To Win the Lady (17 page)

‘I thought you
would dance well,’ he said, after their first circumnavigation of the room.
‘It’s much like sitting a horse - a kind of union, combining movement and
rhythm.’

She laughed. ‘I
am not at all sure that I like being compared to a horse.’

‘I was not
comparing you to a horse but complimenting you on your dancing.’

‘Then I thank
you, sir.’

‘I am afraid I
have been too long away from Society and feminine company, I stumble over the
simplest exchange of pleasantries. Please forgive me.’

‘There is
nothing to forgive.’ She couldn’t help it; she had to know. ‘But how does my
sister take your compliments, Major? Does she understand them any better than I
do?’

‘I believe so.
At least, she has not complained.’

‘You go on very
well together, then?’

‘Yes, indeed.’

‘And have you
had an interview with Colonel Bertram yet?’

He looked down
at her, surprised by the question. ‘The Colonel?’

‘Yes, Major, my
uncle. He will have to be approached if you mean to speak to Felicity...’

He disliked the
idea of being pushed into anything, even if it was what he’d intended in the
first place, and he stiffened. ‘Of course, but if you do not mind, Miss Paget,
I will choose my own time. There are matters that require my attention first.’

‘Something like
a madcap wager, I collect. Well, Major Baverstock, it is interesting to know
where your priorities lie.’

His face
darkened and his eyes narrowed and she knew she had angered him, but she didn’t
care; she wanted to rouse him to something and if it could not be love then it
must be anger. But oh, how her heart ached, and there was nothing for it but to
endure. ‘You know, of course, that under the terms of my father’s will I have
to approve my sister’s choice of husband and arrange her dowry.’

‘No, I did not.
I can hardly believe someone as sensible as Sir Henry should have done such a
thing. You are hoaxing me.’

‘Not at all.
Ask my Aunt.’

‘Then do you
approve?’

Oh, what a
question! She smiled slowly, unable to resist the temptation to tease in spite
of her swiftly beating heart, or perhaps because of it. She had to stay on top
of herself or sink into despair. ‘I have not yet been asked the question. Of
whom am I to approve?’

‘Miss Paget, I
beg you not to play games with me; I have thrashed a man for less provocation
than you are giving me.’

‘I am not a
man.’

‘No, Miss
Paget, but unfortunately it seems you have been cast in the role of one by your
father.’

‘Then man to
man, are you requesting my permission to speak to my sister?’

‘Dammit, no!’ His
voice had risen and she looked around to see who might have heard.

‘I think
perhaps we should leave the floor to continue this discussion,’ she said in a
low voice.

Together they
retired to one side of the ballroom, where two vacant chairs were placed close
to a huge potted plant, brought in from the conservatory, but they did not sit
down. Instead they turned to face each other. ‘I suppose you will say I asked
for that,’ she said.

‘No, but I am
not about to bend the knee to a slip of a miss who thinks she can dangle a
carrot in front of me and I will meekly follow.’

‘I do not
understand.’ She was genuinely puzzled.

‘All this talk
of approval and dowries. I find it hard to credit that it is in your hands.’

‘But it is,
Major, and believe me I wish it were otherwise; it is not a responsibility
which sits easily on my shoulders.’

‘And what has
Miss Felicity to say to that?’

‘She will be
guided, as I have been, by wiser heads than ours. My aunt or, better still, my
uncle will advise us.’ She was quite serious now. ‘But I will never stand in
the way of my sister’s happiness; you may depend on that. And she shall have
whatever dowry I can afford...’

‘No dowry is
necessary,’ he said, controlling his impulse to shake her. No, not shake her,
he corrected himself, crush her to him, kiss her until she returned fire with
fire, passion with passion. ‘You may keep Rowan Park intact.’

‘That I intend
to do.’

‘And Lord
Barbour?’

‘What about his
lordship?’

‘Are you going
to marry him?’

‘You are
impertinent, sir.’

‘I beg pardon,
but give me leave to feel concerned for you. He is not a man I can recommend.’
It was as far as he dared go to warn her.
           
I

‘I do not need
your recommendation, Major,’ she retorted, furious with him. ‘Just because you
have fallen out with him, it does not mean that everyone else should do so.’
The waltz had come to an end and the dancing couples were leaving the floor.
‘Now I suggest we return to my aunt, or we will give the tattlers something to
talk about.’

Dutifully he
escorted her back to her place beside her aunt, but he did not immediately seek
an interview with the Colonel, as she had expected, but went over to a
white-haired gentleman who sat on one side of the room, surveying everything
about him with keen dark eyes. His features were so like Richard’s that Georgie
felt sure they were related.

‘Who is that?’
she asked her aunt.

‘Oh, that is
the Major’s father, Viscount Dullingham, my dear. I invited him, of course, but
I hardly expected him to honour us by coming.’

He had come to
look them over, to decide if Felicity was good enough for his son, to see the
hoyden who guarded her and with whom they would have to deal. Georgie did not
know whether to laugh or cry.

Chapter Six

‘Introduce me,’ Lord Dullingham commanded his son.

Richard complied,
taking his father over to where Mrs Bertram sat with her family about her,
looking round the glittering company like a queen. Seeing him coming, she rose
to her feet in a flurry of plum-coloured taffeta, knowing how much recognition
by him would enhance her reputation and aware that everyone was watching. ‘So
very pleased to make your acquaintance, my lord,’ she said as he took her hand
and bowed over it. ‘May I present my nieces?’ She turned to Georgie. ‘This is
Georgiana, and this...’ she drew Felicity forward ‘... this is Felicity.’ The
beam on her face clearly indicated her expectations and made him smile.

He was, Georgie
noticed, a very handsome man, still quite slim and upright with a shock of
white hair which appeared to have no particular style, though its untidiness
suited him. The rest of him was neat in the extreme, though a little
old-fashioned. But, unlike Lord Barbour, whose satin knee-breeches made him
look ridiculous, the Viscount was the epitome of stately elegance. She found
herself smiling, almost mischievously, when he favoured her with a close
inspection, his dark eyes full of humour.

‘I am told,
Miss Paget, that you know horseflesh.’

‘A little, my
lord. I had a good teacher.’

‘Sir Henry, yes.
Capital fellow. Keeping up his good work, are you?’

‘Yes, my lord.’

‘I shall need
new carriage horses soon; mine are getting long in the tooth - like their
owner.’ He smiled at his own joke. ‘I’ll come to see what you’ve got.’

‘We shall look
forward to that, my lord,’ she said, trying to keep the eagerness from her
voice. If Lord Dullingham bought horses from her, it would do her business no
harm at all.

He turned his
attention to Felicity and favoured her with a little conversation, but she was
so much in awe of him, she could find little to say above a whispered, ‘Yes, my
lord,’ and ‘No, my lord,’ which exasperated her aunt. After a few minutes’
discourse with Colonel Bertram, with whom he was already acquainted, he took
his leave, accompanied by his son. If Mrs Bertram was disappointed that Richard
had not stayed to speak to her husband about Felicity, she hid it well,
preening herself on the added consequence to her reputation as a hostess that
his lordship’s presence had given. Now everyone would know that Richard and
Felicity would soon become betrothed. She only hoped it would be before she had
to leave for Paris.

‘Well, my boy,’
the Viscount said as he and his son returned to Baverstock House in his
lordship’s carriage. ‘Can’t make up your mind, eh?’

‘Sir?’

‘Which of the
Paget gels to offer for.’

Richard looked
at him in astonishment. ‘Father, why do you say that? I collect you telling me
you hoped it would not be the elder.’

‘So I did.
Changed my mind. She’s got a lot more about her than her sister.’

Richard did not
know whether to be angry or downright miserable at this pronouncement, or
whether, had he known of his father’s change of heart before this, it would
have made the least difference; probably not. ‘Miss Felicity Paget is shy,
Father. When you get to know her...’

‘So you have
offered.’

‘No, sir, but I
believe everyone expects it soon.’

‘But you are
prevaricating.’

‘No.’ But he
did not sound at all sure and his father chuckled.

‘You may not
have been at home much in the last eight years but you are still my son, and I
know you better than you think. I saw you dancing with them both and I’d say it
was Georgiana who has caught your interest.’

‘Oh.’ He was
silent for a moment, recognising the truth of what his father had said. ‘Is it
that obvious?’

‘Only to me.
What are you going to do about it?’

‘What can I
do?’ Richard asked miserably. ‘Mrs Bertram has made her wishes known. I am
expected to offer for Felicity.’

‘And what about
her sister’s wishes?’

‘Hers too. If I
thought she was in any way hanging fire, I might think again, because she has
to approve, you know, being her sister’s guardian, but she is pushing as hard
as anyone for the match. I do not see what I can do but come to the mark. To do
anything else would give the gabblegrinders a field day.’

His lordship
reached out and put a hand on his son’s sleeve. ‘But not tonight, eh?’

‘No, there are
other reasons...’

‘A wager?’

‘You have heard
about it?’ Richard asked in surprise, knowing his father went out very little.

‘Wendens is a
fount of information.’ Wendens was his father’s valet, old and bent almost
double with rheumatics, but he still managed to look after his lordship, if
only slowly, and to keep him up to date with the latest on dit. ‘But what has
the wager to do with your betrothal?’

Richard told
him as succinctly as he could, though it all sounded a little high-flown to the
Viscount. That anyone could imagine his son, whose competence was more than
adequate even without the Dullingham inheritance, could marry for the sake of a
horse was beyond comprehension. He smiled. ‘It seems to me that everyone is
assuming that Miss Paget will marry Barbour before you marry her sister and you
can’t be sure of that.’

‘She has more
or less indicated that she will.’

‘I’ll lay odds
she doesn’t.’

‘You would lose
your money.’

‘I don’t think
so. She is not such a ninnyhammer.’

Richard wished
he had his father’s faith. But even if Georgie did not marry Lord Barbour it
hardly changed things as far as he was concerned. He had not finally committed
himself to offering for Felicity Paget but it was as near as dammit and nothing
short of a terrible scandal, which would hurt both families, could get him out
of it. Oh, what a coil he had got himself into!

‘He’s come to
speak to the Colonel,’ Fanny said when she woke her mistress just before noon
the following morning. ‘They’re together now, in the library.’

Georgie sat up
and took the hot chocolate from her maid with hands that shook. So, it was all
over, her aunt’s scheming, the anticipation, the courtship; before the day was
out Felicity would be betrothed to Richard Baverstock. She took a deep breath
to compose herself. ‘Does my sister know he’s here?’

‘Miss Felicity?
No, she is still fast asleep. And why should she know before you?’

‘Goodness,
Fanny, you are a goose. As soon as my uncle has given his consent, the Major
will want to speak to Felicity, won’t he? You should be helping her to dress,
making her look her best.’

‘It’s not the
Major with the Colonel, Miss Georgie, it’s Lord Barbour.’

‘Lord Barbour!’
Georgie only just managed to save the hot chocolate from spilling. She set the
cup and saucer down on to the bedside table and looked at her maid like a
bewildered child. ‘Fanny, why didn’t you say? Has he come to...?’

‘I believe so.
I heard him mention your name just as they were going into the library
together.’

‘What am I to
do?’