Joanna Maitland - His Cavalry Lady

Alex hoped fervently that she was not blushing again. ‘I am grateful to you for the warning, Duke. But I do not gamble.’ The brothers’ surprise was evident. Alex decided to give them her usual lie. ‘I’m afraid I cannot afford it. My family may be noble—as you probably know, that is a requirement for officer status in the Russian army—but that does not mean we are rich. I cannot, and will not, wager my next meal against the turn of a card. I apologize now if that is a disappointment to you.’

‘Not to me, Alexei Ivanovich,’ Calder said. ‘The Prince Regent tasked me to take particular care that the Emperor’s officers did not get into trouble through playing for high stakes here in London.’

‘And how, pray, were you supposed to ensure that?’ Lord Leo asked innocently.

‘No idea.’ Calder grinned. ‘Perhaps Prinny thinks I have a magic wand?’

Lord Leo grinned back, shaking his head.

Alex swallowed, feeling a little embarrassed. Was it permissible to criticise the Regent in this way? No Russian officer would ever say any such thing about the Emperor. Never.

‘Forgive me, Alexandrov. I did not mean to embarrass you. Like all monarchs, the Prince Regent sees it as his role to issue commands. It is for others to find ways of carrying them out. Practicalities are for underlings. Among whom I number myself.’

Alex’s eyes widened. A duke? An underling?

She felt a slight draught as the door opened at her back.

‘I’ve finished the Madeira, brother,’ said a new, younger voice. ‘Would you have me start on the brandy now?’

Dominic was glad that both his brothers had arrived to help entertain the young Russian. It gave him an opportunity to watch the lad, to judge his motives. And to rid himself of that strange fancy, from Boulogne. Alexandrov’s remarkable voice still seemed to be able to stir strange feelings, deep in Dominic’s innermost core. He must banish them. He must. Alexandrov was a man, confound it! All that smoke must somehow have addled his brain.

Dominic forced himself to concentrate on his mission. He would have to find some way of testing the lad, even though he was definitely on his guard. He thought carefully before he spoke. On the other hand, his face did sometimes betray his emotions. That was one of Dominic’s mother’s failings, too. It was excusable in a woman, but not in a soldier. Alexandrov had clearly shown his astonishment, for example, at the Aikenhead family banter. He must be a lad with no older brothers.

‘What have you seen of London so far, Captain?’ Leo asked. Leo knew that Dominic’s ability to judge a man was better than his own, and so he willingly drew all the attention on to himself, leaving Dominic to observe. And deduce.

The young Russian seemed to have relaxed a little. He smiled at Leo and sat forward in his chair, picking up his half-full wine glass and turning it round and round in his strong, lean hand. It was a ploy, Dominic was sure. Had there been, somewhere in his past, a drunken episode of which he was ashamed? He struck Dominic as the kind of lad who would take such indiscretions extremely seriously.

‘His Majesty arrived only today, Lord Leo. So far, I have seen the inside of the Pulteney Hotel, the inside of your brother’s carriage, though not for long, since it proceeded at a pace resembling a one-legged snail, and—’

‘Do snails have legs in your country, Captain?’ Jack had adopted that high-handed tone which meant he was bent on mischief. ‘In this country, they seem to have lost their legs, somewhere along the way.’

‘I meant…I meant…’

Good grief, the young man was blushing. Well, well, well. He really was just like the Dowager. Not so manly after all, perhaps? No wonder he was avoiding alcohol, if it was so easy to put him out of countenance. It could be useful to know that.

‘It is…it is a…a family joke, which does not translate well. I meant only that Calder’s carriage was unable to proceed. And so we had to walk to Carlton House,’ Alexandrov continued, more fluently than before. ‘It is very grand inside.’

‘Far too much gilding for my taste,’ Jack muttered.

‘You must excuse my brother,’ Dominic said quickly. ‘His taste tends towards the furnishings of gambling dens and the like. We don’t often let him into polite company. In fact, we’ve been telling the world that he’s not our brother at all, but a changeling.’

Jack gasped and started to rise from his chair.

‘Unfortunately,’ Dominic continued calmly, ‘he looks so much like me that no one will believe us.’

Alexandrov nodded, rather pensively. ‘Perhaps you are both changelings, Duke,’ he said with an air of studied innocence. ‘Perhaps the true heir is Lord Leo, who looks nothing like either of you?’

Jack burst out laughing.

Beside him, Leo was grinning, too. ‘Seems to me that our Russian guest can give as good as he gets. I’d watch your tongue if I were you, Dominic.’

‘I shall clearly have to. I fancy that Captain Alexandrov must spend a lot of time being roasted by his fellow officers and sharpening his wit on them. Is that the way of it, Alexei Ivanovich?’

‘I find it does not do, Duke, to accept jibes meekly. The occasional riposte reminds my comrades that my role is not solely to provide sport for them.’

‘How true,’ Dominic said thoughtfully. He waited a moment more before striking. ‘And what, would you say, is your role, exactly?’

There was a decided pause before the Russian spoke again. ‘I…why, I am a captain in the Mariupol Hussars and have been honoured with the appointment as an aide-de-camp to his Imperial Majesty. You are already aware of that, I think.’

Dominic nodded slowly. ‘Just idle thoughts that came to me.’ He picked up his glass and took a long swallow. ‘It seemed to me that his Imperial Majesty already has a great many young officers in his suite. I simply wondered why you had been added to their number.’

‘Oh, that is easily explained, Duke,’ Alexandrov replied smoothly. He was fully in control now. ‘His Majesty had not seen me for some years, since he did me the honour—’ He reddened slightly and touched the Cross of St George on his breast. ‘His Majesty was gracious enough to wonder about my progress. Court Minister Volkonsky suggested that I might be attached to the staff for the duration of this visit.’

Now that, Dominic thought, was a well-rehearsed line, but he doubted that it was the whole truth. What kind of monarch remembered to check up on the progress of one young officer among so many? Especially one not seen for years? The fact that Alexandrov had a ready tale suggested that he had something to hide.

Dominic leant forward. ‘When did you—?’

The door opened again to admit the butler. Dominic raised his head, frowning. This was just the wrong moment for an interruption.

‘Excuse me, your Grace, but a messenger has this moment arrived. I understand it is a matter of some urgency. Will you see him?’

Dominic rose. Withering had given no indication of who the messenger was. Which meant that the man was possibly from Horse Guards. Or from the Foreign Secretary himself.

‘Thank you, Withering. I will come at once. No doubt it is yet another concern of the Regent’s. Possibly about the colour of his coat.’

The moment the door closed behind the Duke, Lord Jack launched into a stream of questions about Alex’s home and her family. She answered as best she could, trying to betray as little information as possible, but still she found herself saying more about her parents and her home than she had intended.

The two brothers had just begun a lively discussion on the dangerous topic of boxing when the Duke returned. He was looking grave, but his face softened at the sight of his brothers. ‘Arguing again? And in front of our guest, too.’ He shook his head. ‘I thought you had better manners, Jack.’