Nicola Cornick (26 page)

But Lady Corinna had taken his silence for assent. She pressed a soft, lingering kiss on his cheek and wafted away to position herself close to the edge of the dance floor in anticipation of the end of the waltz.

The music drew to a close and James and Alicia thanked each other with perfect solemnity. Alicia excused herself and slipped away to the ladies’ anteroom, but not before she had had the irritation of seeing Lady Corinna Dawe drift back to James’s side in a swirl of exotic draperies. The sight did nothing to calm her turbulent emotions, and she sat down rather heavily in an armchair to take several deep breaths.

A few moments of quiet reflection were sufficient to restore a degree of calmness, although Alicia still felt inclined to burst into tears and was quite exasperated with herself. She felt humiliated that, despite her best intentions, she had allowed James so much licence. She had let him take up exactly where he had left off at Chartley, and it was making a mockery of her feelings! Damn it, how could he remain so calm when he was wreaking havoc on her senses? And for him to behave in such a way, and then to go straight into the arms of Lady Dawe! Well, if James wished to avail himself of Corinna Dawe’s blatantly offered charms that was no concern of hers, Alicia thought crossly, but if he intended to involve her in his little games as well he would find her less tractable in future! She checked her somewhat wan appearance in the mirror and emerged from the room as the quadrille began.

The ball was nearing its end and many guests had already left, mostly going on to other functions in the certainty that they had had full value of any scandal the evening could offer. The crowd in the ballroom was therefore thinning, but there were still plenty of couples dancing. Alicia’s jealous gaze almost immediately picked out James’s tall figure at the side of the room, still engaged closely in conversation with Lady Corinna. Neither of them seemed aware of anything except each other.

Alicia suddenly had no taste for the evening any more. She could see Patrick Wickford coming towards her, but the thought of resuming her flirtation with him irritated her, and none of her other suitors seemed
remotely attractive. In a far corner behind some potted ferns Lady Stansfield still held court, but Alicia resisted the impulse to go across to her, for she could see Christopher Westwood hovering assiduously at her grandmother’s side, plying her with refreshments. Alicia danced three more dances, had some desultory chat with the Renwicks and the Westons, and decided that enough was enough.

Marcus and Caroline Kilgaren were in the hallway, conversing with Charles Oxley and a few others, whilst James could be seen in the cluster of people around Corinna Dawe. He was helping her with her cloak and Alicia, as well as a score of other people, was able to see the way Lady Corinna put her hand over his with a brief, meaningful look and a soft word.

Alicia turned away hastily, unwilling to add to her own distress by dwelling on the imminent relationship between the two of them. Miss Frensham was tripping across the hall with her cloak and she grabbed it unceremoniously, determined to leave before James saw her. But it was too late. Leaving Corinna Dawe pouting, he crossed swiftly to Alicia’s side, taking her hand.

‘Am I forgiven for earlier, Lady Carberry, or are you still displeased with me?’

Alicia ignored the treacherous frisson of excitement that went through her at his touch and fixed him with her most quelling look. So he thought to play her off against Corinna Dawe, did he? This was the moment to end all play-acting and pretence!

‘Displeased, Lord Mullineaux? Why, I do not even recall the incident…’ She managed to hit exactly the right note of perplexity.

James laughed aloud. ‘How bad you are for my self-confidence, Lady Carberry! To have my attentions so easily dismissed…Shall I remind you?’ The wicked glint was back in his eyes again. ‘Perhaps I should—’

‘James!’ Lady Corinna, sharp as glass, was at his elbow. ‘We are leaving now! Do you come with us or not?’

James turned to her unhurriedly. ‘I shall be escorting Lady Carberry home, I think,’ he said pleasantly. ‘I look forward to seeing you again soon, Lady Corinna.’

Such a polite brush-off amazed Alicia and it was certainly not at all what Lady Corinna had had in mind. Her black eyes flashed furious fire as they swept over Alicia with comprehensive dislike.

‘There is no need, Lord Mullineaux,’ Alicia interposed hastily, anxious to avert a confrontation. She gestured towards Miss Frensham who
was hovering on the edge of the group. ‘It is but a step to Upper Grosvenor Street, and I have Miss Frensham to keep me company.’

James looked amused, whether at Alicia’s reluctance or Lady Corinna’s ire it was difficult to tell.

‘No doubt,’ he said smoothly, ‘but I wish to speak to you. Good evening, Lady Corinna!’

Her ladyship could take a hint and flounced petulantly away without another word. Alicia sighed.

‘There was no need for that,’ she said, with a minatory glance up at him. ‘Believe me, sir, your best interests lie in that direction!’

That earned her a flashing look, full of amusement. ‘Do you say so, Lady Carberry? Whatever could lead you to such a conclusion?’

All Alicia’s disappointment and frustrations seemed to lodge in a tight lump in her throat. ‘Because she understands your games,’ she snapped furiously, ‘and she is willing to play them! And now, I fear, you will have to work hard to reinstate yourself in Lady Corinna’s favours—she may not even be prepared to forgive you!’

‘You are doubtless correct.’ There was an absent look on James’s face, as though Lady Corinna’s tantrums held no interest for him. He took Alicia’s arm, turning her towards the entrance.

‘But how would
you
have me behave, Lady Carberry?’

Alicia thought she would burst at his persistence. ‘With circumspection!’ she said, angry with him for pursuing the subject and also with herself because she knew deep down she was lying. ‘And perhaps you could start by confining your attentions to Lady Corinna rather than pestering me with meaningless flirtation!’

James laughed. ‘Are my attentions really so unwelcome?’

Alicia gave him a fulminating look. ‘Your reputation alone suggests that no woman of sense should take you seriously! And you are certainly undiscriminating, sir!’

Miss Frensham, who had been trotting along behind them, totally riveted by the conversation, gave a despairing squeak at such plain speaking. James winced and held up a hand in mock surrender. ‘You are too cruel, Lady Carberry! Very well, you have convinced me!’ He sketched a mocking bow. ‘Your wish is my command! I’ll bid you goodnight!’

He strolled off down the street in the direction of White’s, and the only consolation Alicia was left with was that she had seen Lady Corinna’s party depart in the opposite direction. Well, she had not wanted his false attentions, she told herself fiercely. Better that he should leave
her alone rather than seek to entertain himself at her expense. Idle flirtation with him held no charm for her. She would only end up with hurt feelings and an empty, aching heart when it was all over.

The carriage drew up and Alicia waited patiently whilst the Bingleys’ footman helped Miss Frensham inside. She settled herself on the opposite seat and they set off towards Upper Grosvenor Street, her mind still preoccupied with thoughts of James. And what if he had wanted to take it further than mere flirtation? the devil’s advocate inside her suddenly prompted. Do you really want him to take up with Lady Corinna, when that could be you? Admit that you want him. You know how much passion there could be between you. You could persuade him easily. If you really love him, you would want him on any terms…

With a shock, Alicia realised that they had arrived in Upper Grosvenor Street and that Miss Frensham was watching her with puzzlement, waiting for her to descend from the carriage. The cold night air made Alicia shiver as she hurried into the house. It was utterly alien to her nature to be thinking in such a way, but then James aroused in her emotions completely different from any she had ever experienced before. She had lived to the age of twenty-six without ever feeling true desire, and now that James had awakened those feelings in her they demanded fulfilment. For a moment Alicia recalled the delicious weakness which invaded her senses at his touch, the pressure of desire building within her, consuming her. She trembled again, this time with remembered pleasure.

‘I hope you have not caught a chill, my dear,’ Miss Frensham said, with a worried frown. ‘You look quite pale and I noticed you shivering earlier. I will ask Cook to make up a posset for you.’

Alicia turned a blank green gaze on her, which only confirmed her companion’s worries about her state of health. As Miss Frensham hurried off to fetch her a drink and hot-water bottle, Alicia reflected that there was something ailing her, but that the remedy was neither simple nor indeed suitable for discussion with her eminently respectable companion.

T
o Alicia’s private dismay, James took her at her word and confined his amorous attentions to Lady Corinna Dawe. It took him just one week to reinstate himself in her favours. Usually so casually cruel to her admirers, her ladyship was apparently besotted to the point of obsession, according to malicious gossip. James’s own feelings were less clear, but he seemed prepared to indulge the lady, ostentatiously escorting her to parties, routs, soirées and picnics. He squired her to a Pantheon masquerade and to a fireworks display in Vauxhall Gardens, where Lady Corinna lured him down the Dark Walks and was observed behaving in an amatory fashion more suited to a cyprian than the wife of a peer. It was all highly diverting for Society—as good as a play, Lady Stansfield had commented, thereby earning herself a glare from her granddaughter.

Over the weeks, Alicia had also found herself in James’s company, but in far more staid circumstances than Lady Corinna. He had been in a couple of theatre parties of Caroline’s contriving and he had stood up with Alicia for a dance or two at the balls they had both attended. He had even taken her for a drive in the park on two occasions, but then Lady Corinna was seen driving with him at least three times a week. The only sensation James had caused when he had taken Alicia up with him had been occasioned by the presence of a small black and white dog, which had accompanied them on James’s phaeton. The next day, everyone who was anyone had had a pet dog accompanying them on their ride in the park.

All the gossip about James and Alicia had withered once he had taken up with Lady Corinna, most people concluding that their rela
tionship was indeed as tame an affair as they had always maintained. This was, in fact, close to Alicia’s own opinion of the situation, for she had had no private conversation with James since the night of the Bingleys’ ball, and the discussion they had had then seemed like a dream. What remained all too real to her, however, were her own private longings, which she found difficult to ignore. They made the blameless time spent in James’s company even more difficult for her.

Though they could now talk about all kinds of subjects in public, from his impressions of London after his time away to the latest literary work of the shocking Lord Byron, the conversation never became more personal. James behaved with impeccable propriety, just as Alicia had demanded of him, and she was intensely irritated with herself for wanting matters to be different. In her heart of hearts she knew that James had simply been passing his time in flirtation with her and now Lady Corinna was offering him something much more exciting. She tried to ignore the welter of pain and jealousy this thought engendered, but this proved difficult. At the back of her mind were the thoughts that had not left her since the night of the ball—if only she had been brave enough, it could have been her…

To make matters even more complicated, she had found herself the unexpected object of Captain Wickford’s persistent gallantry. This had amused her to start with, and it was consoling in a vague sort of way in the light of James’s obvious lack of interest. However, Wickford was now starting to become most particular in his attentions, and Alicia knew she would soon have to dissuade him. She sighed. It was almost possible to believe that some malicious fate was deliberately designing torments for her!

Domestic matters provided little diversion from this absorption. Before her that morning were the household accounts, but the price of candles, however monstrously expensive, could hardly distract her thoughts. She looked out of the window at the bustle in the street beyond, and wondered idly whether a walk in the park would improve her spirits.

‘Excuse me, madam.’ Fordyce was hovering, a slightly mournful look on his face. Alicia welcomed the interruption with relief, although she recognised from experience that his long face denoted something distasteful to report. She put down her sheet of accounts in order to give him her full attention.

‘Yes, Fordyce?’

The butler cleared his throat. ‘I must apologise for failing to give
you this information before, madam. It was most remiss of me.’ He looked slightly embarrassed. ‘Whilst you were out of Town, madam, your cousin, Mr Broseley, came to call on you.’

Alicia raised her eyebrows in surprise. She seldom saw Josiah above twice a year. She remembered that he had missed Annabella’s wedding through ill health and frowned. ‘A social call from Cousin Josiah? What did he want, Fordyce—money?’

‘Well, yes and no, madam.’ Fordyce’s expression became even more lugubrious. ‘He did mention a pressing need for cash, but I do not believe it was his primary motive in coming here. Mr Broseley arrived at three in the morning, madam, and was—’ here he cleared his throat discreetly once more ‘—somewhat the worse for drink. He was most insistent that he see you, and when I explained that you were from home he begged to be allowed to stay here.’

Alicia waited without comment and after a moment Fordyce continued.

‘As you were not at home, madam, I judged it unwise to allow Mr Broseley to stay. I hope that I did the right thing.’

‘You did indeed, Fordyce,’ Alicia agreed. It seemed unkind, but Josiah was a determined scrounger. One summer several years before he had taken advantage of Alicia’s absence in Brighton to move himself and several cronies into the house and there had been a most unpleasant scene when she had had him forcibly ejected. So much damage had been done to the house and her possessions in the short time that he had been there that she had scarcely been able to believe it. After that, relations had been somewhat strained between them until Josiah had arrived with a huge bouquet and a most hangdog expression. Alicia had known it was mostly humbug, but she had not been able to prevent a smile.

‘Pardon the liberty, my lady,’ Fordyce was saying now, ‘but Mr Broseley seemed badly frightened.’ He hesitated, then added; ‘I wondered whether he had had some disagreement over cards. He resisted most strenuously when Dawson and I ejected him—surprisingly so for a man so badly foxed!’

‘Did he leave a message at all?’ Alicia asked, frowning. She was very puzzled, for Josiah had not been in touch at all since her return to Town. She could only assume that whatever had been so important before must have ceased to matter.

‘Not really, madam. He was too intoxicated to be coherent.’ For
dyce’s lips primmed with disapproval again. ‘The only matter which appeared clear was that he had come to warn you.’

‘To warn me?’ Alicia echoed, even more at sea.

‘Yes, madam. About what, Mr Broseley was not specific. As I said, he was in some considerable fear and ran off down the street as though all the devils in hell were at his heels!’

It was an unexpectedly picturesque turn of phrase from her usually staid butler, and it was possibly that which made Alicia’s mind up for her. She could visualise the clear, moonlit night, her cousin’s white, strained face, befuddled with drink and fear as he tried to resist the attempts to expel him from the house. He had wanted to see her urgently, yet he had not called in the four weeks since she had been back in London. She had no real reason to be concerned, and yet she was.

Alicia sighed.

‘Fordyce, I think you had better send out to find Mr Broseley for me.’

Fordyce’s face was schooled to calm though inside he was very surprised. Since when had Lady Carberry actually sought out her cousin?

‘Yes, madam,’ he said respectfully. ‘Where might Mr Broseley be found?’

This was a good question. Depending on the state of his purse, Josiah could be in any one of a number of gambling hells or brothels. Alicia sighed with vexation, already regretting her impulse.

‘Send Frederick to the Feathers in Southwark, for a start, then try the Guineas,’ she suggested, reflecting that it was fortunate her grandmother was not there to hear her reveal her extensive knowledge of the London stews. ‘Even if Josiah is not to be found there, I believe there is a maidservant who is—’ She broke off at Fordyce’s look of appalled horror, and finished carefully, ‘Anyway, she may well know of Josiah’s whereabouts.’

Fordyce bowed without another word and went out, stiff with outrage at the mission which had been entrusted to him. Alicia stifled a giggle. Really, he could be the most ridiculous stuffed shirt sometimes! Admittedly, Lady Stansfield had chosen him for Alicia particularly for his respectable qualities, but there was no point in trying to pretend that the seamier side of life did not exist—nor that it did not involve her cousin.

Fordyce had been unfortunate enough to have to deal with the aforementioned maidservant when she had arrived on Alicia’s doorstep one day the previous year, demanding money for herself and an accompa
nying infant whom she had claimed was Josiah’s progeny. Alicia had never forgotten his look of shock as she had led the girl and the baby into the drawing-room for a chat. The encounter had ended with the girl surprising both Alicia and herself by grudgingly admitting that Josiah was not the real father, asserting that he was no gentleman either. Alicia had been forced to agree with the latter comment, and had given the girl a sum of money for the baby anyway, which had had the girl kissing her hand in gratitude. Whether the relationship with Josiah had survived to this day she would find out soon enough.

She put the matter from her mind, glad to be distracted by a call from Charlotte Renwick, who easily persuaded Alicia to join herself and Caroline in a trip to Bond Street. They spent an entertaining couple of hours selecting gloves and hats before returning home to prepare for the evening’s entertainment. Alicia had also engaged herself for a soirée at the Renwicks’ house that night, but her secret hope that James might also attend was dashed when Marcus announced casually that his friend had gone to the theatre. Alicia did not need to ask who had accompanied him. She found the rest of the evening a dead bore and reproached herself for her lack of appreciation of Charlotte’s hospitality.

It was in fact the following afternoon that she had the answer to her questions about Josiah’s whereabouts, and they were not at all what she had anticipated. At the Guineas, Frederick had found the girl voluble in her accusations against Josiah, whom she had not seen for seven weeks and who had apparently left her without a feather to fly. She had suggested rather sullenly that Frederick should try Josiah’s lodgings in Deptford, but the landlady had been away. Frederick had waited to see the landlady, and now he was standing in Alicia’s library, a place which made him uncomfortable anyway, since he only felt at home in the stables. He twisted his flat cap around in his hands, his fair, weathered face flushed and unhappy.

‘I’m sorry, my lady, to be the bearer of such bad news…I wanted Mr Fordyce to be the one to tell you, but he said you might have questions for me—’ He broke off and stared fixedly at a patch of carpet.

Alicia waved him to a seat and he perched on the edge of it as though expecting it to explode under him.

‘Please do not be worried, Frederick,’ she said kindly. ‘Just tell me what has happened. Am I to understand that some sort of accident has befallen Josiah?’

Frederick nodded unhappily. ‘Oh, ma’am…’ It came out in a rush.
‘I’m sorry, ma’am—Mr Broseley’s dead! They buried him in St Aldate’s, in a pauper’s grave!’

There was silence whilst Alicia sat quite still and Frederick waited miserably for her to speak. Alicia realised that she did not feel shocked or even particularly surprised. Josiah’s excesses had always been going to lead him into trouble. But she did feel a sadness which took her by surprise. Josiah had been troublesome, ineffectual, exasperating, but he had still been her cousin and she had had an unwilling affection for him.

‘How did it happen, Frederick?’ she asked quietly. ‘My father mentioned a couple of months ago that Josiah had been ill—was it some sort of disease that carried him off?’

The groom looked even more uncomfortable. ‘No, ma’am. His landlady said he fell in the river when he was drunk. She was right sorry she did not let you know, my lady, but she said she knew nothing of how to contact Mr Broseley’s relations. She was most sorry because he still owed her three months’ rent when he died!’

Alicia smiled reluctantly. That sounded just like Josiah. ‘I will send to pay her,’ she said.

‘Oh, no, ma’am,’ Frederick said, eager to be able to impart some good news. ‘That won’t be necessary. The landlady said Mr Broseley’s other cousin had arrived and settled his debts when he identified the body.’ He lowered his gaze. ‘Begging your pardon to have to speak of such matters, my lady.’

Alicia was frowning, but not at his reference to the corpse. ‘Mr Broseley’s other cousin? He does not have any other cousins, Frederick, apart from my sister. Are you sure she did not mean his uncle rather than his cousin?’

The groom looked confused. ‘Oh, no, ma’am, for I remember it most particular! The landlady was surprised you did not know of the death on account of the fact that she thought your other cousin would tell you!’

Alicia digested this. ‘What was the name of the other cousin, Frederick?’ she asked, without much hope.

Frederick shook his head. ‘Don’t rightly know, my lady. I didn’t think to ask. All I know is that this gentleman settled up and took all Mr Broseley’s effects. All except the letter for you, that is.’ He brightened. ‘He must have missed that. The landlady found it in his room behind the washstand. She was about to send it on, but gave it to me instead.’ He patted his pockets and brought out a dog-eared missive.

Alicia thanked him gravely and he went out with relief. She picked up the letter thoughtfully, turning it over in her hands. It bore her own name in Josiah’s extravagant flourish, and was stained with something that could have been tears but Alicia suspected was really gin. She was about to slide the letter-opener beneath the seal, when she realised that she was not alone. The library door was half open and a figure was hovering in the aperture. A moment later Alicia realised it was Christopher Westwood and cursed the fact that he had chosen that very moment to pay a visit. She had never felt less like receiving guests.