he will be kind to my daughter.”
“We must get Allegra to be kind to him,” Lady Abbott replied with a small twinkle in her eye. “I do not envy you your duty, Septimius. You will have to tell her immediately.”
“I know,” he answered. “As soon as she returns we shall speak. Who was she with today?”
“Sirena and Pickford, of course, and young Rupert Tanner,” Lady Abbott answered.
“I wasn’t aware Rupert was in London,” Lord Morgan said. “You know he had the cheek to ask for Allegra before we came to London. I don’t like it that he’s come sniffing about. His father cannot get the idea out of his head of marrying his second son to my daughter.”
The Duchess Page 5