Amanda Scott (57 page)

Sir Spenser had not called that day, a fact that the dowager commented upon at length over dinner, and afterward, when the ladies retired to the drawing room, she wondered aloud more than once if Tallyn might not enjoy a hand of whist. Gwenyth, knowing he was not fond of cards, suggested several alternatives, but the countess was not enthusiastic about any of them. Lady Cadogan drew up her tapestry frame and began sorting through her threads, casting her niece an occasional glance of sympathy but offering no suggestions for the countess’s entertainment.

When the three gentlemen joined them half an hour later, Gwenyth saw that Lyford was amused. The other two went to speak to Pamela, and Gwenyth was surprised to see that, rather than encouraging them with her customary flirtatiousness, Pamela behaved rather oddly. When Jared addressed a comment to her, she smiled and laughed in a near-parody of her normal style. But when Tallyn spoke to her—in a far gentler tone, Gwenyth noticed, than any his sisters had ever heard from him—Pamela blushed and stammered shyly in the manner of a schoolgirl, albeit not the manner Pamela herself had ever displayed at school.

“Much,” Lyford murmured at her ear, “as I should like to enjoy the excellent farce being enacted for us by my idiotish cousins and your brother, I should like even more to enjoy some private conversation with you, my love. Shall we leave them to their amusements?”

Glancing at him, she encountered a look of calm intent and promptly decided that the last thing she wanted to do was to be private with him. Not, in any case, at that particular moment, with Tallyn frowning at her as he was, and with the dowager glancing from Jared to Pamela and then at Tallyn with much the same scowling expression.

“Lottery tickets!” Gwenyth exclaimed, moving rather quickly away from Lyford. “I have not played for months, and we have a good number, if everyone will play.”

To her surprise, Lady Lyford approved her choice, and Lady Cadogan obligingly set her fancywork aside. Tallyn shook his head as though he would prefer not to play, but when Pamela exclaimed in pleasure, he promptly assured everyone that it was one of his favorite pastimes. Jared said nothing, but helped find the box containing the game pieces, and Lyford was left with little choice but to help set things up.

The dowager soon proved that she was without peer in her mastery of the game, but the rest were sufficiently entertained by her shrewd maneuvering that they played late, and Lyford made no further attempt that evening to engage Gwenyth in private conversation.

The following morning, knowing that she could no longer put off talking to him, she went down to the breakfast parlor early in search of him. Only Jared and Lady Cadogan were there.

“Good morning,” she said to them. “Has Lyford been down?”

“An hour ago,” her aunt told her. “He has gone riding on the downs with Joss.” When Gwenyth sighed with disappointment, she added, “Did you not speak with him yesterday?”

“I couldn’t,” Gwenyth told her. “Joss arrived just as I was about to do so, and I never had another chance.”

Lady Cadogan cocked her head to one side, regarding her shrewdly. “I thought the matter was of some importance.”

Gwenyth nodded, biting her lip and turning to serve herself from a platter of Smithfield ham. As she reached for the toast, Jared said casually, “Perhaps I might be of some assistance with this so important matter.”

Glancing at him over her shoulder, she smiled. “’Tis nothing, really. Only some things I wished to discuss with him.” When he continued to look steadily at her as though he expected her to continue, she turned back to the sideboard, put several pieces of toast on her plate, and moved to sit beside her aunt. “What do you mean to do today, ma’am?”

Lady Cadogan replied that she had no particular plan, and glancing at Jared, Gwenyth noted with relief that he had returned his attention to his breakfast.

A moment later he said, “I wonder if Pamela would like to take a little trip along the river today. It is possible, you know, to ride a barge from Streatley through the Molesford lock, and there are some excellent bits of scenery along the way.”

“You must ask her,” Gwenyth told him. “No doubt she will be down to breakfast soon.”

“Would you like to go too?” he asked in what was clearly an afterthought.

“No, thank you,” she replied, thinking of how best to separate Lyford from Tallyn’s company when they returned from their ride, without arousing Tallyn’s brotherly curiosity.

Lady Cadogan said to Jared, “You must take a groom with you. It will not do for you to escort Pamela without one.”

“It would be dashed inconvenient, too,” he said, laughing. “Someone must lead our horses back, after all. And,” he added hastily, “there will be bargemen with us on the river, so everything will be as right as rain, ma’am.”

When Pamela entered the room twenty minutes later, he informed her of the treat in store for her, and if she did not exclaim with enthusiasm, at least she did not reject his offer outright. “A ride will be pleasant,” she said musingly. “Perhaps Lord Tallyn would like to come with us.”

“Well, I don’t intend to wait for him,” Jared said, “so I hope you aren’t bent upon his company.”

She looked at him more sharply then. “But why should you mind if I want him to come?” When he only looked at her, she shrugged. “Very well, but I wish to call upon Sir Spenser along the way, so I hope you won’t object to that.”

“Can’t think why you’d wish to do such a thing,” Jared said.

“He did not visit us yesterday,” Pamela replied, “and I wish to know that he is not ill.”

“Well, I don’t mind. We’ll look in on the old fellow on our way to Streatley and then wave at him on our way downriver.”

Pamela’s brilliant smile gave Gwenyth the distinct impression that it was she who had got her way rather than Jared, but he left at once, and in a very good humor, to arrange for their horses to be brought around. Pamela ate her breakfast in a leisurely manner before going up to change into her habit, and Lady Cadogan and Gwenyth adjourned to the morning room, where the dowager countess found them half an hour later.

“You look as fine as fivepence in that rig, ma’am,” Gwenyth said, looking up from the magazine she was reading.

The countess looked down complacently at her bright blue morning frock. “’Tis a good dress, isn’t it? Dratted weather’s gone chilly again, though. Brought my shawl.” Leaning slightly on her cane, she hefted the brightly colored Norwich shawl she carried over her free arm. “Where is everyone?”

Lady Cadogan glanced up over her tapestry frame. “If you will refuse to leave your bedchamber until noon, Almeria, you cannot express wonder at the fact that everyone else has gone on about his business in your absence. Lyford and Tallyn have been up since dawn and are out somewhere gazing at barley and tenant farms. Jared has taken Pamela to call at Newton Park before—”

“What!” The countess banged her cane upon the floor. “What did you say?”

Lady Cadogan grimaced. “You will have a fit of apoplexy if you exert yourself with such suddenness, Almeria, and pray, what is it to you if Pamela allows Jared to accompany her? From all that I can see, you have encouraged that relationship. Have you done so only to spite Lyford?”

“’Tis an excellent match,” the dowager snapped, “but why does he take her to Spenser? Don’t he realize his error?”

“What error?” Lady Cadogan asked, pausing to remove the sky-blue wool from her needle and rethread it with red. When Lady Lyford still had not replied, she looked at her, frowning. “Well, Almeria? What is it?”

“That fool chit may have pulled the wool over your eyes, Wynnefreda, but she has not bamboozled me. You may choose to think she has an eye to poor Jared, but much as I would like to see it, I can tell you her interest lies elsewhere.”

“Well, yes,” Lady Cadogan agreed, “I believe you may be right. I didn’t wish to say anything, because—”

“No doubt, but I cannot think why you should wish to encourage a match with a man old enough to be her father—”

“Surely not her father, Almeria!”

“Oh, very well,” Lady Lyford said tartly, “although I am sure that older men have fathered girls her age before now.”

“
Older
men!” Gwenyth exclaimed, stifling laughter. “Good gracious, ma’am, do you mean Sir Spenser?” She looked at her aunt and saw at once that that lady looked quite as astonished as she felt. “I know you have suggested before that Pamela has an interest there, but I can assure you that she does not.”

“And what can you know of such matters?” demanded the countess. “I tell you that where a gentleman like Spenser is concerned, there is nothing that can happen that would surprise me. Women of all ages have been on the catch for that poor man for as long as I have known him, which has been a very long time indeed. He has never chosen to cast his handkerchief, but that does not mean that he will never do so. I will, however, do my possible to make sure he does not cast it in Miss Beckley’s direction.” Turning on her heel, she moved swiftly and without making use of her cane to pull the bell. When a footman entered in response, she ordered her carriage brought around directly.

“Where are you going, Almeria?”

The countess retorted abruptly, “I recall that Spenser mentioned having noticed a book on the shelf in the drawing room that he admired very much. I shall take it to him.”

“But,” Lady Cadogan said reasonably, “a book on the drawing-room shelf must by rights belong to Lyford, and he might not—”

“Good gracious, Wynnefreda, I suppose I have a right to give a book to Spenser if I wish to do so. I am still mistress of this house, I’ll have you know, and that book belonged to my husband. Not that I ever saw him read any book, but that does not signify. Spenser will read it. Pray, what has Marcus to say to anything?” Without awaiting a reply, she left the room.

Gwenyth grinned at her aunt. “Do I detect a touch of jealousy, ma’am? Is it possible that the dowager wants Sir Spenser for herself?”

Lady Cadogan shook her head in sardonic amusement. “I am sure I cannot say. She has looked over every decrepit prospect in the county, and a good few others in London. Sir Spenser is no more decrepit than she is herself, but I believe she does have a fondness for him. Even if she would consider the match, however, she is perfectly right in saying that he has successfully avoided every lure ever cast his way.”

“But I think he likes her,” Gwenyth said. “Pamela thinks so too.”

Lady Cadogan shrugged. “Perhaps, but liking is not marrying, my dear, and we must hope that her activities these past weeks have not given him a disgust for her.”

“I think her efforts have amused him. They certainly have not kept him from haunting this place.”

“He does that,” Lady Cadogan agreed. “Oh, dear, I have snagged this thread.” She bent to her work, and Gwenyth returned to her magazine.

A short time later, she put her magazine aside and decided to stretch her legs. She had reached the door when she heard voices approaching and knew Lyford and Tallyn had returned.

They saw her and came into the morning room, whereupon Gwenyth noted with amusement her brother’s swift glance around and his disappointed expression when he saw only their aunt.

“Miss Beckley,” Gwenyth said sweetly, “has gone riding along the river trail with Mr. Hawtrey. I believe he means to indulge her in a trip down from Streatley on a barge.”

“What?” her brother exclaimed. “That damned scoundrel! She ought not to be traipsing about the countryside with him at all, let alone on the river.”

Her evil genius prompted Gwenyth to say, “I cannot think why they should not go to Streatley together, sir. They have got to know each other rather well these past weeks, you know.”

She had forgotten Lyford. “What the devil were you thinking of, to let her go off alone with him?” he demanded.

Turning swiftly to face him, she said, “They did not go alone, sir, they took a groom. And they are calling at Newton Park on the way. Your grandmama is also calling there,” she added. “She may even have arrived ahead of them, since she took her carriage and went by the road. I would not have let Pamela go alone. Nor would my aunt. Surely you know that.”

But if he was satisfied, Tallyn was not. “Damn fool thing to do, to go with that fellow. A loose screw if ever I saw one, begging your pardon, Lyford.”

“No need to beg my pardon, but she is perfectly safe in his company, I assure you. He knows he will have to answer to me.” He glanced back at Gwenyth, frowning. “Did you say my grandmother also went to Newton Park?”

“She said something about taking a book to Sir Spenser,” Gwenyth told him with a limpid look.

His expression relaxed. “She did, did she?”

“Yes, I hope you will not object.”

“No, why should I? ’Tis rather Sir Spenser who might object, if she creates a Drury Lane drama on his doorstep.”

“Where is this Newton Park?” Tallyn demanded.

Gwenyth started to tell him again that he had no need to be concerned about Pamela, but before she spoke she remembered that Lyford would very soon insist upon private conversation with her and that he would not easily be put off again. Nor did she want to put him off. But to speak with him at all would be far easier with her brother out of the way. Thus it was that instead of trying to discourage Tallyn, she willingly gave him the direction he sought and expressed no surprise over his decision to depart as soon as he had tidied himself.

When he had gone to ring for his valet, Lyford grinned at her. “I wondered how you would manage to be rid of him. His presence here makes it difficult for us to be alone. Of course, I could formally seek his permission to request your hand in marriage. That would make matters easier.”

Gwenyth looked swiftly at her aunt to see if she had heard him, but Lady Cadogan appeared to be immersed in her fancywork. In any event, she did not look up.

“We’ll go to my library,” Lyford said.

“I don’t think I want to talk to you, after all.”

“Well, you’ve got to. And we cannot talk here. Nor are we likely to get a better chance. You’re going to tell me what you saw and heard the other night, and then we are going to decide what to do about it.”