The Substitute Bride: A historical romance with a spirited Regency heroine

by Dorothy Mack

  There was a slight pause while Lady Orbridge seemed to be making up her mind whether or not to say something else, then she went on, “Giles has too much pride, too. That is why this second humiliation is going to make a recluse out of him unless you rescue him, my dear.”

  “Second humiliation? What do you mean, ma’am? I don’t understand.”

  “What do you know about Giles’s marriage?”

  “Why, nothing except that his wife died over six years ago. I have seen her portrait. She was exceedingly beautiful. He must have loved her very much to have grieved so long.”

  “Fiddle!” snapped her ladyship inelegantly. “It is not grief but bitterness and regret that have turned him into the cynic you now see. Alicia was incapable of loving anyone, but Giles was young and he could not see past her beautiful face. Like dozens of others, he dangled after her. The Lord only knows why she chose him when there were at least two matrimonial prizes she could have had for the taking, but choose him she did. Right from the start she led him a merry dance. It did not take him long to discover how complete was her indifference to anyone else’s wishes or feelings. She was furious when she realized she was expecting Jenny, and she flatly refused to have more children. Giles was thoroughly disenchanted by the time she ran off with another man when Jenny was about two years old.”

  “What?” Angelica had listened in growing astonishment, and now the single faint syllable escaped her lips.

  The old woman continued relentlessly. “She eloped with a poet who wrote rhymes to her eyebrows and worshiped her in verse. Giles found out within hours and set off after them. They evidently became aware of the pursuit, and the poet sprang his horses on a bad stretch of road. He was a cow-handed driver under the best of circumstances and the vehicle overturned. They were both killed. Giles has never been able to rid himself of a feeling of guilt because of the way the accident happened, although he was in no way to blame. You can imagine the scandal broth the whole episode provided. Naturally we tried to hush it up, but they had been seen on the road and in one or two inns. There was no way to keep the story from becoming one of the on-dits of the year. Something like this never ends either. It’s likely someone will eventually tell Jenny the truth about her mother, and then the misery will start all over again. So you see, my dear, there is indeed a reason why Desmond is distrustful of women. He has already lived through one humiliating episode, and now it has happened again.”

  “Poor Giles,” Angelica breathed softly, almost to herself. “It is small wonder he is no longer the man I remember.”

  “You knew my nephew before he was married?” queried Lady Orbridge sharply. “You could have been no more than a child at the time.”

  “He came to the Court with Billy’s elder brother the summer I was thirteen. He was so handsome and friendly, always smiling, and he never fobbed Billy and me off as Gervaise was wont to do. We both admired him and tagged after him shamelessly.” She came back to the present and her expression hardened. “Tell me, does Lady Barbara know the story of Giles’s marriage?”

  “Of course she does.”

  “Then how could she act with such cruelty? Surely Giles would have released her from the engagement, and she could have married Sir Anthony after a decent interval. I cannot understand deliberate cruelty. She must have known he would be made to look ridiculous.”

  “I can understand it very well indeed,” Lady Orbridge snorted. She went on acidly as Angelica raised questioning brows. “Desmond has failed to prostrate himself at the Incomparable’s feet. He has conducted himself just as he ought, but it must have been evident to the meanest intelligence that he was not enslaved by her beauty. If the engagement had been broken by mutual consent, there may have been those who refused to believe Barbara did the jilting, and that the chit could not abide. She is as vain and heartless as Alicia was. The boy is a fool when it comes to women!”

  This last was said in such exasperation that Angelica could not forbear to smile, though her heart ached for her love.

  Lady Orbridge pounced on her. “You have it in your power to spare him the greater part of the scandalmongering this wicked elopement will cause.”

  “I?” Angelica’s mind had been far from her own problem during the recounting of the tragedy of Giles’s marriage, and for a moment she gazed blankly at the old woman.

  “If he were to marry someone else almost immediately, especially an attractive young woman like yourself, it would be rather ridiculous to speculate about his broken heart, would it not? And it would certainly take the wind out of Barbara’s sails.”

  “People would be bound to recognize it for the face-saving gesture it would be. No one is going to believe Giles could prefer me to Lady Barbara.”

  “Nonsense, it would be up to the two of you to convince them otherwise.” She glanced at Angelica’s downcast eyes and clasped hands and continued in an almost gentle tone. “Giles was a loyal husband to a faithless wife. Surely you can expect the same loyalty. He would never allow you to be embarrassed or ill-treated.”

  Angelica gnawed her lip and thought with some bitterness that Giles had evidently omitted to mention to his aunt his promise to ignore any discreet infidelities on his wife’s part in exchange for a similar tolerance. She had a lowering suspicion that, if she mentioned this to Lady Orbridge, the latter would dismiss her instinctive objection to such a state of affairs as unrealistic and give her a lecture on marriage among members of the polite world into the bargain. She sighed with resignation. Obviously the problem lay within herself. It seemed she alone saw mutual love and private satisfaction as the proper basis for marriage. Obviously she expected too much. But her parents’ union had been just such a love match. Evidently such good fortune was not to be hers. At this point in her musings, she jerked herself erect. She was reasoning as if it were a foregone conclusion that she would marry the viscount. When had she changed her mind? Was she motivated by a desire to spare her beloved public humiliation, or was there still some foolish faint hope that refused to be extinguished that eventually she might win his love?

  Lady Orbridge had been silent, darting an occasional glance at the troubled girl. Now she leaned forward and spoke softly. “My dear, it is only in the past year since Lydia has left the schoolroom that Desmond has begun to go out into society again. Until then, he stayed buried in the country, contenting himself with male companionship and sport. His visits to London were for business or duty calls on me. Oh, he would act as escort if I requested him to, but always he remained completely remote. Until recently, he did not betray the slightest interest in a personable female of marriageable age, no matter the lures that were cast out for him.”

  Here, Angelica interrupted dryly, “Yet I seem to have heard of a certain Mrs. Marberry, ma’am, with whom his lordship is believed to have a very warm relationship indeed.”

  “I was not speaking of the muslin company or that loose woman. Good God, girl, you must realize they do not matter in the least. Desmond is not a monk. I was used to think you a young woman of superior sense, but now I vow your head is more stuffed with romantical nonsense than Lydia’s.”

  Angelica smiled wryly at Lady Orbridge’s exasperated expression. She would have thought it a practical, not romantic notion that successful marriages have mutual fidelity as their firm basis, but it seemed she and Lady Orbridge probably could not agree on what constituted a successful marriage. Nevertheless, the old woman had a deep affection for her nephew and was concerned lest he again suffer from being the object of scandalous gossip and speculation. She was sincere in her belief, however mistaken, that this proposed alliance would be beneficial to Giles. Having heard the story of his disastrous first marriage, Angelica was reluctantly inclined to agree that perhaps a conventional marriage of convenience which would pass as a success in the eyes of the world was all he really desired. Loving him as she did, would she not be the fool Lady Orbridge clearly thought her to let some other woman take what had been offered to her? She who was so close t
o Jenny and Lydia would suit his purpose better than another flighty young socialite in Barbara’s image. His aunt was quite correct, she thought, with unwonted cynicism; Giles had execrable taste in women.

  She smiled fondly at the old woman regarding her rather anxiously and said gently, “You win, ma’am. I shall give his lordship a favourable answer tomorrow.”

  Lady Orbridge’s face showed her relief at Angelica’s decision, but when the latter asked if Lord Desmond had requested that his aunt play the role of advocate with her, she hastily declaimed.

  “Oh, no, my dear, and I beg you will not enlighten him about our little talk. Desmond has the devil’s own pride, and no more than you could he bear to be the object of pity. I am convinced he would infinitely prefer to think you married him for those material advantages he stressed than because you felt sorry for him.”

  Knowing that she must at all costs conceal from him the humiliating fact that she was marrying him solely because she loved him, Angelica felt it mattered little if he considered her reasons to be purely mercenary. That way, the obligation would not be all on his side, which should salvage his pride. She chose not to dwell on the unflattering light in which her action would appear in the eyes of society. Time enough to be concerned about the awkwardness of her situation when she was forced to meet his acquaintances. It was punishment enough for one day to contemplate the awkwardness that must attend any meeting where a prospective bride retracts her initial refusal and substitutes a formal acceptance of a proposal of marriage.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  In the event she was proved wrong on both counts. There was very little awkwardness attending the meeting between the viscount and herself the next morning, and practically no time in which to bring her courage to the sticking point before meeting his acquaintances.

  She entered the library and greeted him rather shyly. He was wearing his polite social expression, but she thought she detected a hint of anxiety in the dark eyes which met her own steadily. She hesitated briefly, trying to form the sentences which would convey her change of heart, but he rescued her with one of his rare and warming smiles, though his eyes remained serious.

  “I am fervently clinging to the hope that you have reconsidered your refusal of yesterday,” he said quietly.

  “Yes, my lord, I have.” She was equally calm. “If you still wish it, I will marry you.”

  “I wish it very much indeed. Thank you, my dear. I shall do my best to see that you do not regret your decision.” He raised her hand briefly to his lips and then retained it in his while he led her to the sofa and sat down beside her. “I do not wish to press you, but unless you dislike it excessively, I really think it would be best if we were to continue with the wedding plans already established. There is no way to wrap it up in clean linen. There will be a lot of talk, but if we delay announcing our engagement for weeks or even months, there will still be talk now, and then it will start again when we do proceed. Meanwhile, I shall be without a hostess for Lydia’s ball and your own position as her chaperone will be less unassailable.”

  Angelica sat with downcast eyes, curiously still and remote. She was fully aware of the sensation their betrothal and immediate marriage would create, and there was no denying that she shrank from the ordeal, but like the viscount, she felt delay would spare them little while making Lydia’s situation extremely difficult. In the absence of Aunt Minerva or another close relative, only Giles’s wife could perfectly fulfil the position of chaperone.

  She managed a shaky smile and answered frankly, “Well I shall dislike it excessively, of course, but there is really no alternative if Lydia’s ball is to go as scheduled. I will do whatever you think best, my lord.” She was completely unaware that her wistful but gallant smile had gone straight to his heart and imbued him with a fierce resolve to protect her from gossiping tongues.

  He squeezed her hand gratefully. “The very first thing to be done is to acquaint Lydia with the change in brides. I know just how fervently she wished to have Barbara as a sister-in-law, but I am sure we can count on her good manners to conceal her chagrin.”

  This dry comment startled a gurgle of laughter from Angelica. “Oh, yes,” she said, raising dancing eyes to his, “we may trust Lydia to say all that is polite and proper.”

  He grinned at her then and rang the bell. After Chilham had departed to fetch Lydia, he took her left hand and drew her gently to her feet while reaching into his waistcoat pocket with his own left hand. As she glanced at him questioningly, he produced a ring and placed it on her fourth finger, bending his head to brush his lips against her fingers after doing so.

  “This will help convince Lydia that she is not dreaming,” he said with a faint smile.

  Angelica raised the hand he had released and stared at the perfect emerald with the halo of small diamonds which was adorning it. She gasped in delight. “It is the most magnificent ring I have ever seen, utterly beautiful.” She raised eyes green with challenge. “You were very sure of me, my lord. Or did you have another candidate in mind if I persisted in my refusal?” Immediately she could have bitten out her tongue for assisting in that petty remark. His eyes, which had been friendly, grew cold.

  “No other candidate,” he said coolly, “but it was agreed that the ring would go back if it did not suit.”

  Impulsively she laid her hand on his sleeve. “Please forget I said that, my lord. It was most unbecoming of me.” For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence, then he placed his hand over hers.

  “It is forgotten in return for your forgetting ‘my lord.’ It will give me pleasure to hear you use my name, Angelica.”

  She smiled into his eyes. “Of course, Giles.” She coloured under his intent regard, and slowly his eyes warmed. Her colour remained high as his eyes lingered disturbingly on her mouth. She lowered her long lashes to veil her own eyes, totally unable to meet his demanding glance any longer. He bent his head, bringing his lips within inches of her own. She knew he was going to kiss her and was conscious of her heart pounding as if to break out of her body, but suddenly a light knock sounded at the door. Giles raised his head but tightened his grip on her hand as she pulled hers away from his arm.

  Lydia came dancing in. “You wanted me, Giles? Good morning, Angel, I missed you at breakfast this…” Catching sight of her friend’s hand held firmly in her brother’s, she broke off her words and turned inquiring eyes to his face.

  “I called you here, Lydia, because it is time you knew that there has been a change in the wedding plans. Miss Wayne has just consented to become my wife.”

  His smooth voice implied that this was of the same magnitude of importance as a change in the menu for the evening. Angelica was lost in admiration for his aplomb, but Lydia’s manner matched his in casualness. She dimpled mischievously.

  “Well, I am absolutely delighted, of course. May one inquire what you have done with the body?”

  Giles raised one eyebrow.

  “Barbara’s, of course. You do not expect me to believe she simply stepped aside for Angelica?”

  “Barbara was married yesterday to Sir Anthony Haring.”

  “Well, if that isn’t the outside of enough!” Lydia exclaimed indignantly. “That wicked girl — not but what this is about the only good turn she is ever likely to do another human being if she lives to be one hundred.”

  She ran to Angelica and hugged her impetuously. “Oh, Angel, I am so happy that you are to be my sister. What fun we shall have!”

  The viscount watched them indulgently. “You did assure me our Lydia would say all that was civil and proper to the occasion, did you not, my dear?”

  “No, did you, Angel? How very brave of you when you must have known I’d make you look all nohow.” Spinning about, she placed her hands on her brother’s shoulders and went up on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his cheek. “I do hope I am the first to wish you happy, Giles.”

  “You are indeed, my dear sister. I shall send a notice to the Gazette, of course, but it won’
t appear until tomorrow. Meanwhile, I propose to escort you both to the theatre tonight to assist in spreading the news.”

  Lydia clapped her hands in anticipation. He glanced at Angelica, who was suddenly rather pale, and added quietly, “The sooner the news is abroad, you know, the more likely the astonishment will be over and done before the wedding.”

  “Good heavens, I’d forgotten about the wedding!” exclaimed Lydia. “Do you mean to go through with the original plans, then?”

  “Yes, why not?” answered the viscount calmly. His sister gazed at him in admiration, but Angelica barely repressed a shudder. How alike they were, this brother and sister — each of them so ready to take up a challenge and high-handedly carry through with an action before the outraged eyes of the ton.

  Just then, Chilham entered with a message that Lady Ebbington-Smythe and Miss Ebbington-Smythe were awaiting Miss Lydia in the small drawing room.

  “Well, I see half the news is abroad already,” said the viscount with his sardonic smile.

  Angelica looked questioningly at him, but it was Lydia who answered. “Lady Ebbington-Smythe is a veritable tattlemonger, and that horrid daughter is becoming her image. Do I have your permission to break the news of your marriage plans, Giles? I promise you I shall greatly enjoy the telling.”

  “Yes, you have my permission, but, Lydia, I won’t tolerate incivility, and guard your tongue with respect to Barbara.”

  Lydia paused at the door to say reproachfully, “You have spoiled all my fun, but I shall conduct myself with perfect propriety. Do you come with me, Angel? It should prove most diverting.”

  This time Angelica couldn’t repress the shudder, which did not escape the viscount’s attention. “No, Lydia, you handle this alone. Angelica and I have certain matters to settle yet.”

  After Lydia had left, Angelica found the relief which had welled up in her at being rescued from Lady Ebbington-Smythe’s malignant tongue slowly oozing away as she met the viscount’s long, measuring look, but she continued to meet it with outward serenity until he spoke.