The Viscount's Counterfeit Wife (65 page)

“Missy, you’ve got
to see this.” Tally was at her easel when Foster shuffled quickly
into the studio, more agitated than she recalled seeing him in a long
while.

“What is it?” For
him to come right into the studio, there had to be something
important going on.

“Quickly, come to the
window.” He moved there himself and peered down into the street. “A
young lady has just arrived next door.”

That made her move
faster. She put down her brush and went to join him. The most
elaborate carriage she’d ever seen stood in front of Reed’s door
looking like a diamond set among stones.

“Fo - ster! Don’t
be so obvious!” She bade him. There were no curtains to hide behind
in the studio. Generally, she needed all the light she could get. Not
that many people thought to look this high, if they were glancing at
the house. Still… she’d hate to be seen spying on a visitor next
door.

The windows all along
the wall in the studio were open, as they were most of the time due
to the strong paint and turpentine odors. Maybe they could hear what
was being said.

They need not have
feared, the young lady’s voice was penetrating. “As soon as I’m
married, Myrtle, this house is gone… like that.” She snapped her
fingers and her mouse of a companion looked startled. “I will
not
live in a ramshackle, minuscule house, in this dreadful part of
town.” The mouse nodded, offering her silent agreement.

She
probably didn’t dare disagree!
Tally thought, before
realizing what the mouse had been agreeing with. When the import of
those words hit Tally, she gasped.

Foster was goggle-eyed.
“She thinks these houses are tiny?!” His impression of the lady’s
intelligence was obviously just as tiny!

Tally didn’t like the
sound of this.
Who was this
ill-mannered young lady?

Foster shuffled from
the room and called Joseph, who came headlong up the stairs. They had
a low-voiced confabulation that ended with the boy, saying “Sure
thing, Mr. Foster.” Then he raced back downstairs.

Foster joined her at
the window again. They watched the young boy hurry out the front
door, a straw broom in his hand. He moved as close to next door as he
dared and began sweeping the sidewalk.

“Look at that?” The
icy beauty cast disdainful looks at Joseph. “How pedestrian.”

Her contemptuous sniff
made Tally want to march down there and throttle her. “How dare she
look down on Joseph for doing decent, honest work!”

“Humph! No doubt
she’s still abed when
her
sidewalk is being cleaned!”

“Why did you send him
out there to be ridiculed?” She hated to see the boy being
demeaned.

“Someone has to hear
who she is announced as. We probably won’t be able to hear her
footman from here.” was his laconic reply.

“Ho! Very clever, you
old trickster.” She patted his arm.

He looked pleased by
her approval, but simply folded his arms across his chest and kept a
keen watch out the window.

The lady’s footman
went swiftly to the door and returned almost as rapidly. He said
something to the supercilious young lady standing there tapping her
toe impatiently, but his tone was a lot quieter than his mistress’
and they weren’t able to catch it. She, however, left them in no
doubt about what she thought of his failed effort. “You are utterly
useless, James! I’ll just have to go myself and insist they allow
us inside to…” She made a to-heck-with-it gesture with her hand.
“Pshaw! Who cares, anyway, I have no intention of ever living here,
so why bother renovating?”

Silence resounded
loudly in the watchful atmosphere of the studio. Dismay congealed the
blood in Tally’s veins. Warning bells rang in her head! The only
person living next door was Reed, so if that lady hadn’t mistaken
the address…

“He
has
remembered everything, hasn’t he?” she said, looking sideways at
Foster. “He couldn’t have forgotten he has a fiancé, could he?”

“Humph,” was all
the reply she got, but this time it was a taut sound.

Well, what had she
expected him to say? What could he say when the lady herself was
outside Reed’s house loudly proclaiming it?

They followed her
graceful, confident movements with their eyes as she imperiously
strode the few steps it took to reach the front door. Unfortunately,
from their vantage point, they were unable to see further, though the
sound of her peremptory rapping of the knocker on the door indicated
less ladylike manners and much annoyance.

“My footman tells me
you refuse to let me in to decide how I want to renovate my
betrothed’s home.” She attacked with fervor. “Rest assured you
will not remain butler here once I am mistress.”

Tally’s eyebrows
rose. They had no trouble hearing her. She and Foster traded
astonished looks. This one had never learned that sugar works better
than vinegar.

“I demand you tell me
where he is,” she almost shrieked.

“I’m afraid that is
impossible, madam. I myself am not privy to such information.”

Mr. Hislop, the new
butler, must have been trained in the royal household to keep his
sang-froid
in the
face of such aggression.

“Surely you must have
some idea of where he is and when he’ll be returning?” Her whiny
tone was not pleasant. Poor man who ended up with her!

“I’m sure I could
not say, your ladyship.” The man intoned without any inflection in
his voice. He moved onto the front portico, pulling the door shut as
he did. He must have worried she would storm the house! They were now
able to see him clearly.

Foster crowed with
glee. “Woo-hoo! Good for Hislop!

Aha!
T
ally started to chuckle at the butler’s bland tone and
face, then bit it off. There was nothing the least bit amusing about
this scene. If the beautiful female at Reed’s door were to be
believed, she was his fiancé! That meant he was the “poor man”
who was going to end up with that witch. It meant he was not free to…

“Here, here. What
seems to be the problem?”

Who was brave enough or
foolish enough to interrupt her ladyship’s tantrum? Tally almost
put her head out the window in an effort to see.
Oh
my God!
Spencer! Aghast, she turned to look — open-eyed
and open-mouthed — at Foster. He was as stunned as she was.

They both leaned
further forward to see what would happen now. Would she annihilate
Spence for daring to question her?

The beautiful blonde
turned with a brilliant smile for Spence. Her eyes widened and she
said in the sweetest tone, sounding as if she’d just eaten a
teaspoon of honey, “I’m looking for someone, a peer, but this
butler refuses to tell me where he is?”

“Who is this peer?”

“The owner of this
townhouse.”

“I see. Well, I can
tell you with certainty that no peer is living here at present. I
know the lady who is renting it.”

Good heavens! Tally
held her breath. Was he going to give her away?

“Oh. How
inconvenient.” The blonde said. She stared at Spence for several
silent moments. He stared right back. He seemed as taken with her as
she was with him. “He,” she pointed at the attentive butler, who
was all but guarding the door, “says that no one is here. So you
have wasted your time in coming to visit.”

“That’s all right.
I didn’t send a note ahead. I happened to be in the area and
decided to give it a try.”

“Are you engaged to
this lady?” She sounded almost naïve.

“No. We are merely
friends.”

Oh ho! How interesting.
A beautiful woman appeared to have turned Spence’s head. Maybe,
now, he’d stop pestering her with his ridiculous proposals. She was
all for his switching allegiances, though she wished he’d found a
kinder and less pampered young lady.

“Come then. We will
give you a ride back to where you live.” She still sounded
imperious, but a lot nicer than before. Why Spence? Could she be
genuinely interested in him or would any man do? And what about Reed,
her fiancé?

The blonde marched down
the stairs and out to her carriage in the street. Spence paused,
glanced at the butler, who maintained his expressionless demeanor.
Spence shrugged and, looking fascinated, followed her.

It was more difficult
to hear them, now that they were turned toward the street, but Tally
was sure she heard the young lady say, “Perhaps you would like to
join me for a refreshment at a coffee house before you go home?”

My goodness, but that
young lady was bent on flouting all of Society’s rules!

Spence nodded agreeably
and Tally thought he said, “That would be very nice, thank you.”

Hmmm, very strange. If
that high-handed young lady was engaged to Reed, why was she flirting
with Spencer? And if Reed was engaged to the haughty princess, what
did he want from Tally? Maybe she’d been fooling herself, thinking
he, a Viscount, wanted to wed her. He’d insisted they had to talk
and intimated it was about their relationship. But he’d never
actually mentioned marriage again after that first time. Maybe he
did
want her to become
that kind of
friend
! The thought filled her with revulsion. She’d
never be any man’s mistress, not even Reed’s.

Sick at heart, she
said, “I think it’s time to pack our bags for home, Foster.”
She couldn’t look him in the face, his sympathetic understanding
would probably set off a spate of tears, and the last thing she
wanted right now was to start crying. She wasn’t sure she could
ever stop. “We’ll leave for Evesham as soon as we’re ready,
preferably tomorrow.”

“Oh but, Missy, don’t
ye think we… you should wait for yon Gor... er... the Viscount? It
might all be a misunderstanding.”

“Rather a colossal
misunderstanding, don’t you think? And no, I don’t think we
should wait. We’ve waited long enough.” She was very sure of that
now. If Reed wanted to talk, he could come and find her, but if he
was promised to another, then he could darn well stay here and rot!
“You should be happy. You’ve been wanting to leave since we got
here.”

He stayed by the
window, eyes glued to the proceedings below. “She could be at the
wrong house.”

“She told Spence she
was looking for a peer! So it isn’t likely.” Tally held onto her
patience, he was only trying to comfort her. “I’d be willing to
wager that Reed is the only titled gentleman living in the
neighborhood and do you seriously believe that woman would be engaged
to wed a Mr. Nobody, without a title?”

She and Foster watched
in amazement as Spence gallantly offered his hand to help the lady
step up into the carriage and then followed her in.

“I s’pose not.”
He watched the elaborate carriage depart. “But nor did she gain
anything with her queenly airs. She climbed back into her chariot,
with Allerton, and left… her tail between her legs.”

“If that lady has
ever been cowed, I’d be very surprised. She has more arrogance in
her little finger than does a duke.”

They turned toward the
door as Joseph pounded up the last flight of stairs.

“Mr. Foster!” he
called before even reaching the studio doorway.

“Slow down, young’un.
Take a moment to catch yer breath.”

“She’s…” He
gasped for air. “Lady Christabel, the daughter…” He took
another quick breath to finish, “of the Duke of Archstone!”

“You see! Did I not
get her measure right?” Tally was astounded that Reed was betrothed
to a duke’s daughter.

“Did she say anything
else?” Foster asked the boy.

“She said she was
looking for the Viscount, her fi...fiancé,” he explained. “What’s
that?”

“I’ll explain
later,” Foster responded gruffly, not looking in Tally’s
direction. “What happened next?”

“Then Mr. Hislop told
her he “
wasn’t privy to
”
the Viscount’s comings and goings and that he’d received no
orders regarding no…”

His imitation of Hislop
was well night perfect, though Tally wasn’t sure he understood what
he was repeating. He noticed her frown. “
any
Lady Christabel showing up to see the Master. He told her she’d
have to come back another day.”

“Right.” Foster
looked suddenly defeated. With bowed shoulders he left his post at
the window and patted the boy on the head “You did a good job,
son.” He glanced at Tally and recognized her determination to
leave. He sighed loudly to show his disapproval.

Ignoring him, she
turned to pick up the brushes she had just laid out that morning and
began tying them together with a leather string. She wanted him to
see she was preparing her things to leave. She’d clean the used
ones later.

“Come along, then, we
have a lot to do,” he sounded resigned but sad, as he led the boy
out of the studio.

She heard him talking
to the child. “Did I tell you the Viscount assured me he’ll take
you on to work in his house when we leave?”

A ball of tears rose in
her throat at the thought of leaving Joseph. It had been only a
little over a month since they’d arrived in London and hired him,
but he was so eager and willing to learn that they’d all become
quite attached to him. She wished she could bring him home with her,
but he was too young to separate from his family and his earnings
were important to their survival. She was thankful, though she wasn’t
surprised, to hear Foster had secured a position for him with Reed.

At the thought of Reed,
she stopped packing and sat down on the window seat. Putting her head
in her hands, she finally let the tears she’d been holding in,
fall.

* * *

The next day, she was
alone in the house when the man who came to irrevocably change her
life, arrived.