Newport Summer (10 page)

“I think it’s all a bit precipitous,” Audrey said firmly,
taking a swallow of her wine to hide her anxiety. “We
need to know more about him.”

Violet smiled again. “You’re absolutely right, my
dear. We have all summer to get to know him better, but
so does everyone else. I wouldn’t want to see him get
distracted.”

Wilson jumped in, waving his fork excitedly. “It’s all
supply and demand, Audrey. Here, there’s only the one
earl to go around. We can’t play too loosely with his attentions. It’s not like being in England, where’s there’s
more on hand to pick from. Just today, I was explaining
supply and demand to..

Audrey hid a smile. Her father would be off on that
tangent for at least half an hour. Economics was his favorite topic, just as marriage was her mother’s. Put the
two of those subjects together, and they’d have one
heck of a conversation-a conversation they didn’t need
her for, which was just as well.

She had a lot on her mind. On one level, the plan was
going well. Gannon was poised to make his first successful investment with her father. Her parents were both distracted from suitor-hunting by the attentions
Gannon was paying her. He’d definitely planted the right
seeds in her mother’s mind as to the seriousness of his
intentions. Meanwhile, she had to assure herself and
Gannon that it was all a game. His intentions were a
facade, and they had to remain that way, as did her
responses.

The near slipup today in the garden could have been
disastrous. It proved that the attraction between them
could definitely be from a source other than their mutual need to preserve their marriage-free status. When
she saw him at the Casino tomorrow, she’d have to tell
him to ease up on the ardent courtship. Thanks to her
mother’s comments, she had an idea how to do that.

Gannon was waiting for her inside the main courtyard. He was dressed in tennis whites and talking avidly
with Lionel Carrington when her group arrived. Gannon’s appearance could hardly appear less contrived.
The racquet in his hand made it obvious he was there to
play tennis. Audrey’s mother would suspect nothing, yet
she missed nothing. Violet immediately noted Gannon’s
presence and steered the little group across the immaculate lawns of the Horseshoe Piazza to greet him.

Gannon was all manners, exchanging polite conversation with her mother and the other women with her.
Yes, he’d played a little tennis in England. Yes, he’d be
at the Lewis ball that evening.

It wasn’t good form to linger overlong with small talk, and Audrey’s mother saw to it that the conversation was
done before more than five minutes passed. “We don’t
wish to keep you gentlemen from the courts, so we shall
be off. Audrey has a fitting at Worth’s for her gown for
Caroline’s Summer Ball.”

“We don’t have a court reservation until eleven-thirty,”
Gannon said smoothly. “Perhaps I could walk with Audrey over to Worth’s? I have yet to see the famed heart of
Newport fashion.”

Her mother couldn’t resist the chance to show off Audrey on the arm of the handsome earl to all her friends
and anyone else they passed.

“Do you read everyone like a book?” Audrey asked
as she and Gannon made the most of walking ahead of
the group.

Gannon chuckled. “It gets easier to do over time. It’s
not hard to figure out what most people want and then
give it to them”

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll be brief,” Audrey
said, casting a furtive glance behind her. “I need you to
pay attention to other girls.”

Gannon shot her a confused look. “Why? I thought
the plan was to be your suitor.”

“It is, but it looks too easy, too pat. We’ll never be able
to drag it out all summer if there isn’t a little drama,” Audrey insisted.

“Ah, I see exactly what you mean. So, I am to dance
and flirt with the other girls for a bit, perhaps even settle some attentions on one or two of them, in order to keep Newport guessing as to where my attentions are
fixed?”

“Exactly. Two weeks should be enough,” Audrey said,
feeling quite pleased with her efforts to circumvent her
mother’s well-laid plans.

Unfortunately, it was much easier to prescribe the
needed remedy than it was to take one’s medicine, Audrey soon realized. She valiantly hid a grimace that night
at the Lewis ball while she watched Gannon sweep a
pretty cousin of their host around the ballroom with his
customary grace. Audrey uncharitably wished the girl
would step on his toes, selfishly wanting Gannon to only
dance that well with her. But it looked as if he danced divinely no matter whom he partnered. By the ninth dance,
her mother had noticed too.

“You’re losing him, Audrey” Violet St. Clair flipped
open her hand-painted fan with practiced grace at Audrey’s side. “He left your side after the first dance and
hasn’t been back since.” She gave a disdainful sniff.
“You’re managing him poorly”

“He’s not a child or a dog to be `managed,’ ” Audrey
shot back in a quiet voice of steel. “He’s a man who is
free to come and go as he pleases”

Violet turned to stare at Audrey. “Then may it please
him to do more coming than going where you’re concerned. He is a spectacular catch. Give him a reason to
stay”

Audrey’s temper escalated. “He’s a poor man, Mother.
Like other Englishmen, he has debts and mortgages that have to be paid. Since when has debt defined spectacular?”

“Since that debt came attached to a title.” Violet
wasn’t the least intimidated by Audrey’s burst of temper.
Instead, she met it with equal steel, which made Audrey
all the angrier. “You’re a fool not to see the possibilities,
Audrey.”

Audrey was starting to think her mother was right, at
least about the “fool” part. It had only been one night,
and already she was regretting her plan. How would she
ever last the agreed-upon two weeks?

Two weeks of balls and picnics had passed in agonizing slowness for Gannon, filled as they were with an
endless parade of uninteresting girls and not nearly
enough of Audrey St. Clair. In fact, the absence of Audrey from his circle of acquaintances was precisely the
reason that breakfast at Rose Bluff was a stilted affair
following the weekly Casino ball. Gannon tried to ignore
the tension at the breakfast table by focusing on one of
the New York papers that had been placed by his plate.
He shot covert looks at Lionel and Stella. Had they
fought? He had no idea of knowing what had caused this
shift in the usually comfortable atmosphere. But then, the
last week and a half had been nothing but a miserable blur
of parties and balls.

He’d danced with so many girls, after a while they
all looked the same in their pink and white dresses.
Goodness knew, their small talk didn’t set them apart.

He missed Audrey, even though he hadn’t been entirely
absent from her side during their planned hiatus. He’d
danced once a night with her, making it clear to society
that he had not shunned her company. He made a point to
have regular conversations at the Reading Room and at
Bailey’s Beach with her father to keep the business connection strong. But it wasn’t enough. It was plain to him
that there was no one in Newport he wanted to spend time
with beyond Audrey. He was eager to reclaim his position
at her side.

Gannon wondered if she felt the same. He’d seen her
dancing and chatting animatedly with several young
men who were no doubt richer than he was. Did she
miss him too? He turned the page of the paper, belatedly
realizing he hadn’t read anything on the prior sheet.

Stella set her coffee cup down in its saucer with a
sharp clank that drew Gannon’s attention. He peered
over the rim of his newspaper. “Is everything all right?”
He hesitated, sending an inquiring plea in Lionel’s direction, but Lionel seemed as uninformed as he was as
to the source of Stella’s pique.

“No, everything is not all right, Camberly,” Stella said
sharply. “You had the St. Clair chit dangling after you
practically since your arrival, and you’ve hardly looked
in her direction these past two weeks. I’ve tried to hold
my tongue, but after last night, I must speak out. Only
one dance, and you didn’t offer to take her into supper!”

Gannon set down his paper. “You’re angry because I
didn’t spend enough time with Miss St. Clair? Weren’t you the one who told me not to make it easy on her?”
He turned to Lionel. “What’s that American phrase you
like to use? `Hard to get’?”

Stella rolled her eyes. “Yes, Gannon, play hard to
get, not impossible to get. Your credibility will take a
tumble once Wilson St. Clair runs a background check
on you and discovers what a shambles your finances are
in. You need to be entrenched with the St. Clairs before
that happens. If he likes you enough, he won’t let his
wife spread the gossip all over the town. Impoverished
nobles don’t get picnics thrown in their honor by Caroline Astor.”

“I’ve never pretended to be rich,” Gannon said quietly.

Stella threw her napkin onto the table in a huff. “You
had a plan, and your plan was succeeding admirably.
Then, last night, you turned your back on it. You could
have proposed, married, and been on a ship back to England at the beginning of fall with all your worries
solved, but you ignored Audrey St. Clair. That’s three
weeks of work gone to waste”

“My apologies,” Gannon said for lack of anything else
to say in the wake of Stella’s scolding. On the surface, she
was right. But Gannon couldn’t tell her what was really
going on. The thought of weathering a few more days of
Stella’s discontent and Audrey’s absence was daunting.
He needed a break from Newport. He’d prefer spending
the last days of Audrey’s plan in absentia.

“Lionel, when you leave for New York this evening,
I’d like to join you. I have some business I need to see to before I speak with Wilson St. Clair again.” Gannon
was careful not to say more about that business, although it made him feel quite awkward not to be able to
discuss the Hudson River Line deal with a close friend.
It was quite disconcerting to know he had too much riding on the investment to risk telling Lionel.

Gannon’s breakfast table wasn’t the only tense dining
experience taking place up and down Bellevue Avenue
that morning. In some houses, where daughters had
been singled out for the earl’s attention the night before,
mothers plotted their next moves to take advantage of
the situation. At Audrey’s, the tension didn’t reach them
until noon, everyone having risen late due to the long
night. An envelope was waiting on a silver salver next to
her plate.

She reached for it and pulled out the short note. She
glanced at the signature at the bottom first. “It’s from
Camberly,” she informed the table, knowing her parents
wouldn’t stop staring at her until she told them. “He says
he’s going to New York with Mr. Carrington to see about
transferring funds for Father’s railroad deal. He’ll call on
us all when he returns.” Audrey looked triumphantly at
her mother. “See? The war is not lost. Camberly has not
deserted us”

She could kiss Gannon for his cleverness and forethought. Well, perhaps kissing him wasn’t a good idea.
But the sentiment was right. She never would have
calmed her mother down if Gannon had left for a few days without letting them know. Her mother would have
taken it as a sign of clear desertion.

“Of course Camberly hasn’t deserted us,” Wilson St.
Clair said, waving his fork in the air. “If he doesn’t do
right by our Audrey, I’ll destroy him financially. He’ll
live to regret his railroad investment.” He gave Audrey
a doting smile. “If he’s the one you want, he’s the one
you’ll have”

Audrey choked on a sip of water. Here was yet another unforeseen complication in her brilliant plan. So
far the “brilliant” part of her plan hadn’t materialized.
She was fast learning that people weren’t as predictable
as paper. She’d have to alert Gannon when he returned.
The line they needed to walk had just gotten thinner.

Gannon had never traveled much with the exception
of his annual pilgrimages to London for the Season. He
was a country man at heart, loving the open spaces of
his estate and the call of the land. Still, he spent a significant part of each year in London, and he knew his
way around a big city.

London was no backwater but an international center
from which it seemed all spokes of the world radiated.
Gannon supposed he was more than a bit guilty of seeing London as the sole hub of the world. After all, any
Englishman worth his salt had been brought up to see
the rightness of the British motto, “Make the world England.”

Even so, New York City was a marvel, hardly a provincial town full of colonial idiosyncracies. When he said as much to Lionel, Lionel had laughed, saying, “We have
those too, Gannon. If you want idiosyncracies, you can go
to Boston. They’ve got so many rules in their high society, it’s just no fun to be in the club”

Lionel was proud to show off his city and gladly took
Gannon everywhere. The day Lionel took him to Newspaper Row, where the major newspapers were headquartered, Gannon had to concentrate on not walking around
looking up. Lionel politely let him gawk at New York
Tribune Building before heading over to the GB Post
Produce Exchange on their way to the financial district.