Mary Brendan - Regency High Society Vol 1 - A Hasty Betrothal / A Scandalous Marriage / The Count's Charade / The Rake and the Rebel

The viscount eyed him sourly for a moment, then emitted a deep chuckle. ‘Oh, I’ve been a terrible trial to you this past week, haven’t I, Kimble?’ he said, with a sheepish grin. ‘Accept my apologies, dear man—and have a tankard on me!’

He proffered a coin, which Kimble accepted with alacrity, although his countenance clearly displayed his affront at his master’s suggestion.

‘You know that I never frequent the local hostelry, my lord,’ he said loftily. ‘However, I shall be pleased to share a bottle of wine with Mr Rothman at your lordship’s expense.’

He passed Sandford his fobs and signet ring and watched, eagle-eyed, as the viscount pinned a diamond stud into the folds of his cravat. Then he handed him his top hat and evening cloak and, opening the door for his master to leave, he executed his very correct bow.

Sandford, descending the stairs, perceived that Harriet had forestalled him and, to his intense irritation, he saw March step forward, take the cloak from her arm and carefully arrange it about her shoulders. Neither did he miss her smile of grateful thanks to the young footman, who retreated to his appointed place with what Sandford, gritting his teeth, could only describe as a fawning expression.

Great start, he thought wryly, shepherding the impassive Harriet out to the waiting carriage and handing her into her seat. He had been hoping for a more auspicious beginning to the evening, conscious that this could be his last chance to reinstate himself into her good books.

Seating himself opposite her, he leaned forward and smilingly complimented her on her appearance, which admittedly he had caught sight of only briefly before March’s swift attentions.

She inclined her head in acknowledgement, but did not meet his eye, seeming to find the passing view of greater interest.

‘I trust that you will find some reserves of your usual good humour before we arrive at Westpark,’ he said uncomfortably. ‘Judith will expect us to have—recovered from our—lover’s tiff, or whatever she called it!’

‘I can assure you that I am perfectly aware of my part, my lord,’ she replied woodenly, clasping her gloved hands together in her lap. ‘You will excuse me, however, if I save my performance until we have an audience. You need have no qualms as to the propriety of my behaviour—I shall be everything that is correct, I promise you.’

‘Oh, good God, Harriet!’ cried Sandford, flinging himself back into his own corner in exasperation. ‘How long do you intend to keep this up?’

Unmoved, she regarded him in silence, her green eyes inscrutable. ‘Only for a few more days, I hope, my lord,’ she said, again without expression. ‘My grandfather cannot be far from Beldale now and I hope that I can prevail upon him to remove me to some—other accommodation—until he is ready to return us to his own home.’

Sandford stared in hopeless frustration at her rigid countenance. ‘Oh, that will create a fine impression of our hospitality, won’t it?’ he said sarcastically. ‘I’m sure it will please my parents wonderfully!’

Harriet’s face flamed resentfully and she glared at him from under her dark lashes.

‘Oh, a veritable hit, my lord!’ she said scornfully. ‘Although it will probably come as a great surprise to you to know that neither Lord William nor Lady Caroline seem to share your low opinion of me …’

‘Stow it, Harriet,’ he cried hoarsely, his own cheeks flushing, ‘you know damned well that I don’t have a low opinion of you!’

‘It has improved, then, since yesterday, my lord?’ she asked witheringly. ‘For I seem to remember that you thought me totally beyond the pale only twenty-four hours since!’

‘I’m not proud of what I said yesterday,’ he exclaimed heatedly. ‘I was angry—you know I was angry!’

‘It appears to be a particular failing of your lordship’s,’ she rejoined. ‘However, perhaps you could manage to hold yourself in check for the next few hours, as I see we have arrived at our destination. If I could have your hand, my lord?’

Sandford was obliged to stifle the retort that was forming on his lips and, inwardly seething, he sprang out of the carriage to give her his hand.

Judith swept into the hall to welcome them. Harriet was delighted to observe that her friend seemed to have put off her blacks for good, for she was wearing a most becoming gown of lavender silk. The two girls devoted the next few minutes to comparing styles and laughingly exchanging extravagant compliments with one another.

Sandford, handing their cloaks to the waiting Finchley, quickly registered the return of Harriet’s normal lively disposition and, in spite of the earlier setback, was once more determined to take full advantage of any opportunity that might arise.

‘Come along into the drawing-room,’ smiled Judith. ‘Mother and Charles are waiting for us …’

‘Charles is dining with us?’ asked Sandford, in some surprise.

Judith nodded, a slight blush staining her cheeks. ‘The more the merrier, wouldn’t you say?’ she said, as they entered the room. ‘And, since you have lived in each other’s pockets all week, I was afraid that you might begin to feel deprived if you were separated for too long!’

‘Very amusing!’ Sandford said with a grin, striding forward to present his compliments to Lady Butler. ‘Evening, ma’am, I trust I find you in good health?’

Her ladyship gave him a pale smile.

‘Glad to see that you, in any event, are in such good spirits,’ she said, fanning herself ostentatiously. ‘I myself find this warm weather quite overpowering—I believe your Miss Cordell suffers from a similar weakness—if we are to believe what we hear?’

She looked towards Harriet, who appeared to be involved in some sort of amusing wordplay with Ridgeway. An expression of contempt came into Lady Butler’s eyes as she continued, ‘I cannot think what possessed Judith to invite her bailiff to eat his dinner with us. Although, I am obliged to point out that it is all of a piece with her conduct since you brought your—young lady back with you to Beldale. A certain laxity of standards, you might say—I must suppose that she has been filling my daughter’s head with some sort of foreign egalitarian nonsense!’

‘Surely Judith has been far too well brought up by your own good self to be influenced by the word of a mere soldier’s girl?’ returned Sandford, who was, as usual, intensely irritated at Lady Butler’s appalling rudeness but, at the same time, fiendishly interested to see how far on to her own cleft stick he could pinion her. He was gradually beginning to understand how Philip had handled the old harridan and why his father found her so amusing.

She glowered at him in silence for a moment or two, fidgeting with her fan. ‘How very like your brother you are,’ she said diffidently. ‘That he should perish on his own doorstep in a carriage accident, while you escaped unscathed after ten years of war in some foreign land, strikes me as being grossly unfair—but life is so, as I am constantly reminded!’

Sandford, staggered at her outrageous insensitivity, was momentarily lost for words. ‘I’m afraid that I cannot find it in me to apologise for my survival, ma’am, he managed eventually. ‘As to unscathed, I can assure you that I have a fine scar on my leg …’ He gently patted his right thigh.

‘Really, sir!’ she protested. ‘I have told you before that I will not have such unsavoury topics in my house!’

‘My brother’s house, I believe, madam,’ he corrected her with stiff politeness, ‘Or, in any event, Judith’s, to hold in trust for his son!’

As this rejoinder seemed to have the effect of reducing her ladyship to an affronted silence, he decided that he had done more than his share of duty insofar as she was concerned, especially as the uneasy pause allowed him to become increasingly conscious of the sounds of merriment that were emanating from the group at the pianoforte.