Mutual Consent (23 page)

When Lord Chatworth had rejected the notion of using her bride portion to redeem his vowels from her father, Babs had felt keen disappointment. Though she had learned to accept his lordship’s statement that such a usage would violate a point of honor, it had remained incomprehensible to her that, with the means at hand, the earl should remain obligated to her father.

After the debacle at the ball when her father had been hustled from the premises, it had become even more imperative to cut free of his clutches. But she simply had not the least notion of how it was to be accomplished until Lady Azaela had made known to her the existence of the trust.

The earl would not touch her bride portion, but there was nothing dishonorable in her making use of her own trust funds as she wished. Barbara had been able to think of nothing else since the day that Lady Azaela had sprung her surprise.

Babs formed the intention of meeting with her father. She paid a visit to the Bank of England to procure a draft made against the funds that Lady Azaela had given over to her. The amount of withdrawal was left blank on the draft.

Babs rode to the villa in one of the earl’s crested carriages, accompanied by her apprehensive and disapproving maid. The porter that opened the door to them recognized Babs. Upon her quiet request to speak to her father, the manservant showed her to her father’s study.

Mr. Cribbage was seated at his desk. He looked up, glowering at the interruption.

Babs walked forward, saying, “I know that my visit is unlooked-for, and I do not expect welcome from you.”

Cribbage had risen from his seat in surprise at her appearance rather than out of any sense of courtesy. As Babs sat down in the chair set in front of the desk, he gestured with a fine irony. “Pray be seated, Barbara.” He sat back down and regarded her from under heavy brows, his expression hard. “You have not come to express any filial feeling, so what is it that you want?”

Babs took a slow breath, feeling as though she was about to plunge into deep cold water. She said baldly, “I wish to discuss the redemption of the Earl of Chatworth’s vowels.”

Cribbage stared at her for a full minute. Then his glance passed to the silent maid who had entered with Babs and had since taken up her station behind her mistress’s shoulder. He jerked his head at the servantwoman. “Get out.”

The maid’s set expression did not alter.”That I shall not, sir. I remain with my mistress.”

Cribbage started to bellow at the uppish woman, but his bellicosity was arrested by the unexpected sound of his daughter’s soft chuckle. His brows snapped together and he stared at her with surprised disapprobation.

“Give over, Father, do. My maid remains. Whatever must be said can be said before her,” said Babs.

“You have grown impertinent, Barbara. Perhaps you have forgotten that it is I who gives the orders in this house,” Cribbage said harshly.

“I forget nothing, and most particularly the fact that you deliberately cheated Lord Chatworth,” Babs said quietly.

Cribbage laughed then, his large white teeth bared. “The nature of business is to watch one’s back. His lordship was content enough to allow me to contact his man of business rather than soil his lily hands with the thrashing out of the details.” Cribbage shrugged dismissively. “He was a fool.”

“I concur to a degree.”

Cribbage leaned back in his chair. There was genuine surprise in his eyes, as well as suspicion. “Do you, indeed! I would rather have thought that you had succumbed to his lordship’s reputed charm, which from all reports is quite well-entrenched among the ladies of the realm.”

Babs ignored the probing stab, knowing from old how her father attempted to discover his opponent’s weakest point so that he could better attack. “Lord Chatworth is certainly a gentleman of charm and of honor. However, practical matters must be dealt with regardless of those estimable qualities. I am here today to do just that.”

“And what do you offer me?” Cribbage asked in a measured tone.

“I have available to me funds that I feel certain shall cover the full amount of the earl’s vowels,” Babs said.

Cribbage sat quite still for some moments, during which time he stared at his daughter. Her steady gaze did not falter from his, which irritated him. She had always been willful, but she could never withstand his more forceful personality for long. He glanced over her, taking note of the expensive clothes and bonnet, the jewels in her ears and about her neck. She looked every inch a lady of quality.

Fury ignited in him with the hated thought. “I placed you in your fine position. I made it possible for you to wear fine gowns and jewels and eat from gold plates if it so pleased you. I wedded you into the peerage. Yet you come to me not with words of gratitude, but mealy mouthings about payment of that same peer’s debts.” With each statement his voice became stronger and louder. He had reared over the desk now, his jaw thrust forward, and he shouted directly into her face.

Babs felt herself shaking under the force of his wrath, but she was determined not to allow even a hint of her inner trepidation to escape her. She said in a deliberate and even voice, “Should I be grateful for not being allowed to say yea or nay to your plans? I think not. But that is past. I have come upon a different matter, and if it is one you are not willing to discuss, then I shall take my leave.” She rose to her feet on the words and waited, her brow lifted in an interrogating manner.

Cribbage was astonished. As a child, at the least sign of his generous rage she had cowered away like the contemptible weak creature that he had always thought her. In later years, of course, she had tried to carry things off in a braver fashion. That had been a direct result of her education at the hands of her aunt. He had regretted at least that much of his investment in Lady Azaela Terowne’s training of his daughter. But this complete independence of his calculated fury was something different. She even held herself differently.

Suddenly he realized of whom she reminded him. In coloring and build she had always resembled her mother’s family. Now the angle of her head and the way she stood expressed the same sort of indifference that had always maddened him when he had dealt with his in-laws.

“This discussion is indeed finished. I shall tell you directly to your haughty little head that I will never relinquish those vowels. You and your fine earl are, and will remain, answerable to me,” he said silkily. “I do not forget insult so readily. His lordship instructed his servants in my very presence that I was to be barred from the house. I can therefore hardly be expected to be in a conciliatory mood.”

Babs stared at her father. “I do not believe that has much to do with your refusal. That is but a convenient excuse. You never had any intention of keeping your end of the bargain, did you?”

Cribbage laughed, his anger evaporating with his sudden amusement. “None at all, Barbara,” he said cheerfully. “But that should not surprise you. I am a successful businessman, and profit is not garnered through either sentimentality or weakness. You would be wise to remember that in your dealings with his lordship, or you will lose much of what is yours to enjoy at the moment. Those fine trappings and the stones around your neck will disappear quickly enough once his lordship recognizes that he is firmly and truly caught. The earl is not fool enough to squander away his blunt on an unwanted wife when he has as his mistress a warm handful the likes of Lady Beth Cartier.”

He saw in her eyes proof that he had struck home at last, and he laughed low in his throat. His eyes gleamed with renewed malice. “I find it curious that you come here on the earl’s behalf, for I feel certain that his lordship would not send you as his emissary. I’ll warrant that his lordship is not even aware of this precious offer of yours. Now, whatever could be the motive for such an extraordinary gesture on your part? I wonder—yes, I must wonder whether you have been fool enough to fall in love with the wayward gentleman. My poor stupid dear, truly I had thought better of your intelligence.”

Babs turned sharply to the door. Accompanied by her maid, she left the study with her father’s hateful laughter ringing in her ears. She was trembling in earnest and her face had gone white. She walked so swiftly that her henchwoman was forced to hurry to keep pace.

Babs swept out of the villa and down the steps to climb into her waiting carriage. The maid scrambled after her and had scarcely settled herself before Babs rapped on the roof for the driver to whip up the horses. The carriage jolted forward, nearly putting the maid onto the floor. Lucy righted herself with a swift glance at her mistress’s closed face. She expected to see tears, so she was completely nonplussed by the blazing anger in the countess’s narrowed green eyes.

Babs was not aware of her maid’s consternation. She turned her face to the window and stared blindly outside, never seeing anything of the teeming London streets.

The interview with her father had ended as badly as possible. He had not only refused to consider repayment of the vowels, but he had with diabolical accuracy ripped aside her own pretenses and brutally and without compassion forced her to face a truth that she had hidden even from herself: she had lost her heart to the unfeeling earl.

When Babs arrived at the town house, it was to discover from the butler that the earl had been asking for her and that he had been awaiting her return for the past hour.

Babs cast a swift glance toward the closed door of the study. “Pray inform his lordship that I shall be with him directly,” she said before picking up her skirt and running quickly upstairs.

Her maid followed, expostulating under her breath at the hurry and scurry to which she had been subjected that day.

Ten minutes later, Babs descended the stairs. She had changed from her bonnet and pelisse into a smart afternoon dress trimmed in yellow ribbons. Her auburn hair had seen a hasty brush. She appeared perfectly cool and collected as she nodded her appreciation to the footman who ushered her into the study.

Lord Chatworth looked up from his contemplation of the records before him. He smiled at his wife before he glanced toward his secretary. “That will be all for now, Hobbs.”

The secretary collected the accounts books and bowed himself out of the room.

Lord Chatworth came from around the desk to take his wife’s hand. He lightly kissed her fingers. “I missed you this afternoon, Babs. I had not known that you meant to go out.”

“I was merely gadding about town today.” Babs smiled at the earl. She hoped that he was not nearly so prescient as she had come to think him in the last few weeks. He had several times anticipated her wishes and even her thoughts. She had not enjoyed herself so much in all her life since his lordship had been spending nearly each day with her, spoiling her with drives about the town and private excursions to such points of interest as the Tower and Astley’s Circus.

As she looked at him, she thought that it was the fault of his recent attentions that she had so completely lost her head. He was still the Earl of Chatworth, the same gentleman who had agreed to allow her to pursue her own peccadilloes so that he would be free to do the same. He kept a mistress and he gambled and he was a feckless libertine, she told herself. Nevertheless her father had been horridly correct: she had fallen totally and completely in love with her husband.

“Babs, are you quite all right?” His lordship’s keen eyes had narrowed as he saw the flicker of unhappiness that crossed his wife’s face.

Babs knew herself too inexperienced in falsehoods to be able to divert him entirely from the truth. “I saw my father today,” she admitted.

Lord Chatworth’s face hardened. “Did you, indeed! The man had the effrontery to approach you, I suppose.”

Babs made a dismissive gesture. She seated herself in a chair. “It is done. Let us talk of something more pleasant.’’

“I am very willing to do just that,’’ said Lord Chatworth. He sat down on the edge of the desk and began to gently swing his booted toe to and fro.”We are attending the theater this evening, my lady. I hope that meets with your approval?”

Babs’ eyes lighted up. “Of course, Marcus! I should like to get out.”

He curled his lips in a faintly mocking smile. “I am devastated, madam! I had thought you satisfied with but my estimable company.”

Babs rose from the chair, laughing. “Indeed, sir! You have been the meat of my days. But an occasional dessert is not to be spurned.”

“Why do I gather that you are thinking of your dinner, madam?” he murmured.

Babs laughed again. She crossed to the door, saying over her shoulder, “I shall count the moments until we meet again, over the soup.”

“Minx.’’ Lord Chatworth was smiling as his wife left the study. The last few weeks had passed with astonishing ease.

He had diligently applied himself to the role of husband and faithful escort, fully expecting to be bored out of his head before the fortnight was out. But he had been increasingly surprised by the amount of pleasure he continued to derive from his wife’s company. She was a willing and eager companion, one who was not above twitting him for his arrogance or applauding him for some witticism.

Once he had begun to escort Babs about town, he was unsurprised that she gained an instant popularity that she had not known before. It was only to be expected that society’s avid curiosity should be roused by the lady who had so absorbed the Earl of Chatworth that he eschewed his old haunts and pleasures. Babs had naturally been wary of the attention, but eventually she had warmed to it. Lord Chatworth had been quite amazed at her quiet transformation into confidence.

That, as well as the message that he had conveyed so very clearly by his actions that he would tolerate no grazing in his pasture, gave him great satisfaction. Barbara had at last attained the respect that her position as his countess had always entitled her.

A month later Babs herself felt that she had at last achieved some standing of her own in society. She had learned to overcome her shrinking feeling in company, and it had been especially helpful to her to have Miss Stonehodge to consider.