The Counterfeit Betrothal (9 page)

10

CARLTON House. It seemed incredible to Emmaline that she should actually find herself going there. To be sure, Edward had told her that his mother had been one of the Prince of Wales’s flirts in her salad days and since her marriage such invitations to the Hastings had not been uncommon.

This, however, was not an ordinary occasion. Although the Allied Sovereigns had already left England, Prinny had had the happy notion of celebrating the Duke of Wellington’s return instead. Even those members of the
ton
who had left London were returning for this affair.

Indeed, Emmaline could not help but feel that Mrs. Hastings had worked miracles in prompting Mademoiselle Suzette to have their ball gowns ready in time. Half of London, it seemed, required the same thing. Emmaline’s gown was of white satin with an overdress of silver lace. With it she wore white gloves and silver slippers, with diamonds about her throat and dangling from her ears. “A young girl’s colors,” Mrs. Hastings had admitted, “but the cut of the dress is not and on you the contrast is stunning.”

Her own gown was a triumph of blue damask satin and lace, and the clear sapphires she wore were a perfect complement to the dress. Edward, Mr. Hastings, and Jeremy were already waiting downstairs to escort them to the ball when Emmaline and Mrs. Hastings finally pronounced themselves ready. The two younger gentlemen bowed deeply to the two ladies and Emmaline felt a catch in her throat as she thought how handsome Jeremy looked tonight. Nor did she detect anything other than complete admiration in his eyes as he took her hand in greeting.

Mr. Hastings contented himself with clearing his throat and saying to his wife, “Well, well. As usual you shall outshine all the other ladies there, my dear. And Miss Delwyn, I’ve no doubt that seeing you just now, young Barnett thinks himself a very lucky fellow indeed.”

Coloring in confusion, Emmaline curtsied to her host, afraid to meet Jeremy’s eyes. It was one thing to think him handsome, another to contemplate the madness of a lifetime wed to the man.

Edward, noting Miss Delwyn’s high color and his friend’s look of suppressed anger, hastily said, “Yes, we all look marvelous, but now it is time to be going. We are not so important that the Prince Regent will forgive us for being terribly late!”

Mrs. Hastings was not a stupid woman. She had not missed Emmaline or Jeremy’s reaction to her husband’s words, nor even Edward’s. So her son was worried over the girl’s feelings, was he? All very commendable and gentlemanly, no doubt, just so long as his concern did not cross over into more than that. She had no wish for Edward to develop a
tendre
for Emmaline; she had far more ambitious plans for him than that. Still, she seconded him ably. “Edward is quite right. Let us be off at once.”

Later Emmaline would remember being utterly overwhelmed at the sight of Carlton House and at their reception. Over two thousand guests were expected, Edward told her, beginning at nine
P.M.
It was later than that when the Hastings party arrived and their carriage waited in line some time before it was their turn to descend. They were received at the grand entrance by equerries who led them to the garden, where they were presented to Prinny. He wore, Jeremy explained to Emmaline under his breath, a field marshal’s full dress uniform complete with medals.

The festivities had evidently put Prinny in a good mood, for he expressed himself delighted to welcome the Hastings party and even congratulated Emmaline upon her betrothal to Jeremy. How he knew about that was beyond her and she could only curtsy deeply as Prinny told Jeremy playfully, “It is to be hoped you will be more fortunate than the Prince of Orange!”

At least that was what Emmaline thought he said. Her head was in such a whirl that it was not until they had moved away and begun to look about at the banks of flowers and the covered walkways and the Corinthian temple with its bust of Wellington that Emmaline began to feel herself again. “Such an honor!” Mrs. Hastings was saying, a trifle breathlessly. “Townsend must have told him of your betrothal, but even so, such an honor!”

“And one that I could do without,” Jeremy muttered grimly to Emmaline. “It will make things all the more difficult.”

“Can it matter?” Emmaline murmured. “Surely you have never formed one of his circle anyway?”

“No, but your father once did,” Jeremy retorted. “And for all his unpopularity, I should not care to have the Prince Regent declare me or you
persona non grata
at court.”

It was no surprise than that Rosalind spotted Emmaline first, for that young lady was more accustomed to such affairs than Emmaline. Nor had she just faced the unwelcome congratulations of her prince. Lady Kirkwood did not look pleased when her daughter insisted that they join the Hastings party but she did not object. Particularly when Jeremy suggested they go to the dance pavilion.

Once more Emmaline felt overwhelmed as they entered the huge polygonal building. The ceiling looked to have been draped with muslin, and had Edward not told her it was merely painted so, she would never have known. There were mirrors on the walls, draperies, chandeliers, and banks of artificial flowers that hid the musicians. Clearly Prinny had spared no expense, but then, Mrs. Hastings said dryly, he never did.

Emmaline was grateful that her friend was more composed than she was just then. It was Rosalind who smoothed the way for both parties to continue to spend the evening together. She was respectful to Mrs. Hastings and a trifle shy with the gentlemen. To be sure, Lady Kirkwood merely looked on, an habitual frown fixed upon her face, but she did not protest when Jeremy asked her daughter to dance and Rosalind readily agreed. Rather, she took it as something to be expected. After all, Rosalind was a Kirkwood.

That left a somewhat startled Edward with the obligation to ask Emmaline. “Bad form,” he told her as he led her onto the floor. “Jeremy ought to have asked you, his
fiancée
, to dance first.”

“Yes, but I’m not really engaged to Jeremy,” Emmaline objected.

“Doesn’t matter,” Edward said stoutly. “Everyone thinks he is and he ought to behave as if he were.” He paused and smiled down warmly at Emmaline. “If I were Jeremy, I know I should have asked you first. Indeed, I shouldn’t be looking about me at all; I should be quite content to honor my betrothal.”

“And were I betrothed to you, I should scarcely be so eager to break those vows,” Emmaline replied kindly.

Returning to his sense of anger, however, Edward added, “It is the outside of enough for Jeremy to ask Miss Kirkwood to dance.”

“But I wished him to,” Emmaline said. At his startled look she added, “Don’t you recall? I said I wished Rosalind to find someone else to wed, and who better than Jeremy? He
must
find a wife and Rosalind will not bore him.”

“Yes, but will he please her?” Edward muttered. Mrs. Hastings watched as her son and Emmaline danced. She could not hear the words they spoke, of course, but she did not like the expressions that crossed her son’s face. He ought to betray nothing more than mild contentment when he danced with a young lady. Why anyone watching would think he and Emmaline were upon intimate terms with one another!

Jeremy also noted the interchange and to his surprise felt anger rising in his breast at the sight of Emmaline and Edward in such evidently warm conversation. When the dance ended, he contrived to be virtually at their sides. “My dance next, Miss Delwyn, I believe,” Jeremy said in a voice that brooked no refusal.

Emmaline accepted without demur, eager to learn what he thought of Rosalind. Meanwhile, ever the gentleman, Edward asked that lady to dance. It was a duty, however, that he scarcely found distasteful.

“Did you enjoy yourself with Edward?” Jeremy demanded curtly as they danced.

A trifle puzzled, Emmaline replied, “Yes, of course I did. And you Rosalind?”

“She is a delightful girl,” Jeremy allowed handsomely. “But I take leave to warn you to have a care with Edward.”

The figures of the dance separated them then, and when they came together again Emmaline said warily, “What did you mean about Edward?”

“Just what I said. He is an amiable fellow, ever ready to make himself agreeable to the ladies, but that is all. His mother, however, is another matter. She is as eager to keep him from a wife as my father is to find me one. She will take the least hint of friendship between you as a pledge of betrothal and try to warn him away. Edward might be fool enough to think he ought to defy her.”

“Indeed?” Emmaline asked frostily. “You appear to have very little faith in your friend’s intelligence. But even if you are right, I should think you would be pleased if that occurred. Wouldn’t it ease your worry over my father?”

“I should not like to see you or Edward make a fool of yourselves” was all Jeremy had time to reply before they were separated again.

After that dance, Emmaline was amused to note that Mrs. Hastings and Lady Kirkwood were deep in amiable conversation. Neither lady paused to do more than briefly acknowledge the return of the two young women before continuing with their gossip. Meanwhile Rosalind noticed that an unwary partner had stepped on the hem of Emmaline’s dress.

“Never mind,” Rosalind said intently, “I shall show you where you may pin it up.”

And with that the girl drew Emmaline away from her chaperon.

As one who had visited Carlton House before, Rosalind had no trouble finding a quiet room where she quickly helped Emmaline repair the damage to her dress. Then she rose to her feet and sighed, “How I envy you,” she said. “Here in London on your own and free to do as you wish.”

Emmaline could not entirely suppress a bitter laugh. “I assure you it scarcely seems so to me! Mrs. Hastings keeps as sharp an eye on me as any mother could, and so does my
fiancé
. I am as hemmed in by convention as any other young lady and have not even the freedom of being in my own house.”

“But you have the prospect before you of marriage and the freedom that goes with that. Marriage to a gentleman who is not a source of distaste to you. Indeed,” Rosalind countered, “your future seems a most desirable one.”

“Do you think so?” Emmaline asked impulsively. “It is true I have known Jeremy almost all my life and think the world of him, but of late I think we have both begun to wonder if we should suit.”

Rosalind frowned thoughtfully. “He has, to be sure, an unenviable reputation, but more than one rake has been steadied by marriage.”

“Not this one, I fear,” Emmaline replied, a trifle shakily.

“Still, he will one day inherit a title and a respectable estate, one that you will be mistress of,” Rosalind pointed out shrewdly. “If he is not the man you once dreamed of, nevertheless you could do far worse.” She paused, then added dryly, “Unless I am mistaken, however, he is in fact the man you once dreamed of wedding. Or so you told me when we were at school together. Have you changed in your feelings?”

Emmaline evaded the issue. Turning away so that her friend could not read her face, she said sharply, “I have never been as practical as you, Rosalind. However advantageous the match, there are reasons I do not wish to marry Jeremy Barnett. Reasons that you or someone else would not feel.”

“I see,” Rosalind replied slowly. “So you do mean to end the betrothal. That will not be an easy thing to do. How will you manage it? And how did you come to be betrothed in the first place?”

Emmaline started at the sound of footsteps in the passage outside the room. “We cannot talk freely here,” she said. “I will come and see you and we may talk then. I shall explain everything.”

Rosalind nodded. “I should like that. Mama keeps me so sheltered that sometimes I feel I shall go mad with boredom and loneliness. But come. We had best return to the dancing. My mother and Mrs. Hastings will be wondering what has become of us.”

In perfect accord and arm in arm the two young ladies retraced their steps.

Jeremy was waiting
impatiently
. As soon as he spied the two young women he crossed the floor to his
fiancée
. “Come, Emmaline, dance with me,” he ordered imperiously.

As she did so, Emmaline found herself wondering, not for the first time, what would come of this counterfeit betrothal.

In the end, it was a long night for the Hastings and Kirkwood parties. The Queen did not sit down to supper until 2
A.M.,
and it was some time later before they did. And although she left at four! thirty in the morning, it was past dawn before the rest of the guests departed from Carlton House. Indeed, in the carriage on the way home, Emmaline was heard to mutter that she would be delighted if she never danced again. Jeremy only laughed.

11

To the surprise of everyone, Jeremy arrived in time to share breakfast with the Hastings family two days after the fete at Carlton House. After greeting everyone politely and seating himself, he turned to Emmaline and said, “I know you are pledged to call upon Miss Rosalind this morning and I came to escort you. Perhaps Edward would care to come as well?”

Edward had expected the question and meant to refuse. The thought of watching Jeremy attempt to fix his interest with that superb girl appalled him and he did not think he could bear it. But the look of grim determination upon his friend’s face and the knowledge that, in the end, he could not bear not to see what transpired, changed his mind. With a careless shrug Edward said, “Oh, yes, of course, if you wish it.”

“Splendid!” Mrs. Hastings said graciously. “I am so pleased to see you young people enjoying yourselves. Emmaline, my dear, have you had any further word from your family as to how your father is doing?”

“Only the usual,” she replied, a trifle sadly. “No doubt Mrs. Colton is taking the most excellent care of Papa but I cannot help but worry.”

Mrs. Hastings patted her hand. “Never mind, my dear, I should not have asked. I am certain, however, that if there were cause for alarm, your family would summon you home at once. Indeed, you have said yourself that that is their promise.”

Jeremy coughed discreetly. “My father mentioned in
his
letter that your father seems a trifle better since you’ve left,” he said. “And you well know he is not given to exaggeration.”

At this point Mr. Hastings, who greatly disliked discouraging talk at the breakfast table, intruded. “Come, come, enough of this. I should like to hear what Emmaline thought of Carlton House, for I have not yet had a chance to ask her. It is this wild, gay life you are all leading, of course.”

A short time later all three young people were riding in Jeremy’s curricle toward Rosalind’s town address. “Now why the devil did you drag me along?” Edward asked his friend with ill-concealed irritation.

Favoring Edward with a withering look, Jeremy explained, “Because, you shatter-brained fellow, I have decided that Miss Rosalind will have to do. I cannot say I have fallen madly in love with her, but she is better than the rest of the crop, I suppose. At any rate, time is slipping away and I must choose someone.”

“I should think you already had,” Hastings muttered. At the dagger glances thrown at him by the other two Edward said, “Oh, very well. So you’ve decided you shan’t suit but that Miss Rosalind will do. What has that to do with me?”

“You are indeed feather-witted today,” Jeremy repeated with no lit
tl
e exasperation. “Surely you must see that I cannot openly court Miss Rosalind while I am supposed to be betrothed to Miss Delwyn.”

“Certainly,” Edward agreed. “That is why it is so convenient that Miss Delwyn is a friend of hers.”

“Yes. but don’t you see?” Jeremy asked winningly. “A far better cover for my interest would be if you were to pretend an interest and the four of us could be seen about without arousing any comment.”

“Any comment save that
I
have developed a
tendre
for her,” Edward countered scathingly. “That is not precisely to my liking.”

“But there will be no harm done,” Jeremy wheedled. “In the end I shall marry her and you will be held blameless and one can scarcely say she will be harmed in any wavy”

“Yes, but what if she should take my intentions seriously?” Edward protested. “Or her mother?”

“You need not fear,” Emmaline said quickly. “Rosalind is already aware that my betrothal to Jeremy is not so Firmly Fixed as it seems. We may safely tell her the truth.”

“And her mother?” Edward asked warily.

“Her mother will come around. If need be we shall present her with a
fait accompli,”
Emmaline said blithely in her innocence.

She would not have been so sanguine could she have heard the discussion between Rosalind and her mother going on at that moment.

Rosalind was in her room dressing. Her mother dismissed the maid and began to help her daughter herself. “The Marquess of Alnwick has returned to London, my dear,” she said briskly. Oblivious to her daughter’s sudden pallor, she went on, “He came and spoke to your father while we were at Carlton House and I am happy to tell you that he said all that is proper.”

“Wh-what do you mean, Mama?” Rosalind asked tremulously.

“Well what should I mean?” Lady Kirkwood asked in exasperation. “He asked permission to court you, of course. And to marry you.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing! I have already told you he spoke to your father. Honestly, Rosalind, sometimes I think you have the wits of a peagoose!”

“Papa, then. What did he tell Alnwick?”

“He told him yes. Do you think your father is such a fool as to ignore what a triumph such a match would be for you?” Lady Kirkwood asked impatiently.

“But—but I dislike him,” Rosalind found the courage to protest.

Lady Kirkwood dearly wished to shake her daughter but was clever enough to reply instead, “Now, now, child. You have always been a sensible creature. You know we will not force you to anything, but we do wish you to be aware of the advantages of the position you would hold as his wife. Love always seems attractive at your age, but it does not last, I assure you. A sensible match works far better. As for your professed dislike of the fellow, that is mere maidenly nerves. You ought to be flattered that your future husband looks at you with such becoming warmth.”

Lady Kirkwood paused and regarded her daughter shrewdly. After a moment she shrugged and said lightly, “We will not press you, for the moment, Rosalind. The Marquess of Alnwick departed London almost as abruptly as he arrived. He does not return, I understand, until the first of August. You have until then to accustom yourself to the notion. When he arrives, however, he intends to speak to you himself and he will have to have an answer. I need not say that we expect it will be a favorable one, need I, Rosalind?”

The girl avoided her mother’s fixed stare. “No, Mama,” she said quietly.

At that moment a knocker sounded downstairs and a few moments later one of the servants arrived to announce that Miss Rosalind had callers. “We shall be down straightaway,” her mother said briskly upon hearing the names. “Mr. Barnett is spoken for, of course, but Mr. Hastings is not.”

“I thought you wished me to marry the Marquess of Alnwick,” Rosalind said with some surprise.

“I do,” her mother agreed. “But it does no harm for him to see that you are admired by other gentlemen as well. We may hope for a larger settlement that way.”

Having concluded her maternal advice, Lady Kirkwood gave her daughter a slight push toward the bedroom door. Rosalind did not resist.

Half an hour later the three guests took their leave. A tentative plan had been made for the four young people to go to the park together the next day and Lady Kirkwood had raised no objection. She meant what she said about obtaining a larger settlement from the marquess.

Hastings, on the other hand, once they had dropped Emmaline off at home and he was alone with Jeremy, had a great many objections. “I cannot go with you,” he said curtly. “I have other plans tomorrow, and despite what you said before you shall have to make my apologies to Miss Kirkwood and depend upon Emmaline for your excuse to see her.”

Frowning, Jeremy pulled his horses up short and paused to give his friend a searching look. After a moment he said, as curtly as Hastings, “This is not the place to talk about such matters. We shall go to my lodgings and discuss this over a neat luncheon.”

“I am not hungry,” Hastings retorted.

“You will be, my friend, you will be,” Barnett assured him enigmatically.

True to his word, as soon as they had reached Jeremy’s rooms in St. James and seen to the horses and he had removed his gloves, Jeremy gave orders to his man for something to eat. Then, pouring his friend a glass of wine, he said, with something of a twinkle in his eye, “Very well, Edward, now you may tell me everything and I promise to listen to it all. And don’t spare my feelings I pray you, for I shall know it if you do.”

After a long moment, Edward rose to his feet with a snort. “Very well”—he echoed Jeremy’s words—“I shall. I refuse to help you entrap Miss Kirkwood into marriage, Jeremy. Nothing will prevail on me to do so and it is only our deep friendship that makes me stand aside and allow you to do this at all. But I swear, Jeremy, should I ever hear that you have made her unhappy...”

In astonishment he broke off at the sight of Jeremy laughing. “Are you mad?” Hastings demanded incredulously. “What the devil do you find to laugh about in this fiasco?”

“Forgive me,” Jeremy said, controlling his laughter, but with a pronounced twinkle still in his eyes. “I did not mean any disrespect to you or Miss Kirkwood. Indeed, it is just that all of this suits my plan perfectly.”

In anger Hastings turned away. “What plan?” he asked roughly over his shoulder.

“My plan to wed Emmaline and for you to wed Miss Kirkwood” came the astonishing reply.

Immediately Edward whirled around. “But you said—”

“I said a great many things in Miss Delwyn’s presence that I did not mean,” Jeremy replied curtly. “It is no part of my plan for her to know what I am about.”

Somewhat calmer now, Hastings took his seat and once more sipped from the wineglass. A twinkle now danced in his eyes as he said with a deep sigh, “All right, you reprobate, tell me what you are about. Though my warning concerning Miss Kirkwood still stands. I will not have her hurt.”

“Nor do I mean to hurt her,” Jeremy said gravely. “Had I not seen how you looked at her and she at you at Carlton House and again today and had I not been told the story of her expected betrothal to a certain notorious marquess, I should not have hatched it at all.”

He paused and Hastings demanded impatiently, “Well?”

“Well, my dear Edward,” Jeremy said, lazily swinging the ribbon that held his quizzing glass, “I mean for the four of us to go out and about, just as I said when we were with Emmaline. She is to believe the Banbury tale I spun then. The truth, however, is that you will deepen your acquaintance with Miss Kirkwood with a view to your future and hers.”

Edward frowned. “I like that part well enough,” he agreed, “but what of your future? And Emmaline? If I am not mistaken, she has refused to marry you.”

Again there was a long pause as Barnett minutely inspected his boots before replying, with the same lazy drawl, “Miss Delwyn, my dear Edward, is going to change her mind even if I have to kidnap her to make her do so.”

“What the devil!” Hastings was once more upon his feet. “You must be mad.”

Jeremy appeared to give the matter much thought. “I don’t think so,” he said judiciously.

“Are you foxed, then?” Hastings demanded suspiciously. “Or are you roasting me? You know very well Miss Delwyn does not wish to marry you and is unlikely to change her mind. At least not so long as she knows you don’t have a
tendre
for her. Or do you mean to lie to her?” An awful suspicion occurred to Edward and he asked, “You’re not doing this out of pique, are you? Because she didn’t immediately fall into your arms the way most young women do?”

A dark look crossed Jeremy’s face as he asked bitterly, “
Et tu,
Edward?” Long acquaintance with that look warned Hastings to be silent and after a moment Jeremy went on, “That is precisely why I do not court Miss Delwyn directly, my dear friend. She would no more trust my motives than you do. But somewhat to my surprise, Edward, I find I have fallen in love with her. Oh, to be sure, when my father first proposed the match I was hotheaded and angry and in no mood to be pleased with what I found. Instead of the meek little mouse I intended to lock away in the country each year, I found someone who could match me at every turn and who could never be so easily disposed of. And I readily confess I was not very successful at hiding my feelings from her. But now ... now, Hastings, I find I don’t want a mousy little creature. I want someone precisely like Miss Delwyn. Only she will not have me.”

“And do you believe you will make her a suitable husband?” Hastings asked impudently. “You’ve spoken a great deal about what will please you but have you given a thought to what would please her?”

“I have,” Jeremy replied coolly. “Emmaline’s not some milk-and-water chit, content to play propriety all her life. She has too much spirit for that and needs someone who will love her as she is and not always be telling her that she must guard her tongue or her actions.”

“And you think that kidnapping her will change her mind? Or this—this absurd charade will do the trick?” Hastings demanded impatiently.

“I mean to make her love me,” Jeremy said, meeting his friend’s eyes squarely. “And yes, I quite believe I can. I was jesting about kidnapping her, but a little jealousy may do wonders. You will no doubt disapprove of me, Edward, when I tell you this, but I have kissed Emmaline and there was neither indifference nor dislike in her response. Only a fear of trusting me, I think.”

“Yes, I know. In the park,” Edward grumbled. “But I cannot believe you think more deception will change distrust to trust,” he added incredulously.

Jeremy sighed heavily. “No. I am in hopes that time will change her opinion of me as she sees that I am not the hopeless wretch she thought I was. Or that she will finally stop fighting her feelings for me. Dammit, Edward, do you think I like this plan I have set forth? If there were any alternative, I would take it! But the girl is too eager to find me another bride and will not consent to simply let me woo her.”