The Conqueror's Dilemma (20 page)

‘Out of something, at any rate.’

A lilt of question brought his
head round again. She was regarding him with the steady gaze he knew of old.
The stubborn determination it betokened provoked an inward groan. It was a
mistake to have come. He dismissed the fleeting suspicion he might be
cherishing a hidden desire to unburden himself. Ariadne was the last person to
be trusted with his present woes. Lord knew what outrageous action she might
take if she persuaded herself she was working in his best interests!

‘There is no point trying to worm
it out of me, Ariadne,’ he said, taking the bull by the horns, ‘because I
utterly refuse—’

He was unceremoniously
interrupted. ‘At least you admit there is something to worm out.’ Her eyes
twinkled. ‘And you had as well give in immediately, you know. You are
hopelessly outclassed, my poor Will.’

William could not suppress a
grin. ‘I am not Hector.’

‘Granted. But you are a man,
dear, which is a distinct disadvantage to you in such a situation as this.’

A reluctant laugh was drawn from
him. ‘How glad I am you are not really my sister.’ He came away from the window
and took a seat opposite. ‘Where is Hector, by the by? I’m surprised you didn’t
make him come as well to give you moral support.’

Ariadne’s hand wafted in a
dismissive fashion. ‘He would be worse than useless to me, forever interrupting
and allowing loyalty to confuse the issue. Besides, I made him take the boys to
Astley’s.’

This was sufficiently astonishing
to pull William’s attention off his own troubles. ‘How in the world did you get
him to agree?’

Hector’s generally recalcitrant
attitude to dancing attendance on his nephews was well known to William. The
last time they had met, his friend had been eloquent on the subject, expressing
a strong interest in leaving on a well-timed visit to his country estates.

‘At this season? You’ll be bored
to death.’

‘I don’t care. Those abominable
brats of Ariadne’s are coming home for Easter, and if one thing’s more certain
than another, if I’m in Town she’ll be pestering me to give them treats.’

‘What sort of treats, dear boy?’

‘Might be anything,’ Hector had
said darkly. ‘The last time she wanted me to take them to Epsom. I ask you! Can
you imagine controlling those three at the races?’

Having met Ariadne’s young boys
on more than one occasion, William could well imagine it, which made it all the
more surprising Hector should have been beguiled into taking them to Astley’s
Amphitheatre.

Ariadne smoothed her bronze
skirts in a fashion decidedly smug. ‘He wasn’t difficult to persuade.’

‘I don’t believe you. From what I
know of Hector, nothing short of blackmail would have served to send him on
such a mission.’

She gave a guilty laugh. ‘Acute
of you to guess, Will.’

‘Dear God, you did blackmail the
poor devil!’

‘Well, I tried. I pretended I’d
promised the boys their uncle would give them an unspecified treat.
Unfortunately, Hector didn’t believe me. But then I said I wanted the boys out
of the way so I might discover why you’ve been as surly as a bear. That did the
trick. Hector has been as anxious as I.’

This speech served to reawaken
the demons with which William had been wrestling, along with a surge of
conscience, not unmixed with gratitude. He rose restlessly and crossed to the
window, speaking with his back to Ariadne.

‘It’s good of you both to care.’

‘Well, of course we care. I do
wish you would use us as we use you, Will. Can you not find it in you to trust
those who are closest to you?’

This hurt, and he turned swiftly.
‘That is unfair, Ariadne. I would trust either of you with my life, you know
that.’

‘But not with your secrets.’

There was a species of
disappointment in the grey eyes, and for once, he detected no guile. It pierced
the protective shell he had built around himself, but it did not shatter.

‘My secrets,’ he repeated dully.
‘Would they were worthy of your speculation.’

Ariadne did not choose to answer
this. She merely waited, as if she sensed his near capitulation. William felt
the shell crack a little more. The words welled up, escaping almost without his
participation.

‘She saw through me. She took a
pin and pricked so precisely she might have known me from my cradle.’

‘Tiffany?’

‘Tiffany, yes. And I thought her
naïve.’

Absently, he came back to the
chair he had vacated, the image strong in his mind. He’d had his back to the
last of the light in the little temple, and Tiffany’s face had appeared as a
pale oval, like a spectre, damning him with her all too accurate reading of his
state of mind. He had been too shocked to respond. Too shamed, if he was
truthful. What business had he in suing for her forgiveness or regard when he
had destroyed her peace to no purpose?

He knew he had done so as well as
she knew why. There could be no deceiving himself. Whether intended or no, he
had instilled in her a regard for him that bore neither rhyme nor reason. Had
he tried to deny it, he must fail, for there was the ever-present ghostly echo,
both haunting and taunting to him now.
I could not hate you, Will
.

‘What happened?’

He shifted, acutely
uncomfortable. ‘We met at Vauxhall. At least, she met me at my request.’

‘In secret, I suppose?’

‘Of course in secret. How else might
I meet her?’ The façade of concealment vanished. ‘I had to see her. My
conscience would not allow me to let matters lie after the Pantheon. Not once
I’d seen what I had done to her. I have never seen a creature so forlorn as she
looked that night.’

‘Which night?’

‘At Drury Lane. I dare say you
did not notice Tiffany, for your attention was fixed upon Hector.’

Ariadne bridled, veering wildly
to a wholly different affair. ‘I should think it was. Standing there like a
ninny in the Altass box and making sheep’s eyes at Melinda. I declare, I could
murder my brother upon occasion! Why in the world does he not make an offer and
be done with all this shilly-shallying?’

‘Because he is afraid she will
not accept him,’ said William, not sorry to be diverted from his own concerns.

‘Fiddle. Why should she not? He
is eligible enough. I know the girl is a beauty, but what is that to the
purpose when she is as brainless as a—’ Ariadne broke off hastily. ‘No, I don’t
mean that. Melinda is well enough, but you can’t deny she is unsuited to be the
wife of a sensible man.’

‘Which does not say a great deal
for your opinion of your brother’s reasoning powers,’ remarked William.

Ariadne laughed. ‘Well, he is not
the world’s greatest thinker, to be sure. No, all I meant to imply was that
Melinda’s qualities are not uniformly alluring. And her fortune is not above
the average either.’

‘So there is no reason in the
world why Hector should not win her. I agree with you, Ariadne. But you fail to
make allowance for the most telling bar to his making an offer. Hector is in
love.’

The moment the words were out of
his mouth, William regretted them. Sudden understanding lit Ariadne’s features.
With a hollow feeling inside him, he awaited her response.

‘And you would know just what
that does to a man’s confidence, would you not, Will?’

His alarm faded, replaced with
the rough edge of remembered pain. The words escaped before he could stop them.

‘I know what it does to set a man
on fire with jealousy.’

Ariadne’s gaze did not waver from
his face, but her expression changed to one of consternation. Her voice was
hushed.

‘You say that with such venom,
Will. Why?’

The simplicity of her question
eroded his defences. Out it came, flat and unemotional.

‘It was how my father drove my
mother to run away. She deserted him—and abandoned me to his rage.’

For a long moment, he met
Ariadne’s uncomprehending stare. Then the enormity of confession overcame him
and he buried his face in his hands. There was a swish of petticoats, and about
his shoulders came the gentle pressure of feminine arms. William gave in to
temptation and rested his head against the comfort of the bosom close at hand.

The sound of an opening door
penetrated but faintly into the numbing fog within his mind.

‘There you are. Thank the lord that’s
over! Those boys of yours are—?
Will
? What in thunder is happening
here?’

William threw up his head as the
arms fell away from about him. Hector was standing in the doorway, the handle
still in his hand, astonishment and chagrin writ large upon his countenance.
His head was none too clear, but the implication penetrated all too readily.
This was all he needed.

Ariadne had leapt to her feet,
facing her brother, whose features were rapidly becoming alarmingly suffused.

‘Oh, for pity’s sake, Hector, don’t
take any silly notion into your head! I was merely offering Will comfort, that
is all.’

‘Comfort? I’ll give him comfort!’

William rose as his friend moved
threateningly into the room. But Ariadne was barring his way, grabbing his
arms.

‘Do stop being stupid, Hector.
How can you possibly imagine there is anything between Will and me?’

‘Don’t tell me. You were
embracing him!’

‘I had just this moment put my
arms about him. And so would you have done had you been here only seconds
earlier.’

‘Damned if I would,’ snarled
Hector.

William met his baleful glare
with an assumed air of calm. ‘It’s to be hoped you would not, I thank you. But
you may make yourself easy, my friend. The embrace, if she was embracing me,
was purely sisterly.’

‘Which he would know if he wasn’t
such a muttonhead,’ fumed Ariadne. ‘I declare, I wish you would offer for
Melinda Loscombe, for when it comes to wit, there is scarcely a hair to choose
between you!’

The hostility was swept off
Hector’s face, to be swiftly replaced by shock, and in turn, just as rapidly,
with suspicion as his hot eyes came back to William.

‘What in thunder have you been
saying to her? You traitor, Will! How could you betray me?’

Before he could speak, Ariadne
was between them again. ‘He didn’t, you dunderhead. Do you imagine I have not
seen it for myself? If you must have it, we were discussing that very point
when Will suddenly showed me just why it is he is so afraid of falling in love
with Tiffany Felton.’

William let out a groan, but
Hector’s rage was turning to bewilderment. ‘What in thunder are you at now? How
should Will—? What do you mean, he’s afraid? You’re trying to turn the
subject!’

Ariadne threw up her hands.
‘Stupid boy! Sit down and be quiet. I declare, you’re as bad as those sons of
mine! Oh, where are they, by the by? Did they enjoy Astley’s?’

Hector, who had in fact sat down
at his sister’s behest, now started up again, indignant. Despite everything,
William could not but be amused.

‘Did
they
enjoy it? If you
want the truth, I don’t care if they did or not, for I’ve never been so
harassed in my life. And if I’d known the real reason why you wanted me out of
the way—’

‘If you say one more word—!’

At this point, William thought it
prudent to intervene before brother and sister came to blows. He summoned his
best air of authority.

‘
Quiet
, both of you!’

He was relieved to find himself
obeyed, although both combatants continued to glare at each other. William
pointed to Ariadne’s chair.

‘You sit down.’ To his secret
surprise, she did so. ‘There is really no need for all this heat. Hector fell
into understandable error. In his place, I should have done the same.’

Triumph lit his friend’s
features. ‘Ha, you see!’  Then he focused on William, who easily read the
anxiety in his eyes. ‘Was it an error, Will?’

‘You have my word, dear boy.’

Hector was too much of a
sportsman not to accept this. He offered his hand, and William shook it
gravely.

‘Then you have my apologies.’
Hector’s attention turned back to his sister. ‘What’s all this about Will and
Tiffany Felton?’

William’s heart sank. It was one
thing to bare his soul to Ariadne. Quite another to be obliged to put a fellow
male in the picture, be he never so much a friend. He could not think how to
prevent Ariadne from revealing too much. And he was loath to cause offence to
Hector by refusing to confide in him.

But Ariadne was yet labouring
under a sense of ill usage, for she cast an unloving glance at her brother and
turned to William instead.

‘You did not tell me how matters
were left between you and Tiffany.’

He was instantly thrown back into
all the turmoil of that last lamented encounter. ‘How could they be left? I
hardly knew how to answer her. She said there can be no meeting point between
us, and she was right.’

The response, throwing him into
shock, came not from Ariadne, as he might have expected, but from Kilbride.

‘Right or not, you’d better find
one fast, old fellow, if you don’t wish to see her married to that filthy old
reprobate, Chicheley.’

The letter, as Tiffany read it through,
sounded disagreeably stilted. Sighing, she ripped the sheet across, crumpling
the pieces. They went the way of three earlier attempts. Tiffany knelt before
the meagre fire in her bedchamber, watching them leap into flame and shrivel to
ashes.

It seemed there
was no simple way to request to be taken home without revealing her untoward
dealings with the Conqueror. An mpossible task. She must have broken every
precept of decent conduct instilled into her from a child. If Uncle Matt was
not furious, he would at the least be hurt, although he would forgive her. Such
forbearance would not be extended to William Westerham, and Tiffany could not
endure to expose him to her uncle’s wrath.