Nicola Cornick - The Chaperon Bride

Adam kept his face straight. ‘I thank you, but no. They do not interest me. You, on the other hand, Lady Wycherley, are a different matter.’

Annis kept her lips tightly closed and vowed to make no more unwary comments that evening. Adam Ashwick was altogether too quick to take her up on them. And Adam, who evidently knew to a nicety when to leave matters in his dealings with the fair sex, smiled slightly and turned the subject.

‘Did you enjoy Miss Mardyn’s dancing tonight, ma’am? I am not entirely sure that Harrogate was quite ready for the experience.’

Annis smothered an unexpected smile. ‘I found it very imaginative, my lord. I can see why Miss Mardyn is so popular.’

There was an answering smile lurking in Adam Ashwick’s eyes as he took in all the things that Annis had carefully omitted to say.

‘I believe that we have The Death of Captain Cook after the interval,’ he said. ‘That should be something of a contrast. Will it be melancholy, do you think?’

‘Almost certainly,’ Annis said cheerfully. ‘If your taste runs to something more classical, my lord, you might wish to return next week, for I believe Mr Jefferson will be appearing in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Or is Shakespeare too sober for you?’

‘On the contrary, I like a good tragedy,’ Adam said easily. ‘However, I am not entirely certain that I shall be here next week. I have business at Eynhallow, my estate towards Skipton, and shall be back and forth to Harrogate during the next month.’

‘Of course,’ Annis murmured. She had forgotten that the Ashwick estate bordered her own land at Starbeck. Starbeck could scarcely aspire to be called an estate, for it was too small, and almost entirely surrounded by its more powerful neighbours. There were the Ashwicks and then, of course, there was Samuel Ingram’s property at Linforth.

‘I understand that your cousin has property in the same direction,’ Adam continued. ‘That charming little house at Starbeck is his, is it not?’

Annis smiled slightly. ‘Starbeck is mine, my lord,’ she said, aware of the hint of pride that crept into her voice. ‘Charles administers the property for me, but it belongs to my branch of the Lafoy family.’

For a second Adam looked surprised. ‘Does it, indeed? But I thought—’ He broke off, a hint of speculation in his eyes.

Annis raised her brows. ‘What did you think, my lord?’

‘Why, merely that Starbeck belonged to Mr Lafoy rather than yourself.’ His voice dropped. ‘It is pleasant to think that I am not entirely surrounded by hostile forces.’

Annis laughed, despite herself. ‘I am sure that it cannot be as bad as that, my lord.’

‘I assure you that it is.’ Adam’s gaze was resting thoughtfully on Samuel Ingram as he chatted to an acquaintance in the theatre pit. He turned back to Annis. ‘You cannot have failed to hear of my…dispute with Mr Ingram, Lady Wycherley, so I do not scruple to mention it. May I hope that you are more sympathetically inclined than your cousin?’

Their eyes met and held. ‘You will find that I am most independently inclined, my lord,’ Annis said coolly. She had no time for Samuel Ingram, but she did not want Adam Ashwick casting her as an ally against Charles.

Adam nodded. ‘I imagine that is the best I can hope for?’

‘I believe so.’

‘Then we understand one another.’ Adam smiled at her. ‘You seem a most unusual chaperon, if I may say so, Lady Wycherley.’

Annis gave him a cool look. ‘From what perspective, my lord?’

‘Well, most chaperons do not own their own estates. One has the impression that they have to work for a living, whereas you, Lady Wycherley…’ Adam gave her a thoughtful look ‘…you give the impression of choosing your profession. As I said, it is unusual.’

Annis laughed. ‘Oh, I have to earn my living, my lord! It is true that I enjoy my work most of the time, and that I prefer to be busy rather than to wither away as some kind of genteel poor relation, but—’ she shrugged ‘—it is not truly a matter of choice.’

‘I see.’ Adam did not seem put out to discover her lack of funds but then, Annis thought, if he had ever seen Starbeck he would know that she was scarcely flush with money. ‘One gets the strong impression that you value your independence, ma’am.’

Annis was a little startled. She had not been aware that she had given away so much about herself. Normally she was remarkably guarded in speaking of herself, particularly to strangers. Particularly to gentlemen of Adam Ashwick’s reputation and experience, who saw far more than they were told.

‘I value my independence almost above all things, my lord,’ she said slowly. ‘And being a chaperon is vastly superior to being a governess or schoolteacher, you know. I may choose when I work and whom I chaperon. I travel and meet people—’ Annis broke off, thinking again that she was offering far too much personal information and wondering why she was telling him such a great deal. It did not help that Adam was giving her his undivided attention, watching her animated face with a faint smile on his lips. She fell silent in something of a confusion.

‘As I said, you are a most unusual chaperon,’ he murmured.

Annis rallied. ‘Do you know many chaperons in order to make such a comparison, my lord?’

‘No, I concede that I do not know many at all.’ Adam was watching her with a lazy amusement that made Annis’s skin prickle. ‘As you correctly surmised, ma’am, I move in vastly different circles.’

‘I imagine that most chaperons can only be grateful for that, my lord,’ Annis said tartly. ‘One must be constantly vigilant for the safety of one’s charges and a gentleman who is not interested in matrimony might be pursuing them for a wholly different purpose!’

Adam laughed. ‘My dear Lady Wycherley, I am not interested in marrying your charges, but I equally uninterested in endangering the virtue of innocents! Only the most hardened of rakes would be so inclined!’

Annis nodded. ‘I see. You make a distinction between yourself and such gentlemen, Lord Ashwick?’

Adam raised his brows. ‘Certainly I do. I am no rake, although I see by your expression that you remain unconvinced, ma’am!’

Annis’s lips twitched. ‘I imagine that it matters little to you what I think, my lord. We shall not be having much conversation in the future.’

‘How so?’

Annis gave him an old-fashioned look. ‘Must I spell matters out, my lord? I am a very proper chaperon with two young ladies to look after. You are…’ She paused.

‘Yes? I am…what?’

‘A gentleman that I would warn my charges to avoid. I am therefore unlikely to set the bad example of courting your company myself.’

Adam burst out laughing. ‘My dear Lady Wycherley! You are harsh towards me. And most direct.’

‘I beg your pardon.’ Annis steadfastly held his gaze. ‘I always feel that honesty helps one to avoid misunderstandings later.’

‘I will grant you that, although I deplore your poor opinion of me, ma’am.’ Adam was still smiling. ‘Perhaps if we had met when we were younger you would not be so wary of me. Indeed, I am surprised that we did not meet, given that we shared a childhood in this very place. I remember your cousins well from my youth.’

Annis smiled. ‘Everyone remembers Sibella, my lord.’

‘Of course! The incomparable Sibella Lafoy! My brother Ned was heartbroken that she preferred David Granger to him. But where were you, Lady Wycherley?’

Annis looked away. ‘I was not brought up near here, my lord. My father was in the Navy and my family travelled a great deal. I visited Starbeck but rarely.’

‘I see. And when you were married? Did you live in London then, ma’am?’