Lynne Connolly (14 page)

For some time now, I’d suspected that more lay under that exterior than he let anyone see, but I could not pierce through to the heart of the man, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to.

But because the fashionable world considered Freddy a dissolute, none-too-bright fribble, he was the best person to amble into the club on Maiden Lane and discover what he could. Which was quite a lot.

He met us in the Park early one morning before most of the fashionable world had regained consciousness after the excesses of the night before. He looked remarkably fresh, which he explained to us came from not going to bed at all. We rode in one of Richard’s light, high-perch phaetons. I had accustomed myself to his driving, sure and accurate, although sometimes I knew I’d feel better on a horse. Unfortunately, during this period of my pregnancy, I wasn’t allowed to ride. I missed it.

“I’ll sleep when I’ve spoken to you.” Freddy’s mouth took on a grim line. “Blessedly alone.”

“You didn’t enjoy yourself, Freddy? The Cytherean Club is reputed as one of the places to be this season.” Richard gave him a gentle smile.

“Not for me.” Freddy shrugged and pulled his horse back to a walk, so he could converse with us. “I swear, Richard, I want nothing more than a hot bath, and then perhaps a good wash, before I sleep off the experience. Most distasteful. Mother Brown’s is good, wholesome fun compared to that.”

“Mother Brown’s is good, wholesome fun compared with many houses in the vicinity,” I said, interpreting Freddy’s uneasy glances as his gentlemanly impulses kicked into action. “The House of Correction on the side opposite the Opera House is one.”

Freddy shot me another glance, this one brimful of laughter. “Rose, when I met you, you struck me as sweet and angelic. I fully concurred with Richard’s impulse to protect you. Then you learned how to cheat at cards, and then you showed Richard what a good shot you are, and I had to change my mind. What depths of depravity have you sunk to now?”

I laughed. He could always make me laugh. “I was a country girl. Believe me, events in the country can overset the ones in the city. They merely have more picturesque surroundings, that’s all.”

He raised a dark brow. “I believe you, but only because you tell me it’s true.” He had to rein his horse back again. Freddy had taken to a beast that could compare to Gervase’s black monster. Why men had to prove their prowess by riding nearly unmanageable creatures defeated my understanding. This one wanted to throw him off and gallop free over the carefully shorn sward of Hyde Park. And maybe plunge into the streets beyond and create a little havoc. Still, it was a handsome horse, a gelding, about seventeen hands, a chestnut, and normally I’d have loved an opportunity to try his mettle. So maybe I had a touch of madness about me too.

“So,” Richard said. “The Cytherean Club. Before that beast wins and we don’t see you again for a week.”

Freddy grinned. “It’s a bad-tempered creature. I’ll probably sell him on, since all he has is temper and not much style or pace. I bought him from Cowan. My error, I think. Ah yes, the club. As you might have noticed, I’m avoiding the subject. It made my skin crawl. Julia presided over the meeting, stark naked save for a few ribbons and straps designed to enhance her charms. She does have charms, but she also has a large patch by the side of her mouth.” People often used patches to disguise spots and sores, and they were often caused by the kind of disease that could be caught from sexual excess.

Richard sighed. “You can’t undertake that kind of life without some consequences.”

“She still thinks so. I refused her offers, said I had come to enjoy the view. Made out I enjoyed watching. Had to perform for them, but it wasn’t too bad.” He glanced at me, and yes, I took his meaning. No wonder he felt dirty. “Interesting facts—her husband didn’t participate save with one woman, and I know her. I’d rather not mention her name.”

“Lady Armstrong,” Richard said flatly. “I had a dispatch from Thompson’s yesterday that indicated Steven Drury had found consolation outside his marriage.”

Freddy shrugged. “Really, Strang, if you know all the answers, why send me?”

“Because I don’t. Cut to the chase, Freddy. What’s going on?”

“Yes. Very well.” He grimaced and we paused to negotiate a rough stretch of track. It looked like a herd of cows had trampled past, which might have been the case, since half a dozen animals stood near one of the gates, offering milk fresh from the cow to the thirsty visitor. I gripped the rail by my side, trying to look unconcerned, but I wondered if it were more dangerous to fall from a horse or tumble to the ground in this contraption. We negotiated the hazard successfully, however, and I breathed again. Richard glanced at me, amusement in his eyes, but when he turned back to Freddy, the amusement died.

“Drury, I think, is tiring of the game. But it’s obvious that Julia isn’t. She’s worse. She must have had relations with five of the men present, all in the presence of the others. She likes an audience. And yes, it is as you think. Although they’re masked, they don’t conceal themselves very well. I can name you six for sure.” And Freddy proceeded to do so, all of them important members of Parliament.

Richard flung his head back and stared at the trees at the edge of the park as if he could see visions. He was thinking. I watched the path ahead. “She doesn’t care about the sexual intercourse. She was ever cold, take it from me, only ever thinking of what the encounter could get her. Not that I ever compromised her too much. She never appealed to me. It was why I chose her. It’s possible she’s enjoying getting the attention, being queen of her small domain, but somehow I think not. She’ll use the knowledge to try to extort something out of them. Probably influence. She’s spending money like water, I know that much, and she’s had several missives from her father in the last week or two, probably exhorting her to economise a little. It’s a gamble. One she could win.”

“What do you think she wants?” I asked him, but I had my own ideas. I wanted to see if they meshed with mine.

“Power. A rung on the ladder, anyway,” Richard answered calmly but immediately. He’d thought about this. “When she agreed to marry me, I knew she wanted power and position, but at the time I didn’t care.” He glanced at me, his look conveying warmth. “I did shortly after, though. She gave me up for a man she thought she could control, but I think he might be tiring of the game. He doesn’t have the stamina for the long haul.”

“Steven only ever wanted enough money for a comfortable life,” I said. Steven had courted me for a time. “An agreeable wife and enough money and social position for a few of life’s luxuries. Essentially selfish, but before he met Julia, I’d have considered him harmless.”

“I remember one time when he was not,” Richard said in a tight voice.

“He’d just realised he’d lost me and he panicked.” Steven’s attack on me had all the hallmarks of instant, violent reaction to losing a prized possession. “As long as things go his way, he’s happy enough.” Handsome, reasonably selfish but indolent, Steven shouldn’t have married Julia.

“Julia wants more,” Richard said. “First, she’ll try to get a title for Steven. One for her father wouldn’t help, since she can’t inherit it. There needs to be a reason, but if Steven takes part in a charitable work, a notable military action or distinguishes himself in some way, it could be done.”

“Steven is related to minor nobility,” I reminded him. “I’m sure they’d arrange something for him if Julia asked in the right way.”

“Or threatened certain people with exposure,” Freddy said, grimmer than anyone in society had seen him. “But isn’t it an expensive way of achieving that? What’s wrong with simple bribery? Behave, damn you!” That last to the horse, which shifted its gait, showing signs of wanting to gallop. He dragged the reins back in a ruthless hold, demonstrating effortless power and control without the hardness that could ruin a horse’s mouth.

Richard clicked his tongue. “She’d have no hold over them. She’ll want more than a title. She’s building the foundation of an empire.”

Freddy snorted. “She wants to achieve in a generation what our families achieved in three or more.”

“Except that she doesn’t understand the responsibilities that go with the position. She will take but she won’t give.” Richard would have surprised certain sectors of society if they’d heard that sentiment. But Richard didn’t appreciate an overabundance of thanks, or expect it, either. He did what he considered right from a strong sense of justice.

“So we stop her.”

Richard shrugged. “We stop her retaining an unhealthy hold on the people in that club. Freddy, should you object to furnishing me with a list of names? I need not ask you to leave the list as a plain one, without a heading or reference.”

“I’ll list everyone I remember at that place last night. Including the women. Oh, the fair sex has its share of debauchees and debauchers. Quite enlightening, some of the things I saw last night, though most were experiences I could well do without. I’ll bring it around personally later.”

“Thank you, Freddy.” Richard glanced at me. “Another circuit, my love?”

I shook my head. “I’ve had quite enough fresh air for one day, thank you.”

Freddy nodded to us and kicked his horse into a gallop. I watched him wistfully.

I had a strong case of nervousness that night. One of the most important balls of the season, when the Duke of Cobham planned to launch his twin daughters on the unsuspecting ton. In fact, quite a few members of society had met the irrepressible females and viewed the coming onslaught with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. The Cobham girls were decidedly enthusiastic about their formal entrance into society.

We were bound to go because Richard was “some kind of cousin”. Sometimes it appeared to me that he was some kind of cousin to everyone in society. The intricate social network surpassed anything found in Devonshire, the county of my birth, which I had imagined criss-crossed by a network of familial connections.

Nichols managed to find a gown I could still wear and hadn’t worn for a month or more. I’d decided not to purchase any new ball gowns this season in anticipation of my figure changing yet again, and she’d refitted most of my gowns from the previous year in the latest style. There was always something new, and this season the rage for pinked edges, a kind of zigzag or scallop, had taken hold. So it was I found myself arrayed in a gown that had once had deeply embroidered robings and now resembled nothing so much as an explosion, such was the profusion of decoration. At least it took attention away from my fast-growing stomach.

I turned this way and that before the mirror and began to understand the passion. The pinked edges rustled and fluttered, and with the tiny brilliants Nichols had the maids attach to some of the points, the display became fascinating.

I chose a simple set of rose-coloured topazes and diamonds to accompany the gown, and was rewarded when Richard entered the room and complimented me. He’d chosen deep crimson and ivory, almost austere for my husband, in order to focus attention on the rich colour of the velvet, but it contrasted nicely with my finery.

We didn’t mention John until we had settled in the carriage. Nichols was travelling there later on foot, something I disliked because I knew I would want to leave early and come home. I tired easily in my present condition. “This ball is large enough for John to receive an invitation.”

“I know.” He stared out of the window at the flambeaux flaring outside the houses before turning his attention back to me. “I doubt he’ll persuade Susan to attend.”

“Would he do that?”

“Of course. Her discomfiture is nothing compared to his ambitions. She relieved me very much when she told me she wanted nothing to do with his mad schemes.”

I reached for his hand and he lifted mine to his lips to bestow a kiss on the back before he spoke again. “You are not to worry.”

I laughed. How would he stop that happening? “He will appear.”

“Yes, he will. And he’ll make it impossible for us to avoid him without appearing idiotic. So be prepared. He’s an acquaintance, someone we knew in Devonshire, that’s all.”

The warmth of his hand made me wish we hadn’t gone out, but everyone would have known why. We had to face the importunate boy. “I wish he would go about making a decent life for himself. Why would he wish for this life?”

“Only you, my love, would ask that. Many people wish for what you have.”

“All I want is you.”

“I know.” His soft voice barely reached me. “It’s more than I ever hoped for. But he wants the power and the wealth. He feels it is his right. I’m afraid he won’t relent.”

Fear clutched at my heart. “He’s weaving a web, isn’t he?”

“I think so. Attacking us from different directions, making it impossible for us to block him. When he first appeared in London, he wanted us to accept him as part of the family, if on the wrong side of the blanket. Many such scions have done very well. But in all cases they had merits that commended them to the family and to society. John wants it all. He has a fierce resentment that I have what he feels should be his. And he hates you because you carry the person who could well put paid to all his hopes.”

I laid my free hand over my stomach in a protective gesture I found instinctive. “I could go into the country.”

“He’d follow. We’d be in more danger there because there are fewer witnesses. One stray shot and the problem goes away.”