Duel of Hearts (12 page)

“No? Why not?”

“Why
not
? Surely you know the answer to that. In the first place, I'm too old for her. In the second place, we should not suit. In the third place, she wouldn't have me.”

Sarah, with a wry twist in her smile, met his eye. “The first two objections would disappear in a moment, if you could change the third.”

Edward gave a reluctant laugh. “You're probably right. But there's devilish little chance of changing the third.”

“I don't know about that. You
may
be right, of course, but one can't be certain about these things. You
might
be able to win her if you went about it in the right way.”

Edward cocked an eyebrow at her quizzically. “I won't say you don't interest me, Miss Stanborough, but even if you were right, what makes you think that a marriage between Cory and me is
‘a consummation devoutly to be wished'?
”

Sarah was asking herself the same question. This man, so unusually open, honest and manly, so unspoiled by all the affectations and superficialities of the fashionable set, so untouched by greed and so untainted by the corruption of the upper classes—he was much too good for Corianne Lindsay. But Corianne Lindsay was the girl he wanted. Perhaps Sarah should help him to win his heart's desire. “You would make Corianne an excellent husband,” she said flatly.

He blinked at her doubtfully. “Do you really believe that? I'm fifteen years her senior, you know.”

“You're in your prime. That is the first thing you must remember if you want to win her, you know.”

“It sounds to me, Miss Stanborough,” he said, sitting back in his chair and studying her with amusement, “that you're about to embark on a matchmaking campaign. I don't think the role suits you.”

“Don't you? Why not, sir?”

“You're much too young and pretty. You should be busy plotting matches in your
own
behalf.”

“Never mind the flattery, sir. We are not discussing me.”

“I never flatter, Miss Stanborough. But you're quite right. We were discussing Cory. I take it, then, that you think I
should
take her back to Daynwood, away from London temptation, and try to marry her myself?”

“No, that would be
fatal
! She'd never forgive you. You must stay here and enter the lists yourself.”

“
What
? Stay
here
? I thought you
wanted
me to take her away from Ingalls and Mrs. Saxon and the like. Isn't that why you came?”

“No, not at all. I
came
to suggest that you undertake more complete supervision over her activities. But now I think that
I
shall do that, while you undertake your campaign to win her.”

“But this is nonsense! What chance would I have against such youthful pattern-cards of elegance as Mr. Ingalls?”

“Leave that to me. All you must do is promise to be guided by my advice.”

Edward shrugged. “It's an easy-enough promise. I'm certain I couldn't do better than to put myself in your hands. Very well, Miss Stanborough, you have my promise. What must I do?”

Sarah grinned wickedly. “You should have asked that question
before
you gave your word. You may be sorry when you hear my first instruction. You must find yourself a young lady to court.”

“A young lady to—? I don't understand.”

“You see,” Sarah explained, “our first objective must be to change Corianne's habitual way of looking at you. She sees you as—”

“As an old uncle she can twist around her fingers,” he supplied drily. “I'd quite like to know how you think you can change
that
.”

“By making her think you've lost your heart to someone else. Cory has had your undivided affection for so long she takes it for granted. If she suddenly finds that affection withdrawn—and given to another lady—she is bound to feel—”

“A monumental indifference,” Edward supplied sardonically.

“A monumental
jealousy
,” Sarah insisted.

Edward rubbed his chin dubiously. “I don't know, Miss Stanborough. It seems to me that this entire scheme is—”

“You gave your word, Mr. Middleton.”

He grimaced. “Yes, I did, didn't I! Very well, ma'am. Where am I to find this lady to court?”

“A good question. Her selection is very important. She must be attractive enough to make Cory bristle. Let me think a moment.”

Edward watched her as she knit her brow in intense concentration. This entire plan had developed much too quickly for him. What was he letting himself in for? He'd had no idea that the quiet Miss Stanborough could be so managing a female. Into what mires of trouble and deception would this clear-eyed, innocent-seeming creature lead him?

“Betsy Orping! The very girl!” Sarah exclaimed suddenly.

“What?”

“My friend Elizabeth Orping. She told me she met you at the Denisons' dinner the other evening. She sat opposite you at the table and found you a charming companion. ‘At home to a peg,' she confided to me.”

“Orping? Oh, yes, I seem to remember. Butter-faced female with a high-pitched laugh?”

Sarah frowned at him. “How unkind. She said much more complimentary things about you. ‘Ruggedly handsome,' that's how she described you.”

“That
was
kind,” Edward said, somewhat abashed, “but she won't do. Not at all. Cory would
never
believe—”

“You must
make
her believe it,” Sarah said firmly.

“I have a better idea. A young lady of my acquaintance whom I think will suit much better.”

“Really? That's splendid. Why didn't you say so? Who is she?”

“Her name is Sarah Stanborough—”

“
M-Me?
” She gaped at him, aghast. Her heart fluttered against her chest like a spider caught in its own web.

Edward smile broadly, its effect on her more devastating than ever. “Now
there's
a girl,” he continued teasingly, unaware of the turmoil he was creating in the girl sitting so calmly across from him, “who's lovely as a sunset and has a laugh that comes lilting up from deep in her throat like the trill of an oboe.”

Sarah's throat constricted tightly. “No, that's impossible,” she said curtly. “I couldn't—”

“Why not, ma'am?” Edward insisted. “It's the perfect scheme. I could be on hand more often to help supervise Cory. And there would be no harm in my pretending with
you
, since you are fully apprised of the pretense. If I were to pursue some other female, I might lead her into believing that I had serious intentions. You, on the other hand, couldn't be misled.”

“You could
tell
Miss Orping the truth beforehand,” Sarah suggested desperately. Feeling herself more and more attracted to Edward, she felt a premonitory warning that this increased intimacy would inevitably lead to heartbreak for her.

“Tell her that I want to use her this way? Somehow, I doubt if she would be pleased with that suggestion. She'd more likely call her butler to throw me out bodily.”

“B-but … you see, I don't care to go out much, Mr. Middleton. I'm quite reclusive, you know.”

“Yes, I've noticed that. I don't understand why, of course. But you can't remain so if you intend to supervise Cory.”

“Oh, dear, that's
true,
” Sarah admitted, sighing in discouragement.

Edward studied her face again. What was behind her peculiar reluctance for social intercourse? Did it have anything to do with Lord North? The only explanation that occurred to him was that she was in love with the fellow but knew he was a bounder. She'd evidently decided that avoiding him was her best course of action. “Would it be too distasteful to you to increase your social activity? Under my escort, you would be protected from … from any unwanted attentions … at least to a greater degree than is possible when you venture out alone.”

“Yes, but…”

“However, I don't wish to press you. The entire scheme is quite rash anyway. I think my best course is simply to return Cory to her father at Daynwood. She will be safe, her reputation unsullied, you would be relieved of this unconscionable burden, and none of us will be in worse case than we were before we came.”

Sarah looked down at her hands. “Except you. Corianne will hate you for it.”

“That doesn't matter,” Edward said ruefully. “There's not much difference between being a
favored
uncle and a
dis
favored one. Neither role is very satisfying.”

For a moment they both sat still, each steeped in melancholy musings. Then Sarah squared her shoulders and declared resolutely, “No! You
won't
take her home. We're going to go through with it.”

“Do you mean you are
willing
?” He looked at her closely. “Are you quite certain? Perhaps you'd better take some time to think this over, Miss Stanborough.”

She rose and held out her hand to him. “I'm quite certain. And now, Mr. Middleton, you may perform your first act as my new suitor and take me home.”

He jumped up and grasped her hand. “Miss Stanborough, you are a rarity. Thank you. No matter what happens as a result of this crack-brained adventure we're embarking on, you will always have my admiration and gratitude. And now that I've made my speech, I am at your disposal.”

He smiled his extraordinary smile at her, and her stomach seemed to flip over inside her.
I'll
have to teach myself to control these reactions
, she told herself sternly. But aloud she simply said, “Then let's be off.”

She took his arm, and they strolled in a leisurely fashion across the hotel lobby to the outer door. “One more thing, Mr. Middleton,” she added as they stepped out into the bright October sunshine, “If you're going to become my new suitor, you'd better refrain from calling me Miss Stanborough in that formal style.”

“Very well, Sarah,” he said obediently. “Anything you say.”

Chapter Nine

E
DWARD DIDN'T MANAGE
to move into Lord Fitz's rooms until late that evening, for his entire afternoon had been spent in executing a number of directives which Sarah had given him. First he'd been instructed to order a few dashingly modish coats from Nugee, the tailor preferred by the Dandy set (whose style Sarah felt would most impress Corianne). Then he'd found a florist from whom he'd ordered a beribboned nosegay to be delivered that evening to Stanborough House (where Sarah would arrange to leave it on a table near the doorway where Corianne would be bound to discover it), on which he attached a note, ostentatiously unsigned, bearing the message
To S.S. in Gratitude for a Memorable Afternoon
. Lastly, he had to write a note to Corianne herself (arranging for it to be delivered the following morning), in which he was to beg her to excuse him from their appointment to ride. (The plan was that he would appear the next morning at Stanborough House in his riding clothes and take
Sarah
riding instead.) Only after these chores had been attended to did he give Martin permission to load the carriage, and the two departed for Fitz's rooms.

Fitz had been waiting impatiently for his arrival. He gave Edward only a brief half-hour to survey his new surroundings and change into his evening clothes before bearing his friend off for an evening on the town. A lavish dinner at the home of his wife's grandmother (at which the conversation centered on the babies in Norfolk) was followed by a visit to Drury Lane where they laughed uproariously at a very foolish and slightly indecent farce, and they wound up at White's for an hour or two of cards.

Since Edward was not a member, he had not visited the famous gambling club before, although he'd noted it in passing on a stroll down St. James Street. One couldn't help but notice the building with the famous bow windows in which a number of gentlemen could always be seen ogling the ladies passing on the street below. Edward found the inside of the building to be pleasant, commodious and masculinely utilitarian. Fitz laughingly pointed out to him a balding fellow snoozing on a chair in a corner of a first-floor room. “That's Raggett, the proprietor,” he whispered. “They say he waits up all night so that he can do the sweeping up of the gambling rooms himself. He's made an enormous fortune on those sweepings—well, not enormous, perhaps, but sizeable—for the number of gold coins the gamblers, in their drunken state, drop on the floor is remarkable.”

Edward laughed and looked about him. There was gaming going on in all the surrounding rooms, some deep and some casual. The gaming rooms offered attractions of all kinds: basset, Faro, tables of EO and the newer
roulet
. And several smaller rooms held tables for all sorts of card games where the rules of play were set not by the house but by the players themselves. At Edward's insistence, Fitz took himself off to his favorite Faro table, leaving Edward to wander about at will.

Edward was not expert at cards, having spent his limited leisure time at home mostly at reading and chess, but picquet and whist were quite familiar to him. After watching a game of picquet between two elderly gentlemen, he was soon invited by the winner to try his hand. “Saw you come in with Fitzsimmons,” the white-haired gentleman remarked. “Nice lad, that. I'm Carnaby Styles. Knew his father well.”

Edward introduced himself and sat down. Lord Styles signaled for a fresh piquet deck and, with a brush of a finger against his white moustaches, he settled himself back against his chair for a new round of play. The stakes he set were modest, and Edward found himself enjoying the game. Lord Styles was a good player, but Edward soon discovered that he was somewhat careless in his discards and began to draw ahead in the score.

Lord Styles was not accustomed to being bested. He began to play cautiously, and the score teetered back and forth excitingly. A small crowd began to gather, some of the onlookers placing side bets on the outcome far in excess of the sum wagered by the players themselves. The size of the crowd around the small card table aroused the curiosity of a pair of
roulet
-players who had just left their table. “I say, North, what's the attraction over there?” Ingalls asked his friend.