Cupid's Choice: She's a shy beauty in distress. He's a chivalric gentleman. (8 page)

Colonel Caldar nodded again. “Aye, the boy has been mad about acquiring a hunter for the winter months at Holybrooke. He is not here?”

“No, indeed, brother! I have just been telling Sir Frederick that Percival will be sorry to have missed him,” said Mrs. Holland, asserting herself. She disliked at any time to be ignored or to be obliged to listen to a conversation that was not of interest to her.

“When you came in, I was soliciting Mrs. Holland’s permission to drive out with Miss Holland,” said Sir Frederick smoothly.

“Capital! A bit of fresh air will be just the thing for you, Guin,” said Colonel Caldar with a nod and a smile at his niece.

“Arnold, I am not at all certain—” began Mrs. Holland, with the gathering of a frown.

“Nonsense! Guin will not come to any harm. I am persuaded Sir Frederick is a capital whip,” said Colonel Caldar . He gestured with his hand for his niece to get up from where she was sitting. “Well, come on, Guin! Run upstairs and put on your straw. It will not do to keep Sir Frederick’s horses waiting.”

“Yes, Uncle!” Guin obediently leaped to her feet. She purposefully did not glance at her mother’s face as she hurried across the room toward the door. She did not want to see Mrs. Holland’s expression, fearing that she would be denied the treat so surprisingly held out to her.

Colonel Caldar opened the door for Guin, giving her a wink as he ushered her out. Guin realized that she and her uncle had become co-conspirators. She was quite breathless at her own, as well as her uncle’s, audacity.

Before Colonel Caldar closed the heavy paneled door behind her, Guin heard him say, “I understand that you have enjoyed a brilliant career, Sir Frederick. You must tell my sister and me something about your travels.”

Guin gave a small almost hysterical laugh as she picked up her skirts and ran up the stairs.

Once Colonel Caldar and Mrs. Holland had seen Guin off with Sir Frederick, Mrs. Holland immediately rounded on her brother. “I am not pleased, brother! I do not know what you were about to push Guin into driving out with Sir Frederick! Anyone could see that she had no wish for it. And I scarcely knew where to look when you told her to run upstairs like some hoyden! I shall have something to say to her when she returns, I assure you.”

Colonel Caldar regarded his sister thoughtfully. “You would do better not to, however, Aurelia. Has it occurred to you that this is the first gentleman who has ever bestowed any attention on Guin? I don’t think it will suit your plans to discourage her when someone as well connected as Sir Frederick chooses to make her an object of his gallantry!”

“But Sir Frederick is a mere baronet, Arnold,” said Mrs. Holland, her frown deepening. “I do not wish to encourage that connection in the least!”

“Perhaps not! However, it will do Guin a world of good to learn how to conduct a polite conversation with a gentleman. Sir Frederick is just the sort to overlook her awkwardness. He is a diplomat, recall! And she will do better, then, with the next gentleman,” said Colonel Caldar.

By the time he had finished speaking, Mrs. Holland’s frown had disappeared and she was regarding him with a half-opened mouth. With a tinge of respect, she said, “Why, Arnold, what a clever notion. I did not expect it of you, to be sure! I quite see how Sir Frederick could be very helpful to Guin. And he is very well connected, isn’t he? My head positively reeled with the names of I don’t know how many princes and noble families he has been associated with.” She gave a decisive nod. “Yes, I think we shall encourage Sir Frederick’s friendship. I shall invite him to our rout.”

Colonel Caldar left his sister in the front parlor, complacently revising her seating plan for the upcoming evening party. He was smiling to himself and felt something like that he had beaten the enemy on all points.

Guin was positively dazed by her good fortune. She sat quietly, her kid-gloved hands resting in her lap, as Sir Frederick set the team in motion and the neat phaeton pulled away from the curb. She still could scarcely believe she had been allowed to go driving with him. She was utterly grateful that her uncle had come into the front parlor at just that moment, for it had looked very much like her mother would have turned down Sir Frederick’s generous invitation.

She slid a glance at Sir Frederick’s handsome profile. It seemed so incredible to her that he had actually extended such an invitation to
her,
when he could have chosen anyone else he had wished. A warm feeling suffused her heart. She did not believe that there was anyone kinder or more handsome or noble or—

“A penny for your thoughts, Miss Holland,” said Sir Frederick, glancing down at her with a smile lurking in his brown eyes. His firm full-lipped mobile mouth was slanted upward.

Guin’s face pinkened with embarrassment. “Oh!” She averted her head, her thoughts falling into a turmoil. She couldn’t possibly tell him that she had been thinking about him, and in such a way, too!

At once Sir Frederick began to talk about things of passing interest, his voice pleasant and impersonal. At length Guin was able to regain her complexion. She thought she should apologize, but she feared that it would sound awkward. She nervously pleated her pelisse skirt, knowing that the silence on her part was stretching to the point of incivility.

Once more Sir Frederick came to her rescue. “I seem to have a disconcerting habit of putting you out of countenance, Miss Holland,” he commented pleasantly.

Guin glanced up quickly and what she saw in his expression encouraged her. “It—it is not your fault, sir, but my own. I am not very skilled at—at dalliance,” she said breathlessly.

“Dalliance?” he asked lightly. He admired the translucent quality of her complexion, which was still betraying a touch of rose. “Is that what we are doing? I thought we were merely driving, Miss Holland!”

Sir Frederick saw that she had colored again and castigated himself for this carelessness. He had forgotten again how inexperienced this young lady actually was. He transferred both reins to his right hand and then reached over with the other to cover her hands in her lap. “Forgive me, my dear. I am a shocking tease. You must believe me when I tell you that I wish you no harm, nor do I desire to place you at a disadvantage when you are in my company.”

“I do believe you, Sir Frederick,” said Guin, raising her eyes and looking straight into his with scarce-concealed adoration. “You are quite the nicest gentleman I have ever met, excepting my brother and uncle, of course.”

Sir Frederick burst out laughing. He withdrew his hand and got hold of the reins properly again. “I am relieved, Miss Holland! And honored, as well, for I am definitely in good company if I measure up to Lord Holybrooke and Colonel Caldar in your estimation!”

“Oh, you do!” said Guin quickly, anxious to reassure him.

He laughed again, his friendly glance inviting her to share in his amusement. She started to laugh, too, though she couldn’t be certain if she did so because of how silly she had made herself sound or because she was simply so happy.

Sir Frederick glanced down at his companion again. She was looking up, a bright smile on her lips and a laughing expression in her extraordinary dark blue eyes. He thought he had never seen such eyes before, deep midnight pools ringed with black lashes, expressive of her every emotion. “You are altogether charming,” he said unthinkingly.

She blushed and turned her head away. After a pause she asked in a carefully neutral voice, “Have you been a diplomat long, Sir Frederick?”

And that was as neat a setdown as he had ever received, he thought ruefully. A polite and impersonal question in response to a flourishing compliment. He had deserved it, of course. He had already promised her that he would not place her at a disadvantage while she was with him, and at once he had then turned around and uttered what must be guaranteed to put her out of countenance again.

Sir Frederick meekly accepted his companion’s lead. “I have been employed in that capacity since I finished at university. My last post was in St. Petersburg. Since then I have been attached to the Foreign Office, and there is some talk of a post in Paris.”

“Russia? Paris! Oh, how I envy you, Sir Frederick,” said Guin, clasping her hands together in front of her breast as she turned impulsively toward him. Her eyes shone with enthusiasm. “Pray describe to me something of those places, for I have always longed to travel.”

“Where would you like to go?” asked Sir Frederick, amused. “Besides Russia and Paris, of course.”

A tiny frown formed between her slender black brows, so that she bore a strong resemblance to a puzzled kitten. “Well, I have always thought I should like to see Greece because of the stories that Percy and I read under his tutor. And I should very much like to see Rome. I was quite fascinated with Julius Caesar, you see. He was such an interesting man.”

Sir Frederick was startled, so much so that he allowed the reins to drop in his surprise. The phaeton surged forward. It did not need his groom’s hoarse exclamation to make him realize the possible consequences of bounding along through the heavily trafficked streets. Sir Frederick modified the pace of his team. He regarded his companion with raised brows. “Miss Holland, am I to infer that you have had a classical education?”

She returned his look with mingled surprise and puzzlement. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Latin? Hebrew? Greek?” quizzed Sir Frederick.

Guin’s expression cleared. “Oh! Well, you see, I had lessons with Percy. He told Mama that he was lonely without me and that I could help him with his books. I daresay I learned all sorts of things that females don’t usually. Percy’s tutor was very kind to me, too, so that I felt quite comfortable.”

Sir Frederick rattled off a simple Latin phrase and then looked at her curiously. “Can you translate that, Miss Holland?”

Guin obediently did so, the puzzlement in her expression beginning to give way to amusement. “That was an easy one, Sir Frederick. You must do better than that to stump me.”

“Let’s try one in Greek, then.” Sir Frederick quoted a familiar passage from a well-known ancient Greek play.

Again, Guin found no difficulty in translating what he had said. She looked at him inquiringly. “Why are you asking me these things, sir?”

Sir Frederick drew in his breath. “My dear Miss Holland, you are amazing. You are probably better educated than most ladies of my acquaintance.”

She burst out laughing and shook her head. “But how absurd! You must know that I have no accomplishments at all, Sir Frederick! My governess despaired of ever teaching me to draw or watercolor, and I am the merest dab at playing the harp.”

“Thank God!” said Sir Frederick swiftly, flashing his quick grin. “I positively detest the harp, Miss Holland.”

“Oh, you are always so kind, Sir Frederick,” said Guin, her white straight teeth flashing in a quick shy smile.

“Did your governess succeed in teaching you French?” asked Sir Frederick, still smiling. He was fascinated with what he was learning about Miss Holland. She had been nothing but a lovely shrinking mouse when he had first met her, and chivalry had stirred in his breast. Now he was learning that she had intelligence sharpened by education.

“Poor Miss Rhodes! Yes, she did and also a little Italian. But Mama would much have preferred that I had learned to paint instead. I fear that I was a disappointment to Miss Rhodes,” said Guin on a regretful sigh. “Mama turned her off in the end.”

“I doubt that she was disappointed in
you,
Miss Holland, as much as she must have been with her employer,” said Sir Frederick. He saw that she was looking puzzled again, and he casually turned the conversation.

Soon he judged it to be time to return Guin home, and he drove back to the town house. “Take their heads, Spencer,” he said to his groom, springing down from the phaeton. He was just giving a hand to Guin to help her down when Lord Holybrooke came strolling around the corner.

“Oh, here is Percy!” exclaimed Guin, her face lighting up at the sight of her twin brother. She jumped down to the pavement and ran to meet Lord Holybrooke. As the two walked back toward Sir Frederick, she was animatedly telling her brother about being able to drive out with Sir Frederick.

“Sir Frederick, I am glad to see you again,” said Lord Holybrooke with his easy dignity.

Sir Frederick returned the greeting, shaking the younger man’s hand. He at once reiterated his offer to take Lord Holybrooke to Tattersall’s with him. The young earl civilly declined, though with obvious regret.

“I came home only to change since I am engaged to a party of friends and must meet them within the hour,” said Lord Holybrooke. He grinned boyishly at Sir Frederick. “The thing of it is, sir, there is to be a mill.”

“Oh, no, Percy! You cannot be going to a horrid fist-fight!” exclaimed Guin, stepping back so that she could look into her brother’s face. “How can you like such a thing?”

The two men exchanged glances, complete understanding passing between them. A lady could not be expected to comprehend the fascinated draw that a round of fisticuffs had on the male of the species.

“Another time, then, my lord,” said Sir Frederick easily. He said good-bye to Guin and her brother, and climbed back up into the phaeton. His groom let go of the horses’ heads and leaped up behind. Sir Frederick nodded his head in farewell and drove away.

He had been given much to ponder about Miss Holland. She was a surprising female, he reflected. He had originally taken her for little more than a lovely dormouse. Then he had perceived there was more to her personality and had attempted, with a modicum of success, to draw her out. Today he had discovered that she had a well-educated mind. Not only that, but she was probably every bit as versatile as he was himself in several languages.

A few streets over, he saw his friend Mr. Henry Duckwood standing on the walkway. Mr. Duckwood was waving to him, so Sir Frederick pulled over to the curb. “Going my way, Henry?”

“Wherever you wish, dear fellow,” said Mr. Duckwood, stepping up into the phaeton and disposing himself comfortably on the narrow leather seat.

Sir Frederick guided the phaeton back into the traffic. Casting a knowledgeable gaze over his friend, he said, “You are looking elegant today, Henry. Is that a new coat?”

Mr. Duckwood sprawled carelessly on the phaeton’s seat. He lovingly smoothed his sleeve. “You’ve discerned it, Freddy. I had it from Weston this morning. I am very pleased with it. Where are you headed? If you are going to Tattersall’s or the park, I have half a mind to accompany you.”

“Tattersall’s it is, then, for I have already exercised my horses by driving with Miss Holland,” said Sir Frederick, turning a corner with neat skill.

Mr. Duckwood abandoned his lazy attitude and sat up. His fawn’s eyes were at ones filled with concern. “Holland? Isn’t she the chit that Caroline Richardson introduced you to?” He shook his head. “Freddy, Freddy! I warned you, and what must you do but run your head straight into the noose.”

Sir Frederick shook his head. “It isn’t like that, Henry. I feel sorry for Miss Holland. Mrs. Holland is a regular tartar and abuses her. So I have been paying Miss Holland a bit of attention, just to get her confidence in herself built up a trifle.”