An Escapade and an Engagement (14 page)

Only he was not seated near enough for her to do any such
thing. And whenever she looked his way he studiously ignored her. Though from
the way he chewed his food and threw his wine into his mouth he was barely
keeping a lid on his own temper.

It was only after dinner, when all the ladies withdrew, that
Lady Jayne perceived Milly was not entirely at ease at all. It was when she came
straight to her side, clutching her fan, white-knuckled, that she appreciated
just how much of an ordeal this must be for her. She had warned Milly that after
dinner the ladies would all be expected to perform for the gentlemen. And Milly
had confessed that she had never learned to play a musical instrument.

It had taken some planning and hours of practise to surmount
this obstacle. Fortunately Milly had a good strong singing voice. After putting
their heads together, they’d come up with several ballads with which they were
both familiar. Lady Jayne would play the music as she sang, with Milly
accompanying her and, with the help of subtle prompts, turning the pages so that
it looked as though she knew how to read music. They had only gone through the
pieces a couple of times before Milly began to improvise a very pleasing harmony
to the melody Lady Jayne was to be singing. To her delight, although Milly
lacked formal training, she had certainly heard far worse from girls who’d had
the benefit of years of expensive tuition.

The only thing that might let them down was Milly’s nerves.

Lady Jayne need not have worried. After a slightly wobbly
start, which only served to make Milly look appropriately bashful, their
performance went without a hitch. And, judging from Miss Beresford’s look of
acute annoyance when the gentlemen of the party applauded their duet with what
she thought sounded like genuine appreciation, they really had done themselves
proud.

Lord Ledbury alone did not applaud. He kept his arms folded,
glowering at them both tight-lipped. He’d clearly realized that to perform so
well together they must have put in hours of practise. Which meant they had both
flouted his orders not to meet each other. She returned to her seat in a subdued
frame of mind. Yet another crime for him to lay at her door. Although, from what
Milly had told her, Milly herself had never been all that biddable to start
with. She thought nothing of going behind Lord Ledbury’s back, or
acting on her own initiative,
as she phrased it, when
she disagreed with him.

But justifying her actions by mentally accusing Milly of being
as intractable as she was did not make Lady Jayne feel any less
uncomfortable.

Nor did the look of malicious triumph Lady Susan shot her.
Nobody could possibly guess what had provoked Lord Ledbury’s simmering fury, but
it was enough to encourage her pretensions. Because he had applauded everyone
else’s performance.

The evening only grew more uncomfortable after that. The other
prospective brides were trying too hard to impress Lord Ledbury. And since he
was in a foul mood, due to her bringing Milly along, their efforts to please him
were only making them look increasingly desperate.

Eventually the arrival of the tea tray heralded the imminent
cessation of hostilities. She went to fetch a cup of tea for Lady Penrose, since
she had become deeply engrossed in conversation with Miss Twining’s duenna. She
was not all that surprised when, the moment she reached the table where Mrs
Hargreaves presided over the teacups, Lord Ledbury materialised at her side.

Before he had the chance to lay into her, she smiled up at him
brightly and said, ‘Yes, thank you, I am having a lovely time.
Such
congenial company.’

‘Sarcasm does not become you.’

‘I am not being sarcastic. Well, not wholly. I like the look of
your grandfather.’ She regarded the rotund old gentleman wistfully. He was
laughing heartily at something Lady Susan had said. She did not think she had
ever seen her own grandfather laugh like that. Least of all at any sally a girl
as young as that could make. He would be more likely to treat her to one of his
withering stares and remove himself to the card room. ‘He looks so jolly.’

‘He looks,’ Lord Ledbury retorted with disgust, ‘like a man who
is getting his own way. You should have seen the way he reacted when I asked if
I might hold this house party and have a few of my friends to spend a few days
here. He has very generously offered to run his eye over every female I have
considered as a potential bride and give me the benefit of his advice. As if I
was not perfectly capable of choosing my own wife!’

Some of Lady Jayne’s tension dissolved at the realisation that
not
all
of his anger stemmed from something she had
done. In fact, she found it very encouraging that he was confiding in her like
this. It proved that he found it as easy to talk to her as she did to him.
Something inside her settled, like a knot coming unravelled. Even though they
had quarrelled, he still considered her a friend.

But she was not going to offer him her sympathy. Apart from
firmly believing he
was
going about finding a wife
in completely the wrong way, the last thing he would want was to think she
pitied him.

‘Well, I must say,’ she said quite frankly, ‘judging from the
people you have invited, I tend to agree that you are in dire need of somebody’s
advice.’

‘What do you mean? I have very good reasons for inviting each
and every one of my guests.’

Not that he had any intention of explaining those reasons to
her now, with so many of them within earshot. Possibly not ever.

For it was a bit galling to have to admit that Lady Susan and
Lucy Beresford were the only two women he’d met so far this Season that he could
actually remember anything about when they weren’t in the room. Lady Susan was,
in fact, exactly the sort of woman he’d had in mind before he’d met Lady Jayne.
She was bright, witty, capable and well-connected. She was sure to leave her
mark on the world.

And as for Lucy—well, as Berry’s sister he couldn’t very well
not
remember her. He’d decided he might as well
invite her down here, to see if he could learn to find something about her to
appeal to him as a man.

Which had led him to invite Miss Twining, too. For he had
noticed that Berry was developing quite a tendre for the girl. Unfortunately she
was so bashful it was well nigh impossible to tell whether she returned his
regard. Only once or twice had he noticed her casting Berry glances that
indicated his feelings might be reciprocated, if only he would pluck up the
courage to make the first move. So Lord Ledbury had decided to give them a
helping hand. A few days down here should resolve matters between them. Because
between them he and his grandfather had organized a whole series of activities
conducive to courtship.

That had made quite a small party, so he’d cast his net a bit
wider and thought of Lord Halstead, who had apparently gone to Milly’s
assistance during the Lambourne masquerade. When he’d gone round to give Milly a
piece of his mind for exposing Lady Jayne to danger by encouraging her to see
Kendell behind his back, she’d angrily retorted that Lady Jayne had not been the
only one who’d needed help that night. ‘If it had not been for Lord Halstead I
don’t know how I would have got home safe. Not in that outfit.’

Not that he’d admitted to the fellow that was why he’d been
invited. It was damned risky, having him here as well as Milly. He rubbed his
hand over the crown of his head. Hopefully he hadn’t seen Milly anywhere near
Lady Jayne that night and would continue to think he’d been invited to make up
the numbers. He certainly hadn’t questioned the reason for his invitation at the
time. Just jumped at the chance to spend a few days in the countryside on a
repairing lease.

‘More to the point,’ he said to Lady Jayne, having shot a
significant look in Milly’s direction, ‘I had very good reasons for
not
inviting others.’

She pursed her lips. She was doing it to express exasperation
with him, no doubt, but to his way of thinking it looked just as though she was
puckering up for a kiss.

‘They are not good reasons,’ she said mutinously. ‘They are
absolutely stupid reasons.’

He stopped wanting to kiss her. No, what he wanted to do now
was grab her by the shoulders and shake her. Had she no idea what damage could
be done to her reputation if it once got about that she had introduced his
mistress into Society? Not that Milly
was
his
mistress, but that was what everyone would think if they discovered his
connection to her.

And he’d warned her that it was dangerous…. But she’d said she
didn’t care. That was the thing about Lady Jayne. She was loyal to a fault. He
could not fathom why she’d brought Milly here, and the cryptic remarks she’d
made earlier about making him grateful had made no sense at first. But he was
beginning to wonder if she didn’t consider herself on some sort of crusade.

‘We have got to have a serious talk,’ he said grimly.
‘Somewhere nobody else can overhear us, so that you can explain yourself. At the
side of the house there is a shrubbery. You can get out to it by going out of
the library doors and down the steps at the end of the terrace. Meet me there
tomorrow, before breakfast.’

He turned and stalked off, having delivered his orders as
though he expected her to snap to attention, salute and say,
Yes, Sir!

Well, if he thought he could order her about like that, he had
another think coming! Besides, she had no intention of getting into a
potentially compromising position with him. The whole point of coming down here
was to promote Milly’s case with his family. If only she could have a few days’
grace, to prove how well she could fit in, then he could announce that his
search for a bride was over. Once they’d got to know her for the sunny, charming
person she was, surely they would have no objections to him making her his
countess? Why, in comparison with the other girls he’d brought down here Milly
was like a rose among thorns.

Yes, within a few days he could introduce Milly to the world as
the woman he loved, and they would all live happily ever after.

Well, Lord Ledbury and Milly would, anyway. She shivered as she
had another vision of the bleak future awaiting her, and added an extra spoonful
of sugar to her cup of tea. As she walked across the room to join Lady Penrose
she consoled herself with the reflection that her chaperone lived alone,
unmarried and was perfectly content.

She would be, too.

So long as she knew that Lord Ledbury was happy.

Chapter Ten

T
he next morning, when she went down to
breakfast, she only had to glance at Lord Ledbury, who was savagely sawing away
at a slice of sirloin, to see that he was furious with her for not keeping their
assignation in the shrubbery. She lifted her chin as a footman held out a chair
for her and took her place at the table. He would thank her one day. She just
had to have the determination to ride out his annoyance and stick to her
guns.

Why did one talk about sticking to guns? She had often
wondered. It sounded like such an absurd thing to do. Guns recoiled after being
fired, and if one stuck to them surely one would be flung about most
uncomfortably? She would ask him to explain it to her one day. Since he had been
in the army for such a long time he was bound to know what the expression really
meant.

She lifted her head to look at him, anticipating the
conversation, and was shocked by the chill with which he met her gaze.

Jolted by the searing pain that shot through her on receipt of
that look, she lowered her eyes to her place setting. What if he never forgave
her for meddling in his search for the perfect bride? He was the one person,
apart from Milly, with whom she had ever been able to converse openly.

She spooned some jam disconsolately onto the side of her plate,
though her appetite had vanished completely. She had meant well, but perhaps it
would have been better not to have meddled in his love life?

Better for her. Yes, it would have been easier for her to just
keep out of it. That would have been the sensible thing to do, and the course
she had been tempted to take. But could she have lived with herself if she had
stood back and let Lord Ledbury marry the wrong woman? No.

She firmed her mouth, picked up her knife and, with great
deliberation, spread the jam onto a warm roll. Lord Ledbury deserved to find
some happiness. And she would do whatever she could to help him achieve it.

‘It looks as though the weather today is going to be fair and
warm,’ Lord Lavenham suddenly announced in a voice loud enough to carry above
the muted conversations going on around the crowded breakfast table.

She would never have believed every single one of the girls
invited would be such early risers. Clearly none of them had any intention of
letting any of the others gain so much as five minutes’ advantage in their
pursuit of Lord Ledbury.

‘I should be pleased to give as many of you as would care for
it a tour about the estate. We shall convene in about an hour, in the stable
block—if that gives you ladies enough time to get ready,’ he said with a
chuckle. ‘I shall be able to match you all up with suitable mounts.’

The gentlemen, she assumed, would have brought their own
horses.

‘Now, I know that the ground will be a bit soft after all the
recent rain, but I do not want you to worry about muddying your riding habits.
For those of you who do not wish to ride this morning, I shall provide other
transport.’

She met Milly’s eye. What a stroke of luck! Milly did not know
how to ride side-saddle, so the offer of a carriage ride to preserve the ladies’
clothing was a wonderful cover for her lack of that particular accomplishment.
So far, things could not be going better.

She felt more cheerful than she had for an age when she entered
the stable block about an hour later. One of the things she had hated most about
London was not being able to canter through the woods at Darvill Park in the
misty dawn, or indulge in a breakneck gallop across open fields. In anticipation
of just such a treat, when she had decided to come to this house party she had
purchased a new riding habit. In honour of Lord Ledbury’s military service she
had gone for a severely tailored midnight-blue jacket with silver frogging round
the buttons and silver-lace epaulettes. The hat she wore with it was one of
those so popular at the moment, which looked a bit like a soldier’s shako with a
little white cockade.

Lady Penrose walked across to the barouche in which Miss
Twining’s chaperone was already sitting. The hood was pushed back, to allow them
to get a good view of the estate, but it could be pulled up in the event of
further rain.

Lady Susan, Miss Twining and Miss Beresford were already making
their selection from the line of horses being held by some grooms. She had no
idea how keen they really were on riding, but since the older ladies in the
carriage would be obliged to stick to the roads, no husband-hunter worth her
salt would pass up such a golden opportunity to shake off her chaperone. On
horseback, the girls could disappear into a copse, or over the brow of a hill,
for minutes at a time without incurring too much disapproval.

Lord Ledbury was lounging against the stable wall, his arms
crossed, but when he saw her party he pushed himself upright and made towards
them, his expression as forbidding as she had ever seen it.

Milly detached herself from Lady Jayne’s side, made straight
for the curricle in which Lord Halstead intended to drive himself and wasted no
time in clambering up beside him.

Lady Jayne could not blame her. It would take a very brave
person indeed not to quail before the look in Lord Ledbury’s eyes as he stalked
across the stable yard.

‘Allow me to help you choose your mount,’ he said through
gritted teeth. When he crooked his arm, she dared do nothing but meekly take it
and let him lead her across the yard to where the horses were lined up.

The other ladies looked daggers at her to see her receiving
such special attention from their quarry. She looked straight through them. She
did not care how much they hated her so long as she could prevent any of them
from getting their claws into Lord Ledbury.

Since she was the last down to the stable yard there was little
choice left. But the spirited-looking bay mare which Miss Twining had just
rejected, after it had tossed its head and rolled its eyes when she reached out
to pat its neck, looked as though it would suit her perfectly. The groom was
having to hold its bridle with some determination to prevent it from skipping
sideways across the cobbles. It was itching to get out and have some fun.

Well, so was she!

While she was making friends with the creature—whose name, the
groom informed her with a meaningful look, was Mischief—Lord Ledbury strode away
and, somewhat to her surprise, himself mounted up. True, the creature on which
he was now sitting looked weary to the point of somnolence, but he was on
horseback.

She had never seen him ride before. In fact, from the way he’d
talked about his injuries, she’d suspected he might spend the rest of his life
as a semi-invalid.

But he was fit enough to ride with them this morning. Which was
absolutely wonderful.

She mounted Mischief and spent some time rearranging her skirts
to give herself time to get her feelings under control. Had there been nobody
else about she thought she might have rushed over and hugged him. Or broken out
into a loud cheer. Or…something. She did not know what.

She had still not quite succeeded in regaining full control of
her sheer delight by the time he positioned his beast beside hers as they began
to exit the yard. In fact, she turned and beamed at him.

‘How do you have the nerve to smile at me like that?’ he
snapped, dousing her joy at the sign of his return to health. ‘Do you know how
long I waited for you outside in the cold this morning? And don’t tell me you
never leave your room before breakfast. I know full well you can get up and
dressed and go out to meet men when it suits you,’ he finished bitterly.

There was nothing that would stop her from doing anything she
put her mind to. He had seen her scramble up a tree like a monkey, having donned
breeches under her dress, so that she could sneak out and dally with Lieutenant
Kendell in the park at dawn.

‘I could not help it,’ she said, though she was not smiling any
more. ‘Are you not pleased to be on horseback again, too?’

He sighed. She had no idea how badly she had hurt him by not
keeping their assignation. Well, it had taken him by surprise, too. Another
proof, as if he needed any, that he was in love with her.

Falling in love was a damnable business, he thought, scowling.
A bit like being at sea. When he’d seen her sauntering towards him in that
outfit, with that smile on her face, his heart had soared. Then as abruptly
plunged to his boots when he realized she hadn’t chosen a military style for any
reason that had anything to do with him. It was probably just the current
fashion.

Yes, just like being at sea. Whether his mood was on the crest
of the wave, or plunging into a trough, he never stopped feeling sick at
heart.

Perhaps he ought to abandon this particular ship. He would
certainly feel as if he’d got his feet back on firm ground if he stopped
wondering whether he might ever induce Lady Jayne to marry him.

He could set off back on his original course. The one which
would lead him to make a practical union with a woman who would bring lustre to
the family line.

Only he’d lost any enthusiasm for going down that route. Oh,
yes, he’d be on an even keel again. But he suspected it would be like slogging
across a flat, barren, joyless landscape, with him frequently looking over his
shoulder at what might have been.

‘Pleased to be on horseback?’ He turned his pessimistic mood on
the poor unfortunate beast he’d just mounted. ‘I would hardly grace this animal
upon which I am sitting with the appellation of
horse.
In fact I do not think I have ever sat a creature which more
nearly resembles an armchair in all my life. Even as a boy the first pony I was
put up on by my groom had the energy to break into a trot upon occasion.’

Lady Jayne giggled. And it felt as though the sun had come out.
It was the first time anything he had said had actually amused her. To hell with
any thought of abandoning ship. This was progress. Real progress.

‘Well, I expect it will be some time before your leg is strong
enough to warrant mounting anything with too much spirit,’ she observed, running
her eyes along the length of his thigh.

Dear God, how he wished it was her little hands making the
journey. He had never met any creature with more spirit, or more worth mounting,
than the deceptively dainty-looking Lady Jayne.

To keep his mind off erotic images of Lady Jayne writhing
beneath him with the kind of enthusiasm a man yearned for but very rarely found
in his bed partner, he urged his recalcitrant mount into a forward motion.

Lady Jayne, by contrast, appeared to be exerting all her
strength in holding Mischief back.

‘Will it… I hope you do not mind me asking…. Will it mend
completely, do you think? You do not limp as much as you used to. And you do not
seem to need your cane very often now, either.’

‘My leg wants only exercise to resume its former strength. Just
like the rest of me.’

From the corner of his eye he saw her frown pensively.

‘Yes, Milly told me you had a recurrent fever that laid you low
throughout the winter.’

Hmm… The girls talked about him, did they?

‘I cannot imagine a gently bred young lady being truly
interested in hearing all the gory details of a protracted illness.’ Unless she
was interested in the patient.

‘Oh, well…’ She couldn’t admit that she greedily devoured any
tidbits Milly ever divulged about his past life. ‘Do you object?’

Mischief shook her head irritably from side to side, indicating
Lady Jayne’s grip on the reins must have confused her.

‘I suppose,’ she said in a rather contrite tone, ‘it must sound
as though we have been gossiping about you. But, truly, neither of us meant any
harm. It is just that sometimes, when we first met, you did not seem very well,
and I did not quite dare ask
you…
’

She looked mortified, but he was heartened by her admission
that she was, indeed, interested in the patient.

‘When we first met,’ he said, ‘I was still far from well, it is
true. Had I not felt it my clear duty to embark on the hunt for a wife I would
not have attempted to take my place in Society at all this Season.’

He didn’t look cross with her. So she plucked up the courage to
add, ‘You often looked very pale.’

‘You noticed?’ Lady Jayne had finally managed to settle
Mischief to a walking pace his own mount was capable of matching. As they left
the shelter of the last of the stable buildings he felt emboldened to admit, ‘I
thought I’d taken such good care to conceal my condition. I leaned on that cane
and let people assume it was my leg that was the problem.’ He laughed, a little
self-deprecatingly. ‘Rather that than risk my pride getting dented by passing
out in the heat of a stuffy ballroom. But I don’t mind admitting the truth to
you, Lady Jayne.’

‘You don’t?’

The smile she darted at him put him in mind of a child who’d
just been given an unexpected treat.

‘No. I want you to know the truth about me, Lady Jayne. I want
you to know who I am. All of me.’ He frowned, as though choosing his next words
carefully. ‘The life of a soldier is harsh, Lady Jayne. Far harsher than a
sheltered lady like you can possibly imagine. In summer we burn like biscuits in
the heat of the sun as we march. In winter, if we cannot get shelter overnight,
our blankets stick fast to the ground with ice. If we progress too fast, and the
supply trains cannot keep up with us, we starve. And then, when it rains, we
live in sodden clothing for days on end. Illness runs rife through the ranks,
killing far more men than battles do. Even before I got my leg broken at Orthez,
my constitution was pretty worn down. And then suddenly I had to stroll into
ballrooms, and behave as though I was some great lord. I had never felt less
like a lord in my life.’

No, she mused. He was far more like the corsair he’d dressed as
the night of the masquerade. A man who helped damsels in distress to climb back
in through their bedroom window rather than knock on the front door and hand
them over in disgrace to their guardians.