106. Love's Dream in Peril (3 page)

Adella said that she would very much have liked to skip a few steps for sheer joy, but then restrained herself and gave her grey parasol a little twirl instead.

“I can’t believe Mrs. Mottram agreed to this,” Jane said.

“Oh, she would do anything for me, well, almost anything. She wants me to send all my own little girls to school with her.”

“And would you?”

“Of course not! I shall keep them at home with me. I would never dream of sending them away to school. Oh, Jane, please hold my parasol for a moment, would you?”

She pulled the pink ribbon out of her pocket and reached up to untie the grey one that restrained her curls.

“Adella, someone is coming!” Jane now whispered, holding Adella’s parasol as well as her own. “You should not be arranging your hair in the street!”

The clop of horses’ hooves approached along the street behind them. Two gentlemen were riding into town.

Adella struggled to restrain her hair, as it fell over her shoulders in a cascade of gold.

“Good afternoon, ladies!”

The horses had by now caught up with them and a fair-haired young gentleman with piercing blue eyes leant down from his saddle and doffed his hat.

“Are you in need of assistance? You seem to be having trouble.”

Adella looked up at him.

His white teeth flashed as he smiled down at her from his high perch on his tall grey thoroughbred.

As she met his gaze, Adella felt suddenly clumsy and awkward and, as she fumbled with her hair, the pink ribbon dropped to the pavement.

“Lord Ranulph. Here’s a damsel in distress! Jump down and hold those parasols for the other lady so that she can help her friend,” he suggested.

His companion, a lean young man with dark hair and dark eyes, looked rather embarrassed.

“Stand, Major!” he said, soothing his fretting black thoroughbred. He dropped from the saddle and handed the reins to the fair-haired man.

“Allow me,” he said, taking the parasols from Jane.

Jane’s face was bright scarlet, as she retrieved the ribbon from the pavement and tied it around Adella’s hair.

“Thank you, sir,” she murmured, looking down at her boots.

“It was nothing.” The young man turned to Adella and his eyes glowed as he looked at her. “My pleasure, miss,” he said with a low bow.

And then he caught the reins of his black horse and jumped up into the saddle.

“Come, Digby!” he said and the two young men turned their horses and trotted briskly away down the road, laughing as they went.

“Oh, my goodness!” Adella exclaimed, when she had recovered herself. “How very kind of them. But I don’t think we have been introduced. Mrs. Mottram will be furious. Quick, let’s find a nice safe teashop!”

And the two girls walked on into the town centre through the peaceful leafy streets, following the echo of the swift horses’ hooves.

“A penny for your thoughts!” Digby Dryden said to Lord Ranulph Fowles, as they strolled languidly towards their College from the Livery Stables where they had just left their horses.

Lord Ranulph did not respond, but kept on walking.

Digby sighed.

Sometimes he wished that his friend could take a more easy-going approach to life.

Their years of study were over and done with now that they had taken their final examinations. Surely they should be enjoying themselves?

“Cough up, old chap! What’s on your mind?”

“Oh, nothing,” Lord Ranulph replied, looking up and down the street as if he was searching for someone.

Digby laughed.

“Now I understand! You are wondering what has become of those two pretty schoolgirls we lent our kind assistance to as we rode into town!”

Lord Ranulph’s handsome face turned a little red. Digby had guessed correctly.

“So, which of them took your fancy?”

“Well – I – ”

“The shy one with the parasols, I should guess she would look most fitting upon your arm. Her dark-haired beauty would be a perfect match for your own good looks.”

Lord Ranulph looked surprised.

“Actually, it was the other who caught my eye.”

“The Goddess with the golden hair? She seemed a proper scatterbrain, dropping her ribbon and letting her hair down. I would not have thought her your sort of girl.”

Lord Ranulph looked rather wistful.

“I thought her the most lovely creature. A perfect English rose and her brown eyes, so unusual a colour with her fair hair.”

Digby stopped in his tracks.

“I don’t believe it!” he said. “You are smitten, my friend! For the first time in all the years I have known you, a young lady has actually made inroads into the fortress of your heart!”

“Digby, I am really not as stuffy as all that!” Lord Ranulph retorted indignantly.

“She
is
very pretty, I’ll say that for her,” Digby nodded. “You should have swung her up behind you on Major and carried her off!”

Lord Ranulph punched his friend on the arm.

“Enough!” he exclaimed.

The two young men carried on walking. They were just outside the ancient stone walls of their College when it was Lord Ranulph’s turn to stop in his tracks.

On the other side of the road two grey-skirted girls were lowering their parasols and stepping through the door of one of the most respectable teashops in Oxford and there was no mistaking the bright gold of Adella’s hair, glinting in the sunlight.

Digby watched in high amusement as Lord Ranulph gazed at her, catching his breath as if someone had hit him a hefty punch. He seemed to be suffering quite badly.

“Shall we go and join them then?” he proposed on a mischievous impulse.

“It would hardly be proper.” Lord Ranulph said, turning away, his face flushed with confusion.

“I can be perfectly proper!” Digby countered. “I have five female cousins all still at school and I have often had to sit through tea with them.”

“I am sure we will not be welcome.”

“Of course we will. Did you not see how adoringly the dark one looked up at you?”

“You are mistaken, Digby, and anyway you are not interested as you prefer the other.”

Digby grinned.

“Well, Lord Ranulph, shall we see who will win the heart of the little English rose?”

“What?”

“I was looking forward to relaxing in my rooms after our ride and having Batcup bring us a nice glass of wine. But now I think I am reconciled to a cup of tea!”

“You intend to join them?”

“On one condition. I will wager my last bottle of vintage champagne against a bottle of your best port that she will fall for me. So much so that she will agree to accompany me for a walk around the Botanical Gardens. What do you say?”

Lord Ranulph looked put out.

“You are very much mistaken, Digby, if you think that is what will happen.”

“So you think she will fall for
you
and choose to walk with you?” Digby goaded.

Lord Ranulph was on his mettle now.

“Now I understand. You are just trying to get back at me, Digby, for winning our race down by the river.”

“I cannot let you always beat me, can I? We may be the best of friends, but a man has his pride! What do you say? Is our wager on?”

“It is indeed,” Lord Ranulph replied and, squaring his broad shoulders, he advanced on the teashop.

“We will have everything,” Adella now told the waitress, who was hovering beside their chairs. “China tea, if you please, and cake, as many kinds as you have, and cucumber sandwiches, of course.”

Jane looked around at the tables with their white clothes and the dainty china cups and plates.

“This is perfect,” she smiled.

“Isn’t it?” Adella replied. “Just think, all the other girls will now be tucking into cook’s old dry seedcake.”

Jane sighed at the thought of the long weeks ahead, when she would be doing just that every day at teatime.

“Jane, I must ask you,” Adella said in a low voice, leaning across the table. “Mrs. Mottram told me that you have agreed to stay on at the school as a teacher.”

Jane nodded.

“But I thought you wanted to be a Governess.”

“I do and I will one day. But Mrs. Mottram made me the offer and somehow I just could not turn it down. She reminded me of all the years I have been at the school with no one to pay my fees.”

“The mean old thing!” Adella exclaimed. “You are always so good at looking after the little girls. I am sure that you have more than paid for your keep already.”

“Adella, I have so little money. Perhaps it will be wise to stay at the school and find a post from there.”

“I bet old Mottram will try and stop you,” Adella replied. “Jane, come with me and stay at Uncle Edgar’s. It would be
so
much fun to have you there with me.”

“I can’t.”

Jane looked down at her plate.

“Why ever not? Have you any idea of how much I will miss you?”

“Really, I can’t – ”

Adella frowned.

“I don’t understand, Jane. You are my best friend!”

“Some might think I was taking advantage of you.”

“How could that be, when it is me who is inviting you to come?”

“And – ” Jane struggled to continue, remembering Mrs. Mottram’s words, ‘ –
people might think that I had grown accustomed to luxury living with you and that I might not make a very good Governess because of that
.’

Adella was not listening anymore, she was looking over Jane’s shoulder, her brown eyes wide with surprise.

“What a coincidence!” a voice said.

It was the fair-haired young gentleman they had encountered on their walk into town. Now he and his tall dark friend were standing by the table, holding their hats in their hands.

“Digby Dryden, at your service!” the fair one said and smiled at Adella, “of Duncombe Manor, Oxfordshire.”

“We have not been introduced,” Adella responded, tearing her eyes from his with a great effort.

He laughed.

“Forgive me. We don’t wish to embarrass you.”

He nudged his friend’s elbow. The dark young man cleared his throat and said in a low voice.

“Lord Ranulph Fowles,” and gave a little bow.

The waitress had returned and was looking at the two young men with alarm. Digby took a step backwards.

“Perhaps we should leave you in peace,” he said. “But after our encounter on the road into Oxford, we were delighted to see you again and wished to pay our respects.”

“It was very kind of you to help us,” Adella said.“Yes, indeed,” Jane agreed, looking up from her plate and then finding her eyes drawn to Lord Ranulph’s handsome face. “We should thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Lord Ranulph said stiffly.

“Are these gentlemen in your party?” the waitress asked grumpily, “or shall I show them to another table?”

Adella looked at Jane, a question in her glowing brown eyes. Jane knew that she should not, but could not help but answer with a little nod.

She did not want Lord Ranulph to turn his back and walk away. She had never seen such a handsome man and she wanted to go on gazing at him for as long as she could.

Adella took a deep breath and looked up at Digby.

“We are under strict instructions to speak to no one we have not been introduced to.”

Digby’s face fell, but Adella had not finished,

“But since you were so kind as to help us and since this is my last day before I leave Oxford forever, I don’t see why you should not join us for tea.”

Jane’s heart leapt as Adella added,

“Please, won’t you join us?”

Suddenly the two young men were sitting down at the table and Lord Ranulph was so close to her that she felt his sleeve brush against hers.

Feeling a little shy, she looked down just in case he should look at her and saw his strong brown hand.

“I suppose – ” Lord Ranulph was talking to Adella, “ – you must be at school here. Mrs. Mottram’s perhaps?”

Before either girl could reply, Digby butted in,

“I can scarcely believe that two such charming and sophisticated ladies could possibly still be at school.”

Lord Ranulph shifted on his chair as if bursting to say something but could not quite find the right words.

“We are indeed at Mrs. Mottram’s, but not for very much longer,” Adella told him.

“I am surprised that you should be let out to walk through the town by yourselves,” Lord Ranulph came in.

“It’s a special privilege since this is our last day.”

“You are sad, perhaps, as your school days come to an end?” Lord Ranulph’s eyes were fixed on Adella’s face.

“Not at all. I shall be very happy never to have to wear this horrid grey dress again! Or eat cook’s awful dry seedcake! But I shall miss Jane more than I can say.”

Adella smiled at her friend across the table.

“I am sorry, but I don’t know your name?” Lord Ranulph continued to stare at Adella.

“I am Adella May. And this is my dear friend, Jane Hartley.”

His Lordship ignored Jane.

“Miss May, when we have had tea, might I have the pleasure – ” he began, but he was interrupted by the waitress with a cake stand bearing more luscious cakes.

“Adella May! What a glorious name!” Digby had been quiet up till now to give Lord Ranulph a fair chance, but now it was his turn.

“My friend and I have just finished our studies at the University. How sad you and I have been in Oxford all this time, Miss May, and yet we have only just met. Will you stay, now you are no longer at the school?”

His blue eyes were bright as he looked at Adella, but she could not quite meet his gaze.

“I am going to London,” she told him.

Digby’s face fell.

“I was hoping that I might see you again.”

Adella blushed and Jane was wondering just what Mrs. Mottram might say, if she could see one of her pupils speaking so freely to a young gentleman she had not been properly introduced to.

“Do you know the Botanical Gardens?” he asked.

Lord Ranulph made a move, as if he would jump up out of his chair and grab hold of Digby, but with a great effort he controlled himself.

Adella did not notice. She only had eyes for Digby.

“We went there ages ago, didn’t we, Jane? In a long crocodile of schoolgirls, while our teacher told us all the Latin names of the plants.”