Only ladybirds show their, ah, attributes so blatantly, he insisted.
Susanna laughed again. How would you know what proper females wear, brother? I doubt youve been near one since the twins christening. I do know for a fact that no gentleman dresses like you, for I made sure to observe every one we passed on our way through London. And Ive been watching out the window.
Which statement sent their mothers gaze skyward. We did send for the fashion magazines from London, Daniel, to be certain of the styles.
You wouldnt want us to appear as dowds on our first day here, would you? Susanna wrinkled her charming, upturned nose. Well, perhaps you wouldnt know the difference. But no matter. Dobbson will have you well in hand before dinner, Id wager, so well all be bang up to the nines. Thats the phrase Rex said when we showed him our new gowns. Oh, Daniel, dont purse your lips the way my old governess used to.
And Rex was spending all the time he could spare from his growing family among the criminal class. Fine, Ill look like an overstuffed sausage and youll look like Haymarket ware and sound like a pick-pocket.
Susanna turned to their mother. I told you hed turn all stuffy and stiff. All reformed rakes do. Simone says Harrys a pattern card of virtue now.
Lud, Harryd had at least ten disguises and aliases. Daniel hoped hed never been as underhanded. I am not a rake. And I am not reformed. That is, I have nothing to reform from.
He scratched his ear again. His mother rubbed her eye, but Susanna just smiled. To think he used to find her dimples charming. Now the brat was saying, Well, Id say you owe our guest an apology. You remember Miss Abbott, dont you, Daniel? I am so happy she agreed to come to Town with us. Otherwise I wouldnt know a soul. And shes read all the guidebooks and knows what museums and cathedrals we must see.
Daniel groaned. He supposed theyd expect him to escort them there, too. Besides, he could never trust this pair loose in London. Reluctantly, but knowing he had no choice, he bowed in the older girls direction. My regrets, Miss Abbott, for my wayward tongue. I warned my mother how it would be. Shed do better with Dobbson as escort. Or my horse.
She didnt smile. Too bad, that. Daniel thought shed be more beautiful with her lips softened, if it were possible for a female to be any prettier.
Instead she bobbed a slight curtsy in acknowledgment of his apology and said, How do you do, Mr. Stamfield.
Susanna clucked her tongue. Oh, we are all family here, she insisted. There is no need for such formality in our own home. You should use your first names.
Before Daniel could say how improper that would belud, was he truly reformed already, caring about the conventions?Miss Abbott placed the sewing basket in his mothers lap and said, Ill go finish the unpacking, shall I, and leave you to your reunion? She nodded in his direction. Until dinner, Mr. Stamfield.
Now, there was a setdown worthy of a duchess. And a rear view as she left the room worthy of a dockside dolly-mop. Daniel decided he wasnt reformed at all. Not by half.
Dinner! His mother jumped up, scattering her notepaper and overturning the work basket, but taking her teacup with her. I forgot to tell Cook that she needs to prepare for a mans hearty appetite. Shell be thrilled to cook for someone not watching her figure.
Which was a not-so-subtle reminder that he was staring after Miss Abbott and her graceful exit. A looby indeed! Now his wits and his manners had both gone begging.
Susanna stayed on in the parlor, gathering up the yarns and needles while Daniel restacked the note-papers. You neednt look so stricken, she told her brother, misunderstanding the cause of his dismay. It wont be so bad; youll see. Well have a good time.
Trying to avoid being caught in a seductresss spell? For his sisters sake, he asked, Am I supposed to enjoy looking over your prospective suitors while they look down your gown? Or inspecting the statues in the museum? Both are as appealing. Dash it, Sukey, youre too young to wed. I told Mother, but she wont listen. He handed her a thimble that had rolled in his direction.
Oh, you dont need to be concerned with my beaux. Im not on the lookout for a husband.
He felt not so much as a goose bump, so she was telling the truth. Then why the devil did you come to London?
Why, to see the sights. To dance the night away, to attend the theater and three balls and two dinners, all in the same night!
That sounds like one of the rings of Dantes
Inferno
.
It sounds delightful after the quietude of Stamfield. Nothing ever happens there. No one new ever visits, as you well know. You never stay above a week or two yourself, so how can you blame me for wanting to see more of the world? To expand my horizons, as it were, before I do marry and start breeding? I could be stuck in the shires forever then. Not that I dislike the country. I dont think I will ever get used to the noise or the foul air in the city, but the change is exciting.
Daniel bent down to pick up a small gold scissors in the shape of a bird that had fallen under the end table. I suppose you have a point.
Besides, how am I to find Mother a lover in the country?
He stood so fast he cracked his head on the end of the table. A point? Too bad the embroidery scissors point was too short to pierce his heart. A lover? Mother?
Well, I suppose she could marry if she wants. After all, its not like Mother to want to live in sin, ostracized by all the neighbors.
His mother, a fallen woman? Daniel could not picture it, so he chose the safer coursefor anyone elsemarriage. Does she want to remarry? She and Father were so close, I never thought shed look at another man.
Think of it now, Daniel. Mother put off her mourning gowns a full year ago, and burned them; she was that glad to be out of dark, dreary colors. Why shouldnt she find another companion?
If she wants a companion, we can hire some dried-up old prune like your last governess. Or I could send for one of those impoverished Stamfield great-aunts who get passed from relative to relative like unwanted wedding gifts.
Do not be so buffle-headed. I dont mean a paid companion or an old relict. I meant company for her, a special someone of her own. Ill marry and move away eventually, to who knows where. You never come home, and when you do, youll likely be bringing a bride with you. Your wife will want to manage the house in her own way, without a mother-in-law looking over her shoulder. I know I would. And youll want your privacy, at least at first. So what is Mother to do? Become one of those itinerant old ladies, battening on whichever relation is closest? Or set up an establishment of her own, and devote her life to Good Deeds?
She could raise dogs.
Susanna took the scissors from him and shoved it into a ball of yarn. Why should she spend the rest of her life alone? She is still young and attractive, dont you think?
He recalled his mothers appearance, but as an objective judge this time, not as her loving son. Whichever way he saw her, Lady Cora was a handsome woman. Her face was unlined, her figure still trim, her Royce black hair and blue eyes still a stunning combination. Moreover, he knew she had a tidy fortune in her own name, and a dragons horde of jewels. She was just as competent to manage a gentlemans household as a farmstead, and kept abreast of current news and politics. In other words, shed make some lucky man a damned good wife. Mother is lovely, of course, but has she said thats what she wants? She told me she wants grandchildren.
Our babies wont keep her company on long winter nights.
If not dogs, she could raise cats. I know of one who
Susanna tapped her foot. Daniel, I am not suggesting Mother find another Grand Passion like she had with Papa. But why not a petit passion? With someone whose company and conversation she can enjoy. And caresses. I know she misses
Daniel was not about to discuss whatever Susanna thought their mother missed in the marriage bed, not with his unfledged sister. What about Miss Abbott? he hurried to ask before Susanna could expound on pleasures she should know nothing about. Are you looking for a lover for her, too?
A lover for an unmarried lady? Do not be vulgar, Daniel. If Corie wants a husband, thats what she shall have: her pick of the finest gentlemen in all of England, for that is what she deserves.
She deserved to be tarred and feathered, but he did not say it. She must be over twenty years of age by now. Why is she not married already?
I think she was disappointed in love at a young age, although she never speaks of it. She has let slip that her father never approves of any of her suitors. His own grandfather was a baron, after all. He considers commoners beneath his daughter.
More like finding her beneath one of them, Daniel thought. Lord Abbott was acting just as he ought, keeping his wayward daughter from ensnaring an unsuspecting gent.
Susanna was going on, as she re-wound a skein of silk threads. Mother suspects he does not want to part with her dowry, but we never say that to Corie, although everyone knows Squire Abbott is not an easy man. He almost refused to let her come to London with us, until Mother shamed him by offering to pay all of Cories expenses. I still think the only reason he agreed was that he wanted Corie gone while he courts Mrs. Rivendale.
The admirals young widow? The brazen female had expressed interest in Daniel the last time he was at the manor. Shed even placed her hand on his thigh under the tablecloth at one dinner. Hed left before the dessert course.
Yes, Alberta Rivendale, the neighborhoods favorite topic of gossip. They say the admiral did not leave her in sufficient funds, and she is constantly looking to feather her nest with a new pigeon to pluck. They also say that Squire Abbott still hopes to father an heir, and Mrs. Rivendale is barely thirty.
You shouldnt be spreading such tales around, you know. Aint ladylike.
Susanna made a very unladylike sound. Hogswallow. If I dont listen to gossip, how am I to learn anything? Besides, thats another reason its important for Corie to find a match soon. If her father does produce a son, she will not be such an heiress. Not that any of them are in line for the title, of course; the current baron has a large family of sons. But Squires lands are unentailed. Corie would get it all. If her father reweds, with or without a son, she would not wish to share her home with the likes of Mrs. Rivendale.
I should think not. And Abbott was a fool for thinking of taking on another woman of easy virtue.
Susanna picked up the last skein of thread. Thats it, then.
Yes, thats it, all right.
She meant the sewing supplies. Daniel meant his life, his freedom, his days of caring about nothing but finding the next female, the next bottle, the next card game. Now he found himself with three women to shepherd, protect, and get settled. This was no game; it was their future, their security, their becoming some other poor fools responsibility.
Damn, he had to make sure all three of them found husbands before they found lovers. He had to arrange marriages for a scheming minx, a manipulative match-maker, and a proven light-skirtswhile staying out of parsons mousetrap himself. Had he ever been dealt a worse hand?
He cursed his father for dying young, his mother for thinking young, his sister for being young, and Miss Corisande Abbott for being beautiful.
Chapter Four
T
he front door beckoned. Daniel thought about bolting out into the street and never returning, except Dobbson stood there, waiting to show him to the room set aside for his use. Or else Dobbson was waiting for Daniel to prove unworthy of the Royce House address by turning craven. So he cursed the butler, too.
And his shiny shoes.
Then he saw the chambers assigned to him. His whole suite at McCanns could fit in the sitting room here. He had his own bathing room, a dressing room, and a bed finally big enough for his size. A fire burned in the grate; decanters paraded along a side table with a tin of biscuits, a wheel of cheese, a bowl of fruit. Now Daniel felt like Gideon must, in his new stall. The surroundings were unfamiliar, but they sure as the devil were tempting.
Youll wish to change, Dobbson suggested from the doorway. He appeared ready to flee if Daniel took umbrage at his pointing out that the gentlemans attire was fit for swilling at a pig trough, not miladys dinner table.
Daniel did not wish to change at all, his clothes, his manners, his way of life. His mother and her charges could take him the way he was, casual dress and all. But a footman was filling a tubas well proportioned as the bedwith hot water and fragrant soaps. Daniel could not pass that up, nor could he face putting his same shirt, yesterdays shirt, back on afterward. He doubted he had a cleaner one at his rooms, though. Laundry was a haphazard affair at McCanns.
Dobbson cleared his throat. I took the liberty of laying out evening attire for you, until a valet is hired to oversee your apparel.
