Lord Somerton's Heir (23 page)

Lady Kendall passed through the doors onto a terrace and he followed her into the night. She shivered in the cool, night air and Sebastian offered his jacket, which she declined.

‘I will not detain you long.’ She took a sip of champagne. ‘I like you, Lord Somerton, and I wouldn’t have you think ill of me. I do not wish you to be under a misapprehension about my relationship with your late cousin.’

Sebastian spluttered on his champagne. ‘My dear Lady Kendall, the details of your relationship with my cousin are of no interest to me,’ he said.

‘Yes, but it matters to me. I know what people say and, more painfully, I know what Lady Somerton believes. You are an honourable man and I would like to share a confidence with you.’

‘A confidence?’

She moved closer to him. Her exotic perfume wafted towards him in an intoxicating cloud.

‘It suited both Anthony and I for our own reasons to be gossiped about in a certain fashion, but the truth was that we were not lovers. Our relationship was purely platonic.’

Somewhat taken aback by this revelation, Sebastian stared at the beautiful woman in front of him.

‘People do not speak kindly of Anthony or his treatment of Isabel. The truth is that Anthony was a deeply conflicted man,’ she paused. ‘His own nature did not incline him to the female sex.’

It should have come as more of a shock to learn that his cousin had a secret life. However, Bennet had shared the gossip and Lady Kendall’s revelation only confirmed the suspicion that the careful picture of a womanising, gambling rake Anthony had painted of himself was just an artifice.

It suited him to pretend ignorance. ‘What do you mean?’

Georgiana Kendall put her head back and laughed, a soft, tinkling sound swallowed up by the dark night. ‘Surely, Lord Somerton, you are a man of the world?’

‘I am the son of a parson. I was brought up in a vicarage in a small village. I am not a man of yours or Anthony’s world.’

‘But you have been a soldier,’ Lady Kendall said. ‘Surely you must have seen such relationships in your time?’

Sebastian considered for a moment. He had been aware of certain particular friendships within the army but as long as the parties had been discreet and it had not affected the morale of their company, it was something to which the senior officers, some of whom were similarly inclined, were prepared to turn a blind eye.

Lady Kendall drained her glass and stood for a moment looking into its empty depths as the sound of music, laughter and bright chatter spilled from the open windows of the house.

‘And you were happy to be complicit in maintaining this fiction? Even at a cost to your own reputation?’ Sebastian asked at last.

She laughed. ‘Oh, I know my reputation, Lord Somerton. In truth, I was being pursued by a man in whom I had no interest and it suited me to be known as Anthony’s mistress. The man concerned would not cross Lord Somerton, and Anthony…’ She shrugged. ‘At first, the artifice concealed his other life but, in more recent times, it can happen that men can lean in either direction and I believe Anthony had come to love his wife.’

Sebastian gave a derisory snort. ‘He had a strange way of showing it,’ he said.

‘I am not privy to the Somertons’ private affairs,’ she responded in a sharp tone. ‘I know only what Anthony confided in me, Lord Somerton, and trust me when I say I believe myself to be his closest confidante. Anthony had fathered a child with his wife, a child on whom he doted and, in the months following the child’s birth, he had grown to love his wife deeply, but he was not a man who knew how to demonstrate such affection. William’s death was a bitter blow and Isabel’s grief was so great that he felt himself inadequate to provide the solace she needed. His answer was to resume his former ways, but it masked a very different man and brought him no comfort.’

‘If what you are telling me is true then it is a sad story,’ Sebastian said. ‘I am certain, from what little she has told me, Lady Somerton had no idea of the depth of his feeling.’

‘And I am sure you are correct. I counselled him to confide all in her and I believed he was about to do so. I would tell her myself.’ Lady Kendall looked away and her shoulders stiffened. ‘Lady Somerton, quite rightly, shuns my company, which is a pity, because I would have greatly valued her friendship.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’ he asked.

She turned back to look at him and shook her head. ‘I think sometimes when a person has a dark secret, such as that Anthony concealed, it leaves them vulnerable.’

‘Do you think his death an accident?’ Sebastian ventured.

She shrugged. ‘He left here in high spirits. I have no reason to think it was anything more than just a tragic accident.’

But you haven’t seen the saddle
, Sebastian thought.

Before he could speak again, she moved closer to him, her hand resting on his arm. Her cloying perfume enveloped him and he found himself unmoved by her advances, if that is what they were.

‘We’ve been gone long enough, Lady Kendall,’ he said.

She laughed. ‘Indeed, even for a woman with my dubious reputation.’

She took his arm and led him into the next room where card tables had been set up. As they entered, Sebastian heard Freddy’s braying laugh. Beside him, Lady Kendall stiffened.

‘When are you going to rid yourself of that odious man and his sister?’ she asked in a low voice.

‘As soon as I can, but it’s not that simple. Why do you ask?’

‘He is cheating at cards again.’

Sebastian frowned. Freddy sat at a table with three others. Nothing about his demeanour gave any indication that anything untoward was going on.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘Look at his sister,’ Georgiana whispered.

Fanny circled the table at a discreet distance. Again to Sebastian’s eye there seemed nothing odd about her.

Lady Kendall looked up at him and tapped her fan impatiently on his chest.

‘She is sending him signals. See, she has just touched her fan to her ear.’

He watched Fanny for a few more minutes. The signals were subtle and, to the passing eye, benign. Freddy didn’t seem to acknowledge them but his success at the hand he played indicated something untoward..

‘You’re right,’ Sebastian said.

‘Of course I am. It was Anthony who pointed their system out to me. Freddy’s clever. He doesn’t win every hand.’

‘Should I call him out?’ Sebastian said.

Georgiana shook her head and said with a laugh. ‘No! You can’t prove anything, any more than Anthony could. I have had ample opportunity in the past year to observe the Lynchs and I just wanted you to know what he was capable of. You can use it to your advantage when you need to. Now I see your delightful sister is looking for you.’

Connie and Matt joined them. Connie looked flushed and waved her fan in an indecorous way to cool her face. ‘I’ve been dancing,’ she said, unnecessarily.

‘Quite the sought after partner,’ Matt agreed. ‘Thank heavens for the dancing lessons.’

‘And what about you, Mr Alder?’ Lady Kendall said, fixing Matt with a winsome smile that would have made a stronger man weak at the knees.

Matt bowed. ‘I hope, Lady Kendall, that you would deign to dance with me, if not this evening then at the Brantstone Ball.’

She inclined her head. ‘It would be my pleasure.’ She turned to Sebastian. ‘Tell me, Lord Somerton, has your sister made her debut?’

‘Er, no,’ Sebastian said. ‘Is that something you’d want to do?’ He enquired of his normally sensible sister.

Connie’s bright eyes gave her answer. ‘I think, Bas, if I am to fit in to this new world, it would be expected. Would you not agree, Lady Kendall?’

Lady Kendall gave her a long appraising look. ‘When you come up to London for the season, I would be delighted to present you. I think, Miss Alder, you and I would enjoy a season in London.’

‘When? Surely you mean “if”. It was not my intention to go to London for the season,’ Sebastian said, just to see the crestfallen look on Connie’s face.

‘Your brother is jesting,’ Lady Kendall said, hitting Sebastian on the arm with her fan. ‘Come with me, Miss Alder, and allow me to introduce you to some ladies of your own age.’

Matt and Sebastian stood watching Lady Kendall propel Connie through the crowd.

‘I thought this was going to be a quiet little dinner party,’ Sebastian remarked, more to himself.

‘She’s extraordinary,’ Matt said, his face a picture of a moonstruck calf.

‘She’s not for the likes of you, so take that look off your face,’ Sebastian said.

‘Oh? Don’t think I didn’t see you sneaking off by yourself with her.’

‘I wasn’t sneaking. We were discussing business,’ Sebastian said stiffly.

His brother raised an eyebrow. ‘What business?’

It was on the tip of his tongue to confide in his brother, but Harry Dempster interrupted them.

‘Did I hear my sister inveigling you to London, Lord Somerton?’ Harry said.

Sebastian smiled. ‘Your sister is a difficult woman to resist, Dempster.’

‘As indeed is yours. You never told me that Miss Alder was such a beauty.’

Something in Harry’s tone and the raised eyebrows disquieted Sebastian. Even when they had served together, Harry had developed a reputation for womanising that was the scandal of the regiment.

‘I thought your taste was for married women, Dempster.’

Harry smiled. ‘Indeed, they tend to be far less trouble.’ He turned to Matt. ‘We haven’t met. Harry Dempster, an old comrade in arms to Lord Somerton. You must be Alder’s brother.’

‘Colonel Dempster?’ Matt cast Sebastian a quick glance for affirmation.

‘The same. My apologies for my absence. I had business in London, Alder. Anything of interest happen while I was gone?’

‘Just the arrival of my brother and sister,’ Sebastian smiled.

Matt drifted away to partner a pretty girl in a blue dress and the two men wandered back into the gaming room, where Freddy had now accumulated quite a purse.

‘Never play cards with Lynch,’ Harry said in a low voice.

‘So your sister has warned me.’

‘He’s clever enough not to win all the time but it looks like he has excelled himself tonight.’

‘Hopefully he is saving to leave Brantstone,’ Sebastian remarked drily.

‘If you’ll excuse me, I might join that other table,’ Harry said. ‘What about you?’

Sebastian shook his head. ‘I don’t gamble.’

‘I forgot. Something about your vicarage upbringing?’

‘No, more to do with years of not having the means, Dempster. The only opinion my stepfather ever voiced on the subject was to say, “don’t gamble with money you can’t afford to lose”.’

‘Sound advice,’ Harry said and drifted away towards a table of gentlemen engaged in a game of Commerce.

Sebastian accepted a glass from a passing footman and stood back in the shadows, watching Freddy. He wondered if he was imagining it, but it seemed to him that Freddy played with an air of desperation, as if he needed to win above everything. He made a mental note to enquire of Bragge how far the investigation into Freddy’s past had advanced.

In the coach returning to Brantstone, Sebastian tried to ignore Fanny’s incessant babble about the evening. He lapsed into a reverie as he recalled the interesting conversation with Lady Kendall and tried to reconcile Anthony’s deadly secret with the public man.

‘…. And then, of course, your friend, Colonel Dempster…’ Fanny said, nudging Sebastian.

At the mention of his friend’s name, Sebastian turned to look at her.

‘What about him?’

‘He is quite charming, cousin Sebastian. Didn’t you notice how he escorted me into supper and ensured I had everything I needed?’

‘This Dempster, does he have expectations, cousin?’ Freddy asked from his shadowed corner of the coach.

‘Expectations?’ Sebastian enquired. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Oh, Harry’s father is very wealthy,’ Connie said, ingenuously. Sebastian glared at her in the dark. She had been giggling with Fanny, evidence she may have imbibed one glass of wine too many.

‘Dempster is a full colonel on half pay. His father is hale and hearty and he has no expectations of improving his lot for some time,’ Sebastian retorted in a clipped tone.

‘Pity,’ Freddy said. ‘However, I am sure such a handsome and charming fellow will do well.’

‘And what about you, Freddy. Did you do well at the tables tonight?’ Sebastian enquired.

Freddy’s teeth gleamed in the darkness as he smiled. ‘Tolerably well.’

‘You seem to be having quite a bit of luck when I saw you,’ Matt interposed in innocence of Sebastian’s knowledge of Freddy and Fanny’s connivance at cheating.

‘I am known to be lucky. There have been times when my skill with cards is all that has kept poor Fan and I from debtor’s prison,’ Freddy said with a heavy, theatrical sigh.

‘Just a week ‘til our own ball,’ Fanny chirped, diverting the subject with surprising skill.

The high stock around Sebastian’s neck tightened. He slumped down in his seat with his arms crossed.

‘Oh!’ Connie exclaimed, her hand flying to her neck. ‘Oh, Sebastian, your necklace!’

‘What about it?’

He heard the edge of tears in his sister’s voice as she said, ‘It’s no longer around my neck. The catch must have broken.’

After a deal of fussing and checking of clothing and reticules, which ended with Connie in floods of tears, Connie concluded that it must have fallen off while she was dancing.

‘Oh, Bas,’ Connie wailed, falling into his arms. ‘The first pretty thing I have ever owned and I lost it.’

‘I have no doubt one of Lady Kendall’s staff will find it,’ Sebastian said.

He patted her ineffectually on the back and smiled into the dark. His little sister really had drunk too much but the lost necklace gave him a good opportunity to return to Fairchild Hall the next day. He had some questions for Lady Kendall about the night of Anthony’s death.

Sebastian dismounted from Pharaoh and handed the reins over to the stableboy who ran out to meet him. Lady Kendall’s footman met him at the front steps and showed him into a small parlour that had not been open the previous evening. Lady Kendall reclined on a day bed in a loose, frothy robe of muslin and green ribbons. A flush of embarrassment rose to his face. Even he knew a lady should never receive a man in such a state of ‘deshabille’.