The Houseparty (3 page)

"Two days will hardly give you enough time to put on that much," he muttered, scattering papers with a petulant shove. He was a man who liked his creature comforts.

"Well, then, why don't you speak to Mrs. Gibson and have her bring you some nice warm scones in your study later on? As long as I am unaware of their existence, I shan't mind," she allowed graciously.

"I fail to see why I must hide away in my study to eat," he cried. "Who runs this house, anyway?"

"I do."

He paused, nonplussed. "Well, who is the master of it, then?"

She dropped a kiss on the noble brow that had caused more than one susceptible parishioner to entertain lustful thoughts. "I am," she said, and whisked herself out the door, leaving her brother fuming, determined to sulk in his study until she returned to beg his pardon. But five minutes later, with visions of hot buttered scones and fresh ginger biscuits dancing in his head, he strode into the warm and cozy little drawing room that was Elizabeth's
particular retreat. He found his sister curled up on the love seat by the fire, her feet tucked under her, a French novel of dubious social merit in one well-shaped hand and a cup of tea nearly finished by her side. On the plate in front of her were two solitary-looking ginger biscuits.

Sumner eyed her with great sadness. "You promised me six," he said incomprehensibly, and then she realized that he meant the biscuits. She smiled up at him with that lightning change of expression that turned her face from passably pretty to almost beautiful.

"Not to worry, Sumner. I had Mrs. Gibson hide them from me. I'm sorry I teased you, dearest. I will go to Winfields. I will be on my best behavior, and you'll have no cause to blush for me."

Settling down opposite her (though he would have preferred the comfortable sofa, he thought fretfully), Sumner let out a sigh of relief. Elizabeth could be such
a triai
at times. "And you won't set
Adolphus's
back up?" he questioned warily.

She handed him his tea. "I will
flirt
just the proper amount with Adolphus. I will convince Lady
Eifreda
of my disinterest.
I
will be respectful to Sir Maurice, polite to the boring young adjutant. Was there anyone else?"

"Miss
Q'Shea
," he said, and his sister didn't miss the slight change in his mellifluous voice.

"I will be charming and friendly to
Brenna
O'Shea, with just the proper hint of condescension since she is a poor relation. That's what you wish, isn't it?" she inquired impishly.

"It is not! Miss O'Shea is a very nice young lady who thinks just as she ought about all things. You could take a lesson or two in deportment from her," he replied defensively.

The smile lit Elizabeth's golden-brown eyes once more. "I will study Miss O'Shea's behavior that I might learn proper deportment, and I will keep my tongue in my head at all times. What more could you ask, Sumner dear?"

He eyed her warily. "I could ask that there was even the slightest chance such a thing could happen. But the age of miracles has passed."

Elizabeth smiled. "Cheer up, Sumner. At the very worst, we are in for an extremely boring weekend. Nothing ever - happens at Cousin
Adolphus's
houseparties
.
Nothing at all."

Winfields
was a very ancient, very grand estate. The first
Wingert had come over from France with William the Conqueror and had haughtily accepted as his due some fifty thousand of the ripest acres in Dorset. During the long centuries that followed, the Wingerts had erected Winfields, with each generation adding something to its overwhelming consequence and lack of beauty, till now it rambled and towered and loomed over the remaining five thousand acres (some of the Wingerts had been fatally addicted to gaming) with a ramshackle air that would have been comical had it not been for the sheer force of the Wingert family pride. The current incumbent, Baron Adolphus Wingert, squire of the village, justice of the peace, eligible bachelor and devoted son, spent as little time there as his duties would allow. But Adolphus was ever zealous in performing his duties, one of which was to entertain his distant cousin Sumner Traherne and that toothsome sister of his for a weekend just before the season started in London.

Another of his duties was to wed and beget an heir. His mother, the formidable Lady
Eifreda
Wingert, never failed to bring this up, and so at age forty Adolphus had finally decided to capitulate. With the right sort of female who knew better than to interfere in his life, he could continue on with his comfortable existence. The only question left was who the lucky girl would be.

There was
Brenna,
of course. When she had first arrived from Ireland to serve as his mother's companion, Adolphus had had little doubt she was one of his mother's selected brides. And indeed, she was a nice enough girl, biddable and sweet-tempered, but a bit on the bony side. Adolphus liked his females well rounded. His mind slipped back to Elizabeth Traherne, and he licked his thick pink lips.

"Adolphus!"
His mother's piercing tones startled him out of a pleasant if somewhat lascivious reverie. With a great sigh and creaking of stays he rose from his comfortable chair and ambled off in the direction of that demanding voice.

It was a laborious process. Adolphus Wingert prided himself on his resemblance to his idol, the Prince Regent. Indeed, their girths were similar, with Adolphus having a slight edge. They had the same milky blue eyes, with golden waves trimmed and arranged a la Brutus. If Adolphus didn't affect quite the extremes of fashion
Prinny
was wont to, at least he was both colorful and elegant, and his stays were far tighter. Not only did the whalebone corseting hold his somewhat excessive stomach in check, it forced him to walk bolt upright, adding to the air of consequence he liked to affect. That it also interfered with his breathing, particularly after a heavy meal (and he ate no light ones), was merely one of the little annoyances one had to cope with in a less than perfect life.

By the time he traversed the hallway, descended three short steps, turned two sharp corners, and went up another four steps to his mother's salmon and apple-green sitting room, he was quite winded and had to content himself with staring, glassy-eyed, at his mother's indomitable figure.

Lady Elfreda Wingert was spare as her only child was corpulent. She was fully six feet tall, with long, thin arms and strong hands that enjoyed pinching and slapping at the servants and her overgrown son, a narrow face adorned with a long, thin nose, two small, hard blue eyes, a thin-lipped mouth, and an expression of perpetual disapproval. Added to this unpleasant expression was an air of hauteur that was outdone only by her son. It was no wonder that the pretty young girl at her side had an unhappy expression lingering in eyes so green they could only be Irish.

"The Trahernes have arrived," she said in her cold, carrying tones. "I wonder if you know what absurd hopes you are encouraging in that young woman's breast by inviting them here every
year?
Soon she will be having airs above her station, fancying herself the future Lady Wingert, and I shall be forced to give her a sharp
setdown
, making it impossible for me to attend my own church. Why you constantly refuse to listen to me is a wonder, when I have only your own best interests at heart."

"Now, now, Mama," he said soothingly between gasps for air. "Elizabeth is a very nice young lady. A less encroaching lady I have yet to find. Why, she even pretends that she has no interest in my attentions at all. How could one ask for more maidenly modesty?"

"Attentions?"
Lady Elfreda had picked up the key word, and her voice rose sharply. "You haven't been paying her any marked attention, have you, Dolph?"

"Not yet," he admitted.

"Well, thank heavens for that. A more managing female I have yet to meet. If you wish to leg shackle yourself to an underbred, sharp-tongued hoyden who'd have you living under the cat's paw for the rest of your days, then I wash my hands of you. At age forty you should be old enough to know better."

"Now, Mama, you know I will be guided by your wise judgment in such matters," he said soothingly. "I would never willfully cause you any discomfort. But you wouldn't wish me to shirk my duty. The Trahernes are distant cousins, and I am Sumner's patron. It is necessary to entertain them occasionally, and what with Uncle Maurice arriving with his retinue, I couldn't think of a better time. Dispense with two duties at once, eh?"

"And that is another matter, Dolph. Out of the blue your uncle announces he is coming down to Winfields, without even asking whether or not it is convenient for us. And he's bringing not only that wretched young man I've heard so much about but a female besides!
Some foreign woman.
I told him he absolutely could not, but he ignored me. So like your dear father. I don't know what this world is coming to that I should have to entertain foreigners and poor relations at table, not to mention out- and-out traitors such as young
Fraser.
I can only thank heaven Sir Henry
Hatchett
and dear Beatrice chose this weekend to come also, or I might fear I'd be murdered in my bed. The next thing you know I'll be having the tenant farmers in for tea."

"Mama, I think you'd best watch your step about young
Fraser.
Nothing has been proved, you know. They would hardly have made him Uncle's adjutant if there was any blot on his record."

"They would hardly have made him your uncle's adjutant if there
weren't
a blot on his record. After his service in the Peninsula and the remarkable job he did in Vienna, there must be something terribly wrong for him to have been relegated to the position of high-class servant to an aging general. And I have little doubt you know exactly what it is," she added shrewdly.

"If I did, I would hardly be likely to spread such slander," said Adolphus loftily.

Lady Elfreda sighed, absently reaching out and giving her silent young companion a sharp pinch on the knee. "Help me to the front
hall, Brenna,"
she ordered crisply. "Much as I dislike Miss Traherne, I suppose it would only lower myself to be petty and not welcome her."

"That's my dear mother," Adolphus said approvingly, nearly earning a pinch for himself. "And I'm certain you've judged Miss Traherne too harshly. She's a very charming young lady with just a trace too much liveliness of tongue."

The lady with the lively tongue was standing in the large, drafty front hall of Winfields, staring about her with undisguised amusement. "How anyone could want to live in such a place is beyond me," she whispered loudly to her brother as she grimaced at the lofty caverns above her. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have bats."

"Hush, Elizabeth!" Sumner hissed, holding his well-proportioned frame upright as his hosts approached with regal ceremony. "For once, try to make a good impression," he pleaded.

"Why?" she questioned in an undertone as the Wingert family reached them.

"Well, well, little Elizabeth," Adolphus said jovially. "You must allow me a cousin's prerogative." Before she could divine his intention, she found herself firmly seized and a great wet kiss planted just beneath her left eye. At the same time a pudgy hand happened to squeeze her breast. Before she could slap him, he moved nimbly out of reach, greeting her brother with a comradely condescension that never failed to grate on her nerves. Before she could regain her composure, a thin bejeweled hand was held out to her. She looked up into Lady Elfreda's
lizardlike
eyes with a small shudder of dismay. Belatedly she reached out to take the hand, and Lady Elfreda dropped it, leaving Elizabeth standing awkwardly with her hand outstretched,
feeling
, as always with that woman, clumsy and ill-bred.