The Hopeless Hoyden (2 page)

             
“Milord?" The burgundy liveried groom stood next to the team tethered to a tree.  Upon seeing the Viscount, the youth came rushing over, and Gabriel transferred his weight to the lad's sturdy shoulders.

             
“How are the horses, Jeb?"

             
“They be fine, milord, and the curricle only got a couple of scratches.  Nothing's broke."

             
With the groom's aid, Gabriel was soon seated atop the curricle.  He thought better of trying to handle his nervous team, however, and relinquished the reigns to Jeb.

             
“I can't say making your acquaintance has been a pleasure, Miss Pendleton."  His words brought a blush to her cheeks that spread to the roots of her wild curly tresses.  Taking pity on her, he added, "Don't worry your pretty little head.  I'm just fine."  She seemed to turn even pinker.  He chuckled softly before ordering Jeb to keep the team at a more decorous pace.

             
Emily stood in the middle of the drive as the curricle rolled down the drive for Lindemann Park.  Staring at the back of the gentleman's broad shoulders, she wondered if she'd see the handsome gentleman again.  It really was too bad she wasn't on better terms with the local society matrons, she mused while turning to make her way toward the Grange. 

###

              “My lord!" Pickering cried out in his sonorous tone, hurrying down the flagstone steps.  “Whatever happened?”

             
Gabriel slowly descended the curricle with Jeb's aid and smiled.  It was a rare moment, indeed, that Pickering, his distinguished butler, lost his starched up demeanor. “The horses shied at . . .something, and I lost my balance.  Nothing of consequence.”

             
“Should I send for the doctor?"

             
“Send for that quack and you'll find yourself sacked," Gabriel growled.  "I merely had the wind knocked out of me.  Nothing more."               

             
If Pickering thought it a bit odd that the notable Corinthian had been tossed from his curricle, he did not show it.  Instead, returning to the door, he held it open for Gabriel as he paused on the top step to gaze about the verdant vista of Lindemann Park. 

             
“Where are my august guests?"

             
“The men have gone down to the lake to fish, my lord, while the ladies are congregated on the back lawn for tea."

             
“Good, I will be in my rooms until dinner.  Assign a footman to attend me until Tilden arrives with the luggage."  Gabriel then gave Jeb orders to see to the repairs to the curricle.  He cautiously made his way, unassisted, across the black and white marble tiled foyer and, with perseverance, managed the stairs to reach the second floor. 

             
As he was headed down the hall for his rooms, Gabriel encountered a young woman.  Neatly dressed, her clothes showed some wear.  This and the fact that she carried a folded silk shawl over one arm lead Gabriel to guess she was a companion of one of his guests. 

             
“Lord Lindemann, are you just arriving?"

             
“I'm afraid you've the better of me, madam," he replied, wishing he could just get to his room. 

             
“My name is Jane Taber, my lord.  I am cousin to Lady Sylvia Raines."

             
“A pleasure, Miss Taber," he returned and was rewarded with a shy smile.  “May I beg a favor, Miss Taber?"

             
“Anything, my lord."

             
“I've no wish to let the others know I've arrived just yet, especially Lord Fordyce.  He'll come to plague the devil out of me even as I try to rid my travel dirt."

             
“Since the gentlemen have all gone off, there is no worry that any will bother you," she answered with a pretty smile.  "And you have my solemn promise not to breathe a whisper of your arrival to another soul."

             
Bidding her adieu until dinner, Gabriel made his way down the hall. 

             
Later, after a good rest, he felt much more the thing.  Tilden, his valet had arrived and prepared a hot bath.  Once bathed and dressed, Gabriel felt prepared to greet the rest of his guests before dinner.

             
At first glance, the drawing room appeared empty.  Then as Gabriel entered, a lean, dark featured gentleman slowly rose from the deep, wing back chair facing the fireplace.  With a glass of Madeira in one hand, he stood and bore the Viscount's close scrutiny.

             
“So, you finally showed up."  Cecil Caldwell was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.  Though he smiled, his iron gray eyes remained cold, unfeeling.

             
“As you were the one responsible for overrunning my house with guests, I saw little need to curtail my stay in town.  Besides, I had unfinished business to tend."

             
“And of course, it could not have waited," Cecil commented derisively.

             
“Unfortunately, no."  Gabriel kept his tone neutral.  "My man of business had already been kept waiting for the better part of two years."

             
“Ah, ever the loyal and dutiful soldier, now you’ve returned from the wars to become the benevolent and dutiful landowner."  Cecil sneered, one corner of his lower lip pulled down.  "You do like to dirty your hands."

             
“Honest labor can only make one stronger.  Besides, Cousin, my devotion to duty, which you are so quick to deride, is responsible for your present comfort at Lindemann Park."

             
Cecil glared at Gabriel for one long moment. “Just so," he finally said with an elegant bow from the waist.  "And while it seems I should thank you for your diligence to drudgery, you, in turn, may thank me for acting host in your stead." 

             
If Cecil expected a reply from the Viscount, he was doomed for disappointment.  Just how long the cousins would have stood glowering at each other was undetermined, for presently the drawing room door opened and the ladies filed in. 

             
Miss Deborah Caldwell, Cecil's younger sister, led two other women to Gabriel.  After giving him a cool peck on the cheek, she took his arm.  "You have come at last, dear cousin."  Slender like her brother, she possessed the same dark looks. Her gray eyes, however, were warmer with a covertness glow.  She was a great dissembler and, on seeing the animosity flaring between her brother and cousin, set about defusing the situation.

             
“It has been so dull without you, Gabriel, although Cecil has tried his best to entertain us," she said, favoring her brother with a smile.  "Now, with you here, we are destined to be a much merrier group."

             
“Lindemann, I began to wonder if you would be here at all."  Lady Raines, an attractive, plumpish matron with blue eyes and blond hair, extended one heavily bejeweled hand to Gabriel.  "My dear Sylvia has been most anxious over your absence."

             
While Sylvia Raines, a thinner copy of her mother, made her bow, another gentleman entered with Jane Taber.  Possessing carrot red hair and freckles, Baron Fordyce, Lord Frederick, a third cousin to the Viscount, was a true trencherman as his paunchy middle attested.  Of all the guests, Fordyce was the one person Gabriel was glad to see.  He truly liked and valued Fordyce as a friend.

             
“Freddy, I see you made it."  After prying Deborah's hand from his sleeve, Gabriel greeted his old school chum with a solid clap on his back and a genuine smile.

             
“Caldwell said you'd be here, Gab," the baron said, throwing Cecil a suspicious glance.  "Thought you wanted to see me.  Wouldn't have come otherwise."

             
“I am always glad to see you," Gabriel replied with feeling.

             
Miss Taber, quite forgotten in the introductions, tried to slip unobtrusively around the gentlemen, but Freddy, remembering his manners, coughed apologically into his hand.  "Ah, don't believe you know Miss Taber.  Related to Sylvia, you know." 

             
“I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Taber earlier."  Though Gabriel made a formal leg, his smile hinted at their earlier encounter, causing that young lady to blush prettily.

             
Sylvia Raines, obviously displeased at being left out of this little by-play, sauntered over to the little group.  "Jane is my mother's ward and consented to keep me company on our journey," the lovely blonde said in a condescending voice.

             
Sylvia clearly meant to imply the young woman's status was little above a servant, but Gabriel would have none of it.  The quiet little chit had kept his presence unknown, and he was grateful.  Besides, Freddy's rounded features were drawing into a squint.  “Then, I look forward to sharing her company as well."

             
To Gabriel, the evening seemed interminably long.  The one bright spot was the few minutes he managed to spend with Jane Taber, thanking her for keeping his arrival secret.  The young lady made light of his gratitude, and he noticed how her eyes kept darting to where Sylvia sat with his two cousins.

             
When the ladies retired and Cecil had also taken himself off somewhere, Gabriel commandeered a bottle of brandy from the sideboard and gestured for Freddy to follow him to the more intimate confines of his study.

             
Once ensconced in two comfortable wing-back chairs, each with a brandy in hand, Freddy turned his round, pale blue gaze on the Viscount.  "Ain't good ton, not being on hand for your guests, Gab.  Mean no insult," Freddy apologized solemnly.  "Just thought you ought to know."

             
Gabriel smiled to himself.  How like Freddy to try to look out for his reputation.  "No, you're right, Freddy.  But truth to tell, this house party wasn't my idea.  Cecil put it together, more or less, then informed me after the fact."

             
“Never say so!"  Freddy's moon-shaped features registered shock, appearing even rounder.  "That’s poor ton, for sure." 

             
“Yes, very poor," seconded Gabriel with a chuckle.  "But the deed is done, so you and I might as well make the most of it."

             
“Noticed a lot of females around.  Might do for you, if you’re on the hunt, but puts me on edge."  Freddy shook his head sadly before taking a good sized gulp of his brandy.

             
In turn, Gabriel almost choked on his own brandy.  "By Jove, Freddy, rid yourself of any such notion.  I've no intention of getting caught in parson's mouse trap.  I simply meant we could do some fishing and hunting, those kinds of sport."

             
“That's a relief, Gab.  Feared for a moment you might be hanging out for a wife.  Think Deborah and Sylvia think so too."

             
“Let them think what they like.  I have a completely different agenda.  The last thing I want is some dewy-eyed female making demands on my life."

             
“Lady Spivey’s coming with one of her nieces, you know?"

             
“That dowager's got a slew of eligible nieces.  Heard the last one she tried to pop off was a real hoyden."

             
“Pretty chit, actually," commented Freddy, his brow creased from the exertion of recalling the girl.  "But a romp.  Hadn't gotten the Patronesses' permission to waltz.  Someone spotted her at Lady Addington's do, out in the hall by herself, twirling all about.  Got carried away by the music.  Ended up knocking over a cabinet full of Lady Add's Chinese porcelain.  Antiques, every last one of them.  They all broke.  'Course, she offered to pay for them."  Freddy gave his cousin a wise look, his chin pulled down on his chest.  "Word was, Lady Spivey packed the chit off that next morning.  Totally disgraced."  His last words sounded almost like a death knell.

             
“Hardly sounds all that bad," commented Gabriel, amused even though he could sympathize with Lady Addington over loosing her valuable collection.

             
“Wasn't all the chit did," continued Freddy in that same morbid tone.  "Galloped in Hyde Park.  Told Harry Chesterfield at Drury Lane to shut his trap so she could hear that fellow Hamlet moan and groan on stage.  Even insulted the Beau at Almack's, no less.  Called him a pompous ass."

             
“Sounds like a paragon of trouble," laughed Gabriel even as a fleeting image of his wood sprite came to mind.  "By the bye, what's Chesterfield up to these days?" 

             
“Told me he'd be here.  Begged him to when I heard Lady Raines was coming."

             
For some time, the gentlemen continued along this vein, catching up on news of old friends before calling it a night.  Once in his room, Gabriel reflected how, throughout the evening, he'd been distracted with a vision of the saucy young lady with the countenance of a wood nymph, a heart-shaped face framed with wild, honey-colored tresses.  Though the young woman had come close to unmanning him for life, he couldn't help chuckling over the whole incredible incident.