The Scoundrel's Secret Siren (4 page)

Arriving at the
elegantly appointed Bassincourt townhouse on Upper Brook Street in Lady Hurst’s barouche, Lorelei once more quickly scanned the faces of the other guests, but seeing no one who at all resembled her mysterious earl, she proceeded to be introduced to the hostess, Lady Julia and some guests of consequence. Lorelei was deeply impressed at the quality of Lady Hurst’s acquaintance when she was introduced to Lady Castlereagh. Lorelei did her best not to look in awe of the influential woman. Lady Castlereagh was one of the honoured patronesses of Almack’s, who could either make or break a young lady’s future by withholding one of the sought-after vouchers to the hallowed establishment. In Lorelei’s opinion, Lady Castlereagh was also the most interesting of the patronesses: she was a friend of Lord Ledley’s and a renowned traveller. Lorelei remembered her father saying that the lady’s country home contained a real tiger of the most vicious temperament!

Excusing herself to procure some refreshments,
Lorelei took a moment to look about the bustling room. It was so good to be surrounded by people again, after the repressive solitude of the country. Despite her earlier impatience to begin the Season, Lorelei found herself feeling rather overwhelmed by the whole affair. She acquired some ratafia and stood a moment, watching the other guests. She was gratified to discover another soul who looked every bit as dazed. Lady Julia Kinsey, the celebrated daughter of Lady Bassincourt, had quietly come in and navigated along the far reaches of the room, before coming to a halt at the very back, clutching her own glass of ratafia, which she made no move to drink.

Lorelei
observed Lady Julia. Her dress was a beautiful creation of cream muslin and pearls and her silky dark curls only served to frame the paleness of her face and the bright pink flush of her cheeks. Lorelei was surprised that the young woman appeared so very discomfited at her own party. Sensing a kindred spirit, Lorelei went to join the other girl at the back of the room.

“Lady Julia? Are you q
uite well?” she asked with a friendly smile, keeping her voice decorously quiet so that no one else should overhear.

Lady Julia looked startled and
her face coloured in a dark flush. “Oh! Yes, perfectly well, thank you. Only, one does find so many important people all at once to be… But, you know, I was always at school or in the country and almost never in London...” She trailed off, as if aware she had said something quite shocking.

Lorelei only smiled
warmly. “I quite agree. It is so difficult to get one’s head around all the names and faces!” Her eyes danced with enchanting mischief. It made Julia instantly warm to her.

Lady Julia’s answering smile lit up her features
and it was easy to see why she was expected to take so well once she had been launched into Society.

“I should not say so
, of course,” Julia continued. “Mama has worked very hard to organise this party, and I expect I shall soon grow accustomed to fashionable hours. I’d be mortified if the guests thought me a vulgar mushroom.”

“It is the finest
garden party I have ever attended,” Lorelei kindly assured her new friend, feeling it better not to mention that she could count the garden parties she had attended on the fingers of one hand. The general did not think much of garden parties.

“You are too kind,” Julia said shyly.

“Oh, not at all.
”

“Only, you know, it will be such a mortification if I do not take,” Julia confided.

“I see no reason why you would not! And this is only your first party, after all. I think you are doing exceedingly well. You have very pretty manners! I am certain you will conduct yourself beautifully on the
ton
and make a hit! I myself have too much archness to take very well, I am told. Why, just this morning I had an interview with the Patronesses. Lady Hurst says it’s imperative that I should be launched at Almack’s and I don’t think I had ever been so nervous in all my life!”

Mrs Drummond-Burrell had made Lorelei anxious without having so much as spoken a single word. She had merely watched every move Lorelei had made: Lorelei had felt as though the woman was waiting for her to commit some shocking
faux pas
. Worse yet, the lady had been wearing a truly intimidating turban, in a recent Russian fashion, tastefully arranged atop her head. It spoke of refinement and authority. The artist who had arranged her headdress had obviously been one of great merit.

Julia shot
Lorelei a nervous look. She could see that being launched into Society didn’t seem to bother Lorelei in the least. Her own interview had certainly been excessively gruelling and Julia doubted if she would ever be able to laugh about it. Luckily, she was spared from having to think of a reply.

“
There you are, my dear! I have been looking for you all over the room, and I certainly did not expect to find you hiding at the back!” A cheerful voice intruded, and Lorelei turned to see a handsome young woman with lively eyes, who bore a close resemblance to Lady Julia.

"Eloise! How glad I am that you are here!”
There was obvious delight in Lady Julia’s tone. “I was worried you’d find the roads impassable because of all the rain we’ve had.”

“Well, and how do you like that? Take care
, my dear, or you shall offend your guests and your mama besides. And I would certainly not have missed your first party because of so silly a thing as roads.”

Julia quickly looked around
, visibly relaxing upon finding that no one was paying them any heed. “Oh, no! It is only that I have not seen you in so very long. But you must allow me to introduce Miss Lorelei Lindon – it is to be her first Season also. Miss Lindon, my Aunt Gilmont, though I am obliged to call her ‘Eloise’.”

The lady in question shook Lorelei’s hand, laughing merrily. “
I am sure it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Lindon,” she said with mock gravity. “Before you are well and truly scandalised, however, allow me to explain that it is because I am only four years Julia’s senior, and I find it would be an absurdity for her to call me ‘aunt’!”

Lorelei found that she liked
Lady Gilmont because of her easy and unassuming manners and the warmth of character that was evident in her every word. At Julia’s request, Lady Gilmont told them of her bride-tour of Italy. Her way of speaking was engaging enough that even the mostly uneventful experiences were suddenly found to be very droll.

“It is
strange, I own, to return to London a married lady and a matron!”

“
Then I had better gift you with a suitable cap, my dear, because certainly the feathers on yours cannot be at all appropriate! You husband must be burning with shame,” a masculine voice spoke from behind Lorelei. It was cultured and dry, and something about it made her dread turning around. She stood, frozen in place, while the speaker joined their circle, and she could ignore him no more.

Her eyes flew to his face, scanning his features for any sign that would tell her
, without the shadow of a doubt, whether her earl stood before her. He was tall enough, and his figure couldn’t be finer. His dark brown coat was cut to the nines and his shoulders were broad and strong, as though he should have not the least trouble sweeping a damsel off her feet and carrying her out of danger, or catching her in a swoon. His mouth, very pleasing to look at, was curled into a rather sardonic smile and she wondered whether those same lips had dared steal a kiss from her on a moonlit night not so long ago.

He had dark eyes, and they were amused as he looked at Lady Gilmont.

“I own it is a relief that you are here, Eloise, else Honoria would certainly get my back up soliciting me to stand up with some young lady or other when the dancing begins.”

“What a deplorable lack of manners you show, brother! You are quite late, you know, and you have yet to greet your niece,
much less acknowledge Miss Lindon. Honoria should have taken a leaf out of Lady Castlereagh’s book and locked the doors on you!”

“Ah, I am most profoundly sorry to have offended your sensibilities, sister
.” Only his eyes acknowledged Eloise’s teasing as he turned gravely to Julia. “And how do you do, my girl? I trust you are wringing every last drop of enjoyment out of your first party?”

Julia flushed again, her nerves too tightly wound to be able to appreciate any teasing.
“Oh, yes, very much!” she exclaimed.

“Now that you have unsettled Julia, brother, perhaps you will be int
roduced to Miss Lindon?” said Eloise archly. “I believe in absence of my sister and with Julia present, I may just be permitted to conduct a formal introduction.”

“By all means,” his voice dropped into a drawl, and his eyes visibly cooled, Lorelei noticed with a shiver. It was as though he had taken a step into himself, to be replaced by a stranger. Why she should have had such a though
t, she did not understand, because he
was
a stranger – but she had somehow begun to think of him as
her
earl.

“
Well then, Miss Lorelei Lindon, allow me to present my brother, Alastair Tilbury, the Earl of Winbourne.”

That
name left not a shred of doubt in her mind. Holding back a gasp with great difficulty, as she curtseyed. She waited, dreading some answering recognition in his manner, and yet longing for it. She soon discovered that she was to be disappointed on that front.

“
A pleasure, Miss Lindon,” he said with impersonal politeness, and a stiff bow.

“My
lord.” Her voice shook slightly, and her eyes flew desperately to his face, searching for any recognition. But his dark eyes were cold, and perhaps even a little sardonic, and she could spot not a trace of recognition on his face. Something in her chest twisted painfully at the thought, though it had no reason to do so. They
were
complete strangers, she reminded herself, and she had known all along that an earl was not likely to be charmed by a green girl such as herself, particularly when the room was filled with notable beauties.

Winbourne casually scanned the girl’s face and figure.
She had a slight build and her figure slender with just enough suggestion of voluptuousness to snag the eye. Her face was no prettier than that of any other woman in the room. Her green eyes, which held a promise of liveliness and a direct kind of intelligence, looked nothing so much as startled. This puzzled him and caught his attention. Winbourne looked at the girl carefully.

A debutante fresh out of the schoolroom, he d
ecided, dismissing her at once. Judging by the flush that had stained her face at their introduction, a girl determined to snag herself a title, however artless and unpolished her manner. He knew that most unattached females were on the hunt for a husband, and he had nothing but resentment for their mercenary schemes. It was not his duty to rescue them from ending up querulous ape-leaders, after all.

She moved her head slightly then, and her golden ringlets caught a stray ray of sunshine coming through the open French doors
. He felt himself freeze as he took another look at the girl, who was biting her lip uneasily and doing her best to answer some question posed by his niece. That hair – he could never forget that hair. But it was impossible that this slip of a girl – no.
Impossible.
He could not take his eyes away from the ringlets, now aglow with gold.

Slowly, he produced a delicate ivory a
nd gold snuffbox, flicking it open and taking snuff with an elegant flick of his wrist. Lorelei’s eyes involuntarily caught on the smooth carelessness of the gesture.

“It seems Honoria wants us
all in the garden,” said Lady Gilmont, noticing the strange change in her brother’s demeanour. She was looking from him to the young Miss Lindon, wondering if something about the girl had caught his eye, and if he meant to make her his latest flirtation. Or perhaps Miss Lindon had somehow annoyed him and was about to find herself on the receiving end of one of his dreadful snubs.

Lady Gilmont
did not like her brother’s refusal to choose a wife any more than their elder sister did, though she was neither so vocal nor so persistent as Honoria in voicing her opinion. She knew the reason for his reluctance but she could not help thinking that the lonely bitterness into which he had retreated could not be much of an improvement, no matter what her brother seemed to think of it.

“Come, Julia
. Say hello to Geoffrey. He is quite eager to wish you luck on your first Season, you know. I can see he is at the refreshment table out in the garden, and if you do not hasten, Admiral Horley will surely corner him to talk of hounds again. He has just caught sight of my poor husband,” Lady Gilmont said, expertly cutting through the strange tension.

Julia looked surprised. “Yes, certainly. Miss –”

“Alastair will escort Miss Lindon outside, won’t you, brother?”

“Indeed. Shall we?” He offered Lorelei his arm, which he noticed with some surprise she was reluctant to accept. Of course, if his suspicion
s were correct, she had to know exactly who he was, which would certainly account for her earlier reaction.

Lorelei did her best to stare ahead of her as the
y crossed to the door at the leisurely pace set by the earl. She found she could no longer think of him as
her
earl. Her earl was a creation in her head, born of adventure novels and a night that had had too much of a resemblance to one of these volumes. This man next to her was as far removed from that romantic hero as it was possible to be. She knew now that she could never, would never
dare
tell him her secret. She could not bear the mocking derision that was certain to flood his glacial dark eyes at such a revelation.