Tessa's Touch (31 page)

"Yes, it's true," Quinn told her.
"But I don't believe you have met my sister-in-law, Lady Peter Northrup,
nor—"

"Delighted, delighted," Lady Adelaide
interrupted with a distracted smile at Sarah. "Tell me, Lady Marcus, will
Lord Anthony be at Lady Twyford's ball tomorrow night? He all but offered for
me last Spring, you know, so I am determined that when he first sees me, he
will be completely smitten again."

Quinn's laugh sounded forced, ringing harshly
in Tessa's stunned ears. "I fear you may have overestimated his interest,
Lady Adelaide," she said. "As it happens—"

But now Lady Adelaide laughed in her turn.
"Oh, I think not." Then, lowering her voice to a carrying whisper
that Tessa had no difficulty hearing, "We became rather, ah, intimate, if
truth be told. Had my father known, he would have insisted on marriage before
now, but of course I preferred to wait for a proper declaration from dear
Anthony."

Tessa swallowed painfully. This beauty, this
titled Lady, had been on the point of marrying Anthony last Spring? Had been .
. . intimate with him? Mistresses were one thing, but—

"I have someone else to introduce to you,
Lady Adelaide," Quinn said firmly, turning. "This is my newest
sister-in-law, Lady Anthony Northrup."

* *
*

CHAPTER 19

If the floor had opened to swallow her at that
moment, Tessa would have been eternally grateful. As it did not, she had no
choice but to come forward, a smile pinned painfully to her face.

"I am pleased to make your acquaintance,
Lady Adelaide," she forced herself to say.

Lady Adelaide looked no more pleased than Tessa
felt, turning pale, then flushing red. Tessa hoped fervently she was hiding her
own feelings better than the newcomer seemed able to do.

"Lady . . . Anthony," Lady Adelaide
said flatly, her eyes narrowing as they swept Tessa from head to toe.
"What a . . . surprise, to be sure."

With an effort, Tessa clung to her smile.
"I suppose it would be, as our marriage was quite recent. I don't believe
there has yet been an announcement in the London papers."

"No. No, there hasn't." Lady
Adelaide's eyes flicked from Tessa to Quinn and back. She looked confused and
hurt, as well she might, Tessa thought. Despite her own discomfort, she felt a
flicker of sympathy for the woman, imagining how she herself would feel in Lady
Adelaide's place. But surely Anthony hadn't really—

"I believe the Duchess chose to wait until
Lord and Lady Anthony were in Town to make the announcement," Quinn said
then, interrupting Tessa's unsettling line of thought. "They were married
quietly in the country, as Lady Anthony's father is an invalid and therefore
unable to travel."

"I see." Lady Adelaide's eyes
swiveled back to Tessa. "Lord Anthony always did have a soft spot for hard
luck cases. You are to be congratulated."

Then, without another word, she turned and
swept out of the shop, leaving the shopkeeper and other customers open-mouthed.

"What cheek!" Quinn exclaimed as soon
as the door closed behind her. "I'm certain that when I saw her and Lord
Anthony at the same gathering last summer, he paid her no special attention.
Clearly, her expectations were all on one side."

Tessa burned to ask about the
"intimacy" Lady Adelaide had mentioned, but of course could not do so
in front of the shopkeeper —not that Quinn would necessarily know the truth,
anyway.

"I . . . I've decided on these flowers, I
think," she said instead, desperate to divert her thoughts for fear she
might cry in public, disgracing herself yet again.

Taking her cue, Quinn and Sarah fell to
discussing the various items she needed to purchase, and a few minutes later
the trio left the shop, rather more subdued than when they'd entered it.

"Pray take no notice of what Lady Adelaide
said," Quinn implored her as they settled themselves in the carriage to return
to their homes. "Whenever someone like Anthony marries, some ladies are
bound to be disappointed. They weave fantasies about handsome and eligible
gentlemen, and some manage to convince themselves that their fancies are
truth."

Sarah nodded vigorously. "She's right.
I've heard numerous stories of women making complete cakes of themselves,
simply because they had convinced themselves that some man felt more than he
truly did."

"Thank you. Thank you both," Tessa
said, managing a shaky smile. She herself had been guilty of weaving fantasies
about Anthony after meeting him—but her dreams had come true.

Hadn't they?

* *
*

"You must be joking." Marcus eyed the
tall, red-and-white skewbald gelding with obvious misgiving. "Not only is
he foul-tempered, he's too big for a lady —and ugly, to boot. You can't
possibly put your wife on such an animal."

Anthony grinned. "I might ask why you have
such an animal in your stables, if he has nothing to recommend him."

His youngest brother grimaced. "Quinn saw
him being mistreated by some tinker and insisted on rescuing him—by buying him.
I believe even she has come to regret the impulse, however."

"I have to agree with Marcus," Peter
put in. "We've looked at half a dozen horses that would make better mounts
for Tessa than this monstrosity."

But Anthony was firm. "I want her to try
this one first."

"As far as I know, he's not even broken to
sidesaddle," Marcus cautioned him. "Certainly we haven't attempted to
put one on him. In truth, he'd be better suited for a cart horse —or the
knacker."

Peter shook his head. "He'd overturn a
cart, I've no doubt. I still don't understand, Anthony —but I presume you have
some method to your madness?"

"I do, indeed. Let's see if we can find a
sidesaddle to fit him, shall we?"

He wasn't about to tell his brothers about
Tessa's crisis of confidence last night, but he thought a difficult horse might
be the very thing to restore it, reminding her that she was indeed special.
While he'd have preferred a prettier animal, that really wasn't the point. She
needed something to distract her from her worries about being accepted by his
parents and Society, and he was fairly sure this fellow would do just that.

Tessa arrived back at Marland House only a few
minutes after Anthony, two footmen trailing her from the carriage, laden with
purchases.

"You appear to have made quite a haul, my
dear," he greeted her cheerfully. "Shall we go upstairs so that you
can show me all of your new fripperies?"

"If . . . if you'd like." Though he'd
have expected such a shopping expedition to lighten any feminine heart, Tessa's
expression was subdued, even guarded.

He waited until they were alone in Tessa's
chamber to ask, "What's wrong? Is it the money? I know it must seem
excessive, when you've had to pinch pennies in recent years, but—"

"No. Well, that is part of it, I suppose.
Quinn told me that the Duke and Duchess had agreed to bear the cost, if
necessary." He noticed that she did not face him as she spoke.

Anthony felt a spurt of irritation. "Kind
of them," he said, knowing full well that such an offer was rooted in
self-interest, "but it won't be necessary. I've a bit laid by. No fortune,
of course, but more than enough to dress my wife properly."

"That . . . that is good to know."
Still she did not meet his eye. "I would prefer not to be indebted to your
parents."

He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"There's something else, isn't there?"

She hesitated so long that he thought she
wasn't going to answer at all, but then she said, in an expressionless voice,
"We, ah, met an acquaintance of yours while shopping today. A Lady
Adelaide."

"Lady Adelaide?" It took him a moment
to place the name, but then he remembered the forward brunette who had been one
of several reasons he'd left Town early last summer. "Oh, yes. But— what
did she say? Was she rude to you?"

"Quinn thought so, but I imagine she was
simply too surprised to think before she spoke. She seemed quite . . . taken
aback when she learned of our marriage."

Anthony grimaced, remembering Lady Adelaide's
triumphant smugness when she'd inveigled him into a most unwise kiss at the
Creamcroft ball last Season. They hadn't been seen, thank heaven, and he'd been
careful not to be alone with her again, but she'd made it clear she considered
his moment of weakness tantamount to a declaration.

She'd begun accosting him at every gathering,
even going so far as to write his name on her dance card herself on one
occasion. He'd been pursued by other ladies —or their mamas on their behalf
—but Lady Adelaide had been the most importunate. He'd felt like a fox on the
run from a very determined hound.

Between her pursuit and that of two or three
other determined young ladies, he'd decided to go North immediately after
Marcus's wedding to shoot grouse before cub hunting and then fox hunting began.
Now he wondered if that had been wise, for there was no knowing what stories
Lady Adelaide might have put about in his absence.

"Lady Adelaide formed, ah, expectations
based on the slightest of attentions and refused to be discouraged, though I
did try, believe me," he finally told Tessa. "I promise you she was
nothing to me."

"I see," Tessa said quietly, though
he wasn't sure she really did. "Quinn said the same, though of course she
was not in London until summer." She turned away again. "Lady
Adelaide is very beautiful."

Anthony took two quick steps to grasp Tessa by
the shoulders, then turned her to face him.

"Lady Adelaide is pretty, yes, like a
hundred other simpering London misses, but she holds not one tenth the attraction
for me that you do, Tessa. Not only are you far more beautiful than you
realize, but you have a strength of character that is exceedingly rare —and
that appeals to me far more than mere beauty ever could."

Finally, she brought her gaze to his, her lovely
brown eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "Truly?" she breathed.

"Truly," he replied firmly. "You
are the only woman I care for, Tessa. The only woman I've ever really cared
for. Why do you think I insisted upon marrying you?"

For a long moment she stared at him, as though
trying to divine his true thoughts from his expression. Then, to his relief,
she smiled —not a happy smile, but a smile, nonetheless. "Thank you,
Anthony. I'm sorry I doubted you."

Bending down, he kissed her lingeringly on the
lips. "I can't help feeling it is yourself you have doubted, more than me,
Tessa. But come, show me what you've bought. After that we'll have a spot of
tea and then I have a surprise for you."

He was doubly glad now that he hadn't listened
to his brothers' advice in the matter of that horse. That snappish skewbald was
just the thing to restore Tessa's confidence.

* *
*

Tessa was feeling much more herself after a
light luncheon accompanied by light conversation about London and Society, which
allowed her to momentarily forget her worries. The Duchess and Lady Bagstead
largely ignored her, but she didn't mind that. Quite the contrary, in fact.

They had just finished eating, and the other
two ladies had gone upstairs to dress for an afternoon engagement, when Quinn,
Sarah, and their husbands arrived.

"Marcus tells me you've found a mount for
Tessa, but he refuses to tell me which horse it is," Quinn said.

Tessa glanced at Anthony. "Is this the
surprise you spoke of?"

He nodded. "Let's all walk round to the
mews and you can tell me what you think. Then, if everyone is amenable, we can
take a ride in the Park, as the fog has lifted for the moment."

They waited while Tessa went up to change into
her best riding attire —the fashionable new habit she'd ordered wouldn't be
ready for two or three days —then they all walked down Grosvenor Square and
around the corner to the mews that ran between Brook and Grosvenor Streets.

"I hope you don't mind the walk,"
Quinn commented as they approached Lord Marcus's stables. "I suppose most
people would drive, even though it would doubtless take longer."

"Goodness, no." Tessa tried to hide
her amusement. "Why, it's three or four times as far from the house to the
stables at Wheatstone, and I walk it several times a day." Were people in
London really so lazy —or so bound by propriety? If so, she really would never
fit in.

"Here we are," Anthony announced
then. "What think you of this fellow, Tessa?"

She looked up at the rangy red-and-white
blotched gelding he indicated and blinked. It was perhaps the least attractive
horse she'd ever seen, and the angle of its ears implied that its disposition
by no means made up for its appearance.

"Anthony!" Quinn exclaimed before she
could speak. "This is a joke, is it not? Which horse have you really
chosen for Tessa?"

Sarah, carefully keeping her distance from the
gelding, looked to Lord Peter, who shrugged. "This is the one he insisted
upon, is it not, Marcus?"

Lord Marcus nodded. "We both tried to
dissuade him, believe me. But he was quite insistent. Perhaps now you can tell
us why?"

Tessa glanced up at Anthony, who was grinning.
"I thought Tessa might enjoy the challenge. Though of course, my dear, if
you think he will be beyond you, we can find another mount —one of your choosing."

"I should think so," Quinn declared.
"This brute isn't—"

"I'll try him," Tessa interrupted
her, glancing back at the gelding, whose ears pricked forward at the sound of
her voice. "He is already saddled, after all."

Quinn stared at her, openmouthed, then turned
on her husband. "And how did you even manage to get that sidesaddle on
him?" she demanded. "I know just how bad-tempered that horse is,
Marcus —not that it's his fault. He was badly mistreated by his previous
owner," she explained to Tessa.

"It did take two grooms and a stable lad
to saddle him," Lord Marcus confessed. "Really, Anthony, I must
insist—"

But Anthony shook his head. "It's Tessa's
decision."

"Tessa, you mustn't," Quinn pleaded.
"His mouth is like leather and he's a biter, as well as a kicker. I know
Anthony says you're a remarkable rider, but this horse could do you a serious
injury —and I'd never forgive myself if that happened."