Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 07] - Married Past Redemption (4 page)

He nodded. "Her half-brother. Beastly luck, because Hersh will
hang—not a doubt of it, so there's no hope for her. She cannot wed
Bolster."

"Oh, the poor girl. And she and Lord Bolster were deeply
attached, I heard. How very sad."

"And how kind that you are so touched by their tragedy. But it
would not serve, you must agree."

"No… it would not." She sighed regretfully. "Bolster is from a
very fine house. Even were he willing to ignore his own obligations to
his name, he could scarcely expect his family to consent. Indeed, it
would be dishonourable to ask such a thing."

"If there's one thing Bolster ain't, it's dishonourable. I
must ask your pardon for failing to introduce him, but—well, you saw
how he is."

Perplexed, she said, "No, What do you mean?"

"Nothing to his detriment, I assure you. He was badly wounded
at the Siege of Badajoz. He's the best of good fellows, but a little…"
He tapped his temple significantly.

"Oh, my! How dreadful! And now, to have lost the girl he
loves!"

"There are still some wagers on the books at the clubs, but
she'll not wed him. If it were up to Jeremy…" He paused thoughtfully.
"He's not the man to puff off his consequence. But I don't have to tell
you that, for you saw who was with him." He met her enquiring gaze and
said mischievously, "The—ah, unattractive creature."

Lisette stiffened. "I have already said, sir, that I intended
no such implication. I should be most distressed did you hold me guilty
of so unkind a remark."

"What—about a dog?" He looked at her askance. "You are very
nice, ma'am, but I thought you spoke only truth. He is, indeed,
unattractive."

"Good morning, Miss Van Lindsay! How do you do, Garvey?" The
Duke of Vaille smiled on them from the driver's seat of a splendid
high-perch phaeton, "Do not forget my waltz, dear lady!" he called,
then swept past.

"Shall you attend the ball for his son's betrothal?" asked
Garvey eagerly. "I implore—I
beg
to be allowed to
escort you.
Do
say yes!"

Lisette thanked him but said she had not yet made up her mind
as to which of several offers to accept, and beyond asking that she
consider him also, he did not press her. During the balance of their
drive he was all a lady could wish for on such an occasion, bringing
her to laughter more than once with his recountings of humourous
episodes concerning the Regent's Pavilion at Brighton and some of the
dinners and entertainments he had attended there. He was charming,
bright, witty, and poised; very much a man of the world. Lisette could
not but be flattered by his very evident admiration, nor was she
unaware of the many curious glances that followed them. She enjoyed
herself as she had not done for weeks, and when Garvey returned her to
Portland Place and escorted her to the front door, she was sincere in
expressing her thanks for a delightful drive.

Once in the house, she was pounced upon by Judith and begged
to recount all that had happened. To an extent she complied, amused by
her sister's excitement, but when Mrs. Van Lindsay returned from an
afternoon card party and joined them in the family parlour, she was
obliged to tell her tale again. Her mother was ecstatic to learn of
Garvey's request to escort Lisette to the Vaille ball. "You must have a
new gown!" she decreed. "You have moped at home for too long, and
nothing could be better than to return to Society with so consequential
a gentleman as James Garvey as your partner. It will be all over Town
by now that you are his new interest!"

"But, Mama, I only just met the man. Surely, I—"

"What has that to say to anything? Never say you have taken
him in aversion?"

"Well, no, but I scarcely know him."

"You could do a deal worse, Lisette. He is a man of
insinuating address to which you may add impeccable lineage, wealth,
influence… Only think of Timothy and the doors a word in the Regent's
ear might open!"

At this point, Powers made his dignified way into the room,
followed by the parlour-maid carrying a huge bunch of red roses, a
small flower box, and two letters. Mrs. Van Lindsay accepted the
letters and the small box. The red roses were from Garvey, the card
reading "To London's fairest flower." Admiring the perfect blooms,
Lisette heard her mother utter a derogatory snort. The small box held a
bunch of lilies of the valley set in a filigreed container. Frowning at
the card she held, Mrs. Van Lindsay said, "What impertinence!" and
tossed the flowers into the wastebasket.

Lisette took the card she extended. There were no written
words, only the printed name, Justin Derwent Strand. She experienced an
odd little jolt of the heart, and could almost see those brilliant blue
eyes scrutinizing her as they had in the park. She said nothing, but
when she was alone, she rescued the posy. It was, she thought, quite
dainty, and she was fond of the fragrant little flowers. No matter who
had sent them.

She was tidying her hair when Mrs. Van Lindsay returned to
advise that Miss Charlotte Hilby and her brother Galen had come to
call, and that Sir Aubrey Suffield's chaise had just stopped outside.

"You see?" Philippa cried trimphantly. "It has begun! London
believes you recovered from the 'slight indisposition' I had set about.
You will likely become more popular than ever, my love!"

She was quite correct. It was the start of a flood, and even
Cook, apprised at the last moment of the fact that they would sit down
twelve to dinner, broke only two glasses and a chipped plate by way of
protest. When the teatray was brought in at ten o'clock, a merry crowd
of four and twenty, mostly bachelors, with a sprinkling of parents and
sisters, had gathered in the drawing room.

"Thank God!" Mrs. Van Lindsay murmured in an aside to her
spouse. "Lisette is in looks again. For a time I really feared she
would go into a decline. Only think how mortifying
that
would have been!"

"Silly chit," grunted Humphrey. "She was sure all the
ton
thought her jilted. Was you't'ask me, not a soul so much as suspected
she gave a button for Leith! She's too sensitive and flighty by half.
An overabundance of pride has that daughter of yours, ma'am!"

"And as she should have—nor begrudge her it, sir! It is that
very pride and knowledge of her position in Society will compel her to
make the best match she may. How clever of Garvey to send those
beautiful roses, but not call tonight. Much that wretched Strand girl
may count her triumph. Lisette will eclipse her yet!"

Mr. Van Lindsay slanted an oblique glance at his wife, pursed
his lips, and said a cautious, "Hmmnnn…"

It said much for Philippa's excitement that she did not take
heed of this warning signal, turning instead to chatter graciously with
the beautiful Miss Hilby, although everyone knew
her
family tree could be traced only to the fifteenth century, and there
was some suspicion her great-grandfather had been a wealthy merchant.

All in all, it was a triumphant evening and by the time she
retired, Lisette was very weary. Sleep eluded her, however, and she lay
reliving the events of the day. Her thoughts lingered on poor Amanda
Hersh. How deeply she must love, and how unselfishly, since she had
chosen to reject Lord Bolster sooner than disgrace him by her
unworthiness. What a contrast was offered by Rachel Strand, who, for
all her famed beauty, was the daughter of a man known to have cheated
at cards and to have evaded debtors' prison only by his own death. As
though that were not sufficiently shameful, Miss Strand had won even
more notoriety by jilting the French nobleman to whom she had been
betrothed and running off from her own engagement ball with some
unknown. Utterly disgraceful conduct! There was no understanding why
Tristram Leith, one of the most handsome and well-born young
aristocrats in all England, should have wed the girl. One thing was
sure, however, he was now just as much an outcast as his bride! Lisette
tried to feel triumphant and, having failed, sighed miserably. How
strange a thing was Fate. Rachel Strand had stolen the man she loved.
And even now, Justin

Strand's flowers were adding their fragrance to her
bedchamber. She sighed again, and went to sleep, to dream of mushrooms
growing in a field of lilies of the valley.

The next five days raced by. The word
that one of London's most spectacular beauties was recovered of an
illness that had confined her to her home for several weeks swept the
ton
like a whirlwind, and quiet Portland Place became the target for more
traffic than it had seen since before Miss Van Lindsay's "illness."

Lisette was showered with invitations. She was taken driving
in the park by Galen Hilby and by Sir Aubrey Suffield; James Garvey
escorted her to a rout party and a musicale and sent flowers every day;
Jocelyn Vaughan, one of London's very popular bachelors, became a
member of her court, which pleased her, since she found the handsome
young man most charming. The morning callers meanwhile seemed to
increase daily. Among these latter was Lady Jersey. That revered
patroness of the mighty Almack's complimented Lisette upon her recovery
and, taking Mrs. Van Lindsay aside, remarked that her daughter was
again in great beauty. "It is certainly understandable she is so
admired by the gentlemen," she observed, "for she looked ravishing when
I saw her driving with James Garvey on Tuesday. You—er—approve, my dear
Philippa?"

Mrs. Van Lindsay smiled rather smugly and acknowledged that
Mr. Garvey had been added to the list of her daughter's admirers, which
fact did not in the least surprise her.

"No, indeed," said my lady, with a lift of her thin eyebrows.
"But it does surprise me, Philippa, that you and Van Lindsay would
countenance it."

Astonished, Mrs. Van Lindsay drew herself to her full height
and said at her most regal, "Countenance it? My dear ma'am, Garvey's
lineage is second to none."

"His lineage, perhaps. But—his morals?"

"Good God! I'd heard only that he was of the Carlton House
set, which I cannot quite like." Alarmed now, Mrs. Van Lindsay asked,
"Is there more, Sally?"

"Too much smoke for there to be no fire. But—" my lady
shrugged her shoulders—"perhaps I am prejudiced. I do not care for the
man, which he well knows. Now, do I say more, I shall invite the
criticism that
I
am the one who is vindictive and
has a poisonous tongue. I will add only this: I should want no daughter
of mine to associate with a man who whistled a fortune down the wind in
only five years!"

Mrs. Van Lindsay paled.

Upon being apprised of this conversation in the privacy of his
wife's bedchamber later that evening, Mr. Van Lindsay paled also, then
uttered a shocked, "By thunder! So it
is
truth! I
had heard a whisper or two, but fancied it malicious gossip, merely."

"Then he
is
ruined? Oh, lud! And I have
given the wretch every encouragement! I even influenced Lisette to
accept his escort to Vaille's ball! Why in the world does he pursue the
girl? Does he suppose us to be wealthy?"

Humphrey frowned at his reflection in the mirror above the
fireplace. "Perhaps. More likely he has it in his mind that your mama
is very well to pass. And a little stricken in years."

"But—but whatever my dear mama has—which is very little— will
all go to Tim!"

"True. But very few people know that, my love, and although
many consider the old lady to be cheese-paring, there are more who
believe her full of lettuce!"

Philippa's indignation that her mother should be spoken of in
such a disparaging way might have bloomed into a full-scale attack upon
her luckless spouse had not a greater outrage taken precedence. "That
villain!" she exclaimed. "I believed him to be a chivalrous gentleman,
when in truth he is no more than an unprincipled fortune hunter!"
Having uttered this righteous complaint, she marred it by adding, "What
a disappointment! Well, we shall have to look elsewhere, and there are
so few bachelors just at the moment who have satisfactory family and
expectations. If
only
Leith had offered…" She
then proceeded to list the various wealthy and acceptable young men who
had been snapped up by mediocre girls with not a tenth of her
daughter's beauty. Humphrey paid little attention to this gloomy
recital. Being far more harassed than his wife suspected, he had
already taken inventory of London's possible candidates for Lisette's
hand. Since Garvey had been the leading contender, the runner-up must
now be considered the only logical choice. It was a choice that would,
he knew, create considerable consternation in his household, and he was
seeking for the least offensive way to nominate his man when Philippa
asked, ''What do you think of young Hilby? Were he to attempt to fix
his interest, it would be splendid, no? The boy's vastly wealthy, and
if his lineage is not of the finest, it certainly is not contemptible."

"True. But I doubt he's ready to be leg shackled. And there
are some more likely gentlemen, my dear. Vaughan, for instance,
Cossentine, Strand, Alastair, Den—"

"
Strand
?" Philippa echoed, then went into
a ripple of laughter. "You jest!"

With a fine nonchalance, her husband answered, "It might
serve. The boy's come home from India a regular nabob. Paid off all his
papa's debts, and I hear has dropped a mountain of blunt on that place
of his in Sussex. The family's not ancient, I allow, but it ain't
totally
beyond the pale, and Strand can scarce be held accountable for his
sister's manners—or lack of "em."

Astounded that her husband should stoop to consider Justin
Strand a suitable prospective son-in-law, Philippa tightened her lips.
But after a moment's thoughts, she said with a thin smile, "Lord! I can
well imagine how Lisette would react did Strand offer. To have
Leith
for her brother-in-law…? And his odious wife for a sister? I declare
she'd sooner wear the willow all her days!"