The Thoroughly Compromised Bride (4 page)

His lordship drew himself up stiffly, and waited, a study in injured dignity, until Elizabeth and Charles managed to regain their composure.

As soon as she was able, Elizabeth gasped, “Oh, pray forgive us, my lord. It was only... I mean...”

“Well!” pronounced Lord Braxton severely. “I cannot like this tendency towards levity in you. Miss Ashton. It is to be hoped most devoutly that with the proper influence— But this is neither the time nor the place for that. I will speak to you of that at another time. Come, my dear, I shall see you home.”

Charles Carlyle looked down at him from hooded eyes, a disdainful smile curling his lips. “Sorry, Braxton, but I’ve already offered to see the lady home. No, don’t eat me! I know you wish me to the devil, but I don’t intend to oblige you just now.”

“Sir, I find your language offensive!” his antagonist told him in outraged tones. “I would remind you that there is a lady present!”

“I doubt the lady finds my language as offensive as your behaviour. You are making a cake of yourself, man. Worse than that, you are embarrassing Miss Ashton. Give over!”

“Not only are you offensive, Mr. Carlyle, but you are insulting as well, and I shall not stand for your insults!”

“Is that a challenge, Braxton? Or are you merely offering to mill me down?”

Never before had Lord Braxton been so tempted to challenge a man to a duel, but a strong sense of self-preservation prevented it. However, shaking with emotion, his face alarmingly red, and his mouth working, he had to pause for a moment before he was able to gain enough control to say coldly, “I am sure Miss Ashton is deeply grateful for your offer, sir, but she will not wish to put you to any further trouble now that I am here.”

He reached confidently for Elizabeth’s arm, but she stepped back quickly, avoiding his grasp, and said, “No! You needn’t bother, my lord. I have told Mr. Carlyle that I should be glad of his escort.”

And with that, Elizabeth and Charles walked away, leaving Lord Braxton sputtering impotently.

When they had left the Pump Room, Elizabeth tried to school her expression into one of stern reproach, but laughter hovered at the edge of her voice as she said, “Oh, shameless! Now see what you have done! You’ve made a liar of me.”

“I see what it is. You have a
tendre
for him.”

“Oh, was anything ever more ridiculous?” she cried. “Well, you are fair and far out there! And if you think any such thing, you must have windmills in your head!”

He smiled at her but made no answer, and they walked on companionably until he suddenly asked, “Why do you come out unattended? Is this the custom now prevailing in this part of the country?”

“No, of course not, but it is not so necessary here as it would be in London, especially for me, since I am far past the age of needing a chaperon.”

His eyes gleamed with amusement. “No! Are you? How well preserved you are, ma’am. But then I cannot help wondering how it comes about that a woman of such advanced age has never married.”

Elizabeth gasped. “Really, sir! That can be no concern of yours.”

“Possibly not. But why haven’t you?”

“Good God! What an ill-mannered, uncivil man you are!”

“Do you think so? That seems a little harsh to me. But why have you never married?”

In exasperation, Elizabeth answered angrily, “Because I like my life very well as it is. And... and I have never wished to marry. And this is a most improper conversation for us to be having!”

“Yes, isn’t it?” he agreed unabashedly.

“Well, if you know that, why do you persist in such impropriety?”

He looked at her with an inscrutable smile, but ignored her question, saying instead, “Do you know, I have the feeling that you are not being entirely honest with me. What other reason have you for not marrying? I cannot believe that you’ve received no offers.”

“Certainly I have,” she could not resist saying. “Three unexceptional ones in fact, and I refused them all.”

“Hmm. I wonder why? Come, my dear, what do you have against marriage?”

“The devil!” she cried. “I do not intend to discuss this with you any further, sir! Suffice it to say that marriage holds no allure for me. And you are a fine one to talk!”

He burst out laughing. “Ah! There’s my charmer. Shall I tease you until I learn your secret, my sweet?”

This was coming too close for comfort and, lips compressed, she disdained to answer, resorting to silence again, which neither attempted to break for some time, until finally she said, “I wish you would stop addressing me in that improper manner. I am neither your ‘sweet,’ nor your ‘charmer.’“

“Now there I’m afraid I must differ with you. You must allow me to know what you are to me. However, if it will please you, I’ll address you only as ma’am, or Miss Ashton when anyone else is about. When we are alone, it is a different matter.”

“I suppose I should be glad of that much at least. Do you know you are really quite impossible?”

He squeezed her hand, laughing down at her, and she found it difficult not to smile back at him, difficult to remain angry with him. She could certainly see why he had the reputation of being a rake! He was impudent and a shocking flirt—and utterly irresistible. She knew that she ought to remonstrate with him more, ought to insist that he address her properly at all times. She also knew that she was allowing him to behave with far too much intimacy towards her. But she did enjoy his flirting, and as long as she realized that it was no more, it seemed harmless enough. Besides, if she did not let it drop, he would very likely say something even more outrageous!

He broke in on her thoughts then, saying, “Tell me, what do you do for entertainment here?”

Relieved at the change of topic, she answered, “Oh, we have any number of amusements to keep us entertained. At the New Assembly Rooms there are balls on Monday and Thursday evenings, and if you care for cards, there are two card rooms there. There are concerts every Wednesday evening, and I believe there are balls and entertainments at the Lower Rooms as well, though I’ve not been to them. In addition there are private balls and—”

“Stop!” he cried with a laugh. “I can see that your social life is quite hectic. You must be worn to a thread after a week of such frantic gaiety.”

Unable to withhold an answering grin, she admitted, “It
is
a trifle dull at times,” then quickly assured him, “but you needn’t consider me an object deserving of your pity! I am seldom bored, and can always find something to hold my interest.”

“My beautiful little pea-goose. Pity is
not
what I feel for you!”

She blinked at him, blushing rosily, but as they had by then arrived at her doorstep, she was not obliged to answer and said instead, “Thank you for walking with me, though it wasn’t at all necessary.”

“Much as it pains me to contradict you, my girl, there was every necessity. It really is not the thing for young females to go traipsing through town unattended.”

In her haughtiest voice she replied, “Sir, I have told you before that I am long since past the age of having to worry that such things will damage my reputation.”

“Oh, yes, an ape leader in fact!” he said, and touching her cheek lightly with one finger, a heart-stopping look of warmth in his eyes again, he turned and strode away.

CHAPTER FOUR

In the meantime, Emily and Margaret had indeed enjoyed a comfortable coze. Over tea, they brought each other up to date on the particulars of their lives. It took little time to dispense with the previous six years: they had, after all, written to one another frequently, and conversation soon moved on to more current topics. Chief amongst these were gossip concerning mutual friends, the latest news from London and plans for the winter.

Lady Langley, a handsome, formidable-looking matron, finally asked, “Well, and how does Elizabeth do?”

Emily replied, “Oh, she does very well. She is the dearest girl!”

“Girl? Hardly that! She must have close on six-and-twenty years in her dish by now!”

“Well, yes—very nearly.”

Shrewdly, her ladyship asked, “Do I detect a note of concern in your voice? Out with it, Emily. What’s troubling you?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing—truly!”

Her friend snorted. “Don’t try to flummery me! I know you too well.” And after a hesitation, she asked, “Why hasn’t she married?”

Emily sat forward in her chair. “Now, there you have put your finger on the very problem. Heaven knows that it isn’t for lack of opportunity. Why, even now I am in daily explication of Lord Braxton’s making her an offer.” Then she added, her voice sinking with dejection, “But I would be astonished if she were to accept him.”

“Why ever should she not? What is wrong with him?”

“Nothing in the world!” cried Emily bitterly. “Everything about him is just as it should be. Only she will say that she does not love him.”

“Oh, love!” said Lady Langley wisely. “Well, I cannot have anything to say against that. Mine, after all, was a love match. However, there is still something to be said for arranged marriages. What a pity they have gone out of style!”

“Indeed, I have said so to Elizabeth often and often, but to no avail. And why she should wish to dwindle into an old maid is something I cannot understand, but so it is.”

Nodding her head sympathetically, her friend replied, “Yes, I can comprehend your feelings exactly! Charles is just such another sad case, though the unmarried state is not, in the ordinary way, the tragedy for a male that it is for a female. Time out of mind I’ve told that ramshackle brother of mine to find himself a wife and set up his nursery. ‘Twould be the making of him, I don’t doubt, but he’s frustrated my every effort at matchmaking.” Laughing merrily, she continued, “Do you know, at one time I even thought that he and Elizabeth would suit, and did my best to bring them together, but it came to nought.”

“Oh? I didn’t know. Pray, when was that?”

“Why, six years ago when I had all of you for my house party. After commanding Charles to be there without fail, I had thought to have an entire sennight in which to promote the match, but the perverse creature only arrived on the last evening, and then only after Elizabeth had gone early to bed—so very provoking it was! I have always suspected that his only reason for appearing at all was to see Lady Sabina, and thank God
that
affair died aborning, for you know, her husband was not at all inclined to look the other way.”

Emily could only reply faintly, “Oh, yes,” for she was a much less sophisticated soul than Lady Langley, and easily shocked. In fact, two more unlikely confidantes would be hard to discover, but they had grown up as close neighbours, and friends they remained, in spite of their disparities.

There was a pause in the conversation, and Emily asked with a puzzled frown, “But why did they never meet in London?”

“Elizabeth and Charles? That’s easily explained. Like as not they never attended the same functions. He’s had so many chits flung at his head by their predatory mamas that for years he’s avoided each new crop like the plague.”

Emily sighed for what might have been. “Oh, dear! What a pity! Elizabeth and Charles...! I should like it above all things. But perhaps... I mean, is he not...? that is, I have heard...” and with face flaming, she finished in a strangled voice, “his reputation?”

This drew another peal of laughter from her friend, and she answered, “Oh, Lord, yes, he is a shocking reprobate! But what

does that signify? He is still one of the most eligible
partis
anywhere in England, and depend upon it, my dear, there is no better husband than a reformed rake, and no better way to reform one than putting him in the way of the right female.”

“But, Margaret, now that they
have
met, perhaps they may yet make a match of it.”

“Not if they’re left to themselves! I daresay they’d mismanage the affair miserably. However, you and I might contrive to bring the thing off, though I warn you, it will be no easy task. I don’t depend upon his remaining with me above one or two more days. But we won’t despair. I shall try, if I can, to devise a way to keep him longer.”

“Oh, you will, I feel sure! As clever as you are!”

And the two conspirators smiled happily at each other just as Elizabeth, returning, came into the room.

If her heightened colour was remarked at all, it was attributed to the coldness of the weather, and after staring critically for a moment, Lady Langley declared, “Well, Elizabeth, I have never seen you in better looks.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I need not ask how you do, for you look delightfully.”

“Handsomely said, my dear.”

Emily interrupted these civilities to say accusingly, “Oh, Elizabeth, never say you walked home alone! And do not think to pull the wolf over my eyes, for I saw Jennings return some time ago!”

“No, Aunt Emily. You need not rake me over the coals. Mr. Carlyle was kind enough to escort me home, and you’ll be pleased to hear that he agrees with you completely, though I am surprised that
he
of all people should be such a champion of propriety!” In sudden realization, Elizabeth glanced at Lady Langley guiltily. “Forgive me, ma’am. I should not have said that.”

Lady Langley laughed gaily. “Oh, you need not apologize, my dear. I know my brother only too well! And I must tell you that when it comes to the question of a lady’s reputation, the most hardened rake can become an absolute prig.”

Elizabeth refrained from commenting upon such hypocrisy, and after chatting for a few minutes. Lady Langley took her leave, plans having been made before her departure, for them to meet the following morning in the Pump Room.

* * * *

Upon entering the Pump Room the next day, Elizabeth and Emily found Lady Langley and Melanie already there, and wasted no time in taking them over to join Mrs. Gilbert. That lady was the proud mother of a young daughter, and the two girls, being nearly the same age, were soon chattering together in a lively manner that boded well for a blossoming friendship.

The women watched them for several minutes, the older three indulgently, and Elizabeth with amusement. But when the women began to converse, and the discourse turned to child-rearing, Elizabeth found her attention wandering. Excusing herself to go to Meyler and Sons Library, which conveniently adjoined the Pump Room, she hurried away, promising to return before they should be ready to leave.