The Diabolical Baron (35 page)

Jason nodded to Caroline before leading Richard
into the ballroom. She watched them go, not knowing
whether to be glad or alarmed that they had taken to
each other. Her thoughts were interrupted by Lady
Edgeware. The old lady had been observing the ex
change with an inscrutable gaze, but she said merely,
“Come along, child. Your dance card is full and it is
time to reward all those gentlemen who have been
waiting so patiently.”

After several country dances, Jason claimed his fia
ncée for a waltz. The dance was more relaxed than their first one at Almack’s, but there was hardly more
conversation than on that occasion.

Caroline’s eyes
searched the crowd for her father, finally locating him
in the corner with a group of older men. He looked
likely to stay there for a few minutes, so she turned her
attention to the waltz, letting the lilt of it relax her.
Jason also seemed content to dance in silence; it struck
her forcibly that while they were now more comfort
able together, they really had nothing to talk about.
Their interests struck no sparks with each other.

As the dance neared its end, she looked across the
room and saw Richard. He had been talking with the
Chandlers and someone she vaguely recollected as
Lord Rankin, but he looked up as if feeling her regard.
Their eyes locked across the width of the room, azure
blue to calm hazel.

She suddenly remembered what Gina had said
about Gideon:
It’s like his arms are around me even when
he is across the room.
She could feel warmth and strength flowing into her, preparing her for the coming
interview. The music stopped and she looked up at
Jason, saying, “I must talk to my father now.”

Without knowing quite why, she added, “Why don’t you dance with Aunt Jessica? She has been a little sad
lately.” Then she turned and threaded her way
through the crowd without waiting for his response.

Jason watched her weave toward her father. Well,
why not dance with Jessica? Even the highest stickler
could hardly object to his dancing with a guest. The musicians had not yet struck up the next tune, so he
quickly requested another waltz and went in search of
Jessica. She was magnificent tonight in a silk gown of
shimmering russet, her eyes perhaps too bright, her
conversation mesmerizing her crowd of admirers. A
young naval officer on leave was about to lead her out
when Jason smoothly interposed, “I claim a host’s
right.” Without giving her time to object, he carried
her off.

If dancing with Caroline was like dancing with a
cloud, dancing with Jessica was unmistakably dancing with a woman. They did not speak at first, both racked
by the mixed pain and pleasure of their nearness. The dance was half done when she said, “I will be leaving
tomorrow for Wiltshire.”

“Must you go so soon?”

She met his eyes for the first time. “You know I
must.”

He was silent, loath to admit the wisdom of her ac
tion. He finally said, “Will I ever see you again?”

“I will come for the wedding. It would seem strange if I missed it.”

“And after that?”

“I will not come again. I hope Caroline will visit me
sometimes.” Her voice cracked suddenly. “I could not bear to lose you both.”

They continued to turn and glide, the moments run
ning away like the sands of an hourglass. He said finally, “I will send you to the Sterlings in one of my
carriages.”

“That isn’t necessary. The Letchworths said—”

“You will let me do this one last thing for you.” His
voice brooked no opposition, nor did she wish to pur
sue the point. Then the music ended, and they were
separate again.

Chapter 14

Caroline easily detached her father from his cronies.
He had been drinking and was in high gig, bask
ing in the knowledge that he would soon be connected with the wealth around him. She carried him off to the
small chamber by the ballroom where her pianoforte
had been placed.

Prompted by a feeling of unease, her
stepmother followed them in, firmly closing the
door behind. She had never known her stepdaughter
to voluntarily seek out her father; it could mean trou
ble.

Caroline was glad to see Lady Hanscombe; Louisa
might not be an ally but she was fair-minded and
might aid her stepdaughter’s cause. Standing by the
piano, Caroline rested one hand on the polished sur
face as if to draw courage from it. As she tried and
failed to find the words she needed, her father said
jovially, “You’ve done well for yourself, puss. There is
not a finer gentleman in England than your future hus
band. Nor a more generous one,” he added. The
money that had already changed hands had cleared
Sir Alfred’s major debts, but the additional settlement
money coming after the marriage would give him
enough to be able to speculate again.

Caroline’s voice was trembling and she couldn’t
meet his eyes. “Papa, how serious is the money prob
lem?”

His jolliness started to slide away, replaced by the first ugly signs of temper. “That’s none of your con
cern. After you’ve married him, there will be no prob
lems at all.”

“I don’t want to marry him.”

“I’ll have none of that missishness!” He made an attempt to be reasonable. His voice coaxing, he said, “It
is natural for girls to be a mite skittish about marriage,
but these vapors will pass soon enough.”

Taking a deep breath, she said, “I am not the least
vaporish. I want to marry someone else.”

There was a sharp gasp from Lady Hanscombe. Sir Alfred stared at his daughter, too astonished even for
anger. “What maggot is in your brain? Radford is the
only man who has ever shown the least interest in you,
and damned if I know why he has. You’ll marry him
and be grateful you’re not left on the shelf.”

She raised her head proudly. “Strange as it may
seem to you, someone else is in love with me. I love
him, and will marry him unless you can convince me
that it is absolutely essential to the family that I wed
Lord Radford.”

Since her father seemed to have been rendered tem
porarily speechless, she added, “I have some money
and will do what I can to help you establish my
younger brothers and sisters.”

“I’ll forbid your sister’s marriage to Fallsworthy!”

She shook her head. “I don’t think you can. The set
tlements have been signed, the engagement publically
announced. The Fallsworthy family love Gina and will
support her. If you attempt to interfere, I think Gideon
will get a special license and marry her on the spot.”

Sir Alfred was in shock at the sight of his most bidd
able child countering him point by point. Grasping at a
straw, he asked, “Who is it you want to marry? That fop Fitzwilliam? If he really wants you, I suppose it
would be acceptable.” It was well known that the
Honorable George was heir to a viscountcy and had nearly as much money as his friend. And as a bonus,
he would be a good deal more malleable than the un
comfortably acute Lord Radford.

“It is not George Fitzwilliam. It is no one you know.”

His dreams of a rich marriage evaporating, he asked
feebly, “Who, then?”

“His name is Richard Dalton. He was a captain in
the Ninety-fifth Rifles. He has sold his commission
and has been taking inventory at Wargrave Park.”

“You would throw away Radford for a penniless ex-soldier?”

“He is not penniless. He thinks he can get a small estate on the south coast.”

He shook his head, unable to believe his daughter
compared a country squire’s manor with the vast Kincaid properties.

“I’ll bandy no more words with you. You’ll many
Radford and that is the end of it.”

“No.”

“
What did you say?
”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “I said
no!
”

The tension in the air was nearly tangible as the
stocky man glared at the slim young woman, his
hands unconsciously clenching into fists. Lively music
from the ballroom sounded with grotesque cheerful
ness. Lady Hanscombe, silent till now, spoke in an at
tempt to defuse the situation.

“She is of age and we cannot stop her if she is deter
mined, Alfred. And since that trading ship of yours
made it back to London, our finances are not uncomfortable. We should investigate the young man to see
he is what he claims, but I talked with him earlier this
evening and he is pleasant enough. While it is not a
great match, there would be no disgrace in it.”

Sir Alfred shifted his angry glare to his wife. When
he looked back at Caroline, he found her staring at him
with huge accusing blue eyes.

“You mean ... you have had the money and made
no move to release me? After I had begged you to spare
me from a marriage I didn’t want? Have you never
cared, even a little, about what happens to me?”

She was crying, raw pain in her voice. Over the years she had neither expected nor received much
from her father, but to find his selfishness so great he
would consign her to emotional desolation was too
much to bear. That Jason had turned out to be a good
man was beside the point—the pain was in knowing
her father would have sold her to a malignant troll had
the price been right.

Unable to refute the censure in her eyes and voice,
he took two quick steps toward his daughter and
grabbed her by the shoulders. Shaking her violently,
he shouted in her face, “If you don’t marry him, I will
never be rich! You will do as I bid you!”

Tears coursing down her face, she still found the
voice to whisper, “No!”

The precarious hold on his temper snapped. Draw
ing back his right arm, he slapped her across the face
with the full strength of his thick shoulders. The vio
lence of the blow spun her away from his grip and sent
her slight body crashing to the floor.

She lay motionless by the piano while her step
mother knelt at her side and Sir Alfred’s horrified
rasps of breath filled the room. The chit had provoked
him, but he shouldn’t have hit her. Fragile as she was,
being knocked against the heavy mahogany instru
ment might have hurt her badly, even killed her. And if
killing his own child was not dreadful enough, there
were two men in this house who wanted to marry her, and either one might feel a need for vengeance
.

Caroline shifted slightly and looked at Louisa with
unfocused eyes. “Mama ... ?”

Lady Hanscombe supported her as she struggled to
a sitting position. Her father’s gold signet ring had
made a flaring welt on her cheekbone and the whole
left side of her face showed red and angry. There
would be heavy bruising soon; now the scent of
crushed roses from her flowery headdress lent an in
congruously sweet scent to the air.

Concern in her voice, Louisa asked, “How do you feel, child?”

Caroline moved her head slowly from side to side, then said, “I am all right, Mama. Please help me up.”
Her father’s blow had destroyed what love and duty
she had always tried to give him. In the wake of their
passing she felt a freedom and power entirely new to
her.

When she was upright, she looked her father di
rectly in the eye. “It is no use, Papa. You can hurt me, but you can no longer command me.” He made a confused motion with his hand while she continued in the
same small clear voice, “They say that love casts out
fear. Because I love and am loved now, I am not afraid of you anymore, and you can never compel me again.”

He stared at her, then turned abruptly and left the
room, unable to face his wife and daughter. As the
door banged behind him, Lady Hanscombe pressed
her gently to the piano bench and examined the welt
on Caroline’s face. “This will not scar, but you won’t
be fit for public view very soon. I will help you to your
room, then tell Lady Edgeware you were taken ill and
must miss the rest of the ball.”

“No, Mama. I want you to ask Lord Radford to come
to me here. The sooner I break this engagement, the better for all us. And then”—her face softened—”I
must see Richard.”