by Joan Wolf
The earl didn’t say much at first—his attention was on the traffic on the street. Diana was silent also, but instead of facing forward she was turned a little, so that she could observe her escort as he drove.
Lord Rumford was a nice-looking man, with brown hair, even features and blue-gray eyes. There were some lines at the corners of his eyes and around his mouth that indicated his age, but his figure was slim and upright under his caped driving coat. His hair showed only a little gray at the temples. Diana thought it made him look distinguished.
When they had reached the park and were rolling along beneath the trees, he relaxed his vigilance and turned to her. “You were very kind to come out with me, Miss Sherwood,” he said. “I’m sure you have many younger men who were clamoring for your company.”
“I was happy to come driving with you, my lord,” she replied simply. “And I am even happier now that I see what lovely horses you have. They are an exceptionally handsome pair.”
He smiled at her. He has a nice smile, she thought. It looked kind. “Thank you. I am very particular about my horseflesh,” he said. “I bred this pair myself.”
Diana’s whole face lit up. “You did? Where? On your estate?”
His eyes crinkled at the corners in a way she found charming. “Yes. I have a small breeding operation at Aston Castle, my home in Oxfordshire. I have two stallions and eight mares and I breed all my own horses—carriage horses and riding horses, as well.”
Diana clapped her gloved hands in delight. “How marvelous. You must know that I am mad about horses. I think breeding your own horses must be one of the most satisfying things in all the world.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I remember that your cousin said last night that you were magic with horses.”
Diana laughed. “I don’t know if magic is the right word, but I most certainly do love them. A day that I don’t ride is a day lost, as far as I am concerned.”
A couple trotted past them on the path and Lord Rumford said, “Perhaps I should have invited you to ride with me, instead of driving.”
“Oh, I rode this morning,” Diana said blithely. “My cousin, Lord Standish, and I go out every morning at about seven and give the horses a good gallop. Riding in this mix of traffic wouldn’t be much fun.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Lord Rumford said, looking around the crowded path. A young man driving a dangerously high phaeton was coming toward them and the earl deftly moved his horses farther to the left. “Dare I ask if you hunt, Miss Sherwood?”
The driver of the phaeton was a young man who had frequently danced with Diana and he called out, “Good day, Miss Sherwood,” as he went by at too fast a clip.
Diana nodded to him and said to her escort, “I have hunted. I adore the hunt. But I haven’t had a horse to hunt in years, I’m afraid.”
He gave her a curious look. “Why not?”
“Mama and I don’t have much money, Lord Rumford,” Diana said, determined to be honest. “I was riding Lord Standish’s horse while he was in the Peninsula, and he has been good enough to allow me to continue to ride Monty since he came home. But I haven’t hunted since my mare, Annie, became too old and lame.”
“I understand your mother is a widow?” he said.
“Yes.” She looked at the trees that lined the walking path that flanked the carriage path. “My father was killed at Coruña.”
He didn’t say anything and Diana looked back at him. His blue-gray eyes looked attentive. She found herself saying, “Mama was really a widow long before Coruña. My father went to India with Lord Wellington and we never saw him after that.”
“That must have been hard on you,” he said quietly.
“Yes,” Diana said. “It was. But Lady Standish was very kind to us and invited us to live at Standish Park. And now she has been so incredibly kind as to give me this Season.”
“And are you enjoying it?”
“Yes. Of course. It’s wonderful.”
He smiled at her. He really did have a very kind smile, she thought. “Perhaps the lady doth protest too much?”
She laughed. “Well…riding in Hyde Park isn’t the same as riding through the woods in the country. And I feel sorry for the animals—the horses cooped up in the stables, my dog cooped up in the house…”
“I like the country best, too,” he said. “But sometimes one must show one’s face to the greater world.”
“Yes. And I am having fun. I have never had so many beautiful clothes in all my life.”
“You certainly look very beautiful in them,” he said.
Diana, who had been hearing compliments all her life, actually found herself blushing. There was a gravitas about this man that was missing in all of her younger swains. She liked it. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
“I believe that is your cousin, Lord Standish, coming toward us now,” the earl said.
Diana looked ahead and saw first a familiar pair of matched chestnuts and then Alex sitting behind them on the seat of his phaeton. Next to him was Lady Caroline Wrentham.
Alex pulled up and Lord Rumford did so, as well. “How are you Standish?” the earl said pleasantly. He looked at Lady Caroline and smiled. Clearly he did not know her name.
Lady Caroline looked a little put out at not being recognized, but she managed a polite smile as Alex introduced them. Then he said to Diana, “Enjoying your outing, Dee?”
“Yes,” she returned sweetly. “And you?”
“Driving in all of this fashionable traffic is not my favorite activity,” he said frankly. “The horses don’t like so much stopping and starting.”
“Your horses are beautifully behaved, my lord,” Lady Caroline protested.
“Lord Standish means that he doesn’t like so much stopping and starting,” Diana said.
Lord Rumford said in his pleasant voice, “Perhaps we could all go on an expedition to Richmond Park one of these days. I understand the trails there are excellent and one can gallop to one’s heart’s content. It would get us into the country for a day.”
Diana gave him a brilliant smile. “What a wonderful idea, my lord!”
Alex pushed his hair off his forehead and didn’t say anything.
Lady Caroline said, “It is a good idea, my lord. But we can’t go with just the four of us. Miss Sherwood and I will need a chaperone.”
“Mama can’t come,” Diana said. “She rode when she was a child, but she hasn’t ridden in twenty years.”
“I’m sure I can convince my sister to accompany us,” Lord Rumford said. “She and her husband are in town for a few weeks.”
“If Lady Moulton would accompany us, that would be perfectly acceptable,” Lady Caroline said primly.
Everyone looked at Alex, who hadn’t spoken a word. Diana saw him shoot a quick look at Lady Caroline.
He’s being pushed into this, she thought. But it would be good for him to get out of the city. She had thought he was looking tired lately, as if he had not been sleeping well. Some fresh country air would benefit him.
“It will be fun, Alex,” she said.
He looked from her to Lord Rumford then back to her again. “All right,” he said at last.
“When shall we go?” Lady Caroline asked, looking at Lord Rumford.
“I have an engagement tomorrow,” Alex said. “I must go to the reception the regent is holding for King Louis. How about the day after that?”
“Excellent,” Lord Rumford said. “I’ll check with my sister.”
“Perhaps Sally will want to come with us,” Diana said to Alex. She turned to Lord Rumford. “My cousin, Lady Sarah Devize. She might enjoy a ride to Richmond Park as well.”
“Then by all means ask her,” the earl said. “I’ll speak to my sister and see if the date is suitable for her. Then we can make more definite plans.”
Alex nodded. One of his horses began to paw the ground. Diana, who had seen his finger move on the reins, knew that Alex had instigated the action.
“I’m afraid my horses
are growing restless,” he said. “We’ll be in touch, my lord.”
Lord Rumford nodded graciously and Alex’s phaeton pulled away.
The rest of Diana’s drive with Lord Rumford was exceedingly pleasant. He told her all about his horses, which she found fascinating. Then he told her about his home, which he obviously loved. When he dropped her off at Grosvenor Square, he asked her if she was attending the Sefton ball that evening. When she said she was, he said he would see her there.
Lady Standish and Mrs. Sherwood were waiting for Diana, and Lady Standish accosted her almost as soon as she entered the house.
“How did it go?” she demanded, pulling Diana into the drawing room that opened off the marble hallway.
“It was fun,” Diana said honestly. “He’s a very nice man. I like him.”
Lady Standish beamed.
Mrs. Sherwood said hesitantly, “He is a little old for her, Amelia. He must be my age.”
“Don’t be a fool, Louisa,” Lady Standish said briskly. “He’s young enough to be a good husband and to give her children. And he’s an earl. A very wealthy earl. He can give Diana everything she wants. If he was sixty, I would be concerned about the age difference. But forty is still a relatively young man.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Cousin Amelia. He hasn’t proposed,” Diana said reasonably. “And once Miss Longwood comes to town, he might drop me like a hot potato.”
“Did he say anything about seeing you again?” Lady Standish asked.
“He said he would see me at the Sefton’s this evening. And Lord Rumford and I and Alex and Lady Caroline Wrentham are going on a riding expedition to Richmond Park.”
Lady Standish looked meaningfully at Mrs. Sherwood. “This sounds serious, Louisa.”
Mrs. Sherwood said, “You can’t go without a chaperone.”
“Lord Rumford said he would ask his sister—I forget her name.”
“The Countess of Moulton,” Lady Standish said. “My goodness—this is serious.”
The three of them had been standing just inside the door of the drawing room and now Diana went and sat down on one of the red tapestry chairs that made a big circle around the fireplace. She stared at the Persian carpet on the floor.
“Are you all right, darling?” Mrs. Sherwood said. She went to put an arm around her daughter.
“I think I’m a little—overwhelmed,” Diana replied. She looked up at her mother. “It’s hard to grasp that someone of the stature of the Earl of Rumford might be interested in me.”
“Lord Rumford doesn’t need a wife with money. He has more than enough of his own,” Lady Standish said from her place by the door.
“But I’m not nobly born,” Diana said, turning to look at her.
“You have the face of an angel, my dear,” Lady Standish said. She nodded wisely. “Sometimes—if she’s fortunate—that’s all a woman needs.”
Diana nodded very slowly.
Mrs. Sherwood said, “It would be nice to invite Sally to join your expedition to Richmond Park. Perhaps she might invite Lord Dorset.”
“I had planned to ask her,” Diana said.
“Speaking of Sally,” Lady Standish said. “She came in about fifteen minutes ago and went upstairs to change for dinner. We should be doing the same.”
“Yes.” Diana stood up. Her knees felt a little weak, but she managed not to wobble.
Mrs. Sherwood linked her arm in Diana’s. “Come along, darling, and we’ll go upstairs.”
Fourteen
The first thing Diana saw when she entered the ballroom at the Seftons that evening was the sight of Lord Rumford waltzing with a young, black-haired girl.
“We haven’t seen her before,” Sally murmured in her ear. “I wonder if that’s the elusive Miss Longwood.”
It didn’t take long for them to find out. Lord Dorset came immediately to Sally’s side and when she asked him who was dancing with Lord Rumford he replied immediately, “Oh, that’s Miss Longwood. I believe the family has just come to London.”
Diana looked at the girl who might be her rival. Miss Longwood was perhaps a little too plump, but she was vivaciously pretty. She was smiling brilliantly up at Lord Rumford as he said something to her.
“She’s attractive, but she’s nothing like you,” Sally murmured in Diana’s ear.
Yes, but she’s a viscount’s daughter, Diana thought. In this world, it’s birth, not looks, that counts.
One of the young men who always danced with Diana came up to her now and requested the next dance. She acquiesced gracefully and looked around to see if Lady Caroline Wrentham was present.
She was.
Diana felt a wicked stab of delight. Poor Lady Caroline, she thought mendaciously. Alex had decided not to come to Lady Sefton’s. Instead he was going out with some of the officers he worked with at the Horse Guards. Then she frowned, as she realized how happy she was at the prospect of Alex’s separation from the beautiful Caroline.
I don’t care what Alex does, she told herself firmly.
As soon as the dance was over, Lord Rumford came to Diana’s side, asking to be put on her dance card. She penciled him in for a waltz and a quadrille. Then he asked her to have supper with him, as well.
She couldn’t resist glancing over at Miss Longwood.
He said quietly, “It’s all right. I have no obligations in that direction.”
“But perhaps you have raised expectations,” she said softly in return.
“Believe me, Miss Sherwood, I am my own man,” he replied, his voice quite firm.
Could it really be true? Diana thought as she gazed up into the earl’s steady eyes. Could he really be seriously interested in her?
Her chest felt tight as a storm of emotion churned within her. This was what she had wanted, but now that it seemed to be happening, she was surprisingly apprehensive.
She drew a deep breath. “Very well, my lord, then I will be happy to have supper with you.”
The following morning Diana and Lord Rumford were the talk at all the breakfast tables of those who had been to the Sefton ball. The earl had danced once with Miss Longwood and twice with Diana. And he had taken Diana into supper.
The Longwood breakfast table was not a happy one. The viscount had not been in attendance with his daughter and his wife and when he learned about Rumford’s obvious interest in Diana, he cursed.
“Who the hell is this Diana Sherwood?” he demanded of his wife. “I’ve never heard of the chit.”
“Her mother is a cousin of Lady Standish,” she replied. “She is making her come-out along with Lady Sarah Devize. She is a nobody, my lord. I asked around last night. Her father was a mere colonel who was killed in the Peninsula and she and her mother have been virtual pensioners of the Standishes for years.”
“Then what the bloody hell is her attraction for Rumford?” the viscount demanded.
“She’s beautiful, Papa,” Jessica Longwood replied. “She’s the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
The viscount slammed his hand down on the table. “We need this marriage, Jessica! Financially, we have to have it! I thought we had Rumford signed, sealed and delivered.”
“I thought so, too, Papa,” Jessica replied unhappily. “But he never did actually ask me to marry him, you know. I thought he was going to, at the house party at the Websters’. If he wants to change his affections to Miss Sherwood, I’m afraid he is free to do so.”
Lady Longwood said vehemently, “He does have obligations to you, Jessica! The entire ton expects him to offer for you. He gave every indication that he would do so! He can’t humiliate you now by turning to someone else.”
Silence fell as the Longwoods considered these words.
“I have just mortgaged Longwood to pay your brother’s gaming debts, Jessica,” Lord Longwood said. “I have confined him to the estate, but it’s too late to turn back the clock. We desperately need an infusion of cash. Your marriage to Rumford was the perfect solution to our problem. On
ce the knot was tied, I could have asked him for a substantial loan. He couldn’t refuse me, then. He wouldn’t want the scandal. And we have to act fast, before the truth becomes known about our financial situation. Then no one will want to marry you.”
“I know that, Papa,” Jessica cried. “I have done everything I could to attach Lord Rumford. I thought for certain that he would ask me to marry him this Season.”
“Damn! We should have come to town sooner. But I had to borrow the money before we could do so.”
“Perhaps this is just a brief infatuation of Rumford’s,” Lady Longwood said. “She is a beautiful girl, my lord. But she certainly isn’t well born enough to marry an earl. Perhaps Rumford will come to his senses—particularly now that Jessica is here to show him the alternative.”
“I hope to God that is so, my lady,” Lord Longwood said. “Because if we lose Rumford, I don’t know what we are going to do.”
That afternoon Alex went to Grillon’s Hotel, to a reception that the prince regent was holding for King Louis XVIII before the French king left England to take up his newly restored position in Versailles. A large throne had been put in place for Louis and, as Alex stood with a group of other Peninsula veterans, the king moved slowly toward the chair, rather dragging his large body and weak limbs than walking. The regent shared some of the spotlight by investing Louis with the Order of the Garter, graciously buckling the garter around a leg even fatter than his own.
Captain Thomas Stapleton, an old friend whom Alex hadn’t seen since he’d returned home, was standing next to him. Stapleton said, “There was no question that we had to get rid of Napoleon, but I wish I could be more confident about his replacement.”
Alex looked at the fat Bourbon king. “We’re working hard to make the transition smooth,” he said. “Wellington will be in Paris to command the occupation.” He sighed. “The transition from war to peace is not as easy as I thought it would be.”
Captain Stapleton immediately grasped that Alex was speaking on the personal not the political level. “No,” he agreed soberly. “I was glad to see my mother and father again but life at home seems somehow…remote. I was only just out of school when I left; I never had the chance to build an adult life for myself here in England. Life in the army is what is real to me now. Yet I don’t want to go back to that, either.”