A Pair of Rogues (8 page)

But time would soon illuminate this question for her. His lordship’s attentions to herself were undoubtedly the key.

He seemed very eager to know how soon he might be honored with the pleasure of soliciting her hand for a dance at an upcoming assembly. Louisa eagerly informed him of the voucher Christina had just been sent for Almack’s.

“Shall we see you there tomorrow night?” she asked him with a beatific smile.

“I shall make a point of going.” Lord Levington allowed his gaze to rest significantly on Christina.

His call only lasted a very few minutes, but Christina found herself becoming anxious for him to go. She knew him now for a fortune-hunter. Young as she was, she’d had experience of his kind before. There was an unmistakable gleam of affection in a greedy man’s eyes, and it could not be mistaken for a reflection of the woman upon whom he gazed.

“Well,” Louisa said, once he was gone, “what a charming gentleman! So polite and attentive. I think he looked quite smitten with you, Christina dear.”

“Did he? I scarcely noticed, but we have not been acquainted for long. I daresay he was just being polite, as you said.”

Louisa smiled at her. “You must find me very obtuse, my love. I said he was polite, but I did not mean to imply that his attentions to you were merely charming manners. However, if you do not wish to discuss your admirers with me, I shall refrain from pressing you.”

Her speech was uttered with such a remarkable lack of offense that Christina knew her sister-in-law was not angry. She would have chastised herself for having sounded so distant, but the truth was she did not wish for Louisa to make more of Lord Levington’s attentions than she herself wished them to be.

“Not at all,” she said, giving Louisa her most generous smile. “I simply do not care to encourage an interest I cannot reciprocate.”

“No?” Louisa raised her brows. “Well, I shall not push you then, dear, if you cannot find Lord Levington attractive. But it does seem a shame. Especially after such a promising beginning.”

Her next smile was full of mischief. “Although I will admit I was a bit put off by his use of so much pomade. There is something so unromantic about a man whose hair appears as if he spent more minutes over it than the lady he is trying to impress. Do you not agree? And I say this, Beau Brummell or no Beau Brummell.”

She stood. “But of course, I should never have mentioned such a detraction if he had appealed to you in the least. Whom you choose to favor or not shall be your own decision.” She gave Christina a sympathetic smile.

Turning to go, Louisa excused herself on the grounds that she’d like to visit the nursery before dinner. “For I haven’t seen my darling baby all afternoon.” She was walking towards the door, when she paused and threw back over her shoulder, “I do not suppose you have seen Ned, today?”

“Ned?” Christina started, as a memory of their last encounter made heat flood her face. “Whenever would I have seen Lord Windermere?”

“Oh, he often comes by to see the baby,” Louisa lightly replied. “Never tell him I know, but he frequently sneaks up to the nursery to spend a private moment with Robert Edward. I find the habit so endearing, don’t you?”

“Absolutely adorable,” Christina said wryly, as her sister-in-law exited the room.

So, Louisa knew all about Ned’s visits to her baby, and she approved. The thought of how mortified Ned would be if he knew he’d been discovered made Christina eager to inform him, until she reflected that Ned would undoubtedly put a stop to his visits if the truth were out. He would have too much regard for his roguish reputation to continue in such a contradictory behavior.

A sense of just how cruel such an act on her part would be made Christina realize she never would use this piece of information against him. And, besides, she could think of no good reason why she should make Ned feel uncomfortable about coming to this house. Robert and Louisa were his dearest friends, after all, and she would not deprive him of their company.

She would simply have to think of some other way to torment him, next time she saw him.

*    *    *

In the morning, Louisa received a note from Ned informing her that Lady Jersey would be gravely disappointed if he did not accompany them to Almack’s that evening. Louisa waited until just before Ned’s arrival to tell Robert of the addition to their party.

“Windermere?” Robert’s voice had risen an octave, so he cleared his throat before saying, “You cannot mean that he will go Almack’s with us?”

“I think it was he. I cannot remember numbering another Ned amongst our acquaintance,” Louisa replied innocently, as she applied a dusting of powder to her nose.

“Louisa, you are doing it again. You are purposely misunderstanding me when I am being very serious. What will people say if we appear at Almack’s with Ned in tow?”

“My darling, you mustn’t talk of Ned as if he were a barge.”

Robert spoke in a threatening tone, “Louisa . . . .”

Unable to distract him, she sighed. “Yes, my dearest, what?”

“You know I cannot countenance even the appearance of Ned’s dangling after my sister.”

“Yes, you say that, Robert, but I do not agree. However, there can be no changing our plans for this evening at this late hour without offending Ned irreparably. What’s done is done, and we must contrive to put the best possible face on the evening.”

“I cannot understand how you could have gone against my wishes like this.”

Robert’s plaintive tone brought Louisa to her feet. Moving to stand in front of him, she patted his chest and adjusted the fold of his cravat.

“I did not invite him, dear. Sally Jersey took it into her head to suggest this arrangement, and since we would not wish to offend her, I could see no other choice. But we’ll take care it does not happen again. I suppose a word in her ear will do the trick.”

“Oh, perfect!” Robert said gloomily. “If she suggested such a thing, it can only be because she heard they drove in the park. She has probably been on the lookout for a match for Ned these many years and thinks she’s found him one at last.”

“Nonsense. Whomever a man Ned’s age chooses to marry is no affair of hers.”

“But she will make it her affair. All you women do.”

“Robert!”

Robert refused to look sheepish when his wife was so clearly the guilty one. The stare he gave her told her so. Louisa just dimpled at him.

But, for once, her dimples failed to work their spell. Robert grew stiff, before soberly informing her that he would have to have a word with Ned, man to man. “I must warn him off before it is too late.”

“Too late for what?”

Her question disconcerted him. “Why . . . too late to change his course, I suppose. He must understand that I will never give my consent to a match with Christina.”

“Oh.” As she released him, Louisa looked thoughtful. She turned away and went back to her dressing table as if she did not wish him to see her face.

Her unnatural silence brought him an unsettling feeling. He had the sense he was about to make a serious blunder, and that Louisa knew precisely what it was. Moreover, it seemed she felt guilty for not being honest enough to alert him now.

“What?” he finally asked. “Why shouldn’t I speak to Ned?”

She had started at his first word, but she quickly recovered. “I was thinking of your friendship. That is all.”

“No, I know there is something else. I know you too well, Louisa.”

She gave him a stricken look. “It is only that I was so very wrong about Christina and Ned. I do not think they suit at all, and I am so disappointed. From what I can gather, they took a positive aversion to each other on that drive I forced them to make. And, now, to make everything worse, Sally has made Ned furious by imposing upon him so.”

“Yes?” Robert’s lips turned up involuntarily at this welcome news, but he comforted his wife with a pat on her shoulder. “Never mind, my love. It will all be for the best. Your intentions were good, but it would never do.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She sighed, then added with a glimmer of hope, “However, if you did speak to Ned, it is possible you might be able to awaken his interest. You know how mischievous he can be when he wants to be contrary.”

“So that’s it, is it?” Robert gave a condescending laugh. “No, no, my dear. I’m afraid I am on to your tricks. I shall not speak to Ned at all. It will be much better all around if we allow matters to take their natural course.”

Louisa meekly agreed, although a hint of guilt still lingered in her eyes as she watched her husband walk from the room. As soon as the door had closed behind him, she sighed.

“My poor, dearest love,” she said, looking after Robert with true regret. “You will get over it,” she promised. “And you will see. They will make the happiest couple.”

*    *    *

That night at nine o’clock, Ned presented himself in Grosvenor Square, in knee breeches, white cravat and detested chapeau bras, fully prepared to entertain Robert’s displeasure, and armed with some serious considerations of his own.

He had been rather appalled with himself for using his superior experience in intimate matters to intimidate Christina. The justification he had used for his bad behavior, that she had goaded him to it, could not excuse it, and he was determined never to let her prompt him to such an improper act again.

That he had found his own pulse heightened by their intimacy had been sufficient warning. The answering glimmer in her eyes had sounded a muffled alarm. He could not let himself become attracted to an innocent girl, nor let her fancy herself attracted to him—especially Robert’s sister whom, all but Louisa seemed agreed, would be ruined by any association with Ned. The fact that she played pranks like a rag-mannered brat did not make her the sort of creature who deserved being ostracized by the best of society.

These noble considerations, Ned convinced himself, had been inspired by Little Ned’s christening. Through foolish jealousy, he let himself get off to the wrong foot with Lady Christina, but for Little Ned’s sake it was time they put away their swords. She had not intended to trap him into this evening, but her teasing had resulted in a misfire. If Ned were not careful it could result in the ruin of her marriage hopes and a rupture with his friend Robert and all that friendship meant.

Consequently, he was determined to put Robert’s certain fears to rest by pointedly ignoring Christina all evening. It should put the budding gossip to rest if he spent the whole of the night in the cardroom with the gents.

He was more than a little puzzled, therefore, to find Robert so full of
bonhomie.
It was not at all what Ned had been led to expect.

Louisa’s relatively sober manner caused him an equal degree of unease. The only thought he could reconcile with such an unnatural reversal of roles was that both had decided that no interference from them would be either necessary in one case or beneficial to their ends in the other.

Meaning that Christina had showed no inclination to fall for his charms.

This startling fact was borne out by Christina’s cool greeting. A dismissive inclination of her silk-topped head told Ned she had not forgiven him for making her feel the little innocent she was. And, also, that she had not regarded that moment when their eyes had struck sparks as anything to remark.

Well, that was fine, Ned thought, trying to ignore the wound to his pride, as they rode to Almack’s, with Robert’s hearty chatter the only noise to fill the air.

Christina looked particularly fresh and innocent this evening. The requisite white gown with a simple strand of pearls on her creamy breast enhanced the image of
naiveté
evoked by her idyllic English fairness. This childlike appeal should have struck Ned as insipid; however, he knew that a fertile, mischievous mind lurked beneath those schoolgirl features. This gave her all the mystery of a slow moving river with a treacherous current. One could not stand on the bank without wondering how dangerous it would be to plunge in.

They arrived just as the assembly rooms were filling at the top of the long flight of stairs. Ned made certain to lag behind the ladies, using Robert as a shield. With luck, so long as he kept his distance from them, no one would think to associate his arrival with Christina’s.

This hope was quickly laid to rest by the murmured talk which followed them up the stairs. His appearance at Almack’s after so many years had set the quizzes immediately to whispering. Even Willis, at the bottom of the steps, had taken pains to double-check Ned’s voucher to make certain there was no mistake.

Feeling like a pariah, in a way he had not allowed himself to feel in ages, Ned squared his shoulders and glanced about him with distaste. In spite of the exclusivity of this gathering, there were not above five people in the rooms he would care to call his friends, always excepting Robert and Louisa, of course. For the rest, they were a bunch of prigs. Of course, Robert was something of a prig, too, but Ned made an exception for him.

He was about to bow himself out of the scene to go in search of a game of cards—if he could remember the way to the cardroom—when the sight of a certain face moving towards them made him change his mind. Baron Levington, with his sleek brown hair pomaded and curled, hailed their party.

“Your servant, your Grace.” He bowed formally to Robert, who took one look at this impertinence and raised his brows.

Stepping into the breach, Louisa smiled at the baron and extended her hand. “Robert, I forgot to mention Lord Levington’s call on us yesterday. It appears that he and Louisa became acquainted in the park.”

Robert quickly rounded on Ned, his
bonhomie
completely erased. “You presented them?” he asked with reproach.

Ned nodded, a stiffness forming in his neck. “I called yesterday in the afternoon to speak to you about that, Robert, but you were not at home.”

Robert’s scowl told Ned exactly what he thought of his efforts. But, before either man could intervene, Lord Levington had already solicited Christina’s hand for two of the dances and had been graciously accepted, with Louisa, Christina’s supposed duena looking happily on.