A Virgin Bride (7 page)

The maid pulled back the curtains and said,

“His Grace's told me to tell you, my Lady, that he wants to leave at nine-thirty.”

“I will be ready,” answered Venetia. “Please pack all my clothes including those I brought back from school.”

“I'll do that, my Lady.”

Venetia had told her not to undo the boxes that had come from Mrs. Herbert as the alterations could be done in the country.

She thought it would be a mistake for the servants to talk too much about her new dresses and her Mama had always said that half the gossip and mischief in Mayfair started in the servants' hall.

She felt it would be a titbit of information for those who were speculating over her engagement if they learnt that she had already bought gowns from Frederick Worth.

When she went down to breakfast. she was sure that her father must have read
The Gazette
first and then put it under a pile of newspapers on a chair behind him.

He always had a silver book rest in front of him on which he placed one newspaper at a time.

He usually read
The Morning Post
first, but it was not in evidence and there was no sign of
The Gazette
.

Actually she had no wish to see it herself as she knew how it would read and she could all too clearly hear the exclamations of astonishment and curiosity being made in countless houses in Mayfair.

Suddenly she was afraid of the sensation she must be causing and she had no wish to be faced with it.

“It's a lovely day, so do let's go to the country as soon as possible,” she urged her father.

“I thought you might feel like that, my dear. I have already sent to the Mews for the carriage to be brought round at nine. After all there is little point in sitting too long over breakfast.”

Venetia just had time to help herself to breakfast from the silver dishes on the sideboard.

She was finishing her second cup of coffee when Bates announced that the carriage was on its way.

“I've had everything brought down, my Lady,” he said to Venetia, “but I don't know if there be anything else you'll be wanting to take with you.”

“I am sure I will find everything I require at home and, of course, as you will understand, Bates, having been away for so long I am hoping that nothing has changed and that everything is exactly as it was when I left.”

Bates smiled.

“That's what we all hope, my Lady, but we're often disappointed.”

“I will complain bitterly if I am disappointed, but I am certain that Mrs. Johnson will have left things just as they were.”

Mrs. Johnson was the housekeeper in the country and she had been in the service of the Duke even longer than Mrs. Shepherd.

The two elderly women constantly vied with each other to keep the two houses perfect and if there was an accident or anything was lost it upset them greatly.

Mrs. Shepherd had left a cape in the front hall for Venetia to wear over her dress as well as a hat with a wide brim as a shade against the sun.

When Venetia walked outside, she could see to her delight that her father was driving a new team of four she had not seen before. They were very well matched and she knew in the light open chaise they would travel at speed.

“You never told me in your letters, Papa, that you had bought a new team.”

“I thought I had, my dear, but actually these have only been here for the last three months. The other team was growing old and I put them out to grass.”

“That was kind of you, Papa.”

Their luggage was being carried on a brake and in it was her father's valet, who went everywhere with him, and two footmen as well as two maids.

For a moment Venetia looked at them in surprise.

She was ready to ask a question, but then she knew the answer – extra help would be needed in the country for the forthcoming wedding celebrations.

She bade farewell to Bates, climbed into the chaise and her father picked up the reins.

He was an outstanding driver and she appreciated the adroit way he drove his horses carefully through the crowded streets until they were out of the suburbs.

Then he gave the team their heads and it seemed to Venetia that on the open road they were now travelling at a record speed.

She had hardly exchanged a word with her father since they had left Berkeley Square and she could not help wondering if the Duke of Rockinston would ever be able to compete with him at driving a team.

Yet to suddenly think of him made her shudder.

She tried to tell herself it was a subject she had to ignore and finally quench altogether.

‘One thing,' she reflected as they drove along, ‘is that I must not be afraid of him. If he is at all decent, he will try not to frighten me.'

Equally she knew that she
was
frightened.

She was glad to be leaving London, as there would be no one to talk to about the Duke except her father.

He had not mentioned him at all this morning and she took this to mean that he was being tactful.

She had been far too tired last night to reflect on everything Aunt Alice had told her.

But she mused now that as her Godmother had said she would have to be most astute to cope with the Duke.

She was certain he would be well aware of his own excellence –

He would be conceited, self-centred and intolerant.

He would expect from long experience that every woman would throw herself at his feet or into his arms.

Venetia felt herself shudder at the idea.

And then she began to think how she should behave when they met.

‘At least I have time to consider it,' she thought. ‘It would be much worse if Papa had arranged for me to be married tomorrow before I had time to draw my breath.'

Even so two weeks, with one day already gone, was not a very long time in which to prepare for her whole life.

And so different from how she had envisaged her future.

She had been so certain that she would have time to meet people in the Social world and time to go to the balls that she had heard so much about.

Some of the older girls at her school had described them to her dramatically.

“I was so afraid,” one said, “that I would be a wallflower and that no one would ask me to dance. But they actually queued up and in the end I had more partners than there were dances on my card!”

“That is exactly what everyone wants,” another girl laughed. “I sat out two dances at the first ball I went to and I have never been so miserable. I wanted to run away and hide myself, but my Mama would not let me.”

“You must have been unlucky,” another piped up.

“My brother says that if men go to a
debutantes'
ball they know they must dance at least once with the girl for whom the ball is given or they won't be asked to the next party.”

Venetia laughed.

“That is one way of being certain one is not left sitting out when everyone else is dancing!”

“You cannot imagine how horrible it is,” the girl replied. “But you'll be all right, Venetia, you are so pretty that all the men will want to dance with you.”

“I do hope you are right,” giggled Venetia.

Now she recognised that she would never be able to prove it one way or another.

She would never go to
debutantes
' balls or even the ball her father had promised her.

It was where she had expected to meet an attractive man who would ask her for one dance and then insist on partnering her for every dance.

‘It's just not fair,' she thought to herself. ‘I am to be a married woman and never a
debutante
.'

She had thought so much about it and had talked about it with the girls so often that it seemed incredible that now it was all taken away from her.

Just because a strange man her father admired had been caught out behaving improperly.

And however horrible the Earl of Darran might be, she still sympathised with him.

It was dreadful that a man should go away, perhaps on business, and return to find his wife had been unfaithful with another man in his own bedroom.

Venetia had not really thought about it before, but now she told herself that actually she was shocked by what was called an
affaire-de-coeur
.

She had heard about them in Paris and in London and it seemed to her that the person who really suffered was the husband.

She was sure that the French girls thought it quite natural for their brothers to have tempestuous
affaires-de-coeur
with married women, and she suspected that some English girls felt the same.

Now she was walking into a trap from which she could never escape –

And such behaviour had been
expected
of the man who had been chosen to be her husband.

She stiffened at the idea of it happening to her.

Looking back she could well remember when she was quite small overhearing a conversation that had taken place between her Mama and one of her close friends.

Venetia had been playing on the floor and had not intended to listen and they thought she was too young to understand what they were saying.

“I have just left poor Helen,” her mother's friend said. “I am so very sorry for her, but as you know there is nothing we can do.”

“You are not saying that tiresome husband has been unfaithful to her again?” Mama asked.

“Does he ever do anything else? But this time it is worse for Helen than before.”

“Why?” Mama wanted to know.

“Because he thinks he has fallen in love with her half-sister.”

She was obviously shocked.

“Are you certain?” she enquired. “After all Helen's half-sister has been married to Lord Temple now for three years and I thought they were very happy.”

“We all thought that, but apparently Helen found Cyril not only consoling Belinda after she had quarrelled with her husband, but kissing her passionately too. Poor Helen was too upset to protest.”

“So what happened?”

“She was almost certain, although of course Cyril lied to her, that they had gone away for a romantic weekend on his yacht. Helen, as you know, loathes the sea and is seasick if there is even a ripple on the water!”

Venetia had not meant to listen in, nor had she been particularly interested.

She had merely thought it would be fun to go on a yacht and wondered if her Papa would buy one.

Now, as the conversation came back to her, she could not help thinking that if this was what marriage meant she would much rather stay single.

Yet she recognised she would like to have children and one day hopefully a son.

She was well aware that, happy though her father and mother were, it had been a source of sadness for them both that they had not produced a son.

Because her Mama was not very strong she had not had another baby after Venetia and it suddenly struck her that, if she had a number of brothers, her father would not be so keen on her making an important marriage.

And if he could not have a son himself, he wanted a grandson.

She would also be expected to supply an heir to the Rockinston Dukedom.

The mere idea of the unknown Duke touching her made her shudder.

She had no wish to have a strange man touch or kiss her.

Although the girls at School who had been kissed said it was a wonderful experience, it was something that seemed unreal to her.

Yet now she told herself, although the suddenness of it seemed incredible, the Duke would not only expect to kiss her but also to give her a son.

‘How can I possibly do so with a man I don't love?' Venetia asked herself fervently.

As her father drove on, she wondered if instead of accepting the situation as Lady Manvill had persuaded her to do, she should after all run away and escape

It had been her first impulse.

But she had no money and where could she go?

Whatever she might have said to Papa yesterday, whatever protests she might have made, the engagement had been announced in the newspaper this morning.

That tied her hands more effectively than anything else – in fact, as she told herself, it bound chains round her ankles.

So she simply could not run away and as they drove on she was thinking,

‘How could this happen to me? And now that it has happened, how can I somehow be free of the Duke and all men like him?'

*

They reached Lynbrook Hall in good time for a late luncheon.

As they drove up the drive, Venetia thought she had forgotten how beautiful the house was, silhouetted against a number of vast fir trees.

The whole place seemed brilliant with colour and as the sun glinted on the windows, Venetia thought it gave her a special welcome.

“We are home! We are home!” she breathed.

Her father turned his head to smile at her.

“And in record time. I have never driven so fast before and no one else has managed to do this drive from London in just four hours.”

There was triumph in his voice and Venetia said,

“You drive magnificently, Papa, you always do.”

“That is a compliment I really appreciate, Venetia, and after luncheon I will show you our new horses.”

“I would love that and as I would love to ride, I will change now into my habit as quickly as possible.”

“Well don't be long, I am extremely hungry and I need a strong drink.”

Venetia could not wait to jump out of the chaise as soon as a footman opened the door.

She shook hands with the old butler who had been at The Hall even longer than Bates had been in London.

He was obviously delighted to see her home and so was Mrs. Johnson who was waiting for her.

“You've been away too long, my Lady,” she said. “And it ain't somehow right without you here.”

“I am very glad to be back, Mrs. Johnson.”

But she could not help remembering she would not be staying very long.