Miss Mischief - A Regency Romance (15 page)

She tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and guided him out of the room. ‘It is. There are more than a few fond mamas in the neighborhood who think me far too spoilt for my own good. I suppose it was inevitable, what with Mama dying when I was a child. It might have helped if there had been a brother or sister. I cannot understand why Papa did not go looking for another wife to give him a son.’

‘That’s a very practical outlook,’ once again, she seemed to have surprised him. He glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow. ‘And yet you object to his apparent attachment to Mrs. Gordon?’

Johanna frowned. She couldn’t help it. Her father’s behavior the evening before with Celine Gordon had been appalling. ‘
Not
Mrs. Gordon. If Papa were to form an attachment to her, I would never be rid of either of them and I most assuredly do not want Lord Mordern to lay claim to a relationship with me. Of
any
kind.’

He nodded thoughtfully. ‘I agree completely. Do you think your father will listen to reason on the subject?’

‘He will if Grandma talks to him,’ Johanna said, with some confidence. ‘Do not misunderstand me, my lord. I do want my father’s happiness even if I am, as you say, a spoilt little miss. But I cannot believe Mrs. Gordon would make him happy. She is far too…too…’ she paused, searching for the right word.

‘Self serving?’

‘Exactly. All sweetness and good humor to his face but I have seen her be quite horrid to her poor maid and some of the stories Florence has told me -’

‘Florence?’

‘My maid. They all gossip, you know. It is very enlightening and not a little entertaining at times, I have to admit.’

‘If I get rid of Mordern, you won’t have to worry about his sister,’ his lordship observed thoughtfully.

‘That’s true.’ They were outside now and she saw that it really was a glorious morning. Or perhaps it appeared even more so because of her companion. She had guided him into a grove of miniature yews, a very pretty area where the paths meandered between borders just breaking into spring color and the trees themselves had been carefully shaped into elegant cones. It was quite private and Johanna could reasonably expect not to be interrupted by anyone other than one of the gardeners. ‘But how are you going to get rid of him. He is always so polite. Even when he has made advances to me, he does so in that dreadfully
insinuating
way of his.’

Johanna did not have to pretend about this part of her subterfuge. On the rare occasions Lord Mordern had managed to get her to himself, he had said nothing that might be considered offensive. But it was what had lain beneath the words that had been disturbing, that and the look in his eyes. When he had found her in her father’s library alone he had gone so far as to back her up against one of the bookshelves on the pretense of looking at a volume behind her. It had been transparently obvious what he had been doing; his body had been far too close to her own for propriety’s sake and no gentleman would have sought out an unmarried female in such a way. She had gotten away from him without a great deal of effort, brushing past him and hurrying from the room but she had hated the way he had made her feel.

Trapped and helpless, if only for a few seconds. She had not cared for the scent of him, for the touch of his warm breath against her skin. In truth, his invasion of her privacy had frightened her and, while she had later reasoned that she had been in no real danger from the man, she had been very careful not to be put into that position again.

‘I shall come up with something,’ Lord Hathaway said now, sounding quite cheerful about the whole thing. His attitude made
her
feel a great deal more cheerful too. She might have kept him there on the pretext of defending her from an unpleasant situation but it had not been a complete fabrication. More of a happy combination of circumstances.

The best thing that had resulted in her ploy the previous evening was that she got to spend more time with this mysterious stranger
and
had a champion in her quest to be rid of Lord Mordern. If she hadn’t been so irked at Hugo, she might have thanked the poor boy for his clumsy attempts to save her on the previous day.

Pleased as she was at how the situation had turned out, she knew that she still had only a limited amount of time to… her thought processes paused, halted by the knowledge that she wasn’t entirely sure why she was so intent on keeping Lord Hathaway at Cloverton Hall.

She shot a quick glance at his lordship’s face. He met her eyes and grimaced. ‘Somehow, I cannot help but feel that something is going on in that very attractive head of yours Miss Claybourn,’ he observed with refreshing bluntness.

Rather than respond directly, she took a less challenging path. ‘Oh, do you think me attractive?’ she said with an artless smile.

‘My dear girl, that is unworthy of you.’

She could not help but laugh at this. ‘It was, rather. But you can hardly blame me. You, at least, are not swayed by my good looks. And before you take me to task for vanity,’ she said, holding up a hand, ‘let me tell you that, having been congratulated on my great good fortune at being pretty since for as long as I can remember, I would have to be the worst kind of dissembler to pretend otherwise.’

This caused
him
to laugh in turn. ‘I suppose that is true. You are certainly going to cause a stir in London.’

‘Am I?’ She said doubtfully. ‘I am not sure that I want to. Do you know, Papa said that I wasn’t to mention Grandma when I am there? And
she
says the same thing.’

‘Much as I admire your grandmother, she is very sensible. Polite Society does not encourage anything that throws its own behavior or antecedents into question. It is quite willing to take what money it can from those it considers beneath them, but God forbid if anybody throws it in their face. Your grandmother undoubtedly wishes the best possible match for you, which is why she has advised you not to speak of her.’

‘But that’s ridiculous! Any future husband will have to meet her. He would not be marrying me if he did not.’

Lord Hathaway shook his head. ‘Ah, but then it will be a done deed. And your father will probably have a quiet word with him before the event, explaining the family circumstances.’

‘I am not at all sure that I want to go to London to meet these marital jewels who will ensure my future respectability,’ Johanna snapped. ‘It is bad enough here, with Mrs. Esk looking down her nose at Grandma and Lady Duffy unable to pay so much as a morning call. She is pleasant enough to me if we happen to meet but she behaves as if Grandma is invisible. We have nothing to be ashamed of. My grandmother is a wonderful woman.’

He stopped, turning to face her. ‘I know that,’ he assured her gently. ‘One conversation with Mrs. Howeth told me that she is highly intelligent, extremely astute and in possession of an excellent sense of humor. But it is difficult to overcome the unreasonable preconception of others. It might be small comfort but I can only assure you that it is their loss.’

Johanna shot him a grateful glance. ‘It is, isn’t it?’ They began to stroll forward once again. ‘You are not married yourself, I believe?’

‘No, Miss Claybourn. I am not.’

‘Are you the eldest son?’

‘I am the only son.’

‘So you will have to get married to pass on the title,’ she said thoughtfully.

‘An inescapable fact of life,’ he agreed dryly.

‘And do you have a fortune, Sir?’ She had given up trying to be subtle. Subtle was not working on this man. Far better to go directly to the heart of whatever it was she wished to know. He could refuse to answer, of course but at least she would stand a better chance of discovering more about this intriguing individual.
He
was not perturbed about her grandmother’s origins, which made him all the more appealing as far as Johanna was concerned.

‘No, Miss Claybourn. I have quite the opposite. Clearly, you have no compunction about quizzing me as to my circumstances so let me tell you this so we can have done with it. I am a nobleman without any means whatsoever. I have no fortune, no estate and no means of supporting a wife. Does that satisfy you?’

He had spoken the words with apparent humor but Johanna was not so insensitive that she did not catch the undercurrent of unhappy resignation in his voice. ‘A little,’ she admitted, keeping her voice cheerful. ‘Under the circumstances, you probably need to marry an heiress. I believe it is customary, in such circumstances.’

‘So I have been told,’ he returned shortly. ‘I choose, however, not to follow such a well-worn path. I would have nothing to offer such a woman and I cannot countenance such an uneven trade, even if I did find somebody who would accept me.’

‘Oh, nonsense,’ she said, infusing the words with a brisk note the better to stop the conversation from falling into the doldrums. ‘Heiresses are generally quite happy to be married to penniless men if the man happens to be suitable in other ways. Never underestimate the virtues of kindness and humor and honor, my lord. And a handsome face is hardly going to hurt your chances, either,’ she added with a bluntness that only her grandmother would have approved of.

For a moment she thought that she had rendered him dumbstruck but his sense of humor (which she had already mentioned as being a very pleasing trait) got the better of him and he broke into laughter.

‘Miss Claybourn,’ he said, when he could speak again. ‘I would very much like to see you in London! You will have them all beside themselves within a week.’

‘I will undoubtedly be a social pariah,’ she returned with a sigh. London, again. Even after she had vanquished the unlovely Lord Mordern she had that to contend with. They meant to pack her of to Aunt Agnes in another four weeks. To leave Yorkshire and travel to a town that was as foreign to her as any city on the Continent might be. To stay with a woman who disapproved of her in every possible way and who would undoubtedly discourage anything that even hinted of fun. For the life of her, she could not see why she should have to endure such a sad trial. Other girls – like Pricilla Esk – might dream of the hallowed halls of Almack’s or the wonders of Covent Garden but Johanna was fairly certain that such pleasures would be severely mitigated by the daunting presence of her Aunt Agnes, who equated fun with frivolous folly. Curse her.

She shot a swift glance at the gentleman beside her once again. An idea was forming in her head, one so momentous that she knew she needed time to think on it. So far, her impressions of Lord Hathaway had been more than favorable. He was, in every way, what she had hoped to discover in a man ever since leaving the schoolroom behind. She had not been in jest when she had outlined the virtues that made a gentleman appealing in her eyes. They were, in her limited experience, far rarer than perhaps her companion could understand.

From the moment she had met him she had felt unusually comfortable with him. More than that, she trusted him. It was unfortunate that he did not think he had anything to give a woman. She was beginning to think that it was quite the opposite…

‘Would you care to go riding with me later?’ she asked now. ‘It would do Belle good to be next to a horse that was well behaved and there are few enough about, let me assure you.’

He paused for a moment, as if surprised by the sudden change in subject but then nodded amiably. ‘Very well. I can promise you, Hermes is too much of a gentleman to cause your mare any distress and, from what I observed yesterday, it might do her good to go out with a horse who knows what he’s about.’

‘I agree completely,’ she assured him, pleased that he had accepted her invitation. She had thought that he might not.

‘We will take a groom, of course,’ he added firmly.

‘Of course. I would be loath to imperil your virtue, my lord.’

His lips quivered at this. ‘Good heavens, what a minx you are.’

‘I know. I consider it one of my many attractions,’ she agreed gravely and turning, they headed back towards the house.

Under the circumstances, you probably need to marry an heiress…

She had sounded uncannily like his sister, at that moment; yet another person suggesting that he do the sensible thing and marry for money to restore his fortunes. Did everybody think like that? He wondered what the ratio of heiresses was to penniless noblemen was in England and thought that perhaps the House of Lords might commission a study on the subject…