Mistress (39 page)

A moment later the library door opened.

“Mr. Bennet Cloud is inquiring to see if you are at home, Mrs. Bright,” Mrs. Shaw said.

“Good heavens,” Iphiginia muttered. “Marcus’s brother. I wonder what he wants. You’d better send him in, Mrs. Shaw.”

Bennet, his expression grim and intent, appeared in the doorway. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Bright. Thank you for seeing me.”

“Come in, Mr. Cloud.” Amelia gave him a reassuring smile. “This is my cousin, Miss Farley.”

“A pleasure, Miss Farley.” Bennet nodded stiffly at Amelia.

Amelia stirred. “Perhaps you would prefer to speak in private.”

“If—if you don’t mind,” Bennet stammered. “I do not wish to be rude, but my business is of a personal nature.”

“Of course.” Amelia walked out of the library and closed the door quietly behind her.

Iphiginia folded her hands on top of her desk. “Won’t you have a seat, Mr. Cloud?”

“What? Uh, no. No, thank you.” Bennet began to pace restlessly in front of her. “This is very awkward for me, Mrs. Bright.”

Iphiginia sighed. “Allow me to make it easier for you. You no doubt wish to give me a long lecture consisting of all the many and varied reasons why I should not marry your brother. Rest assured, Mr. Cloud, that I am already aware of all those reasons.”

“No.”

Iphiginia blinked in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”

Bennet stopped his pacing and swung around to face her. “I am here to tell you that I wish to withdraw all of my objections to the marriage.”

“You do?”

Bennet grimaced. “Not that my brother would give a damn whether I objected or not. He always does as he pleases.”

Iphiginia stared at him with sudden concern. “Are you feeling well, Mr. Cloud? My housekeeper will be bringing tea any moment now. Perhaps a cup will revive you”

“Damnation, I do not need any tea. You must marry my brother, Mrs. Bright.”

Iphiginia eyed him warily. “Why?”

“Because I believe that he needs you.”

“He needs me?”

“Devil take it, how can I explain?” Bennet resumed his fevered pacing. “Mrs. Bright, I have known my brother all of my life.”

“Obviously.”

“But I have never fully understood him. Perhaps I never tried to understand him. He didn’t seem to require understanding, if you see what I mean.”

“No, I do not.”

“He was always there.” Bennet moved his hand in a vague, all-encompassing motion. “Rather like a mountain or the sea or some other force of nature. Oh, he can be bloody stubborn and quite set in his ways. And he insists on living by his own damnable rules. But he has always seemed so strong.”

“Being strong does not mean that one doesn’t need a bit of understanding from others now and then,” Iphiginia said gently.

“I have recently begun to comprehend that.” Bennet reached a wall of bookcases, turned, and started back across the room. “Last night I realized that Marcus has depths that I have not, until now, even suspected existed within him. I recognize that he has certain needs. Needs which he believes only you can fulfill, Mrs. Bright.”

“Masters told you this?”

“In a manner of speaking. I gained the impression that he wants you very badly.”

“In the same way that you want Juliana Dorchester?”

“Good Lord, no, of course not.” Bennet scowled. “The feelings that I bear for Miss Dorchester are really quite extraordinary. I am in love with her, Mrs. Bright. And she is in love with me.”

“I see.”

Bennet was momentarily overcome by his favorite
subject. “Our mutual affection is characterized by sublime emotions and a truly metaphysical communion of the senses.”

“How nice for you.”

“There is a noble grandeur to our love that leaves me floundering for words.”

“I had not noticed.”

“She engenders within my breast the most elevated of passions.”

“Quite understandable.”

“Frankly,” Bennet concluded, “it is difficult to speak of Miss Dorchester’s exquisite sensibilities, her refined mind, or even her gracious manner without resorting to poetry.”

“Your feelings are, indeed, extraordinary. You do not believe your brother capable of such emotions?”

“If he was ever capable of the more delicate and exalted emotions, his experience of marriage destroyed all such inclinations within him.” Bennet shrugged. “To be perfectly truthful, I am not certain he was ever the sort to surrender to the higher sentiments. His is an intellectual nature, you understand.”

“Yes.” Iphiginia propped her chin on her hand. “Forgive me, sir, but your change of heart on the subject of your brother’s marriage has left me somewhat confused.”

“It is important that you marry him, Mrs. Bright. Please believe me. I would not be here today if I did not think that it was a necessity. I think it should be a quiet wedding. Special license, preferably. You will not want a formal engagement of the sort that Miss Dorchester and I intend to have.”

“You’ve asked Miss Dorchester for her hand?”

“I’ve spoken to her about it. I’m pleased to say that we have agreed to announce our betrothal at the end of the Season. We shall be married in the spring. Miss Dorchester and I wish to spend the next few months becoming better acquainted with each other. And there are so many plans to be made, you know.”

“Yes, of course.” Marcus would be relieved, Iphiginia thought. He had at least bought some time for Bennet to make certain that he was doing the right thing.

“She was willing to elope with me,” Bennet confided proudly. “During that brief span of time when she thought I would have nothing, she said that she would go to Gretna Green with me. She loves me as much as I love her.”

“I believe she does. I have met her, you know.”

“Have you?”

“Yes. And I found her quite charming.” Miss Dorchester really was a nice young lady, Iphiginia thought, even if her parents were a trifle overambitious.

Bennet glowed with enthusiasm. “She is most charming, indeed. Very likely the most charming woman on the face of the earth.”

Marcus would require some convincing of that fact, but Iphiginia had a hunch that all would be well between Bennet and his beloved Miss Dorchester.

“Our situation is quite different from your own, however,” Bennet continued. “You and my brother needn’t bother with a long engagement. No offense, Mrs. Bright, but it’s not as though you were a young chit fresh out of the schoolroom. And God knows my brother is not getting any younger.”

“True.”

Bennet frowned. “Cannot ever remember my brother being young. Even when I was a lad, he seemed something of an antiquity. But that’s neither here nor there. The important thing is your marriage.”

“I appreciate your concern, Mr. Cloud. However—” Iphiginia broke off frowning at the sound of another carriage halting in the street. “More visitors?”

The knock on the front door was followed by the sound of familiar voices in the front hall.

“Good grief,” Iphiginia whispered. “Corina and Richard. And Aunt Zoe and Lord Otis. What is going on here? Pray excuse me, Mr. Cloud.”

She leaped to her feet, dashed across the room, and flung open the library door before Mrs. Shaw could announce the new arrivals.

“Iphiginia,” Zoe exclaimed. “You will never guess who has just arrived in Town.”

Corina, dressed in a charming blue gown that nicely complemented her golden hair and blue eyes, turned toward Iphiginia with an expression of grave concern on her lovely face.

“Iphiginia
. Are you all right? What is going on?”

“Good afternoon, Corina. Richard.”

Richard Hampton, his handsome features set in lines of worry, inclined his head. “Good afternoon, Iphiginia. We set out for London the moment we received the message.”

“What message?”

Corina shuddered. “The strange one that said you had become the … Well, never mind. It is too dreadful to repeat. I knew it could not be true, of course. But I had to find out what was going on. We arrived an hour ago.”

“And came straight to my house.” Zoe gave Iphiginia a wry, apologetic look. “Otis and I told them that they must ask their questions of you, not us.”

Richard’s warm, brown eyes were deeply troubled. “I shall be blunt, Iphiginia. We received an extremely alarming message informing us that you had become the paramour of the Earl of Masters.”

Zoe rolled her eyes.

“Richard, really, must you say such things aloud?” Corina flushed. “We are in mixed company, you know.”

“I apologize, my dear, but we must get to the bottom of this,” Richard said with considerable determination. “This is no time to be mealy-mouthed or delicate.”

Bennet came up to stand behind Iphiginia. “What you have heard is a damned lie.”

“Who are you?” Richard demanded.

“Bennet Cloud, Masters’s brother. And I am pleased
to inform you that Mrs. Bright is not my brother’s mistress. Far from it. She is his fiancee.”

Chaos erupted in the crowded hall. Everyone tried to talk at once.

“Fiancée,”
Corina gasped. “Iphiginia, do you mean to tell me that you are engaged?”

Richard looked startled. “To an earl?”

“I say,” Otis murmured. “Hadn’t heard about this development. Congratulations, m’dear.”

Zoe rounded on Iphiginia. “Good Lord. So Masters has decided to do the proper thing by you, has he?”

“Yes, he has,” Bennet said staunchly. “The problem is that Iphiginia does not wish to marry him.”

Amelia appeared. “That is perfectly ridiculous. She will most certainly have to marry him.”

“Of course she will,” Corina decreed. “If my sister’s name has been linked to Masters’s in a fashion which has cast even the smallest shadow over her reputation, she has no choice but to marry him.”

Richard nodded soberly. “Quite right. If he fails to come up to scratch, I shall call him out.”

“Call Masters out?” Otis looked at him with alarm.

“Silence”
Iphiginia raised her hand to get everyone’s attention. “I said, silence.” When that failed, she made a fist and pounded loudly on the wall. “If you please.”

Silence finally descended. Everyone looked at her.

“Now, then,” Iphiginia said quite forcefully, “let us be clear about this matter. My connection with the Earl of Masters is no one’s business but my own. And his.”

Zoe sighed. “You may as well be realistic about this, Iphiginia. If he has made you an offer, you will have to accept it.”

“And be grateful for it,” Corina added bluntly. “Especially if your reputation has, indeed, been sullied.”

“Quite right,” Richard said.

“Enough.”
Iphiginia put her hands on her hips and glowered at the lot. “I will say this once and for all. I have absolutely no intention of marrying a man who, as Mr.
Cloud here has just pointed out, is incapable of the higher sentiments.”

“What higher sentiments?” Amelia asked.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Zoe demanded.

“Man’s got a fortune and a title,” Otis pointed out logically. “Should think that would compensate for any number of elevated feelings.”

“My brother will make you an excellent husband, Mrs. Bright,” Bennet said loyally. “Shouldn’t think the more refined emotions would be very important in your marriage. After all, you and Masters are both of an intellectual nature.”

“Bloody hell, what does that matter?” Iphiginia could have wept, she was so angry and overset. “Listen to me, all of you. I will not marry a man who has a rule against falling in love.”

A short, stark silence fell.

And then a large, familiar figure moved in the doorway.

“You have taught me to break most of my other rules, Iphiginia,” Marcus said quietly. “Teach me to break this one, too.”

Everyone turned, dumbfounded, toward Marcus. They had all been so busy arguing that none of them had heard him come up the steps and open the front door.

Iphiginia met his eyes. A rush of longing went through her. She loved him so much, she thought. She had always known that they had been meant for each other.

She had to believe that he could learn to love her.

“Oh, Marcus.”

She flew toward the doorway and sailed into his arms.

Marcus caught her close and held her very tightly.

T
HE NEWS THAT
D
ODGSON HAD SLITHERED OUT OF TOWN
shortly after dark went unremarked by virtually everyone except Amelia. She wept with relief.

The truly riveting news, as far as the Polite World was concerned, was the engagement of the Earl of Masters to his notorious mistress, Mrs. Bright.

Word of the betrothal and the plans for a speedy marriage by special license flew through the
ton
. The curious and the amazed as well as a number of genuine well-wishers lay in wait at every point along the park paths that afternoon.

Perched boldly atop the high seat of Marcus’s sleek black phaeton, Iphiginia met stare after stare with a cool smile and a regal inclination of her head. She and Marcus dealt with the comments and veiled questions with bland civility.

That evening the inquisition began anew at every ball and soiree.

Herbert came up to Iphiginia at the Binghams’ ball.

“Cannot blame them, y’know,” he said, slanting a glance at two turbaned matrons who had just finished
quizzing Iphiginia. “Word of your engagement took Society by surprise. I confess, I was rather startled, m’self.”

“So was I.” Iphiginia smiled at Herbert, relieved to see a friendly face. Zoe and Otis had disappeared a few minutes ago and Marcus, who had been helping her deal with the curious, had gone off to fetch some champagne.

Herbert gave her a kind, supportive smile, but his normally cheerful gaze was troubled. “No offense, m’dear, but are you certain you know what you’re doing? I realize that Masters is rich and there is the title. But marriage is a very serious proposition.”

“I assure you, I am aware of that.”

“Speaking as your friend, one who knows you infinitely better than Masters does, I beseech you to give the matter more consideration before you take any irrevocable steps. There are rumors that you intend to wed by special license. Surely you can wait before you rush into this?”