A Curious Heart (Love Vine: A Regency Series) (12 page)

He then bent to his task and neatly clicked one ball against another at such an angle as to make Rothburn's next shot nigh impossible.

"Stop grinning! You never beat me at this; you have just had a lucky shot. 'Sides, I'm quite distracted at the moment. Let's stop talking about it." Rothburn, looking askance at the position of his next shot, tried and failed to get back his position, swore softly and went to lean against the wall.

"Seems you have put yourself in a rather awkward position," Sir Gordon noted, his comment referring to both the billiards shot and the situation in the dining room.

"I'm sure Mater is not aware of who Lady Alana's mother is, or she would have been gone long before now. Seems rather incredible that Lady Eleanor should be prancing about with her. Didn't know they were acquainted. Did you?"

Rothburn, puzzled in the extreme and not quite himself, wiped a bead of perspiration from his upper lip.

"Thought you said not to talk about it," Sir Gordon goaded. "Likely met at one of those ladies' teas and Lady Eleanor invited her along to see your mater. Probably a very simple explanation for it all."

Rothburn, giving his normally quiet and composed companion a piercing glance, noted Sir Gordon's pallor and wondered how the man would hold up should his mama, Countess Rothburn, turn a bloody diatribe on the fellow. He snickered at the thought, earning a questioning gaze from Sir Gordon. He ignored it, as he ignored the comment.

* * * * *

The Countess gathered her brood of love-struck visitors in the small drawing room for a before dinner sherry, her purpose well hidden behind a façade of good breeding and polite manners. "Rothburn, it would please me were you to pour us a small libation, for I believe a sherry before dinner is quite the thing."

"Of course Madam, I would be most delighted." Rothburn noted the absence of servants with some consternation, for it could only mean that his mother had wanted total privacy for this venture.

He moved to the drinks tray with a graceful stride, watched closely by his parent, whose eyes shone with a modicum of pride in her offspring. Lady Alana stared at him as well—with a gleam of admiration shining in her eyes he could only suppose for his bearing and manliness.

Lady Eleanor and Sir Gordon, gazed at one another lovingly and missed the conversation entirely. They jumped guiltily when the Countess barked at them—her penchant for mischief growing by the moment.

"Do show some manners as there are others in the room. Gaping at one another like smitten youngsters will not do—not do at all." She fixed them with an amused glance then turned her attention back to the other pair, who had chosen to sit as far away from one another as possible.

Rothburn found his mother's admonishments to Sir Gordon and Lady Eleanor amusing. Upon catching the eye of the delectable Alana whose warning glance disapproved his behavior, he managed to squelch his grin.

"Rothburn, please come closer, I would that I could see you and dislike craning my neck in such an unnatural fashion just to do so."

Rothburn, resigned to dancing her tune, removed to the only chair available that would bring him fully into the view of his parent. The chair was, of course, in close proximity to that of Lady Alana.

"I should not want to be the cause of your discomfort. Is this more to your liking, Mother dear?" His voice—rich with resentment—belied features carefully schooled  to a lack of interest.

"Very much so, thank you." The Countess scanned the faces before her and smiled in a deceptively gentle manner, drawing out the silence in the room. Watching each one in turn, she tried to see past company manners and get a fix on their reflections. She was quite good at reading thoughts, and though sometimes she misread, she was not wont to admit it.

So far she had gleaned much. Sir Gordon, whose open features made no pretence of hiding his besotted state, she dismissed. One could not manipulate a person so openly agreeable to his fate.

Lady Eleanor, trying desperately to hide her regard for the knight, failed miserably. Her eyes bespoke her feelings, hands gripping one another painfully to keep them still. Perhaps she could discomfit this young woman a bit, but had no real heart for it of a sudden.

The earl, whom she could see through immediately, was her first choice of victim. He had closed his face and refused to look at her directly, an indication that he was hiding something. He had also gulped his sherry and was glancing covertly at the drinks tray, knowing that she frowned upon over indulgence.

The Countess could see he wanted another, but she'd be dashed if she would offer it. Never do to allow him to get too relaxed, and it would not serve her purpose at all were he cup-shot.

And then there was the indomitable Lady Alana whose features were also politely blank. She would be difficult to maneuver. Her very stubborn nature would not allow her to be easily led.

Pleased beyond measure by this, the Countess refused to show such emotion as would tip her hand to the astute young woman. She liked Lady Alana more with each observance.

Deciding to be frank and open the conversation with something that would overset them all, the Lady Susan harrumphed noisily to draw their attention and once all eyes were upon her, began. "It has been brought to my notice you are all quite foolishly considering the wrong alliance."

"What? Devil take it Mother, what are you about?" Recognizing her opening gambit, he moved to put a stop to it. "Where are the manners you have so diligently instilled in me over the years?"

His voice registered alarm. He'd never spoken to her thus—though a desire to protect Lady Alana had provoked it.

"Never say I have no manners. I am speaking the truth and you all well know it."  Lady Susan stared at Rothburn for a long moment.

"Perhaps 'inappropriate alliance' would have been a better phrase. You see, I happen to be aware that Sir Gordon has a fancy for Lady Eleanor, who is betrothed to you and you have a fancy for Lady Alana, who is far too old to wed and produce an heir."

Her statement unleashed a current of speech that well satisfied her, for she had managed to anger, confuse and generally discomfit the entire group. Sir Gordon, sitting straight up, fixed her with a look very close to dislike, while Lady Eleanor nearly swooned with temper. Lady Alana actually flushed, her careful façade of indifference crumbling immediately.

"Mother, this is beyond belief!" Rothburn barked in indignation.

"I must protest, Madam. I cannot have you maligning my tender regard—" Sir Gordon protested with some heat.

"Countess Rothburn, I beg you, have some pity—" Lady Eleanor, blushing deeply, spoke with a thread of panic.

Lady Alana remained silent, her posture fairly quivering with outrage. She looked to Rothburn and then back at Lady Susan, her eyes sparking in a manner that boded ill for the elder woman.

Her continued silence began to make Lady Susan just a tad nervous, and she realized that the younger woman had neatly turned the tables with her lack of response.

Countess Rothburn tried once more. "Lady Alana, of course I mean no disrespect, but even you can see that it is my son's duty to produce an heir. Now, Lady Eleanor is just one and twenty, a prime age for child bearing, while you are—"

"Cease at once, Mother! I demand that you stop this invasion of another person's privacy! At once, do you hear?"

The earl stood and faced his mother, putting a protective hand upon Lady Alana's shoulder as he spoke. "As it happens, you have the right of it. I fully intend to wed this lady with all haste—with or without your blessing—and Sir Gordon will wed where he wishes as well."

He looked at his mother with eyes brimming anger, his features drawn severely as he waited for her to speak. Never in his life had he rung a peal over his parent, and was a trifle guilty at having done so now. Yet he could not stand by and let her humiliate Lady Alana in this manner.

"I think not, my lord." Lady Alana spoke at last, her voice strong with purpose, her eyes on the Countess with cool regard. "I have no wish to be led in this manner and your mother has given evidence she is every bit as calculating as my own parent. Were I to regard you as a suitor—
and I do not
—your mother's behavior would certainly put me off the whole thing."

Not one to be bested, Lady Alana played her trump card and appeared  greatly satisfied when Lady Susan blanched and withdrew her gaze first.

"I say, Alana, do be more respectful—" Sir Gordon, who was well aware of his aunt's ability to spar unmercifully with anyone who displeased her, tried to head her off, not wanting the evening to turn into a fiasco of bickering.

"You!" Alana fixed him with a sneering glance. "You are most reprehensible. How can you just sit there and allow this—this person to decide your future? Has she the right?"

Sir Gordon flushed, but fell silent, looking solicitously at the lady seated next to him. He patted her hand where it lay on his sleeve, not glancing again at his relative.

Rothburn, the wind apparently taken out of his sails by her abrupt dismissal of his declaration of intent, sat abruptly in his chair and ran a hand over his face. Anger at his mother and his acute disappointment at Lady Alana's comment riling his senses, he glared from one to the other.

Lady Alana, regretting her outburst, refused to look in his direction. The wind, it seemed, had suddenly gone from her sails. She sat very still, except for massaging the shoulder where his hand had rested while he defended her. The hand he removed immediately at her strident words.

* * * * *

As the silence stretched uncomfortably the individuals in the room stole glances at one another. Lady Susan gathered her scattered wits and decided to end this uncomfortable scene with an apology. She shifted in her chair and sighed inwardly.

"Perhaps I have been hasty in my assumptions," she began with a quivering smile, "and if you can forgive an old lady her meddling—"

She stopped abruptly at hearing a snort of derision from the earl, who knew well that she did not regard herself as elderly. She fixed her gaze upon him, beseeching and suddenly wary. "Rothburn, please allow me to finish. This is not easy for me, as you can imagine."

He nodded reluctantly and chanced a look at the lady of his desire, noting Alana had softened her attitude as his mother implored her with pleading gaze. "Do forgive me, my dear. I actually like you very much and—"

Tears formed in the Countesses' eyes, her voice trailing off as she gulped back a sob. This was not her normal thespian display, but something quite real. She made a concerted effort to control her voice and spoke with more strength. "—and it was very bad of me to say such things. I don't quite know what came over me. Do not disregard my son's affections just because I am a complete fool."

Slumped in her chair, Lady Susan allowed her eyes to drop to her hands as they worried one another in seeming distress. Rothburn watched in amusement as his mater—clearly recovered in his experienced eye—could not resist a bit of playacting.

Lady Alana, seemingly satisfied that she'd nipped the elder woman's manipulations in the bud, began immediately to repair the damage she had done. The earl's eyes upon her, burning into her, drew her gaze.

Though she spoke for his benefit, she returned her attention to his mother. "Madam, please forgive my outburst as well. You spoke in such a manner that I was compelled to defend myself, and I must confess that I, too, have thought of my age as a deterrent to the purpose you mentioned."

"Balderdash!" Countess Rothburn recovered herself with some speed and sat straight up, her voice firm. "You are quite healthy and should have no trouble giving me grandchildren. Why, your own mother had three, did she not, and well past your age, I should think."

Rothburn decided to end this conversation lest it erupt into another disagreeable stalemate—and wishing to get Lady Alana alone—he spoke up without delay. "Mother, since dinner is nearly an hour off, please excuse myself and Lady Alana. We are going to walk in the garden."