Lord Sidley's Last Season (20 page)

“I do not know.” She gestured airily and stared very hard for a second out the window into the garden. “He
promises something.”

“Should have settled with him first. These nobs
sometimes take what they can-”

“Lord Sidley wouldn’t.”

William’s eyebrows rose. “He favors one leg,” he
remarked. “Just the slightest bit. He was injured at
Toulouse, wasn’t he?”

“Orthez. I believe it was Orthez. It is all much more
than you wish to know, William. Let us not talk of Lord
Sidley just now. Here you are returned and looking very
well! But how could you have had a letter from Michael?
Did your ship not just arrive?”

Again he blushed. “He knew we were due about now
and sent the note to await me. You see, I’d-I’d written
him from Gibraltar.”

“You wrote me as well, but I’m still surprised to see
you here in town. I thought you meant to go on to Brinford and that I would join you there”

“That was the plan. But, well, Michael thought I
should-said it would be best if I came directly to
you here. Naturally I was most eager to see you” But his
gaze was roaming the room, as though he were far from
eager to see her. In fact, he appeared to be looking
everywhere but at her. The smart uniform served only
to emphasize his unease. Marian wondered if Sidley
had seen that in him. Again she sensed something was
wrong.

“What is it, William?” she asked abruptly. “Has something happened to Michael?”

“Michael? Oh, no, not at all.” At last his gaze returned
to her. “This is entirely-well, Marian, we have known
each other a very long time. I can certainly tell you
that … that I have married!”

“Married?”

A grin was breaking across his face. The grin did not
seem to suit what he had said.

“You mean, you have married someone else?”

“Yes. In Gibraltar. Before we sailed. My Rose isOh, Marian! You must understand! Had I not wed her
then, ‘twould have been another six months, and that
would have been much too long to wait! We-we love
each other, Marian. I could not have asked her to wait
half so long!”

She stared at him. “You asked me to wait these two
years, William.”

“Well, yes, but that was different, don’t you see? Because we always had our understanding and have always been more like friends than … than anything else.
When I met Rose, I knew right off we were just-that
you and I had never been-Oh, everything is so different with Rose! She’s the daughter of a merchant, a supplier at Gibraltar, and so-so perfectly beautiful! You’ll
see how wonderful she is when you meet her. If I’d left
her, I knew I could not keep her. Two other fellows
were hard on my heels, but she chose me” He straightened his shoulders. “We shall take a house at Portsmouth, and then she thinks I ought to stay with the Navy, or at
least in shipping. So we shan’t be up north to Brinford
at all. Mama and Father shall visit us at Portsmouth. I
knew you would understand, Marian, if I could just speak
with you.”

She still stared at him. “But this is not-not what
you planned,” she said. “All these years, you’ve spoken
so fondly of Brinford, as though you hoped never to
leave it!”

“I know!” William had started to pace. “I know that,
Marian. But everything with Rose is-well, it simply
happened. I did not plan it. And now all I seem to do is
plan-to please her! She is the most perfect darling! I
love her so-I only want what she wants.”

And yet you would have had me retire to the country
and abandon my painting, Marian thought, with a swift
recognition that neither of them had ever loved each
other as they ought. Though she knew herself better out
of the arrangement, though she felt a lightening of her
heart, knowing that William’s announcement had
spared her one of her own, she was still left to deal with
a very public abandonment. And the repercussions for
her were likely to be much more enduring than they
ever would have been for William.

She permitted herself a spurt of resentment. She had
thought better of William. But this was, after all, what
she had wanted.

“I do not fault you, William, for your feeling. I know
you did not seek it, nor yield without struggle. There is no reason, no … explanation behind much attraction.
You love her, and there is naught that might now be
changed about your marriage. But you must see that
you’ve placed me in a most difficult position. Many here
were aware of my engagement. ‘Twas widely known.”

William again turned red. “I know I should have
come ahead and spoken to you first, that you should
have been seen as releasing me first from any-any obligation. That you should have been let to cry off. But
Rose pleaded so..

“She knew of our engagement?”

“Oh, yes. But she also knew that we were rather more
friends than-than closer; I had to tell her that, as you
know it to be true, don’t you, Marian? And she knows of
your art, and she said you should be able to find work
of some sort, then, or stay here with your cousins, who
must be rather plump in the pockets, given this place. Or
you might even return to Michael. So it is not really so
bad, you see”

But most ungallant, Marian thought silently. And she
decided she did not much care for the ambitious young
Mrs. Reeves, much as she wished William well.

She attempted a smile. “There is little to be done now,
William, except for me to wish you happy. I’d have preferred you had written me when you wrote Michael. But
at least he directed you to me here in town. For I do need
one favor from you” She sighed deeply. “‘Twould be
much better for me if you concealed the marriage from our acquaintance for at least a few days. I know it cannot
be hidden long-”

“I fear it cannot be hidden at all, Marian, for of
course I had to send word to my parents on my arrival.
Everyone in Brinford shall probably know today-or
tomorrow at the latest”

“I see” She worried her lower lip. “But perhaps the
news might be delayed here in town. If we do not tell my
cousins just yet . . ” She scarcely knew why she troubled to delay, other than to postpone dealing with her
future until she could quite accommodate the present.
And somewhere in her confusion she wondered about
Lord Sidley. She did not want him to know; William’s
defection deprived her of standing in society-Sidley’s
society. What must he make of her now-not only the
Formsbys’ poor relation but tossed over by her fiance?

“Some officers from the Perseus are like to come on
to town soon, Marian. There’s to be an assembly of the
fleet at Spithead, to impress the Prince Regent’s foreign
visitors. I fear I cannot keep this business quiet.”

She nodded and rather numbly and pointlessly began
toying with one of her brushes. Edith and Katie were
due back at any moment.

“I think, William, that you had best leave now. You’ll
want to be getting back to your-to Rose as soon as possible. And I have much to consider-how to tell Edith,
for one. It might be awkward, should you stay”

“I’ll be off, then, Marian. I shall write you all about everything. I must tell you all about my Rose! But
first you must-I’d ask that you forgive me. You know I
would never have hurt you. And I hope we might remain friends. You and Michael and I have always been
family. I should like Rose to know you.”

“Of course,” she said, though she thought the relationship destined to be strained. “Do hurry now, William.”

He moved with alacrity then to try to take her hand
once more. But she hid it, protected, behind her back as
she held the brush and let him graze her cheek with a
swift kiss instead. In his actions he seemed more like a
jubilant, ill-trained pet than the serious young sailor to
whom she had been faithful for so long.

She did not walk him to the door. Instead she stood
staring at her portrait of Lord Sidley. She silently
asked his bright gaze for any guidance he might render. But those blue eyes looked strangely amused and
superior. They lacked the understanding she knew they
had often held for her. The flaw was one she had not
caught until that moment, and she set about at once to
earn Sidley’s fancied sympathy by correcting his expression.

He could not bear the fellow. Lieutenant Reeves had to
be got rid of. The question was how to do so respectably.

“You are looking very sour,” Vaughn remarked.
“Should I suspect the beer at the Guildhall last night?”

“I cannot recall any beer last night, or much else of the meal, for that matter. ‘Twas an outlandish crush. This
season will be remarked years hence for its excesses. But
Prinny will have it..

“What has you looking so grim, then?”

“I have just met Lieutenant Reeves.” Sidley glanced
quickly at Vaughn, then looked away. “He does not deserve her.”

“That was understood, of course. I thought you meant
to surprise me”

”’ Twould lighten my spirits to be rid of him.”

“Shall I toss him into the Thames for you?”

“I would not have Miss Ware upset.”

“I was not serious.”

“I was” Sidley’s gaze followed the couples dancing a
reel. Yet for all the attention he paid them, they might
have been in another country. If he had not promised to
escort his aunt and Clara Poole to this party hosted by
their friends, the Holnotts, Sidley would have much preferred to stay home and plan. But he had been obliged to
attend. At least Clara was smiling again. He could be
grateful for that.

“All these diversions-dining and drinking and skipping about .. ” Sidley muttered.

“It is called dancing. And you used to enjoy it well
enough”

“Well enough? ‘Tis many weeks since I’ve enjoyed
anything about this infernal season.”

“At least it shall be your last.”

Sidley fixed Vaughn with a very determined eye.
“You dare to be clever, my friend?”

“Not at all. I know your purpose. You shall be riveted
to someone by fall whether you love or not. Either way,
next season is unlikely to tempt you. By the by, is that
old Colonel Bassett with your aunt? He does not appear
to know the steps”

“She will tutor him,” Sidley commented idly. His
thoughts were once again on Lieutenant Reeves. One
might, he supposed, appeal to the fellow’s pocketbookor to his ambition. Naval promotions were difficult
to come by; aspiring junior officers were said to pray
for war or plagues to open the ranks. But surely in these
peaceful days, there must be many cutting loose?
He could have Reeves made an admiral and sent half
the world away.

“At least,” Vaughn said, “we have rid ourselves of the
responsibility of Benny”

Sidley nodded. His Grace the Duke of Derwin was
delighted with his youngest son’s purchase of a commission.

“Kenny’s unlikely to come to any harm at this point,”
Sidley said. “The House Guards shall stay safely in
town, where he might parade about at any hour.” He
watched Lady Katherine enter the ballroom on Lord
Carroll’s arm.

“You should consider that another accomplishment,”
Vaughn said softly, indicating Katie with a lift of his
chin.

“Perhaps. All tends to a close of sorts” As Sidley observed Lady Katherine, he wondered if Lieutenant
Reeves had stayed the rest of the evening at the Formsbys’. He steeled himself to see the lieutenant enter the
room next, with Marian Ware as his partner. But the couple did not attend. He told himself he was relieved-until
he pictured them happily occupied at home. Excusing
himself abruptly from Vaughn’s company, he sought out
Lady Katherine.

She appeared flustered at his approach. No doubt she
viewed him now as an encumbrance, one that could only
serve to interfere with her pursuit of Lord Carroll. Except, of course, that his competing attentions might
prove invaluable in bringing Carroll to the point.

Sidley bowed to her brother, Formsby, then took
Lady Katherine’s hand for the lightest of feather kisses.

“Dearest Lady Katherine, you outshine the rest of
this party.”

“Lord Sidley,” she acknowledged. “You remember
Lord Carroll?”

“Indeed” He bowed to Carroll. Sidley hoped he conveyed the right parts of distance and humility. Carroll
had to be treated as a respected rival, not the witless
wastrel that he was. But Carroll, being witless, was not
to apprehend his fate.

“Carroll, I fear I am not yet well enough to steal one
of Lady Katherine’s dances from you”

“Well, II..

“But perhaps you would be kind enough to surrender her to me for a mere ten minutes? I promise I will return her to you promptly”

“Well, I”

“You do not mind, my lord?” Katie batted her lashes
at Carroll, who looked delighted to have even so
slight a decision sought.

“Your wish, my lady,” he said, and smiled sweetly as
he bowed.

Sidley hated to separate the two, but he needed information. He led Katherine along the perimeter of the
dancers, toward the supper room.

“It is difficult to contend with such a dashing cove as
Carroll,” he confessed. “I hear all the young ladies consider him quite the catch”

“Oh, I have heard that as well! But then, you onceyou are also quite admired, my lord”

“You are too kind, Lady Katherine. You must know I
feel my age, particularly in company with young Carroll.
He will be able to dance for many, many more years.”

“I have seen older gentlemen dancing on occasion.
Look at Colonel Bassett!”

Sidley preferred not. “Just so, Lady Katherine. Only
on occasion, though,” he sighed. “When their spirits
are unusually high. And most of them needn’t master a
limp.”

She frowned and looked away, as though she acknowledged the impediment as insurmountable.

“You are riding again, Lord Sidley,” she said in en couragement. “Edgar told me he met you in the park
just this morning.”

“I have to take that small bit of exercise, Lady Katherine. I fear I must surrender driving a carriage forever, as
my arms are still too weak to manage the ribbons. Perhaps Lord Carroll might take us up sometime, as I understand he is an excellent whip.”