A Bright Particular Star (28 page)

****

Theo was oblig
ed to be satisfied
with this
.
S
oon
she would no longer be his re
spo
nsibility
.
This chafed at him
more than he would have believed
possible only a short
time ago
.
H
e would have said
more, but
held back from declaring
what was in
his he
art
.
It was not his place
to dash
her dream
s before
they had
begun.
Nevertheless
,
he
agonised over
standing aside
and o
nly
the depth of his feelings
kept him silent.
F
or a moment, he indulged in a daydream of
abandoning
his scruples
and kissing
her
senseless
, h
ere and now,
in full view of the
ton
.
Tortuous
, maddening desire shot through
him at the thought
, but s
ec
onds later, sanity returned
. H
e
could not do it.
He cared for her
reputation and he also cared for her
too much t
o intervene in the reunion
to come
.
For the time being all he could do
was pray
Sophie
soon
discovered
that
a childhood infatuation
had not grown into love.

T
hey reached Hyde Park Corner
all too quickly
.

Pe
regrine left
for
Limmer
’s
, his
announcement
of calling
on Sophie the next mornin
g
acc
ompanied by a
nother
smirk.
Theo and Sophie
followed
Grey
’s
carriage to
Sir Seymour
’s
house
in Berkeley Square.

When Grey
halted in front of a mansion which took up one
whole
side of the square,
Olivia gaped
up
at the impressive edifice
and
stammered
out an
incoherent sentence about arriving
in such an unconventional manner
.
Only
Mr
Grey
’s
reassurances,
coupled with
S
ophie
’s
,
convinced
Olivia to get down from the curricle
and bid Sophie a temporary farewell.
Grey
escorted her up the steps
after
handin
g the reins to
Bowyer
.

Theo, watching
Lucius
Grey thoughtfully
,
realize
d he
must
be
reasonably well acquainted wit
h Dinny and Harriet.
There was no hesitation as Grey approached the house.
He
acknowledged
with grim frustration
he
still didn
’t
know whether
to trust the man
.
Theo
would have
exchanged a word or two with
Sir Seymour
now if his groom had been present
,
but
he
would have to
be
content with calling on Dinny
later
.
When
Olivia
and her companion
had disappea
red
, The
o urged his horses
towards
Brook Street
noting
how
,
beside him
,
Sophie wrung her
hands and
bit her lip
.
She di
rected
him
to number twenty-one
, a
three storey town house
with portico entrance
situated
at the Hyde Park end of the street
.
He brought the
carriage
to a
halt
outside
.

“T
he knocker isn
’t
off the door so it
appears the Verneys are in town
.
”
Theo looked down at her, saying
soberly.
“T
his is j
ourney
’s
end
then.
Do you want me to
accompany you
?
”

S
he put up her chin.
“
No.
No,
indeed.
You
’
ve
done more th
an enou
gh already.
T
-T
hank you for
your kindness, and
I’m
sorry to have been such a trial.
”

“S
ophie, you haven
’t
—
”

“
I know you
’
ll be glad to be rid of me, but I
’
ve enjoyed our time together,
”
she pressed on, her mouth wobbling
into a smile.

“
Courag
e,
my
little runaway
.
”
His
fingers curled around her hand
, holding it
tightly
for a moment.
“
I
’
ll walk my team here
until
I am certain everything has been
arranged
.
Goodbye
…
for now
.
”

T
hey regarded
each ot
her in silence
.
Her
gaze was intense
, h
er
expression
unreadable
.
He
willed
h
er
to say somethi
ng
,
anything
,
which would
del
ay their parting
,
but
s
he
remained
silent.

The
foo
tman
who
had
emerged
from the house
now
stood
waiting and
t
he inevitabl
e could
no longer
be denied
.
Sophie
slid
her hand from
his
grasp,
gathered her skirts an
d climbed down from the carriage
.

With
a last
glance
over her shoulder
, she
then
walked
up
the steps and disappeared inside
.

After what seemed an age of tooling his horses back and forth
, Theo
saw the
footman re-emerge
.
He came to Theo with
a message
:
Lord Ver
ney desired to speak
to Miss Cavanagh
’s
travelling
companion
.
Not entirely surprised, Theo advised
the servant
to
keep his team
moving
and entered
the house
.

He
found himself in an impressive marble
-
floor
ed hall.
H
anding his driving
coat and
gloves to the
butler
, he was
sho
wn into a
saloon on the first floor.
It was fashionably decorated
. B
lue damask lined the walls
and
there were
two magnificent sofas
with gilt carved
arms and
upholstered in the same
lush
fabric
either side of one of Mr
Adam
’s
chimneypieces.
A gilt framed mirro
r which reached almost
the full height of th
e room sat above the fireplace;
several invitation cards
had been
pushed
into the
corner of the frame.
Two rosewood and Boulle bookcases resided alo
ng one wall and
between the
windows which looked out onto the stre
et below
were
a pair of
matching card tables.

A
gentleman
studying the inv
itation cards turned
and executed an elegant bow
.
Theo
’s
vague
recollection
s
of
Lord
Verne
y were
of
a
slim,
retiring
youth
who had been
moderately successful in his studi
es and sporting pursuits
.
He had
been
heir to a significant
fortune, but
he had
not been a
member of the
high fly
er
set
and no
scandals had dogged his time at Oxford.
He
had
not tr
oubled much about his appearance
either
.

Yet the
man whose
cool gaze now rested on Theo was
dressed
with exquisite care
.
T
here
was
a
touch of
the dandy
in the exaggerated cut of hi
s coat and
the height of his shirt points
.
There was
no need of pad
ding to accentuate his physique
though.
Verney
’s
figure
wa
s muscular
and well
-
built
, his shoulders nobly
proportioned
and his
light
ly curling, thick
gold
hair
brushed back f
ro
m his brow
to reveal
a
handsome
profile that
would not have disgr
aced a
Greek
coin
.

Theo
’s
heart sank.

His
faintly nurtured
hope that Verney had turned into a dissolute individual
with
bad teeth and pockmarked skin
shrivelled and died
.
Deuce take it
,
Sophie could not fail to be
impressed by
this
fellow!
His
appearance
would
confirm him as
the dashing knight
of
her childhood.

“
It
seem
s
I have to off
er you my thanks
and
my
apologies
,
Mr
Cavanagh,
”
Lord Verney
began.
“
My thanks because
Sophie has told me how you
brought her
to London.
Natural
ly, I was astonished to see her
.
”
H
is
welcoming
smile
yielded to a frown
as he continued
. “But
t
he
extraordinary way she abandoned her
home and
her failur
e to send word
on
ahead
was
rash
to say the least
.
S
he would have done better to have stayed in Bath
.
H
er aunt and
cousin cannot be as unpleasant
as Sophie portrays them.
T
hey seem
villains
worthy of
a
badly written
novel
, which I am sure is a
n
exaggeration
.
She should have considered longer before she started scampering about the country in this ridiculous fashi
on.
Allow me to
therefore
extend m
y apologies
for the
inconveni
en
ce
she has
put you to.
S
he always was a madcap little thing
and i
t seems she has not outgrown her thirst for
adventure
,
or
her
propensity for getting into scrapes
.
”
He gave a faint grimace
.
“
One might have hoped for
more decorum now she is out in s
ociety
.
”