The American Heiress (24 page)

Cora nodded, doing her best to smile. Unconsciously she put her hands to her throat, seeking reassurance from the glowing pearls round her neck.

Odo noticed. ‘But what a magnificent necklace, Duchess Cora! You hardly ever see pearls of that colour and size. And such a charming contrast to the dress.’

‘Ivo gave it to me when we were in Venice on our wedding tour.’

‘Didn’t you have a necklace with pearls that colour, Charlotte, that your aunt gave you? You and Duchess Cora must be careful not to wear your black pearls at the same time or people will think that you both belong to some secret society.’ Odo was almost squeaking with pleasure at his conceit. But Charlotte did not rise to his bait.

‘My necklace is far inferior, Odo. Anyway it is broken, so there is no danger of duplication.’

Odo did not reply. Cora was struck by the evident tension between the couple.

There was a sudden dip in the hum of conversation and a rustling sound that spread through the room like the wind through dry leaves. Cora turned and saw the Prince of Wales standing in the doorway. He was of average height but even the immaculate tailoring of his evening clothes could not disguise his enormous girth; she understood now why his nickname was Tum Tum. He looked older than the photographs she had seen of him and they did not convey his florid complexion or the coldness of his pale blue eyes. She realised that the rustling had stopped with her, and then she caught her mother-in-law’s scandalised eye and realised that the whole room was waiting for her to curtsy. But her knees refused to bend. It was only when she saw the slow smile on the face of Charlotte Beauchamp that the spell was broken; her knees obeyed and she sank into the most graceful curtsy she could manage.

‘Your Highness, may I present the Duchess of Wareham.’ Duchess Fanny stopped short of a full endorsement of her daughter-in-law.

Cora was conscious of the Prince’s heavy-lidded eyes looking her over with the scrutiny of experience.

‘I think your son has made a very wise choice, Fanny. I’ve always liked Amerrricans.’ The Prince had an almost French habit of rolling his ‘r’s.

Cora wondered whether she could safely rise from her curtsy, or was she meant to hover in obeisance while the Prince inspected her? She decided to stand up. This meant that she now stood an inch or two above the Prince. He smiled at her, revealing uneven yellow teeth.

‘I have very fond memories of your country. I saw Blondin walk across the Niagarrra Falls, you know. My heart was in my mouth the whole way.’ The Prince nodded at the memory.

Cora had no idea who Blondin was, but smiled back. She guessed that the Prince must be in his late fifties; if Blondin had been famous in his youth then she knew better than to remind him of his age.

‘You have the advantage of this American then, Your Royal Highness. I have not yet visited the Niagara Falls.’

‘But that is a shocking omission. You must make a point of going there when you return to your country.’

‘Is that a royal command, sir?’ Cora said as pertly as she dared.

The Prince laughed and turned to the Double Duchess. ‘I hope I am sitting next to your daughter-in-law at dinner, she can amuse me.’

The Double Duchess smiled and nodded, not betraying by a flicker her dismay at this casual destruction of her carefully considered placement.

The Prince moved on and Cora felt Ivo’s breath tickling her neck.

‘You’ve made an impression on the Prince. Mother must be thrilled.’

‘But where were you, Ivo? I shouldn’t have to face all these people alone,’ Cora said sharply. Her heart was still pounding from her encounter with the Prince.

‘Nonsense, Cora, you are quite indestructible and besides, the Prince likes to have the pretty ones all to himself.’ He bent down and whispered into her ear. ‘But remember that I shall be watching you.’

Cora blushed and looked down in confusion. When she dared to raise her gaze, she caught a glimpse of Charlotte Beauchamp staring at them.

‘Ivo, why does Charlotte Beauchamp stare at me like that?’

Ivo hesitated, then he took her hand and kissed it. ‘Cora, my love, you must be used to staring by now. Poor old Charlotte is probably feeling put out that she is now no longer the reigning beauty. Don’t worry about her.’

Ivo’s tone was breezy but Cora felt there was something out of place that she couldn’t quite identify. She noticed that he did not look over at Charlotte but kept his eyes on her.

Cora had no time to puzzle over her husband’s evasions during dinner. She was fully occupied with entertaining the Prince, who had the most disconcerting habit of changing the subject the moment he grew tired of it. Cora was in the middle of describing the alterations that she was making to Lulworth when the royal eyelids flickered and he interrupted her with a question about the hunting in her native country. It was only during the serving of the fish course, when the Prince turned to talk to the Double Duchess on his other side, that Cora was able to look down the table and see that Ivo was sitting next to Charlotte Beauchamp. They were talking not to each other but to the people sitting on either side of them. Cora wanted to see how they spoke to each other but here was the ptarmigan and the Prince was turning back towards her.

‘I shall look forward to seeing Lulworth again. The shooting there has always been good. As soon as you have got the house to your liking, we will visit. I know the Prrrincess would like you.’

Cora remembered what Ivo had told her about the building of the railway line and how it had almost bankrupted his father. She wondered how pleased Ivo would be to entertain the royal couple.

‘I look forward to entertaining Your Royal Highnesses at Lulworth, although being an American I feel I cannot have anyone to stay until we have sufficient bathrooms.’

The Prince rumbled with laughter. ‘Hear that, Fanny? Your new Duchess thinks Lulworth is unhygienic.’

The Double Duchess smiled at him lazily. ‘We seemed to manage, though, didn’t we, sir. Perhaps I am just set in my ways but I cannot help but think there is more to life than hot water. But Cora has grown up with every convenience, so it is only right that she should mould Lulworth to her own taste. I just hope the character of the place may be preserved. It is such an atmospheric house.’ The Duchess’s voice dropped to its most thrilling timbre. ‘Although I love it here at Conyers, I do miss the romance of Lulworth, the mist on the trees in the morning, and the Maltravers ghosts. Poor Lady Eleanor and her broken heart. I do think there is something peculiarly English about Lulworth. It is as if a little bit of England’s soul had been frozen there forever.’

The Prince leant over to Cora, and raised an eyebrow. ‘The question is, can Lulworth have soul and hot water?’

Cora did not hesitate. She was tired of Duchess Fanny’s condescension. ‘Most definitely, Your Highness. In my country we have houses that have history
and
bathrooms. We even have ghosts.’ She flashed her most jaunty smile at the Prince and her mother-in-law. The Prince gave her an appraising glance. The American girl had spirit.

‘Well, there you have it, Fanny. The voice of the New World,’ and he shot the Double Duchess a malicious glance, to show that he thought that she had been bested by her daughter-in-law. And then, as if suddenly bored of the rivalry between the two women which he had stirred up, he began to drum his fingers on the table. The Double Duchess saw this with alarm and hastily changed the subject to the composition of the bridge fours after dinner.

Cora leant forward in the hope of seeing Ivo. He was still talking to Lady Bessborough even though by rights he should be talking to Charlotte. As she turned back to her plate, she noticed that Odo Beauchamp was staring at his wife. Despite their rancorous little exchange earlier, it struck Cora that he was looking at Charlotte as if he could not bear to let her out of his sight.

The meal went on and on. The Prince tackled each one of the nine courses with relish and teased Cora, who found she had lost her appetite, for not doing the food justice.

At last the Double Duchess gave the signal for the ladies to withdraw. When the ladies had followed her into the drawing room, Cora was surprised to find that Charlotte came to sit next to her.

‘So have you survived the ordeal?’ Charlotte’s voice was friendly.

Cora smiled uncertainly. ‘I think so. It was a very long dinner.’

‘The Prince likes his food. Anything less than nine courses and he thinks you are trying to starve him. I simply dread the day he decides to stay with us. Everything, the guests, the menus, the seating plans, even the sleeping arrangements have to be approved before he comes. Even Aunt Fanny gets nervous.’ Charlotte looked over to the Double Duchess, who was drinking coffee with Lady Bessborough.

‘I didn’t know she was your aunt. Does that mean you and Ivo are cousins?’ Cora was curious. Ivo had never mentioned that he was related to Charlotte.

‘No, aunt is just a courtesy title. My mother and Aunt Fanny were friends as girls. Then they both got married.’ Charlotte gave a little shrug. ‘Aunt Fanny married a duke and my mother married an army officer who died when I was a baby. But they remained friends. My mother died when I was sixteen and Aunt Fanny took me in. She had promised my mother that she would bring me out. She kept her promise.’ Charlotte’s smile had a slightly hard edge to it.

Cora tried to imagine what it would be like to have no family.

‘I can’t think what it must be like to be an orphan.’ She thought of the way her mother had monitored every minute of her life until her marriage.

Charlotte gave her a half smile. ‘I hope you won’t be shocked if I tell you that it is liberating.’

Cora was shocked, but then she thought of the endless afternoons in Sans Souci and she nodded at Charlotte. ‘I think I understand.’

Charlotte put her hand on Cora’s arm. ‘Good. I hope that means we can be friends.’

Cora was surprised at this but tried not to show it. She said in what she had come to think of as her Duchess voice, ‘I hope so too.’

Before Charlotte could say any more, there was a flurry of activity as the men arrived. The guests were organised into bridge tables. Charlotte was summoned by the Double Duchess and with a rueful backward glance at Cora she was swallowed up into the card players.

And then to Cora’s relief she saw Ivo’s tall figure coming towards her.

He sat down next to her in the place just vacated by Charlotte. She was about to tell him about her conversation, when he said quietly, ‘In a minute my mother is going to ask me to play the piano. When she does I want you to come with me. We’ll give them the Schubert.’

Cora looked at him in dismay. ‘But Ivo, I haven’t been practising. I can’t play in front of all these people.’

He smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry, no one here is going to notice if you hit a wrong note. We will do very nicely.’

Cora swallowed and tried to smile back.

As Ivo had predicted, a moment later the Double Duchess approached them.

‘Dear Cora, would you mind awfully if I asked Ivo to play for us? It would be such a treat.’ She turned to her son. ‘I don’t remember the last time I heard you play.’

‘Don’t you, Mother? It was a long time ago.’ Ivo stared at his mother, who lowered her gaze.

Ivo stood up and kept Cora’s hand in his so she had no choice but to follow him. Cora saw the flicker of incomprehension in her mother-in-law’s eyes as he took her with him to the piano, and then as they sat down together in front of the keyboard, she watched the Duchess turn her face to the side suddenly, as if she had been struck.

Ivo’s hands were poised over the keys. He looked at Cora gravely. ‘Are you ready? One, two, three…’

They plunged into the Schubert. Cora played harder than she had ever done before. She could feel the Duchess watching her. As they played, the room grew silent, even the card players paused to listen. Her part supported his rippling arpeggios with a succession of minor chords; if her timing was a fraction out, the piece would sound discordant and harsh, but Ivo was with her, hovering above the foundation she was laying with his own comments and interpolations. A few bars before the end, Cora had forgotten the other people in the room, she was completely caught up in the music. She could feel Ivo’s leg pressed against hers and she found herself swaying with him as they reached the finale. As they came to the last bars, she knew they were perfectly in time and she gave her last chord every ounce of feeling she possessed. The sound faded away and she leant against him.

Ivo whispered in her ear, ‘I told you we would do well together.’

And then he was up, smiling his acknowledgement of the applause that greeted the end of the piece. He turned to her and lifted her hand and kissed it. The applause grew louder still. Cora felt herself blushing.

She heard the Prince saying to Ivo, ‘So you’ve found yourself a new parrrtner, Wareham. I rrremember you used to play with your mother. But I think your new Duchess is quite capable of keeping up with you, what.’

‘You are very perceptive, sir.’ Ivo made a little bow to the Prince.

Duchess Fanny approached in full throaty flight. ‘My dears, what a musical honeymoon you must have had.’ She turned to Cora. ‘I hope Ivo didn’t make you practise all the time?’