Читать книгу His Lordship's Desire - Joan Wolf - Страница 10

Despite feeling tired when she got into bed after the party, Diana couldn’t fall asleep. Her mind was on Alex and, as she lay there on her back, her arm across her forehead, her mind drifted back to the day that they first had met.

She was seven years old when she came to live in the cottage on the grounds of Standish Court. She had come in June and Alex had been home from Eton. She remembered the confusion of the move, the anguished realization that her father was going far away and the pain of separation from the pony she had been riding at their last house. He had belonged to the local squire, who had allowed Diana to ride him as his son had outgrown him.

She had been immensely intimidated by the move. What was going to happen to her in such a place? At her old home she had had her father, her dog, her mother and her pony. Here, at Standish, there was only Mama, as her dog had died a few months previously. And Mama kept telling her how nice she must be to Lord and Lady Standish for letting them stay in this cottage.

It was a nice cottage, much larger and airier than their last house, but just down the road was the immenseness of Standish Court, where lived this aristocratic family to whom she had to be so grateful.

She remembered the first afternoon they were invited to take tea at Standish. Mama had dressed her in her best dress and they had waited for the trap that the countess was sending to pick them up. They were driven to the palace—for that is what it looked like to Diana—and taken through fabulous rooms hung with mirrors and paintings and decorated with classical statues, to a large sitting room where Lady Standish waited for them, with her five-year-old daughter at her side.

Diana had watched as Mama and Lady Standish exchanged hugs and kisses. Then Lady Standish had bent to her. “And this is Diana,” she said. “What a pretty girl you are. I am your mother’s cousin, Amelia. Would you like to give me a kiss?”

Obediently, Diana kissed the soft cheek of her mother’s cousin.

“And this is your cousin, Sally.”

Sally was a blue-eyed, blond-haired cherub. She smiled at Diana. “Hello,” she said.

“Hello,” Diana replied.

Everyone settled down. The tea tray was brought, and lemonade for Sally and Diana.

Lady Standish said apologetically, “Alex was supposed to be here. I can’t imagine what is keeping him.”

On that note, the door opened and a boy dressed in riding clothes came in. He had black hair and sky-blue eyes and he said politely to his mother, “I’m sorry I’m late, Mama. I got delayed in the stable.”

Lady Standish sighed. “You’re always in the stable, Alex. Can’t you find something else to do?”

“Nothing that I like as much,” he said.

Diana was immediately drawn to the boy. “Do you have a lot of horses in your stable?” she asked him.

He looked at her. “Yes,” he said.

How wonderful, she thought.

“If you need any help exercising them, I’d be happy to help,” she said. “I used to exercise the squire’s son’s pony when we lived at home.”

He looked her up and down. “How old are you?”

“I’m almost eight. And I can ride anything.”

The boy’s black eyebrows shot up. “I doubt that.”

“I can!” she shot back. “The squire used to say that I was the best natural rider he’d ever seen!”

“Diana,” her mother chided gently. “Don’t brag, darling. It’s not becoming.”

“It’s not bragging, it’s true,” she insisted. “He did say that, Mama. Truly he did.”

The boy’s blue eyes narrowed. “Well, we’ll see about that,” he said.

“You can ride my pony, Diana,” Sally said. “He is very sweet.”

Diana gave Sally a radiant smile. “Thank you.”

After that the two ladies talked and the children drank their lemonade and ate cake from the tea tray. Then a big man with graying black hair and ordinary blue eyes came into the room.

That must be the earl, Diana thought.

“My lord,” Lady Standish said with pleasure. “I wasn’t sure you would be able to join us.”

He smiled. “Of course I wanted to be here to greet Mrs. Sherwood and her daughter. We are very glad to have you at Standish, ma’am.”

Diana’s mother’s cheeks were flushed. “Thank you, my lord. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate your generosity.”

“Not at all,” he said. “The cottage was just lying there empty. Happy to have it used.”

Diana looked at the earl curiously. When it came her turn to be introduced, she curtseyed and smiled at the large man who was suddenly so important in her life. He smiled back and called her a very pretty little girl. People had been calling Diana a very pretty little girl ever since she could remember, so it made little impression on her. She looked from the earl to his son. Alex looked like his father, except for his extraordinary eye color.

Diana was conscious of Alex looking at her and she looked boldly back. She had every intention of pushing him to allow her to ride Sally’s pony.

When the tea was over, and the Sherwoods stood to leave, Diana went over to Alex and asked, “When can I come to ride the pony?”

He stared down at her. “Come tomorrow morning. We’ll go for a ride together so I can see how brilliant you are.” There was a definite sarcastic note in his voice.

The following morning Diana rose early and dressed in her riding habit, which consisted of a brown divided skirt and an old brown jacket. She fastened her hair at the nape of her neck and set off for Standish on foot. It was only a little under two miles and she walked it in good time. When she reached the stable yard Alex was just coming in riding a solid-looking chestnut gelding. Diana’s face fell.

“I thought you said we would go riding together today!” she accused him.

“How did you get here?” he asked.

“I walked.”

He looked at her feet. “In your boots?”

“Yes.”

He looked her up and down, taking in her divided skirt. “Do you ride astride?”

“Yes. The squire’s groom who taught me said it would be safer for me to learn that way.”

“All right,” he said briskly. “We’ll give you a chance.” He turned to one of the grooms. “Danny, bring out Lady Sarah’s pony. And don’t put a sidesaddle on him.”

Diana could feel her heart begin to beat harder. She had to impress this boy so he would allow her to ride his horses. Her heart fell when a very small, thick-bodied pony was led out of the stable. “He’s so little,” she said involuntarily.

“Sally is little,” Alex said.

Diana bit her lip and didn’t say anything else. She didn’t think it was going to be much fun riding Sally’s pony.

“His name is Moses,” Alex said. “Come along over to the riding ring so I can judge your riding style.”

Diana followed him beyond the stable to an enclosed ring with a smooth dirt surface. Alex opened the gate and led the pony in. Diana followed.

“Do you need help getting into the saddle?” he asked.

She cast him a scornful look. “No.” She put her foot in the stirrup and swung up. There wasn’t very far to go. The squire’s pony had been a full hand taller than Moses.

“Just ride him around the rail and let me see how you do,” Alex said. She cast him a disgusted look. How was she supposed to show her riding skills on a pony that was much too small for her?

She put the pony on the rail and closed her legs to send him forward. He ambled off. Diana frowned and pressed her legs harder. He went from an amble into a walk. They went around the enclosure once and Diana said to Alex, “I need a whip.”

He got her one. She squeezed her legs again and applied the whip smartly behind her leg. The pony broke into a trot. She pushed him some more. After two more rounds she had him trotting forward. In another round she had him going before her leg.

“Stop!” Alex called.

Obediently, she halted, then walked over to where he was standing outside the fence. He was grinning. “I’ve never seen that pony move so fast.”

“He certainly doesn’t want to move,” Diana returned. “The squire’s pony was a speed demon compared with this one.”

“Sally likes him. He’s a good beginner pony. He will just follow along when we go out on the trails and she never has to worry about him doing something stupid.”

“Doing something stupid would take too much energy,” Diana said scornfully.

“You’re a good rider,” Alex said. “But you’re too small to ride our horses. You’d be like a fly on top of them. You have no body or legs to hold them.”

Diana’s heart sank. She wasn’t going to be able to ride. She looked at him, her eyes tragic.

“There’s my old pony,” he offered. “I talked Papa into keeping him for Sally to grow into, but he’s been doing nothing ever since I got my new horse. He might be a bit of a handful.”

Her eyes sparkled. “I won’t mind that. I’ll straighten him out.”

“Let me ride him for a few days, to get the kinks out of him. Then we’ll try you on him.”

“What’s his name?” Diana asked eagerly.

“Jonathan. He’s a grand pony. I was sorry when I outgrew him.”

Diana smiled. “Thank you, Alex. If I couldn’t ride I think I would just wither away and die.”

He looked back at her. “It means that much to you?”

“Yes.”

He smiled. “You’re a great girl, Diana. I think we’re going to get along just fine.”

Diana flung her arm off her forehead and rolled over on her side. What was the point of going over old times? The past was the past. It was true that she and Alex had become companions, riding out together every morning. He had friends in the neighborhood, but he didn’t despise her company when he had nothing else to do.

She had adored him. He was two years older than she, and a boy. She’d looked up to him and admired him and felt honored whenever he sought out her company. Sally, at five, was too young for her. She’d dreaded the day when he would be going back to school.

I fell in love with him when I was seven years old, she thought now as she lay restless in her bed. It wasn’t fair. He was the only friend I had. I didn’t have a chance.

Well my eyes are opened now. I might have loved him, but he didn’t love me. Not really. If he had truly loved me he never would have left me to go into the army.

She curled up into a ball and finally she fell asleep.

The next two weeks were busy as Lady Standish made ready to move her household to London. True to his word, Alex retired William, who was not at all adverse to the idea of being the master of his own time in a snug little cottage close to a good fishing stream, and Alex found a younger replacement, an ex-soldier who had been wounded and retired from the Peninsula army. Thomas lacked the smooth, finished manners of their old coachman, but he was an excellent driver.

The butler, Henrys, would be coming with them to London, as would the cook, Lady Standish’s personal maid, the young maid who helped to look after Sally, and Alex’s valet, who had come back from the Peninsula with him. As Alex was bringing three riding horses as well as the carriage horses, several grooms would be accompanying them as well. Margaret and Maria were staying at home with their governess, Lady Standish not wanting the children underfoot while she was so preoccupied.

The Sherwoods had far fewer encumbrances than did the Devizes. In fact, they had only one trunk that was filled with all their clothes.

On the morning that they started out for London, there were five carriages—two for the family plus three hired vehicles to carry the servants and the luggage. Alex drove his father’s phaeton, an open, high-wheeled carriage with room for two or three people on the front seat. He had asked Diana if she would like to ride with him, but she had told him to take Sally.

“She gets sick if she travels for too long inside a carriage. She will do better in the phaeton,” she said. “I, on the other hand, prefer to ride in the comfort of the carriage.”

He had acquiesced and so had the chance to spend several hours in the sole company of his sister. She had written to him faithfully during the three years that he was in the Peninsula and had been his chief source of information about Diana. He thought he would use this chance to pump her for as much information as he could get about her best friend.

“Is Mama footing the bill for Dee’s come-out?” he asked bluntly after they had finished driving through the village.

“Of course,” Sally said. “There is no way Cousin Louisa could afford such a thing herself. Papa wouldn’t have done it. He liked Diana, but he felt he was doing enough by housing her and her mother. But Mama and Cousin Louisa are very close—and have become even closer since Papa died.”

“So it was Mama’s idea to bring Diana out with you.”

“Actually it was my idea,” Sally said. She tied her bonnet a little more tightly against the wind. “It will be much more fun for me if Diana is with me—she has a way of making the world around her seem brighter, more exciting. And she’s not a bit shy—like I am.”

“It was nice of you, Sal,” he said soberly. “Not every girl would want to be compared to Diana.” He turned his head and smiled at her. “But you have turned into a very beautiful girl, yourself.”

Sally blushed. “Thank you, Alex. My only real worry is that Mama said that Diana’s lack of money would limit the number of men who would ask for her.”

Alex felt a little relieved by this assessment. The fewer rivals he had, the better.

Sally shook her head. “I don’t agree with Mama, though. I think Diana has a very good chance of catching a rich man who won’t need her money. She is so very beautiful, you know. And besides that, she’s fun.”

Alex frowned.

“You used to be such good friends,” Sally continued. “Then you went off to war and she hardly mentioned your name the whole time you were gone. And now that you’re home, you still don’t talk.”

“She was angry with me for joining the army,” Alex said stiffly. He was staring straight ahead, over his horses’ backs. “I hardly think I should be punished for serving my country.”

“I think it’s because of her father,” Sally mused. “She never forgave him for going away and leaving her and her mother. Life hasn’t been easy for them, Alex. If it wasn’t for Mama, I don’t know what would have become of them.”

“He was a soldier,” Alex said. “He had to follow orders.”

“Yes. That’s precisely why Diana doesn’t like soldiers.” She put a brief hand on his knee. “Give her time, Alex. She’ll get over her anger once she gets used to having you around again.”

“Hmmph,” Alex said.

“I have to confess that I’m a little nervous about this come-out business,” Sally said.

They were crossing over a wooden bridge and the horses’ hooves thudded hollowly on the boards. “Why?” he said with surprise. “You’ll be one of the belles of the season, Sal. You’re so pretty and you’re the daughter—well, I suppose you’re now the sister—of the Earl of Standish. The Devizes are one of the best families in the country. Men will be lining up to marry you.”

“But what if I don’t love anybody, Alex? I don’t want to get married just for the sake of getting married. I want to marry a man I love!”

He tapped one of the horses lightly on the flank to encourage him to move up. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “No one will try to push you into a marriage you don’t like, Sal. If you don’t meet anybody this season, then you can come back next year and try again.”

She gave him a smile of relief. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said. “Mama sounds so determined to push me off…”

“All mothers want brilliant matches for their daughters. But if you want to hold out for love, you do that, Sal.”

She straightened her shoulders. “I will,” she said.