An Escapade and an Engagement (8 page)

‘Yes!’ Harry hissed in triumph, seizing her hand and giving it
a squeeze. ‘I shall count the hours until we can be together again. Truly
together…’

Lord Ledbury saw the proprietorial way Lieutenant Kendell
grasped Lady Jayne’s hand and wanted to knock the bounder’s teeth down his
throat.

He broke off the conversation in which he’d been engaged quite
rudely and strode across the box. He had no idea what the young man had been
saying, but he could see he was making Lady Jayne uncomfortable. And, even
though he knew she would resent his interference, he could not stand by one
second longer, doing nothing.

‘Have a care,’ he growled at Harry. ‘You ought not to be
standing so close. Are you trying to draw attention to yourselves? Do you want
Lady Penrose to suspect you might be the very man Lady Jayne was sent to London
to avoid?’

Harry flushed, and let go of her hand.

‘Miss Brigstock,’ he said, beckoning Milly over. ‘The
performance is about to begin. Do take this seat next to your friend.’

Harry glared at him, but could hardly object to his host
ordering the seating arrangements—particularly not when he was only just
supposed to have been introduced to Lady Jayne. With bad grace, he took a seat
behind the girls. And Lady Penrose herself sat beside him.

It was a good seating arrangement from Lord Ledbury’s point of
view. Milly soon took Lady Jayne’s mind off her own woes by mercilessly making
fun of the actors on the stage, who were very far from being the most talented
he’d ever watched. Before long, Lady Jayne was giggling behind her fan.

He had never seen her looking so carefree.

That was when he understood why Lady Jayne had taken to Milly
so quickly. Her parentage was irrelevant. They were both about the same age. And
Milly had brought sunshine into her life.

He was just congratulating himself for being indirectly
responsible for chasing away the shadows that her entanglement with Kendell had
cast over her, when Milly did something that made his blood run cold.

Chapter Five

S
he laughed. That was all. But Milly had
the most infectious laugh he’d ever heard. It was what had drawn him to her in
the first place. What had drawn many of the younger officers to her father’s
billet.

Anyone who’d ever heard that laugh would never forget it. They
would take a second look at the shapely and assured young woman at Lady Jayne’s
side and perceive beneath the Town bronze the ragged girl with the dirty face
who’d been the regiment’s darling.

A shiver of foreboding went down his spine. Even though most of
the men who might have recognised Milly had already been deployed, she could
still pose a threat to Lady Jayne’s reputation. It would only take one of the
more curious amongst the idlers loafing around the gentlemen’s clubs to
investigate his background and discover that he’d been living under the same
roof as Milly for over a year. That once he’d moved into Lavenham House he’d had
set her up in her own dwelling and given her a generous allowance.

And assume she was his mistress.

People were already casting speculative looks towards the
occupants of their box. There would be no end of conjecture about each of his
guests, and why he had invited them to form such a small, select group.

What conclusions would they draw about how his ‘mistress’ had
come to be on terms of intimacy with Lady Jayne?

He cursed himself roundly. He’d been annoyed with Lady Jayne
when she’d criticised his strategy, since he’d proved himself a skilled
tactician time and time again on the battlefields of the Peninsula. But perhaps
she’d had a point. He wasn’t used to manoeuvring through the morass that was
polite society, or considering the fragility of a woman’s reputation.

At that moment Lieutenant Kendell leaned forward and said
something in Lady Jayne’s ear. She forced her lips into the semblance of a
smile, but it was a far cry from the natural gaiety she’d been expressing
before. She was so good at masking her feelings that everyone else would
probably conclude that she was freezing out an importunate young man who was
trying on his charm with her, the same way she always did. But he detested the
effect her lover was having on her.

If he ever found any evidence to prove the fellow did not
really love Lady Jayne, he would make damn sure he never got near her again.

He glowered across the box and Kendell sat back, leaving Lady
Jayne in peace for the present. It was the best he could do for now with regard
to Kendell, but he could definitely deal with the potential for disaster he’d
created by introducing her to Milly.

When it came to the first interval he made his way to Lady
Jayne’s side and with a jerk of his head dismissed Kendell.

She was so glad he’d come to her rescue. She did not think she
could take much more of Harry’s endearments. They made her squirm with
guilt.

And, from the way Lord Ledbury had been glaring at them, Harry
had been far too obvious in spite of the earlier warning. She lifted her chin,
bracing herself for the scold she was sure he was about to give her, though for
the life of her she could not think how she could have prevented Harry from
making a spectacle of himself. Surely it was Harry to whom he should be
addressing his concerns?

‘This association with Milly is getting out of hand,’ he said
the moment Harry had moved out of earshot. ‘I never imagined, when I asked you
to give her a touch of style, that you would take her up this way.’

‘What?’ It was the very last thing she had expected him to
say.

‘She is not, and never has been, a proper person for you to
know…’

That sounded so very like the kind of criticism her grandfather
would have levelled at her that her surprise turned to anger.

‘Well, you introduced me to her. You asked me for my help,
and—’

‘Yes, I know,’ he said more gently. ‘But I had no notion then,
what a warm-hearted person you are. Or how lonely.’

She blinked. She would never have thought such a hard-faced man
could be so perceptive. He’d seen right to the heart of her. And put his finger
on who she wanted to be but was never allowed to be.

‘I thought you would spare her a few hours to take her
shopping, discreetly, not…fling yourself headlong into such an inappropriate
friendship.’

‘Oh.’ His unexpected compliment had touched her so deeply that
the warm glow it created melted her anger away. ‘But… Milly is a perfectly
lovely person. I do not consider a friendship with her inappropriate at all. In
fact—’

‘That’s enough,’ he said, the flinty look returning to his
eyes. ‘In the long run, this association can only be bad for you both.’

‘Bad for both of us? Are you suggesting that I am a bad
influence on Milly?’

‘Not intentionally. And so far you have done her a great deal
of good. She has taken advice from you regarding her dress and manners that she
would never have taken from me. But was it wise to bring her here, tonight, for
example? Is it really kind of you to introduce her to a world in which she can
never have so much as a toehold?’

She firmed her mouth mutinously. Milly could have very much
more than a toehold if he would only relinquish his absurd belief that he ought
to be making a splendid dynastic marriage. If she became his countess people
might talk for a while, but the novelty would soon wear off. There would be some
other scandal brewing, somewhere, to make them lose interest—particularly if she
behaved well.

‘You must have noticed how many looks have been directed at our
box tonight,’ he persisted. ‘Everyone wants to know who my guests are. And if
they don’t know, they will make it their business to find out. You know what
nasty minds people have. How long do you think it will be before somebody jumps
to the conclusion that I have foisted my mistress on you? You would become a
laughing stock.’

‘Much I care for that,’ she said, militantly lifting her
chin.

‘Your loyalty is commendable, but in this instance it is not
very wise.’

She supposed she could see his point. People would want to know
who Milly was now that she had been seen in public in such elevated company. And
people
were
always prepared to think the worst. They
would never credit any man behaving with such generosity towards a woman of
lowly birth unless she was his mistress. And he had gone to such pains to shield
Milly from precisely this sort of conjecture.

‘Oh…’ No wonder he’d been so cross with her for bringing Milly
along tonight. All that talk about not wanting
her
to become a laughing stock was so fustian. It was Milly’s reputation he was
trying to protect.

‘This ruse has gone far enough. I cannot permit the association
between you two girls to continue.’

‘What?’ She had been on the verge of apologising for exposing
Milly to public scrutiny, and promising she would carry on the friendship with
more discretion in future. But now he expected her to drop Milly altogether?
Just when she was going to be most in need of a real friend?

Breaking off with Harry was going to be the hardest thing she’d
ever done. But at least she’d thought she would have Milly to turn to for
consolation in the aftermath.

But if Lord Ledbury had his way her life would descend into
that same dreary round that had pitched her into Harry’s arms in the first
place. Only now it would be far harder to bear because for a short while she’d
discovered what it felt like to have a friend, a girl of her own age, who had
given her a glimpse into a world she’d only ever been able to dream of.

For years she had yearned for some kind of adventure. She had
sometimes wondered, wistfully, what it would have been like to have been the
Earl of Caxton’s other granddaughter. The one who had got away from England and
its stuffy rules and restrictions altogether. Lady Jayne might not actually be
having an adventure now, but hearing Milly talk about hers was almost as
good.

And then again, once Harry was out of the picture, Lord Ledbury
would no longer need to pretend any interest in her, either. He would openly
court other women whilst cutting her dead. Not that she wanted to marry him, or
anyone else—not this Season. That was not the point.

The point was… Well, she couldn’t think what the point was when
he made her so cross. She was sure she didn’t know why being set at a distance
from him should bother her in the least, when he was so overbearing and
critical…and…and he had no right to tell her with whom she might be friends! She
had defied her own grandfather when he’d tried to dictate to her on just such a
matter. Should she meekly fall in with Lord Ledbury’s orders?

Absolutely not!

She was not going to give Milly up, and that was that.

Oh, how glad she was that she’d already arranged to meet Harry
behind his back.

She would show him that she was quite capable of running her
own life
and
choosing her own friends.

With a toss of her head she turned away, without vouchsafing
him a single word, and took a seat next to Lady Penrose.

* * *

Just as she had predicted, it was not very hard to
persuade Lady Penrose to allow her to attend the Lambournes’ masquerade ball.
The very day after the theatre trip, when they had been discussing how much they
had enjoyed it, and how much Milly had added to their enjoyment with her witty
remarks, all she’d had to do was sigh wistfully and say what a shame it was she
would never be able to take her to a ball. Then she’d picked up the invitation,
and said, ‘This is the only sort of thing where we might get away with it, since
everyone would be masked and nobody quite sure of anyone’s identity.’

Lady Penrose had looked at her through narrowed eyes. ‘You
really wish to attend this masked ball, do you not?’

Lady Jayne had nodded.

Lady Penrose had frowned thoughtfully.

‘I suppose I ought not to be surprised. It is exactly the sort
of thing to appeal to you young things rather than the staid parties which suit
me. And do you know,’ she had said, her lips pressing together in an expression
of annoyance, ‘I think you
ought
to be allowed to
enjoy your first London Season. You have not uttered one word of complaint about
the limited events to which I have taken you, though I can tell they have not
always been to your taste. You are such a good girl, Jayne, that I cannot think
why your grandfather feels he needs to be so strict with you. This is exactly
the way he treated your aunt Aurora, you know. No wonder she ran off in the end.
It would have been much better if he’d allowed her an outlet for her high
spirits, rather than trying to crush her. Not that you are anything like her.
Dear me, no. Whilst you have lived under my roof you have always behaved exactly
as you should. If you really wish to attend this ball, then I… Yes, I do believe
I shall allow you to go. You deserve a treat.’

Lady Jayne had been ready to curl up with shame. She had not
behaved as she should—not at all! She had sneaked away to meet Harry in
libraries, or out on chilly terraces, and had even climbed out of her window to
meet him in the park.

Well, she’d make it up to Lady Penrose by
really
being a model of decorum once the masquerade was over. Aside
from the matter of defying Lord Ledbury’s decree with regard to Milly, which did
not count. If Lady Penrose did not object to Milly, then that was all that
mattered.

But she soon discovered that though it was all very well
tempting to put right all the wrongs she had done with regard to Harry, in order
to reach the moral high ground she had to scramble through some very treacherous
territory. She even turned Lady Penrose into an accomplice!

‘You will need a disguise, not a costume,’ Lady Penrose
declared. ‘A mask will not be enough. If you wear a dress that is too memorable
somebody might look too closely at you and recognise you, which would never do.
Wear something plain. The plainer the better. Something you have never worn
before and will never wear again. And you must definitely cover your hair,’ she
said, eyeing Lady Jayne’s golden ringlets with a frown. ‘It is so
distinctive.’

She’d ordered Josie to scrape it away from her face, fix it in
tight braids and, as an added precaution, cover it with a white sort of bonnet
thing, so that even if the hood of her pale blue domino should slip nobody would
catch so much as a glimpse of a golden ringlet.

But the most daring part of her disguise would be Lady
Penrose’s absence.

‘Nobody will believe I would ever let you out of my sight, so
strictly have I adhered to your grandfather’s terms up until now,’ she said with
a gleam in her eye. ‘And they also know that if I were to go I would never,
absolutely never, do anything so vulgar as dress up as a shepherdess or a Greek
nymph.’ She shuddered at the very thought. ‘No, if I were to chaperone you I
would do so in a proper evening gown, with perhaps a loo mask as a concession to
the theme of the event. So even if somebody should suspect you look a bit like
Lady Jayne Chilcott, the fact that I am not there will persuade them they are
mistaken.’

She raised a hand to her throat and gave a nervous laugh. ‘My
goodness, I am become quite a rebel! I do not know whether to congratulate
myself for finally showing Lord Caxton that he has no right to dictate to me
about which venues I consider suitable for you to attend, whilst I have the
charge of you, or whether to give myself a stern talking-to for allowing you out
of my sight. Though I cannot be sorry,’ she declared, ‘that
someone
from our family is attending, even if nobody knows who you
are. As you know, I had wanted to support Lord Lambourne’s return to Society. He
made mistakes, but I hope we all know our Christian duty well enough to extend a
spirit of forgiveness now that he is reconciled with his wife.’