Читать книгу Regency Affairs Part 2: Books 7-12 Of 12 - Ann Lethbridge - Страница 59

When Rosalie came downstairs the next day, the place seemed altogether quiet. Most of the soldiers were at their various places of work and Captain Stewart was also out on business, she was told.

For a while she read stories to Katy and Mary’s granddaughters, then helped with their lunch. But when it became clear that Alec would be absent all day, she grew restless.

‘Please let me do something to help you,’ Rosalie asked Mary, who as usual was busy in the kitchen with her baking and her laundry. ‘Are there any more shirts to mend?’

‘Lord bless you, I’ve got my two women, Janey and Bess, to help with that. But the sun’s shining, it’s a lovely afternoon. Why don’t you take the little ones into the garden to play?’

So Rosalie did. And looking round, while the girls busied themselves setting out their toys for a tea party, she could see how beautiful this place must once have been. Ajax had joined them, sprawling hopefully in the sun while Katy and her friends feasted on milk and fresh-baked scones. Rosalie smiled at the big golden dog. ‘Ajax. You are a good, good boy. Aren’t you?’ She slipped him a buttered scone and the dog snuggled closer to her side.

The children were absorbed in their make-believe party and the usual soldiers were around to watch them, so Rosalie, with Ajax at her heels, began to explore the overgrown thickets of shrubs that lay beyond the paved terrace. Under the ivy and sprawling wild clematis she found old stone urns, intricate paths and trellised arbours. Everywhere were vivid pockets of flowers and unpruned shrubs—blackthorns, primroses, buttercups and half-wild blue hyacinths that filled the air with their sweet scent. Flowers her mother had loved so.

As she returned to the terrace she became aware of Garrett leaning against the back door, watching her. ‘I was wonderin’ where that dog had got to,’ he said. ‘So you’ve been explorin’ our garden, ma’am, have you?’

She seized her chance. ‘Yes, and it’s beautiful! I don’t suppose, Mr Garrett—are there any tools I could borrow to clear it? A trowel, perhaps, and a pair of shears?’

He blinked. ‘You want to clear this ‘ere garden?’

‘Well, yes, just a little. Nobody would mind, would they?’

Eyepatch wasn’t Alec Stewart’s lieutenant for nothing. Within ten minutes he’d unearthed a store of ancient gardening implements from an old outhouse and recruited four ex-soldiers who couldn’t wait to take on their new role as gardeners.

Under Rosalie’s supervision, her team—three of them elderly, one a young lad, Mikey—began to turn the derelict old wilderness into something rather magical. Rosalie worked as well as keeping an eye on the children, who were making daisy chains to rope round the docile Ajax’s neck.

But every time she heard a man’s voice in the distance, she wondered if Alec was back yet.

In the evening she bathed Katy and put her to bed as usual. And as she headed down the stairs, she saw Alec standing in the hallway talking to Garrett.

Emotion jolted her. He must have come back a while ago and changed, because he was dressed formally, in the black tailcoat and cream breeches he’d worn at his father’s house yesterday. He had shaved. And brushed back his thick hair. He looked relaxed, and devastating.

Dressed for supper, at Two Crows Castle? She thought not. ‘I’ve got your horse ready, Captain,’ Garrett was saying.

Then Alec spotted Rosalie. ‘Mrs Rowland. I trust you’ve had a pleasant day?’

Rosalie came on down the stairs, forcing herself to sound calm. ‘Very pleasant, thank you, Captain. You’re going out this evening?’

‘To a party,’ he answered, absently fingering his starched neckcloth. ‘A long-standing invitation, I’m afraid.’

A cold fist was squeezing the air from her lungs. He was going to a place that was part of his world, and of course she wasn’t in it … For heaven’s sake, you little fool, once he was betrothed to the granddaughter of a duke!

‘You sound regretful,’ she said mildly. ‘But I hope you enjoy yourself—and I like your Gordian Knot.’

His hand flew to his cravat. ‘You’re knowledgeable.’

‘Oh, I once wrote an article about men’s neckwear for The Scribbler—’ She broke off. Idiot. He hates your writing.

But his handsome face relaxed into a smile that made her insides turn over. ‘Then I’m flattered that you approve of my choice.’

Mentally she was flaying herself. Yesterday at his father’s house she’d dared to wonder if he’d put on those clothes to impress her. How stupid could she be?

He was smoothing his coat sleeves, glancing down to check his gleaming topboots. ‘How is Katy?’

‘Oh, she’s sleeping now, but she was happy, very happy, with the toys you allowed Mary to buy for her yesterday, thank you. That little horse nearly went in the bath with her!’

Another flicker of a smile. ‘I’m sorry I have to go out. We must find time to speak in the morning, Mrs Rowland.’ He looked, for a moment, as if he was about to say something else. Then he quickly bowed his head and left.

She went to sit down in the little parlour off the hall. She’d wanted to talk to him, oh, about the garden, and about Linette, and—just talk to him. She felt hollow inside with his departure. She caught a sharp breath, surprised at how she could physically hurt so.

And then, through the open door, she heard Garrett saying in a low voice to McGrath, ‘So she’s back in town. That’s why he’s goin’ to this fancy ball, our Captain. Dear God, she’s beautiful, but she’s wrecked his life, and you’d think he’d have more sense than to get within a hundred miles of her …’ They wandered on towards the kitchen where the soldiers gathered in the evening.

And Rosalie had no doubt at all that they were speaking of his lost heiress. She could almost hear Alec’s voice—’She was in love with a make-believe hero and must count herself lucky to have broken it off.’ He was too proud, far too proud, to admit to anyone, let alone Rosalie, that he still had longings for what could never be.

‘I hope we can at least be friends,’ Alec had said to her earlier.

She felt like writing his words on her tormented heart. Friends, Mrs Rowland, you idiot. And with that, you will be content. Do you understand?

A small string orchestra played discreetly in a corner of the grand salon of Lord Fanton’s house in exclusive Sackville Street and the chink of glasses punctuated the murmur of polite conversation. It had been a long time since Alec had been anywhere like this.

Lord Lucas Conistone, laconic and immaculate, was at his side—in fact, they’d arrived together—and Lucas was murmuring, ‘Brace yourself, dear fellow. Can’t be worse than when you and I dressed up as Spanish peasants to sneak inside French-held Badajoz!’

‘How we got away with it,’ breathed Alec, ‘God knows. Both of us are too damned tall.’

‘And your Spanish was execrable,’ accused Lucas with a grin.

‘At least I didn’t let myself be waylaid by every Spanish señorita who gave me a pretty smile!’

‘They weren’t just after me!’ retorted Lucas merrily. ‘Good Lord, those females were baiting their traps for you, too, just as they are now!’

Indeed, people were watching them and murmuring behind raised hands. The presence of Lord Conistone was always noteworthy at any social event, and though Alec was known to be estranged for some reason from his father, society’s foremost hostesses were always eager to have a handsome war hero who was also the son of an earl to adorn their gatherings.

Soon the two men were in the midst of a babble of old army colleagues, though after a while Lucas was swept away to talk politics, since some of his Whig associates were hoping to persuade him into a government post. But before he went, he was at Alec’s side, saying quietly, ‘All right if I move on, old friend?’

‘Certainly. I’ll see you later, Lucas.’

Because the conversation Alec had come here for had to be held in private.

Alec had called at his father’s house on his way, to be regaled by Jarvis with the tale of Stephen’s reaction last night to the missing food. ‘Was my brother angry, Jarvis?’

‘You could say that, sir.’ Jarvis’s cheeks creased in a smile. ‘His guests left almost as soon as they arrived, once Lord Stephen told them there was no food or drink.’

Alec pictured the scene. ‘I hope he didn’t take it out on you?’

‘I pointed out, Master Alec, that the tradesmen’s bills were in the Earl’s name and that, since the Earl was away, I’d no clear idea for whom the goods were intended. As far as I was aware, you, sir, had as much right to the food and wine as Lord Stephen!’

‘You’re a good man, Jarvis.’ Alec looked around the big hall. ‘What about the paintings?’

‘Lord Stephen said nothing about them whatsoever, sir. But he noticed those labels you’d asked me to fasten on. And only an hour ago, he was back here bringing in some new ones—or should I say, the originals, sir—and telling me some story about mistakes having been made at the restorer’s shop!’

Alec had smiled grimly at the thought of Stephen’s angry confusion. And now, at Lord Fanton’s, he continued to mingle with the top-lofty guests and even allowed himself to be pressed into introductions by the determined mamas of marriageable daughters. ‘He’s the younger son of the Earl of Aldchester, you know,’ he heard the old tabbies whispering avidly. ‘There’s some sort of family problem, and sweet Lady Emilia found him just a little difficult. But even so, he’s a catch, my dears, a catch!’

Alec talked and smiled politely, but he never stopped watching as the guests arrived; he didn’t have to wait long. He felt all his muscles tensing as she came in. She was so breathtakingly beautiful. No wonder everyone in the room turned to stare. No wonder his father had fallen in love with her so irrevocably.

Though the dancing had begun, Alec resisted suggestions that he might lead some fair maiden on to the floor. Likewise he refused invitations to a game as his friends moved through to the card room. Really he was just waiting for the moment he’d come here for.

He heard, at last, her silken voice at his shoulder. ‘Alec, my dear. You got my note.’

The feline purr was all too familiar. Alec turned slowly to see Susanna, with her gleaming dark curls, her porcelain skin and sultry, dark-blue eyes.

‘I got your note, yes, Susanna,’ he said. ‘You wanted to see me.’

She put her hand on his arm. ‘And so you came. But they tell me you have not been to any affairs of the ton for, oh, many months! I remember you when I first set eyes on you, Alec. Dancing, laughing, surrounded by beautiful women, always—’

He drew his arm away abruptly. ‘Susanna. I didn’t actually come to enjoy the party.’

‘Ah,’ she sighed, ‘the ennui of the times. You military men weary quickly, I think, of London’s frivolities after the adventure of war.’ The candlelight was glittering on her pale-pink satin gown, on the stupendous jewels—Aldchester heirlooms—that she wore to emphasise her allure. She toyed with her pearl-encrusted fan. ‘Or perhaps you simply avoid society wherever you think I might be.’

His eyes grew harder. ‘Perhaps I’ve come tonight because I heard rumours. And perhaps I wanted to know if they were true.’

She shrugged her gleaming bare shoulders. ‘Ah—rumours, maybe, that you have brought my better nature to the fore, Alec! But you know, my dear, you always do that.’

‘I wish I didn’t know that was a lie,’ he said quietly.

Her eyes glittered. ‘If you are not careful, I vow I shall look for someone else to dally with!’

He put his hand swiftly on her arm. ‘Don’t, Susanna,’ he said tersely. ‘Don’t for God’s sake lower yourself with light and stupid jests, especially when you were perhaps starting to raise yourself in my estimation.’

She went still. ‘So you’ve heard, then? That I have put an end to my—dalliance with your brother? It is indeed true. Alas—’ she wafted her fan ‘—Stephen was becoming tedious. He visited us at Carrfields and I told him it was over.’

‘Searching for fresh entertainment, Susanna?’

Her exotic eyes narrowed. Then she said, ‘Can we move somewhere a little quieter?’

He guided her to the back of the room, away from the musicians and the dancing. And she began to tell him. ‘Your brother came to us at Carrfields, for two days. But of course that man of his, Markin—’ she shuddered ‘—was with him and my maid overheard them whispering. Something about a child, a little girl, that Stephen is desperate to get hold of.’

Alec froze.

‘And do you know, Alec,’ she went on, ‘that changed my mind about everything.’ She gazed up at him, her beautiful eyes for once clear and transparent. ‘Men like you, women like me, we can look after ourselves. But I am worried about this child—I believe Stephen really intends her some harm—and I thought that you, of all people, might have the resources to do something …’ She shivered suddenly. ‘There. That is all. Take me into the dancing, will you? People used to say what a handsome couple we made.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid I must go.’

He was already turning when she laid her gloved wrist on his arm. ‘Alec. Can’t you forgive me? It’s how I was brought up, you know, to take what I wanted, and believe me …’ she touched his cheek ‘… often I heartily wish it were not so! I only took up with Stephen to make you jealous. But I didn’t succeed, did I? You are a good man, Alec, perhaps the best I’ve known.’

‘I am a damned fool,’ he broke in bitterly. He was suddenly finding the odours of perfume and pomade almost overbearing. His jaw clenched, he made his bow to Susanna and went to find Lucas in the card room. His friend was standing watching a game, but came quickly over to join him.

‘News, Alec?’

‘Yes, and not good. Lucas, the woman and child that I told you about, that I’m sheltering at Two Crows Castle—they could be in danger. And some day soon I may have to bring them to you and Verena. It seems the peril is greater than I thought.’