Miss Mischief - A Regency Romance (17 page)

‘I came over the fence,’ Warrington protested. ‘But I
was
going to the front door until you waylaid me -’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Miss Claybourn said quickly. ‘As you have heard, I am busy this afternoon but I’m sure I shall see you both at Mrs. Leytham’s dance on Friday.’

Both boys paused, their faces brightening.

‘The dance,’ Mr. Warrington said enthusiastically. ‘Yes of course, Miss Claybourn. I trust,’ he said, a little awkwardly, ‘that you shall save me a dance?’

‘And me?’ Mr. Duffy said quickly.

She smiled at them both. ‘Of course. You may both have a dance if you go away and do not disturb me any more today. It is really quite tiresome to find one or more of you lurking around the place all the time you know. Papa will be asking the gardeners to eject you if you keep it up.’

‘I’ll go now,’ Mr. Warrington said hastily. ‘And I shall look forward to the dance with all my heart.’

‘And I,’ Mr. Duffy assured her. ‘I shall be counting the hours. The minutes! I shall go now and write an ode to your glorious eyes!’

That drew a snort from his companion and Marcus watched the two men walk away, still exchanging insults with undiminished enthusiasm.

‘Dear God. Is it always like this?’

‘When they are home,’ Miss Claybourn admitted glumly. ‘It can be very trying.’

‘I am sure it can. Why doesn’t your father have a word with them?’

‘He’s known them since they were boys. Besides, they don’t actually mean any harm, most of the time. It’s only when they have these foolish flights of fancy – like the duels and that silliness yesterday – that it becomes truly annoying.’ She gave him a smile. ‘You managed them beautifully, however. With any luck they shall go off and consider ways to vanquish you.’

He blinked. ‘Vanquish me?’

‘A rival for my hand,’ she explained gravely, taking his arm and starting back towards the table and her grandmother. ‘Clearly, you must be vanquished. You may expect to receive their seconds at any moment, I daresay. Now come along. As I was saying, I have an idea for managing Lord Mordern and I want to discuss it with you. It might be a way to be rid of him once and for all.’

Chapter Six

‘My thought,’ Johanna said, glancing towards the attentive face of Lord Hathaway, ‘is to put myself into a position that Lord Mordern simply won’t be able to resist.’

Her grandmother stared at her suspiciously. ‘Now why does that make me feel antsy, like?’ she muttered.

‘What sort of situation?’ his lordship demanded, equally suspicious.

‘Nothing too alarming. I might arrange to be alone, somewhere. And Lord Mordern might see me being alone, somewhere and he might take it into his head to… come and say hello.’

‘No,’ Lord Hathaway said flatly. ‘It’s too dangerous. What if I am not around?’

‘The point is that you will be around,’ she told him. ‘And I cannot see another way to make him forget himself, can you? The situation is becoming more desperate with every hour that passes. Mrs. Gordon is wrapping Papa up like a fly in a spider’s cocoon and before too long it will be too late to free him. I tell you, when he proposes it will be the end of it for he will never retract a vow.’

It was true, every word of it. The more Johanna thought of it, the more convinced she became that they had very little time to make Mordern misbehave and save the situation. As unlikely as it might seem that her father might propose, having known the woman for only a week, she had a horrible feeling that things were unfolding apace and that there was very little time.

‘It’s too risky,’ his lordship protested.

‘No reason why it should be, if you’re trailing her close enough,’ Grandma said thoughtfully. ‘Like it or not, the lass has a point. From what I’ve seen of the man, Mordern is too sly to be caught out readily. We may need to nudge him a little.’

‘Exactly!’ Johanna said, giving her grandmother an approving smile. ‘And to this end, I suggest we try and trip him up this very afternoon.’

‘So soon?’ Lord Hathaway inquired, tone ironic.

‘Why not? As I have said, my lord, time is of the essence.’

He glanced at her grandmother. ‘And you approve of this scheme?’

Grandma chuckled. ‘I’ve been trying to get the lass to mind me for the past eighteen years with no noticeable joy. Don’t know where she gets it from. My daughter Oliue was as timid as you please while Antony is no firebrand. I reckon,’ she added, giving Johanna a satisfied look, ‘that she takes after me.’

Lord Hathaway was silent for a moment and Johanna thought with some amusement that he was probably too polite to make the observation he would have liked to have done. He might have said something to her but it obviously wasn’t in him to disagree with an elderly lady, bless him. A pity, for Grandma liked nothing better than an amiable bicker.

‘I can’t say I like it in the least,’ he said finally, ‘but if you are determined then you must be exact as to the time and the place so that I can be on hand. In fact, before you go trailing off into deserted rooms I would like you to see me first, if you please.’

Grandma gave a bark of laughter. ‘Hey-up, lass, harken to the fellow. He knows what he’s about.’

‘I can hear him perfectly well,’ Johanna said rather primly. She could see him perfectly well, too and she liked what she saw a great deal. Nothing was designed to highlight a true
man
more than seeing him beside boys that had some distance to travel before they reached maturity. The more she saw of Marcus Hathaway, saw how he dealt with situations and circumstances that had been thrust upon him, the more she appreciated his deft handling of events. But one of the most appealing aspects he had shown so far was that he seemed to be genuinely indifferent to the fact that her grandmother was not of his social class. Johanna had grown accustomed to judging others on how they treated Katherine Howeth. Condescension, uneasiness or outright disdain might not worry her grandmother – and indeed, she had chided Johanna that people were no more than their upbringing, after all and it did not matter a jot – but Johanna could not like a person who did not like Grandma. Lord Mordern and his sister had been very careful to be punctilious in their manner towards her but she had caught the siblings out on several occasions when the shadow of condescension had crossed their faces when they thought no one was looking. Grandma’s earthy way of talking took most people aback, if they did not know her. Sometimes Johanna thought she spoke a great deal more broadly than necessary, just to stir up the company.

Lord Hathaway might be extraordinarily gifted at dissembling but Johanna did not think so. There was an honesty about him that she found strangely comforting and he did
not
despise her grandmother, that much was obvious. Indeed, he appeared to admire her, which made Johanna admire
him
all the more.

The nebulous plan that was forming took root a little more deeply. She looked at him thoughtfully, studying his face. There was so much he had not told her – which was only to be expected as he clearly possessed an uncomfortable past that he did not care to share and she had only met him the previous day – but with time she was sure she could wiggle it out of him. The problem was time, of course. If she did indeed put her plan into action that afternoon and have Mordern and his scheming sister ejected, then Lord Hathaway would consider his job done and would undoubtedly be on his way.

She did not want him to be on his way but how she could achieve the removal of Mordern and still retain Lord Hathaway in the household flummoxed her. She needed another plan, something that would give her more time with the man.

She would have to think on it. Quickly, if she were going to devise something before the end of the day.

At luncheon, a meal attended by everybody, they were treated to the unpalatable sight of Sir Antony fawning over Mrs. Gordon in much the same way a young lad might make eyes at his first love. What was tiresome in an inexperienced youth was a great deal less appealing in a man in his fifties. If it wasn’t for the fact that Johanna knew Celine Gordon was scheming her way into a wealthy marriage, it wouldn’t have been such a bad match for the woman was hardly in the first blush of youth. While she was holding back the ravages of time very successfully, Johanna was inclined to put Mrs. Gordon in her early thirties, a far from unacceptable age for Sir Antony. She was an amusing creature, as well and clearly had the ability to make her father feel young again. Indeed, Johanna had rarely seen that happy flush in Papa’s cheeks and a pang of uncertainty went through her.

Did she have any right to interfere with her father’s happiness? If he really did care for Mrs. Gordon and she for him…

But I do not care for her brother at all and unfortunately they are a matched set; I cannot have one without the other. And what if she really does not care for Papa? Would it not be better to break it off now than to wait until he is truly attached?

The matter of her ride that afternoon with Lord Hathaway came up just as the syllabub was served.

‘And what are you doing this afternoon, my dear?’ her father inquired affably, settling back in his chair and surreptitiously loosening a button on his waistcoat.

‘I thought I would take Belle out. Lord Hathaway has kindly consented to come along so that she may learn a few lessons from a well behaved horse. It can only help her training.’

‘An excellent idea,’ her father agreed. ‘And I shall rest easier, knowing that you are in his company.’

She let this comment pass without challenge. It was not a battle that needed to be waged, just at the moment. There were other things to worry about.

‘I would like to accompany you both, if I may,’ Lord Mordern smiled at her. ‘One grows tired of inactivity and I feel that I have been sitting about for too long. It’s been delightful of course – how could it not be, considering the company? – but a ride would be most welcome.’

Johanna stared at him, disconcerted. He could have gone riding at any time during the week that he had been in residence, she thought with some exasperation. How typical that he would want to go now, just when she had been looking forward to spending some time alone – well, with the exception of a discreet groom – with a man she was extremely keen to know better.

‘Capital idea!’ her father boomed. ‘What about you, my dear?’ he inquired of Mrs. Gordon, casting her a besotted look. ‘Shall we join them on a gentle hack?’

The woman laughed softly. ‘I think I would prefer a quiet stroll around the gardens, Sir Antony. If I can find a willing guide to show me its delights?’

A gentle flush of pleasure mounted her father’s cheeks. ‘I would be delighted, my dear lady. Delighted!’

Anxiety touched Johanna anew and she cast a worried glance at Lord Hathaway, who met her look with a slight smile.
It will all be all right
, that look seemed to suggest. Despite herself, she was reassured. They had a plan. With any luck, Celine and her wretched brother would be gone by evening and this ridiculous flirtation would come to an end. And perhaps she could find a nice lady for Papa up in London. Somebody who was sweet and kindly and who would care for
him
, rather than his wealth.

‘Gardens are nice enough, this time of year,’ her grandmother said chirpily. ‘D’you know, I fancy a turn around them myself.’

‘Really?’ Sir Antony said, his enthusiasm ebbing a trifle. ‘But will it not be too cool for you Mother? The wind -’

‘I’ll wrap up warm,’ she assured him briskly. ‘And we’ll take my chair.’

Grandma’s ‘chair’ was a seat set on a frame with a pair of sturdy wheels and handles at the back so she could be pushed along and its existence meant that she could take a turn about the grounds occasionally, a difficult thing to do nowadays if she was forced to rely on her legs. Johanna hid a smile at the suggestion, which really was inspired. It would be difficult for her father to wax romantic if he were in the company of his mother-in-law.

Dressing for her ride in her second best habit, for her new riding dress was still in the process of being cleaned after its damp adventure the day before, Johanna cursed the fact that they would have to endure the presence of Lord Mordern on this outing. She did not want the man along. On the contrary, she was eager to have Lord Hathaway to herself so she could continue to explore her burgeoning attraction to him. She had never been attracted to a man before. No, she corrected herself; that wasn’t quite right. She had met the occasional gentleman who had caused a small flutter of interest somewhere in a region that had been, until only a short time ago, more or less indifferent to such sensations. She would dance with some hopeful, flirting a little as she practiced her novice skills in this intriguing art form and, every once in awhile she would feel a delicious heat suffuse her as her eyes locked with the man she was with. Such instances had been short lived and she had not dwelt on the event for any length of time afterwards but it had certainly suggested that there was more to this romantic business that she had hitherto imagined.