The Duchess (30 page)

There were bowls of green beans with slivered almonds, small onions in a cream sauce with black peppercorns, tiny whole carrots glazed with honey and sprinkled with nutmeg, and a bowl holding a large cauliflower dripping with melted cheese. There were potatoes in a Hollandaise sauce, and another bowl containing tiny potato puffs. There were several platters of lettuce and cucumbers in a piquant sauce, flavored with vinegar. And there was wine poured continuously into goblets that were never allowed to be empty.

Finally, came the sweets. There were several kinds of cheese cakes, spongy Genovese cake filled with a coffee cream, tarts of both lemon and raspberry, two soufflés—chocolate and orange, pineapple creams, and caramel custards, as well as bananas, grapes, and oranges. Small wheels of cheese were set upon the table: one of cheddar, one of Stilton. There were delicate little sugar wafers, and of course, champagne.

“Madame,” Prinny said, unbuttoning his waistcoat two buttons, “a most delicious meal. I do so enjoy simple country cooking. My compliments to the kitchen, Crofts.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” the majordomo said, bowing.

“Now,” Prinny said, “perhaps some cards before we retire for the night. We are doing some serious hunting in the morning, Duke, aren't we?”

“Indeed, Your Highness, we are. There is, I have been told, a rather rowdy old boar in my forest who has been troubling my tenants' gardens. The gamekeeper says he should make good sport for he's a wily beast; but we must begin early. At first light.”

“Excellent!” the prince approved, arising from the table, and offering his arm to Lady Johnstone. “Do you gamble, m'dear?” he asked her.

“I adore it, Your Highness, but alas, I am a widow, in modest circumstances,” she replied. She was a striking woman with dark red hair, very white skin, a lush form, and warm amber eyes.

“Allow me to stake you, m'dear,” the prince said, smiling broadly.

“But how shall I ever pay you back, Your Highness?” she replied.

“Not to worry, m'dear. We shall come to some little arrangement, I am certain,” Prinny purred, letting his blue eyes wander to her deep cleavage. He led her off to the drawing room where the tables had been set up.

“Come, Lady Perry,” young Mr. Brummell said, offering that lady his arm. “You, too, I am certain, will eventually find favor with his highness.”

“Do you really think so?” Georgianna said ingenuously.

“Oh, yes,” Mr. Brummell predicted, and led her off after the prince.

“If you continue to entertain like this you will never get rid of him,” Caroline teased Allegra when Brummell was out of their hearing.

“You certainly picked him the right partner for his evening's entertainment,” Eunice told her hostess mischievously. “ ‘Oh, how shall I ever pay you back, sir?’ ” she mimicked Lady Johnstone.

“I would die if he looked at me
that
way,” Sirena said, shuddering.

“Allegra chose just the perfect guests,” the duke said quietly. “Both Lady Perry and her sister are women of the world, and experienced. They will keep Prinny amused in the evenings. Then perhaps he will not remain
up all night playing cards, and we can go to bed with our beautiful wives.”

The other gentlemen laughed, as the ladies blushed prettily.

“Poor Quint has been forced to make a fourth at Whist before we arrived, but refused to play for stakes,” Ocky said. “Prinny wasn't very happy.”

“They played for English counties instead. Quinton was given Worcester, Hereford, and Wales to start; but he would have been king of England in just another night the way Prinny plays,” Allegra said frankly. “I am not certain he fully understands the game at all. He wants to win, but he is too rash.”

“We had best join our guests,” the duke told them, smiling at his wife's little sally.

The prince, Brummell, and their two ladies were already deep into a game when the others entered the drawing room. There was another table set up. Lord Walworth, the earl, and Ocky, along with Lady Walworth, sat down to cards. Allegra went to the piano and began to play while the duke turned the pages for her. The other women sat talking and listening.

“You are amazing,” Quinton Hunter said softly to his wife. “We have been married less than a week, and you are entertaining as if you had been my duchess your whole life, Allegra. The prince has already told me half a dozen times how much he is enjoying himself.” He dropped a kiss atop her dark head.

“I am happy you are pleased, my lord,” she answered, her heart racing just a bit faster as she felt his lips. Then she looked up at him and smiled mischievously. “Please do not think that I shall allow such lavish meals to be served when we are alone. I do not want you looking like Prinny. I have noted that you have an appetite for sweets, for you ate two slices of Genovese
cake, not to mention a lemon tart and some chocolate soufflé tonight.”

“They were delicious,” he replied with a chuckle. “I was not aware cook knew the recipe for Genovese cake.”

“She didn't. I gave her Aunt Mama's recipe book. My stepmother had copies made for both Sirena and for me,” Allegra told him. “Once the guests are gone, sir, it will be a simple life, and simple meals for us.”

“If the truth be known, Allegra, and I think it no secret to our friends, you are the only sweet I truly desire,” the duke told her.

She stopped playing, and looked up at him. “Will you always say such lovely things to me, Quinton?”

“Yes, Allegra, I will,” he vowed. “Believe me, no one is more surprised than I to find myself in this particular situation. I can only hope that someday you may come to love me as I love you.”

“I will try, Quinton,” she promised him. “I truly will.”

The prince, having won several hundred pounds for a change this night, went off to bed before midnight. It was no secret that Lady Johnstone joined him shortly afterward to pay her debt. The following morning found the heir to Britain's throne in an excellent mood and ready for the hunt at the hour of six o'clock. Before leaving, the gentlemen consumed an early breakfast of eggs, bacon, oat stirabout, freshly baked breads, butter, and cheese, not to mention creamed cod and a platter of salmon.

The ladies, however, remained abed the entire morning, but for Allegra, who was downstairs by ten o'clock to go over the menus with the cook and consult with Crofts regarding the pantry, for she was still worried that there should not be enough food. The majordomo
reassured his mistress that Perkins had brought back more than enough supplies the day before.

So the next few days slipped by with the gentlemen hunting in the morning and early afternoon, while the ladies enjoyed one another's company. In the evenings a sumptuous meal was served followed by cards until the prince deigned it was time for bed. The pesky boar was killed as were two fine deer and a number of waterfowl. Prinny was pleased, but then he began to grow bored with country life, and announced he would be returning to London the following day. The next morning the four young couples waved him and Mr. Brummell off, but only after Prinny had consumed a huge breakfast, and a large picnic hamper was stored in his coach.

“Delightful time,” he assured his host and hostess. “Can't remember when I've had such fun.” He bowed to them all, and kissed the ladies' hands.

Lady Johnstone and Lady Perry were not there to bid His Highness a farewell. The prince had invited them both into his bed the evening before. They were frankly exhausted, for he was a tireless lover. He had casually invited them to London. They had promised to visit—
eventually.
It was not until midafternoon that their carriage collected the two ladies, who thanked the duke and duchess for including them in their little party and departed. They were the last of the guests to go for the others had left shortly after Prinny, promising to return for Allegra's first ball at the end of the month.

The autumn deepened. The trees were turning wonderful colors on the estate, and in the hills around them. The duke was pleased to learn that four of his mares were breeding, and would foal in the spring. Although he wanted to take Allegra away to some wonderfully romantic place, he was glad they would be here then.
The French general, Napoleon, was making difficulties in Italy, and the duke didn't think they would be able to travel there in the spring after all. Still, he would take her to London this winter so she might enjoy her status as his wife. The country was a dull and quiet place in winter, and there could be no harm in spending a few weeks in town after the new year had begun.

The ball given by the new Duchess of Sedgwick in late autumn was to be a great success. Allegra had decided it would be a costume ball, and had invited all the families of note in the county. No invitation was refused, for there were many people curious to meet the new duchess, whose blood was hardly blue, but whose purse was overflowing. As Hunter's Lair was not a large house, many of the guests were staying with friends and relations who lived close by. The ball was to begin at ten o'clock in the evening. A buffet would be served at midnight when everyone would unmask; and then dancing and gambling would continue until the dawn when a breakfast would be presented to those remaining guests.

“I do not like costumes,” Quinton Hunter told his wife.

“You will make a marvelous Caesar,” Allegra said sweetly.

“And what are you to be? Caesar's wife?” he demanded.

“Cleopatra,” she replied. “Mistresses are far more interesting than wives, or so I have been told,” she finished mischievously.

“Cleopatra?
Cleopatra was a …”

“Queen,”
Allegra finished for him.

“I will not have my wife parading about in scanty draperies,” the duke said firmly. “Everyone in the damned county is coming, and there has never been any unseemly gossip about a Duchess of Sedgwick.”

“How unfortunate for you that your female antecedents have been so dull,” Allegra replied tersely “And do not tell me what I will or won't wear, sir. When did you become an arbiter of fashion?”

“Allegra!”
he shouted. “You are my wife, and you will obey me, damnit.”

“How dare you assume that I am so birdbrained as to flaunt myself before the county in, what was it you called it?
Scanty draperies.
My costume is rich and elegant, but there will be no one who can call it improper, unseemly, or unsuitable,” she shouted back at him. “Ohh, you are the most irritating man!”

“And you are the most impossible woman!” he responded before sweeping her into his arms and kissing her soundly.

“You shall not get around me that easily,” Allegra cried, pounding on his chest with her two little fists.

“Ohh, but I shall,” he mocked her fury, and then he kissed her again until her knees were jelly, and she was furious at herself for the weakness of character she was exhibiting by yielding to him, but she just couldn't seem to help herself.

“Stop, stop,”
she said desperately.

“Why?” he demanded.

“Because I cannot think clearly when you kiss me, damn you.”

“Gracious, you have now taken to swearing,” he teased, releasing her from his embrace. “You are not at all the proper girl I married, madame. You have turned into a naughty wench who swears and is deliciously wanton in our bed. I find that I like it, as long as the image you present to the public is one of decorous and cool behavior as befits a Duchess of Sedgwick.”

“Damn the Duchess of Sedgwick,” Allegra muttered at him. What the hell was the matter with her these
days? He was right. She did enjoy their time together in their bed. In fact she was enjoying it more each time they came together which was practically every night. His passion for her was great, and she was astounded at how well he could engage her lust. But it wasn't love,
was it?

On the night of their ball he saw her costume for the very first time. It was exactly as she had said, rich and elegant. She wore a white linen gown, a long straight pleated skirt, and a simple sleeveless bodice with a high rounded neck over which she wore a magnificent collar of turquoise, gold, and black beads that lay flat upon her chest.

“My God,” he swore softly on seeing the necklace. “They look most authentic.” He bent to examine it more closely.

“It is,” she said. “One of Papa's clients bought it for me in Egypt several years ago. That is why I wanted to be Cleopatra, so I might wear it at long last. I never have before. Can you imagine my appearing in London last season in such a splendid necklace? Do you like the earbobs that go with it?” She shook her head slightly so they would jiggle.

The Duke of Sedgwick was amazed that she could be so casual wearing such a valuable antique. “You are most beautiful, Allegra,” he finally said. He liked the full-length cloth of gold cape that she wore with her plain white gown. On her bare feet were golden sandals, and she wore an ornate black and gold wig, topped with a gold circlet from which sprang a golden snake with ruby eyes.

“And you are very handsome as a young Caesar,” she returned the compliment. “I am, however, regretting my decision to let you show your knees, sir, for they are most tempting. Perhaps I should have had you outfitted
in a long gown worn by the elderly senators of that ancient time. Try not to flaunt yourself too greatly, Quinton. No Duke of Sedgwick has ever done such a thing, and we certainly don't want you to start now.”

“I believe the law allows me to beat you, madame, provided the stick is no thicker than my thumb,” he growled at her.

“I'd rather you spank me, Quinton,” she murmured teasingly to him, kissing his earlobe. “I believe I can be very naughty if you spank me, my lord.”

“I am going to forbid Eunice and Caroline in this house,” he told her. “They are suggesting wicked notions to you,” he said, pretending to be very shocked, but he grinned at her. He damn well knew such proposals came from them, for Sirena and Ocky were too in love to entertain such vagaries of passion.

“We had best go down to dinner. Our houseguests will be waiting for us,” Allegra said sweetly, as if nothing at all had occurred between them. She smoothed her skirt.