Mesalliance (22 page)

‘None at all,’
said her ladyship, thawing visibly. And then, as the girls moved
away, ‘Poor Thea is so timid, I sometimes despair of her. I only
wish she could acquire just a fraction of dear Diana’s
confidence.’

‘I am sure you
must do,’ agreed Rockliffe sympathetically. ‘And
vice
versa
.’

Adeline
smothered a choke of laughter. ‘Has Sir Roland also come to
town?’

‘No.’ Lady
Miriam continued to gaze up at the Duke with faintly baffled
suspicion for a moment and then gave it up. ‘No. He felt
disinclined to leave the estate at this time. Fortunately, however,
I am able to depend on the company and support of my dear
brother.’

‘Ah yes.’
Adeline smiled. ‘My estimable Uncle Richard. How happy you must be
to have him.’

Able, as
always, to recognise but not quite comprehend Adeline’s barbs, her
ladyship mourned the fact that it was no longer possible to quell
them as she would wish. Then, with mixed feelings, she noted the
approach of her favourite child.

She immediately
perceived that there was a stormy glint in the beautiful eyes and
prayed that Diana would at least have the sense to be civil.
Goodness only knew, she’d been told often enough. Regrettably,
however, it did not always make a difference.

‘Well!’ said
Diana, staring hard at Adeline. ‘Fine feathers certainly make fine
birds, don’t they?’

A step behind
her, Jack Ingram’s somewhat forced smile withered completely and it
was several seconds before he remembered to close his mouth.

‘And manners,’
responded Adeline sweetly, ‘maketh man. Whether or not they also
maketh woman is plainly something upon which we can only
speculate.’ And then, cryptically, ‘Never mind, Jack. The things we
look forward to seldom live up to expectation.’

Not being
possessed either of a devious nature or any marked histrionic
talent, Mr Ingram had to expend quite a lot of concentration in
order to look as if he didn’t know what she meant. He did not, as a
consequence, come up with a suitable reply and it was left to the
Duke, his eyes agleam, to say understandingly, ‘I take it Harry is
here?’

‘Yes,’ replied
Jack baldly. ‘And, if you’ll excuse me, I’m rather anxious to have
a word with him. Lady Miriam … Adeline.’ And, with an
uncharacteristically curt bow, he set off in the direction of the
card room.

‘Dear me. Was
that an exit – or an escape?’ murmured his Grace softly. Then,
smiling provokingly at Diana, ‘Still … I’m sure you will be able to
take his defection philosophically.’

Diana, who had
never in her life accepted anything philosophically, achieved a
small, brittle smile. ‘Naturally. Though I’m at a loss to know why
you should think so.’

‘Are you?’ His
brows rose in mild reproof. ‘You can’t have asked the right
questions, then.’

‘He is
ineligible?’ asked Lady Miriam coldly.

‘It would
depend, I imagine, on your criteria,’ came the maddening reply.
Then, ‘Adeline, my dear … I see Dolly Cavendish is trying to
attract our attention. And Lord March. Again. Ah well … needs must,
I suppose.’ And with practised grace, he brought the confrontation
to an end.

Diana watched
them go, her face stony.

‘He’s every bit
as foul as she is,’ she muttered savagely. ‘But I’ll teach them to
poke fun at me!’

‘It seems,’
replied her mother tartly, ‘that you’ve already done so. And I’ll
tell you something else, my girl. If you don’t learn to hide your
temper, you’ll probably live to see Althea married before you.’

The mutinous
look vanished. Diana laughed.

Adeline,
meanwhile, was looking appreciatively up at her husband.

‘I thought we
were to be civil.’

‘And weren’t
we?’

‘Not entirely.
Unless, of course, I was imagining insinuations where really there
were none?’

His smile was
swift and magnetic.

‘Oh no. You
imagined nothing. And I am never rude by accident.’

Harry Caversham
was not finding the evening one of unmixed pleasure. On the one
hand, he was deriving a great deal of amusement out of making it
difficult for Jack to speak privately with him … but, on the other,
no amusement at all from watching Nell flirt with Sir Jasper
Brierley. Finally, in continuance of the one and an attempt to halt
the other, he invited the Duchess of Rockliffe to dance and said
bluntly, ‘Do
you
know what Nell sees in that fellow?’

‘No.’ Adeline
spread her skirts and moved gracefully towards him. ‘She says he
adds to her consequence. Personally, I can’t see it but I suppose
there’s no accounting for taste.’

‘But he’s a
fortune-hunter and everybody knows it. Why doesn’t Rock do
something?’

‘I expect he
will in time. And meanwhile – since you’re so worried – why don’t
you
do something?’

‘Such as what?
She avoids me like the plague. Oh damn.’ This as the movement of
the dance brought them face to face with Mr Ingram and Cassandra
Delahaye.

‘One of these
days,’ remarked Jack grimly, ‘someone will wring your neck.’

‘What did
I
do?’ The angelic blue eyes danced. ‘You wanted to meet
Adeline’s cousins and I introduced you. What’s wrong with
that?’

‘Nothing – if
you’d left it there and not interfered.’

‘Oh dear. Got
the wrong one, did you?’ sympathised his lordship. ‘Never mind.
Better luck next time.’ And he moved Adeline dextrously on.

‘What
did
you do?’ she asked.

‘Me? Not a
thing. I just saw him looking at Mistress Thea and thought he’d
appreciate her all the more for having a taste of Mistress Di
first. If you were determined to be uncharitable, you might say
that I sort of … manoeuvred him. That’s all.’

The evening was
well-advanced before Richard Horton, who had been charting his
niece’s progress with interest, finally achieved his objective and
caught her alone.

‘Well, my dear.
You seem to suit your new life admirably.’

Adeline started
and wheeled to face him. Then, controlling her nerves, ‘You are
surprised?’ she said.

‘Very. But no
doubt Rockliffe is an excellent tutor.’

‘Exceptional,’
she sighed, smiling. ‘And now, if you will excuse me --’

‘Not so fast,
Adeline. Not so fast.’ His hand trapped her arm and held it with
seeming affection. ‘You owe me a little something, you know.’

‘I don’t think
so.’

‘Certainly you
do. But for me you would not be standing here now in satin and
sapphires.’ He paused, examining her necklace through his glass.
‘Such very
fine
sapphires, too.’

‘Jealous,
Uncle? Don’t be. They wouldn’t suit you.’

He sighed and
the pressure of his fingers increased.

‘You are still
very sharp, are you not? You ought to be careful. You may cut
yourself.’

‘Unlikely.’ The
blue-green eyes were perfectly inimical. ‘Let go of me and tell me
what you want.’

Slowly and with
reluctance, he released her.

‘You may not be
aware of it but Miriam wished to prevent your marriage.’

‘So?’ shrugged
Adeline. ‘She could not have done so.’

‘On the
contrary. She could. I, however, persuaded her to change her
mind.’

‘But how noble
of you!’ she said scathingly. ‘And now, of course, I am supposed to
repay you. But with what, precisely?’

‘For the
moment,’ replied Mr Horton, delicately smoothing a crease from one
rose-tinted sleeve, ‘all I require is a small favour. Later … well,
later we shall see.’

Adeline’s brows
soared. ‘Shall we indeed?’

‘We shall. But
at present I merely wish you to exert your influence a little.’

‘Over
whom?’

‘Over your
husband. Who else?’ came the silky reply. ‘I want to become a
member of White’s and Rockliffe could arrange it. Persuade him for
me.’

Adeline was
fully aware that White’s was the most exclusive club in London and
that Rockliffe was one of its most respected members. A strange
calm took hold of her and her mouth curled in a slow, honeyed
smile.

‘No,’ she
said.

Some of Mr
Horton’s suavity left him.

‘You will not,
if you are wise, put me to the trouble of coercing you.’

‘Dear me. You
think you could?’

‘I know I
could. But let us avoid unpleasantness while we may. I ask you
again, Adeline. Speak to your husband.’

Quite
deliberately, she made him wait. Then, ‘Speak to him yourself,’ she
said.

And left
him.

Next morning
over breakfast, she told Rockliffe.

She had not, in
fairness, intended to do so; but when she stretched out her hand
for the coffee-pot and the lace at her elbow fell back to reveal
her forearm, she found she had little choice.

‘
Who in
Hades did that
?’ The Duke’s eyes were riveted on the shadowy
marks lying stark on her skin and for the first time, the temper in
his eyes was echoed in his voice.

As calmly as
she was able, Adeline withdrew her hand to her lap.

‘It’s nothing,’
she said. ‘I bruise easily.’

‘Don’t
prevaricate. I can recognise finger-prints when I see them. Whose
are they?’

She looked at
him for a moment and then, sighing, lowered her gaze.

‘My
uncle’s.’

‘Richard
Horton?’

‘Yes.’

There was a
long silence.

‘Then I promise
you that he’ll regret it.’ Rockliffe’s tone had regained its usual
smoothness but was none the less dangerous for that. ‘One presumes
that he was not merely mauling you for fun but that he had a
reason. What was it?’

Adeline knew
better than anyone that Mr Horton was by no means devoid of
sadistic tendencies. She also knew that, if she said so, his Grace
would demand details.

‘He wants to
become a member of White’s. The general idea was that I should coax
you into arranging it.’

‘And you
refused?’

‘Well, of
course.’

‘And his
reaction was to man-handle you and leave you with bruises.’

This time, she
said nothing. Since he was clearly still angry, there didn’t seem
to be anything she
could
say that would be helpful.

Rockliffe was
more than just angry – he was inwardly seething and was aware of a
distressingly crude impulse that would have boded ill for Mr
Horton, had he been within reach. However, since relieving his
feelings in that particular manner was out of the question, the
Duke battened down his temper in order to consider other options.
But first he said flatly, ‘If anything of this kind occurs again,
you will tell me of it immediately. Is that understood?’

‘Yes.’

‘I mean it,
Adeline.’

She looked up
at him and met an implacable black gaze. ‘Yes. I know you do.’

‘Good.’
Rockliffe thought for a moment and then said slowly, ‘Since Mr
Horton clearly feels he can’t get into White’s without assistance
of some kind, one must assume he’s already tried in the usual way
and been refused.’

‘He didn’t say.
But yes – I suppose that must be true.’

‘Interesting.’
He considered her attentively and then, the merest hint of humour
creeping back into his voice, he said, ‘At the risk of sinking
myself below reproach, I am constrained to admit that sponsoring
your uncle at the Club is the one thing I will never do. Not even
for you.’

‘Obviously. I
knew that.’

‘Ah. But did
you know why?’

‘I assumed …
because of dislike both for Richard and for having your hand
forced. Is that not all?’

‘Not quite. You
see, my dear, I have known for some time that the so-charming Mr
Horton attempts to earn the odd crust by means of his expertise at
the card-table. And when his expertise isn’t enough … he
cheats.’

Adeline’s gaze
grew utterly blank and it was a long time before she spoke. Then
she said, ‘I was about to ask if you’re sure … but of course you
are.’

‘Yes. I played
cards with him in Oxfordshire – but only once. He’s quite good at
it … one would have to say, well-practised – but not undetectable
to anyone watching closely.’

‘I see. What a
delightful family I have. It makes you wonder what we’ll discover
next, doesn’t it?’

Rockliffe, who
for very good reasons, knew exactly what they might expect to
discover next, kept his expression carefully neutral.

‘You should
not,’ he observed, ‘allow it to concern you. No one, as they say,
can choose their relatives. And nothing they do is any reflection
on you.’

‘It’s kind of
you to say so,’ came the bitter reply, ‘but you must forgive me if
I find it hard to accept.’ She paused and drew a long, steadying
breath. ‘Can you make sure that Richard most assuredly does
not
gain membership of White’s?’

‘Oh yes.’ He
gave the ghost of a laugh. ‘And what is more, it will be my
pleasure to ensure that he knows it.’

*

For reasons not
entirely easy to identify, Nell was conscious of a faint
dissatisfaction with life in general. It could not, of course, be
put down to boredom for her days were crammed with engagements –
from Venetian breakfasts to masked balls; and neither, since Rock
had already received two offers for her hand and her rooms were
daily bedecked with floral tributes from her various admirers, had
she any cause to worry that she was not a Success. Her closets
overflowed with expensive gowns and elegant fripperies, no one
plagued her to practise her embroidery or read dull books and she
had dearest Cassie to share her confidences. In short, life ought
to be perfect … but somehow it wasn’t.

She rather
suspected [though she’d have died sooner than admit it even to
Cassie] that her vague sense of unease was partly connected to her
friendship with Sir Jasper Brierley. It was not that he was ever
anything less than correct … well, not
much
less anyway; and
at least he treated her as a grown woman – which was more than
could be said of some people. But she had begun, from time to time,
to feel ever so slightly out of her depth and she did not know what
she should do about it.