A Fine Caprice - A Regency Romance

A Fine Caprice

Kate Harper

Chapter One

‘I tell you Lambert, something must be done. That child is a hoyden. You may not want face it but she is running wild and neither of you know what to do about it.’

‘Really, Leticia, I do think you’re exagera -’

‘Of course you do.’ The strident tones of Lady Leticia Hester cut across
Elizabetta
Lambert’s feeble protestation –
attempted
protestation - 
with all the brisk self-assurance of a woman who was
not only
used to expressing her opinion
, but having it heard
. ‘Nobody likes to admit that they have failed with one of their children. But you and Lambert know that I am right. Your daughter is a disaster.’

On the other side of the parlour door,
Caprice
Lambert, the subject of this discussion, rolled her eyes.
It was quite true that eavesdroppers never heard any good of themselves but
then,
she had hardly expected to. Aunt Letic
ia had no affection
for her
and the chances of hearing anything pleasant had never been good. A floorboard creaked behin
d her and
Caprice
turned her head
to find one of the maids regardi
ng her with
amusement. She raised a finger to her lips and
winked and the girl nodded and grinn
ed, moving on and
leaving
Caprice
t
o her unpleasant
– but, she feared, very necessary –
task. She
did not
want
to have her ear pressed against the door but she suspected Leticia’s visit boded no good.
The wo
man rarely came to
Tannith Meadow
, which made everybody extremely happy. But
a letter had arrived, heralding a visitation
several days before
. The previous evening,
her mother had mentioned the
impending arrival
in a
voice heavy with dread.

‘I wish that Leticia was not coming.
She always makes thinks so…so
molto imbarazzante
.
’

‘No Italian while she is here, Mama,’
Caprice
had murmured. ‘She’ll call you a foreigner again.’ Leticia had never forgiven her brother for marrying the daughter of an Italian nobleman.
It seemed to imply there was something wrong with the local stock.

‘Now
Caprice
,’ h
e
’d remonstrated, but he
had looked uneasy at the mention of his younger, but far more formidable, sister. ‘
I’m sure she will say no such thing. Besides,
I could hardly say no
to her coming
. This was her home once.’

Elizabetta
Lambert had shaken her head, full of foreboding. ‘She is coming for a reason and it will not be a nice one.
It is never nice for anybody but herself.
’

‘We don’t know that. It has been some time since we have seen her. Perhaps she just wants to visit.’

This preposterous suggestion was met by disbelief by both his wife and his daughter.

‘Just tell her no,’
Caprice
had said firmly, ‘whatever it is that she wants
, j
ust say no
and be firm about it
. She has probably come to stick her nose into my marriage again.’

Her father had looked at her in puzzlement. ‘But you’re not getting married, my dear.’

‘No. That’s exactly the point.’
At one
and twenty
Caprice
was not mar
ried, was not spoken for
and was not
likely to be
thanks to a disastrous engagement three years before.
Caprice
Lambert was the equivalent of a social
pariah, likely to remain unmarried
forever. The prospect did not trouble her in the least. But it troubled her aunt. ‘She will have come up with a plan to have me wed, you see if she hasn’t.’

‘That is foolish,’ her mother said, but with no great conviction. ‘Your marriage has nothing to do with Leticia.’

‘And when has that ever stopped her?’

This elicited no response since all three of those sitting at the table knew perfectly well nothing stopped Lady Hester
when she took it upon herself to ‘help’
. She was the proud mother of five, all
of whom sh
e
had
successfully married
off, a feat she was justifiab
ly proud of
conside
ring her children all took after their papa and possessed rather
horsey countenances
. Unfortunately her success had made her believe that she could arrange everybody’s marital alliances as she saw fit
and
Caprice
’s lack of spouse was a sore point
that must be addressed
.

Lord Lambert had shaken his head, trying for gruff good humour. ‘I think we’re worrying unnecessarily. She has no reason to suggest
anything of the kind
.
It is not her job to find you a husband. Y
ou have parents, after all.’

But it was the very fact that her parents, vague and
good-natured
as the
y
were, had not arranged a husband for her that had thr
own her aunt into a spasm. There was no doubt she
consider
ed
Caprice
a challenge. Despite the fact that she
was t
he daughter of a lord, Miss Lambert
was hardly likely to find a man to marry locally, not when she had
blotted her lesson book so comprehensively
with Eric Frampton. Never mind that Eric was now settled with a charmingly insipid wife (and probably far happier than he would ever have been with
Caprice
), she had caused a scandal when she had thrown him over and few people were inclined to forgive, especially when
Caprice
refused to behave with due
remorse.

‘You’re sweet, Papa,’
Caprice
had murmured, but she had met her mother’s eye and had seen the anxiety there. Mama had been nervous for a reason.

Now,
sitting over the tea tray, Elizabetta
Lambert cleared her throat and heroically tried to take control of the situation. ‘I am sorry that you think our daughter is so dreadful Leticia but I can assure you, neither Henry or myself is concerned. There is no rush for
Caprice
to marry.’

‘No rush!’ Leticia s
ounded appalled. ‘Good God Elizabetta
, she’
s one
and twenty!’

‘
So? She is one
and twenty. It is not the end of the world.’

‘In another year it will be getting close to the end of her chances on the marriage mart,’ Leticia retorted
grimly
, ‘and then you will find she is on your hands forever.’

‘But we like to have
Caprice
around,’ her father protested. Bless him. ‘She’s a delightful companion. Very lively
and full of fun
.’

‘Lively
and full of fun
?
Even allowing for a parent
’
s partiality, there is really no excuse for the two of you to blatantly ignore the obvious.
Caprice
is headstrong, wilful and – thanks to you both indulging her for so long – unwilling to be brought to heel. She has not the faintest idea how a lady should behave and
has a very uncertain temper. I blame
you
for that, Elizabetta
,’ she added severely, ‘for a Lam
bert would never display such
unseemly
behavior.’

‘Thank you Leticia, that will do,’ Lord Lambert said sharply, which drew a grin from his listening daughter. Henry Lambert might find his sister daunting but he was devoted to his wife and would not stand by while she was maligned. It was the one thing that inspired outright fierceness in him.

Leticia grunted but said no more on the subj
ect of what she considered Elizabetta
Lambert’s lamentabl
e contribution to her daughter’s
bold nature. She probably regarded it in much the same light as a harelip or being lame; a cruel trick of nature that needed to be overcome.
Caprice
simmered with quiet anger but it suddenly became a great deal louder at the next words that came out of her aunt’s mouth.

‘Never mind. I am happy to tell you that I have come up with a solution to your problem.’

‘Our problem?’ Elizabetta
repeated, clearly not quite realizing she had a problem to begin with.

‘Indeed.
Caprice
needs a husband and, let’s face the sad truth, she cannot be fussy at her age and… ah… situation.
That unfortunate episode with
Frampton.
So ill advised.’

‘They were not well matched,’
Caprice
’s mother said stoutly. ‘It would not have been a good marriage.’

‘Nonsense. The man is worth seven thousand a year and has some very respectable holdings. But that is history and we cannot help the past, no matter how absurd our actions. I have discovered just the man who can solve your daughter’s unfortunate spinsterhood.’

On the other side of the door,
Caprice
paused, blinking at both the word spinsterhood and the knowledge that, as predicted, her aunt had interfered in the issue of her marriage. The slow simmer of anger boiled up into
a positive cauldron of rage. She sucked in a deep breath and reapplied her ear, the better to hear how her father and mother repelled this absurdity.

‘I’m not sure I understand
?
I had not considered… that is to say, we had not thought of
Caprice
as being a spinster. She is still so young.
’ Lord Lambert sounded bewildered.

‘Of course she’s a spinster,’ Leticia said impatiently. ‘She is one and twenty Henry. She should have been married off years ago.’

‘No!’ Elizabetta
said, sounding understandably indignant.
‘
A spinster?
Caprice
is no such thing.’

‘You are both oblivious to the ways of the real world,’ Lady Hester said coolly. ‘Hardly surprising as neither of you ever go up to town and enjoy the Season
but hide yourselves
down here all year round
. Fortunately you have me to deal with such di
fficult matters. And w
hile Ainslie might not be your first choice -’

‘Ainslie?’ this time it was Lady Lambert who interrupted her sister-in-law. ‘Your nephew?’

‘Indeed. He is looking to get married.’

Caprice
jerked her head back and looked at the smooth, polished surface of the door incredulously. Mr. Ainslie Hester was Edward Hester’s nephew and so related to Leticia by marriage.
Caprice
had met him exactly twice and had loathed him on each occasion. He was, not to point to fine a point on it, a letch whose entire purpose in life was to imbibe as much wine as he could get his hands on
and grope as many females as he could get away with. The
ton
or the servants, it was all one to him. She could vividly recall the last time they had encountered one another. He had managed to corner her in a hallway, trapping her between a hall table and one of her father’s oriental sculptures. She could still recall his hot, claret scented breath on her face and the way he had ground his body unceremoniously into her own.