Taffeta & Hotspur (2 page)

“
Well, fond of her … we are
both fond of her … spirited thing…” Nigel conceded, talking about
her as though she weren’t there. “And yes, thank goodness, we are
withdrawing.”

“
You have never minded
before, Nigel,” Taffy said with hurt in her voice.

“
As to that, don’t mind now,
quite the opposite really. You have been helpful, in fact, but that
isn’t the point, is it?” Nigel answered irritably.

“
That’s right. You’re a
great ‘un, and I’m proud to own it!” answered Seth.

“
Well, but you shouldn’t,
Seth. You are a duke. One day you will owe it to the line to take a
wife and beget an heir. Your sister needs to marry to suit her
station and have a life. You should not be referring to her as a
great gun!”

“
Bit out there Nigel, Taffy
has a life. Deuce take it, what maggot’s got into your head, with
all this talk of marriage and heirs? None of us are ready for
that.”

“
That is just it … we should
be getting ready for it. We all owe it to our names. Taffy may only
be nineteen, but next month she will turn twenty, and she needs to
attend the London cotillions and … not have these escapades hanging
over her head. They may rear up and haunt us.”

“
Oh pooh, as though I care
for such things,” she said.

“
Well, you should care for
such things,” replied her uncle. “The job of guardian wears heavy
on my mind lately.”

“
I am happy here at Grantham
with you and Seth, I don’t want to troll about for a man in
London.”

Her brother barked a laugh, and Nigel
shook his head. “Troll about, indeed. Taffy, don’t you want to be
courted?”

“
Have enough of that right
here in Nottingham,” she said with a giggle. “Your friends have
been doing a bang up job of courting me these last few
months.”

“
Really?” Her brother was
moved to exclaim. “Never say so, Taff … who?”

“
Trevor Harley for one. He
has been making up to me for the last three months. And Sir Edward
tried to kiss me in the rose garden yesterday, and Jeffry did kiss
me the day before…”

“
Edward tried to kiss you?
Jeffry did kiss you? I’ll run them through,” declared the young
duke quite properly and then immediately burst into laughter. “Pon
my soul, Edward and Jeffries…” He went off into a rollicking course
of mirth, and he slapped Nigel’s knee, who was also chuckling with
amusement.

She waited patiently while it took
them some moments to catch their breath again before returning to
the issue at hand. “So, I am perfectly content to stay at Grantham
and not bother with a London season.” She shook her head, “Don’t
want to add my name to the lists of debutantes and stand in line
waiting to be noticed…”

“
You may be my sister, but I
ain’t blind, girl… You wouldn’t be waiting in line, you would stand
out… Have you looked at yourself lately?” answered her brother with
another chuckle.

“
Taffy, you are naught but a
green girl,” pronounced her uncle Nigel.

“
Take care, Nigel,” warned
Taffy. She lowered her voice in annoyance and was satisfied to see
they knew her well enough to know she was in a temper about to boil
over.

“
Oh, now Taff, take a
damper,” said her brother. “What Nigel means is that you will want
a house of your own one day. You know Papa always said two women
could not comfortably rule one household, and if one of those women
were you … whoa.” He smiled at her and took her chin. “In order to
make a suitable marriage, you are going to have to out strut the
best of them at Almack’s and choose the man of your dreams, not go
wildly about with Nigel and me.”

“
But, I am a part of it
all…” said Taffeta on an obstinate note. “And I shan’t allow you to
shut me out at this stage. I want to see it through.”

“
We allowed you to join us
to shake you out of your depression over Papa’s death. We had to do
something about your blues, and you seemed to take a keen interest
in the Luddite movement. But then that first harebrained fetch came
up, and we all did so splendidly, we never gave a monkey for the
consequences.” He shook his fair head of curls ruefully. “No, we
didn’t think then of the future. But Taff, Nigel is right. We are
taking you to London, and you will take your place amongst the
haute ton.”

“
Tonight has nothing to do
with tomorrow. London is something we will do if it will please you
and Nigel, but tonight we will go through with our rig, just as
planned,” Taffy said with some determination as she folded her arms
across her middle.

Their carriage had approached a long
winding drive cutting through neatly clipped lush green lawns.
Flower beds of daffodils were in riotous bloom. Tulips of rich
shades gently flowed in the breeze, and with a sigh of resignation,
Lord Nigel pointed out the fact they were fast approaching Lady
Watson’s front drive.

“
So then, it is settled?”
Taffeta pursued quickly. “We go as planned?” She watched as her
uncle and brother exchanged defeated glances. She knew they were
honor bound to proceed as they had promised. They had given their
word, and she was sure they would never renege. She was also sure
they relied on her very unique and secret abilities which had been
of service to them in the past. Taffy’s ‘gift of sight’ had saved
them already more than once.

They nodded at her, and her brother
said, “Aye then … this last time, vixen.”

She smiled, pleased enough, and hoped
these strange dream visions of the handsome stranger would stop and
allow her to concentrate on the job at hand.

~*~

Hotspur! Lady Watson considered the
amazingly tall and well built Corinthian conversing amicably with
her as he stood by the long window in her parlor. He was eight and
twenty and still full of fire—the very devil of a man. Even the
dandy cut of his light blue coat and buff colored breeches couldn’t
disguise the athletic swell of his lean and sturdy form.

His black windswept curls were neatly
at variance with his rugged and thoroughly masculine countenance,
and his smile, so rarely seen by most, was almost incongruous in
contrast to his dark stern eyes. Everything about him gave credence
to the name the haute ton had given him.

Hotspur indeed—an appropriate name if
ever there was one. An odd thing, considering his youth. Oh, he had
ever been the passionate lad, full with high romantic ideals. But
she had watched those ideals wither unmercifully, and he had put an
end to such beliefs, putting them away, if not banishing them
completely.

She could remember him at
twenty—warrior-hearted, generous, shy, and so very much in love.
That was then, and now … now he was Hotspur!

She patted the empty spot beside her
on the richly upholstered, Regency styled sofa of yellow damask.
“Already itching to be off, Tarrant? Never say you are bored after
only one morning in my company.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Aunt Lizzie,
favorite of my aunts, dear to my heart, I must admit, I am feeling
edgy…”

“
Ah, too much vapid
conversation, but I shall look to entertain you better … shortly,”
she replied, teasing him back.

He eyed her. “Oh? What are you up to?”
And then, before she could answer, he sighed heavily and said, “I
was thinking of taking Demon out for a run.” He put up his hands as
she started to object, laughed, and admonished her, “It is only a
ride, after all.” He paused, and she pulled a face before he said,
“Wait a moment. You are up to something, aren’t you? What have you
done? Something, I’d swear.”

“
I don’t know what you
mean.” She avoided his eye.

He chuckled. “Well, I wasn’t sure
before, but now I am. Come on then Aunt Liz, what is
towards?”

“
I only meant you should
just leave the stallion be. He is grazing happily in my stud
paddock and is happy for the time off, I am sure.”

“
Right … as though you give
a fig about such things. What are you up to, Lizzie
dearest?”

“
Again, I repeat, I don’t
know what you mean.” She busied herself with the folds of her
skirt, sweeping away an imaginary wrinkle. Her aged hand then
fluttered to the puff of white curls that ornamented her regal
head. “Do come and sit with me, Tarrant. There is so much I want to
discuss with you.”

However, at that moment she saw the
sound of carriage wheels scraping against gravel draw his gaze to
the window. She watched him as he stood rigidly, observing the
carriage as it came to a complete stop in the courtyard just within
their view. A footman went forward to open the carriage door and a
dainty blue silk shoe emerged.

“
Ah,” remarked Lord Thurston
Tarrant as he turned and stared at her. His hands clasped behind
his back, he leveled a disappointed look at her and said in a tone
that displayed a level of hurt, “So then … Et tu,
Brute?”

Her lashes fluttered, “I don’t know
what you can mean.”

He paced, and she could feel his
tenseness. She saw the irritation lingering in his eyes. This was
the first time she had ever tried to throw a female in his way, and
she knew he would be angry. She had not been able to help herself,
and even as the sneer marred his good looks and destroyed the smile
that had been there only a moment ago, she still felt she had done
the right thing.

“
Do come and sit with me,
and I shall explain later…” she offered.

Tarrant eyed her, “I thought myself
safe with you, Lizzie … you have never played match-maker before.
You know that is why I come and visit you…”

She sighed. “Tis not what I am doing
now.” She was lying, and when he raised a brow at her, she realized
he knew. “I simply thought … well, you shall see…” she said as she
got up and joined him at the window.

There they watched the newcomers just
outside, and he grimaced at her. She smiled at him and said on a
whisper, “She is such a wild young thing … and I thought she could
use a friend in London … at the balls…”

“
And you thought I…?” He
raised a brow at her again, and his surprise appeared
genuine.

“
She is a diamond, Tarrant,
don’t you think?” She sighed heavily.

He wagged a finger at her. “Think you
I have not had diamonds enough thrown at me?”

“
Yes, but…”

~*~

The Duke of Grantham, Lord Nigel of
Rothbane, and the Lady Taffeta were announced, and the Hotspur
stood back and apart to better observe their arrival.

The ‘diamond’ wore a blue a simple
blue redingote which covered an alluring female figure. She seemed
to have an easy manner, allowing her to unbutton her overcoat and
throw it off to a nearby chair. Hmmm, he wondered, is she a
frequent visitor here at Aunt Lizzie’s?

Next went her matching blue bonnet,
displaying bright yellow hair lit with copper, thick with a
profusion of curls trailing over her ears and down her back. Her
waist was tiny, and for a moment, he imagined his hands holding her
waist, and he felt himself get hard…

He frowned as he made an attempt to
stop it, but as he looked at her full breasts, nipples hard and
probing the soft material of her gown, his hard-on began to pulse.
Hell and fire!

This had to stop—she was a veritable
schoolgirl, and then as she turned fully to him with her aunt’s
introductions, he saw her face. Hell and fire is right. She is
stunning!

Her gray eyes were bright with
amusement, her nose pert, her lips full and rosy, and he wanted to
take her into his arms and drive his tongue into her mouth
and…

“
I am very pleased to meet
you.” His tone was reserved.

She laughed. “Are you? You don’t look
very pleased. In fact, you are wearing a scowl,” Taffy said, her
merriment charming.

He chuckled in spite of himself, “Am
I?” He gave her a false smile. He had to set her apart, to display
he wasn’t interested. “Is that better?”

“
Oh, I don’t think so. Try
again when you mean it,” said Taffy, turning her back to him and
plopping herself on the sofa with his aunt.

“
Tarrant surprised me with a
visit when he arrived yesterday. I was just about to tell him you,
Seth, and Nigel were coming for luncheon today when you
arrived.”

“
Oh, is that why he is all
dark and gloomy?” Taffy teased. “Thought he would have you all to
himself? Well, we won’t intrude too long…” She smiled up at Tarrant
sweetly.

He was again taken by surprise. She
was at least refreshingly direct, and then he scowled and turned
away from her to enter into conversation with the two young
gentlemen who were in a lively discussion at his back.

Taffy entered their discussion about
politics, and before long, he found he was actually enjoying
himself. Their ideas were innovative, youthful, naïve at times, but
definitely interesting. He had never met a woman interested in such
matters before. His aunt appeared totally at sea and got to her
feet, telling them she would see about getting things ready in the
dining room.