Annie Burrows - Four Regency Rogues

The door was open and Tommy stood at the head of the pony, waiting for her. ‘Will you not stay for refreshment?’ Roland asked. ‘We could explore the common ground.’

‘No, I am afraid I cannot. I have a guest and must return to Mandeville or she will think I have deserted her.’ She paused. ‘Do you know if the Countess is at home this afternoon? I thought of calling on her with my great-aunt.’

‘I believe she may be. If not, she will be here. You are welcome at either place.’

‘Thank you, my lord.’

She signalled to Tommy to climb into the curricle, bowed her head to Roland and Miles, and made her way down the steps to join the boy.

Roland watched her drive away, as capable as ever at handling the ribbons, and gave a huge sigh. Was he making any progress at demolishing the wall she had built about herself? She had seemed more at ease today and the fact that she wanted to pay a call on his mother must mean something. He had better go and see what Mama was doing that afternoon.

Roland was with the Countess at the dower house when Lady Ratcliffe and Charlotte, who was dressed becomingly in a pale blue muslin gown with a lace cape and puffed sleeves, were announced. His presence took Charlotte by surprise, but it was no greater than Lady Ratcliffe’s astonishment on being presented and discovering that there was a handsome young Earl living not five miles from Mandeville. She quickly established he was not married and lacked nothing in manners. Whatever was Charlotte thinking of, not to cultivate so eligible a bachelor right on her doorstep?

‘What do you think of Amerleigh?’ the Countess asked her, dispensing tea.

‘It is very pleasant, my lady, and the countryside is charming. At least it is at this time of the year. I collect it is not so agreeable in winter.’

‘No, it was particularly bad in the early part of this year. We were cut off by snow for weeks.’

‘How long do you stay, my lady?’ Roland asked. He was sitting on a high-backed chair, while the ladies occupied the sofas. It made him appear even taller.

‘As long as I am needed.’

‘Needed?’ he queried, looking at Charlotte with one eyebrow raised.

‘Oh, yes. My great-niece is needful of my assistance in the matter of a ball and her come-out.’

Roland, who had been about to take a sip of his tea, spluttered with laughter. His mother looked anxiously at him and Lady Ratcliffe looked affronted. As for Charlotte, she was at first inclined to be angry, but then found her own lips twitching. ‘I never said anything about a come-out, Aunt,’ she said.

‘You cannot have a ball without coming out first,’ her ladyship insisted. ‘It is not the thing. Am I not right, Countess?’

Lady Amerleigh appeared to be considering her answer carefully and her eyes were twinkling too. Charlotte wondered if her aunt was being made fun of, but decided the Countess was much too polite to do such a thing. ‘In London, yes,’ her ladyship said slowly. ‘But we are far from the capital here and Miss Cartwright’s circumstances are exceptional.’

‘So they may be, but if she is to marry well, then we must do the thing properly.’

‘I will not go to London,’ Charlotte said firmly. ‘I am far too busy to contemplate it; besides, I have no wish to marry and would look very foolish among all the young débutantes.’

‘I think we may safely assume Miss Cartwright is already well and truly out,’ Roland put in, looking at Charlotte with a teasing smile that told her plainly she had not heard the last of that particular topic from him. She must extricate herself somehow and take her aunt away before she made an even bigger fool of herself.

‘Lady Ratcliffe has come to help me arrange a costume ball,’ she said. ‘I have been persuaded I ought to give one, but I do not have the time to devote to organising it.’

‘When is it to be?’ the Countess asked.

‘I have not decided the date. It depends on so many things, but perhaps the last Saturday in June. Would that be convenient for you, my lady?’

‘I am still in mourning, Miss Cartwright.’

‘Yes, but it will be six months since your husband died—could you not go into half-mourning and grace it with your presence, even for a short time? No one will think ill of you for it.’

‘Oh, go on, say yes, Mama,’ Roland put in.

‘I will think about it.’

Having successfully diverted attention from the matter of a come-out, Charlotte decided it was time they took their leave and rose to go. Roland accompanied them to the door and was surprised to see, not the curricle and its patient pony, but a grand carriage and four. First the feminine dress and now the carriage—did it mean Charlotte was trying to change? He was not sure he liked the idea. He bowed to Lady Ratcliffe as he handed her in and then turned to do the same office for Charlotte, taking her hand and giving the fingers a little squeeze, as he did so. The door was shut and he stood back as the coachman set the equipage in motion. Charlotte, leaning forward to look out of the window, saw him standing in exactly the same pose, feet apart, hand slightly uplifted, the wind ruffling his hair, until they turned out of the drive and he was lost to view.

‘My goodness, Charlotte,’ Emily said. ‘I had heard of the Earl of Amerleigh, but I had no idea he was so young and handsome, nor that he resided in Shropshire. And so near to you too. I collect he is unmarried.’

‘He has but lately come into his inheritance, Aunt. Before that he was in the army in Portugal. His late father let the estate run down, but he is busy setting all to rights.’ She paused. ‘And you may take that gleam out of your eye. I am not going to set myself up to snare him. We are at daggers drawn.’

‘Daggers drawn! I saw no sign of that. He appeared good-natured and polite…’

‘So he may be, but I have not always found it so. He can also be top lofty and obstinate.’

Her ladyship laughed. ‘I think the kettle is calling the pot black, my dear.’

‘Perhaps, but I do not want you matchmaking. There is enough of that going on in the village already and the poor man is besieged.’

‘Ah, so he is a poor man, is he?’

‘I have no idea of his wealth, but he is spending a great deal of money restoring Amerleigh Hall and the estate.’

‘Ready for his Countess.’

‘Possibly.’

‘Would you not like to be a Countess?’

‘I never thought of it, being ineligible.’

‘On account of not being aristocratic enough? Wealth can overcome that, you know, especially if the young man is short of funds.’

‘Not that young man, Aunt,’ Charlotte said very firmly, reminded of his rejection of her six years before, just when she was beginning to push it to the back of her mind. ‘Roland Temple will not be bought and I will not stoop to try it. I do not want to marry. If I did, I would have to hand over all I own to my husband, who could ruin everything if he so chose and I could not do a thing to prevent it. And I should lose my independence, the freedom to please myself what I do, where I go, what I choose to spend my money on. I would be no better than a chattel.’

‘How hard you are, child. It is your father made you like that, for your mother never was. A gentler creature never breathed. But she could be stubborn too. We all told her she would rue the day she married your father, but she would not listen. Two years later she was dead, God rest her soul.’

‘That was not Papa’s fault. I believe he idolised her.’

‘I am surprised he did not make a push to see you settled before he died. He should have given you a Season. I would have been pleased to have you stay with me and brought you out myself. Now, we must try to remedy the situation before it is too late.’