The Virtuous Ward (Sweet Deception Regency #5) (20 page)

"Dev, old man!" Max exclaimed. He leaped to his feet and grasped the extended hand, gripping it with an enthusiastic shake. "Pull up a chair. Can you stay for awhile or are you on your way to an engagement?"

Dropping down in the chair at right angles to Max, Dev said, "I have the entire evening free. I am yours to command."

"Good show! I have no plans either so I will enjoy the company."

"Are you sure? When I asked to join you, I thought you might run me through," Dev said, cocking an eyebrow in question.

"My apologies. I have been blue-deviled this evening but now that you are here, I feel my spirits returning to a better humor." Max raised his glass just as George arrived with a snifter for Dev. They saluted each other and Max took a sip of the heady liquor. "What brings you to town? I assumed you were moldering in the country, awaiting the heir to the Cathcart fortune. Speaking of which, how is Jena?"

"As to your second question, my darling wife is blooming with health. She bewails the fact that in profile she appears to be carrying some misshapen behemoth but quite frankly I have never seen her look more beautiful." Dev beamed in pride at his approaching fatherhood. "There are still three months to go before the appearance of the much awaited heir and already my grandfather is demanding that we move to Waverly for the confinement."

"Will you go?" Max asked, amused as always by news of the feisty Duke of Waverly.

Dev pushed a hand through his white hair and grimaced. "I fear the old man will give me no peace unless we accede to his wishes. Jena dotes on the curmudgeon and has agreed, on the condition that we return in time for the foaling season."

"I wish you both well," Max said, his face serious. He raised his snifter. "To the health and happiness of your lady wife."

"To Jena!" Dev raised his glass then took a long swallow before he continued. "Now as to your first question, I am come to town to handle the transfer of some property. Nothing too involved but it gave me a chance to stop for a visit and bring you up to date on the latest news from the country. I am chagrined to report that my wife has been most successful in her quest. Reggie is getting married."

"Devil you say! I never imagined our friend would take the plunge. Your Jena is a matchmaker to be wary of. Do I know the girl?"

"Don't think so. Diane Farrington. Family's big in hunting circles. Father's the Hunting Vicar of Frostiglade. She's young, eighteen, and a neck or nothing rider. Quite surprising, since she's a little bit of a blond thing with great cornflower eyes and a wispy voice. On the back of a horse, she's something ferocious."

Max's eyes wandered to the blank wall outside the window as he reviewed the many escapades in which he, Dev, Reggie and the lumbering Dickon had been involved. Dev was married and now Reggie. The old days were gone.

"I'm glad for him, Dev. When you see him be sure and convey my sincerest wishes," he said.

"He mentioned that he hoped you would come north for the wedding. After all, it seems fitting for the four of us to have one more Bacchanalian feast," Dev announced, grinning when Max nodded in agreement. "By the way, my friend, what of your own marital plans. When last we spoke you were heading for London with an antidote of a ward and a yearning to be leg-shackled."

For the first time in their conversation, the frown returned to Max's face. "In actual fact, old chum, the antidote ward turned out to be a butterfly of outstanding beauty. A virtuous ward to be proud of. It seems I will have her off my hands quite soon. Tomorrow I believe she will be announcing her betrothal."

Dev noted the tightness of Max's mouth as he bit off the last words. There was something wrong here and he suspected it was the reason his friend had been so Friday-faced when he arrived. "Do not leave me in the dark. I wish to know all of the details of the beauteous, eh, Endurance, if my memory serves me."

Max laughed in remembrance. "I had quite forgotten. When she arrived, we agreed that Amity would be far more preferable. Although now that I think on it, as her guardian I have had a great deal to endure."

With halting words at first, Max began to tell of all that had transpired since Amity came to intrude on his well-regulated, bachelor existence. Dev noted how his friend's voice softened when he spoke of the girl and how often Max laughed over her unusual antics. It was apparent to Dev that Max was in love with his ward, but he was not sure if his friend even realized that fact.

"What an enterprising wench," Dev said as the recital came to an end. "Jobs for soldiers. What a novel idea."

"I was sure you would appreciate that part of the story, since Jena was involved in a similar scheme. Except as I recall she hired the most disreputable specimens it has ever been my good fortune to encounter."

"Quite a scurvy lot," Dev agreed, chuckling before he continued. "And you say that despite all Amity's activities, you have managed to arrange a marriage?"

"Not arranged. She had offers aplenty which for various reasons I turned down as not being quite the thing. The last offer was from a very eligible parti. Lord Bancroft Paige. Do you know him?"

"Blond curls and the face of a cupid?"

Max snorted in amusement. "That sums it up. Good family. Pots of money. She's a lucky girl."

These last words were said with a sneering tone that suggested to Dev that perhaps there was still hope for Max. "Don't sound as though you half like the man."

Max's forehead wrinkled as a frown took possession of his face. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "I have nothing against the man, Dev. He's above reproach in many ways. There's never been a hint of scandal bandied about and I suspect all things considered he would make a good husband. I just do not feel he will be good for Amity."

"In what way?" Dev asked cautiously.

Max threw himself against the leather back of the chair. "In every way," he growled. "Without knowing Amity, it is difficult to explain what she is like. She’s volatile and impetuous, obsessively curious and free-spirited. She needs a strong hand to keep her from running off on some half-baked scheme, without keeping the control so tight that it breaks her spirit or she rebels. Beyond that, she needs someone who can enter into her activities with a sense of fun."

"The Bancroft Paige I remember does not possess many of those qualities," Dev remarked. "Rather a lofty type as I recall."

"Dry as a bone, Dev. Doubt if the man has a lick of humor anywhere in his whole body. He will be appalled once he discovers the kind of girl she is. He will have no idea what a treasure he possesses but will try to bend her into a mold of convention. She will not bend; she will break."

Max's words quite unsettled him and there was a light of anguish that beamed from his eyes as he stared down into his drink. Dev was perplexed, not knowing what to do for the best. He hated seeing his friend so distraught but he was loath to interfere. For the moment he thought it was best to change the subject since he needed further enlightenment to understand the full problem.

"And how goes your campaign to find the perfect wife?"

If anything Max looked more disturbed by the question. "Devil take it, Dev! I thought I had my entire life under control. Now I wonder if I have sense enough to come in out of a rain."

"It would seem, old chum, that from the exasperation I see in your eyes, you have made an almighty hash of the whole project." Dev grinned at his friend's snort of disgust. "I told you once that men were not intended to understand women."

"To my shame I will admit that I scoffed at that statement." Once more Max leaned forward, his face set in an earnest expression. "I thought I understood what made the perfect wife. But in the last several months I find that what I want and what I think I want are not the same things."

"Perhaps they are, Max. There was a time in my life when I was convinced that marrying Jena was the worst of disasters. I began to realize that if I stopped fighting the inevitable, the greatest happiness would be mine. Love caught me unaware but now I believe in its power."

Dev was silent for a moment as he gauged his friend's reaction. He knew that with Max's background he had tried to create an oasis of order and method in his life. Love was irrational and as such would be difficult for Max to come to terms with. Listening to his friend's description of his dealings with Amity, Dev had sensed a core of happiness that had been totally absent before.

"What do you think you want?" Dev asked.

"I think I want Honoria Waterston. It is very strange however, I have begun to wonder if in fact she is only a lady in appearance. For me a lady should have goodness, honesty, humor and moral strength. Because Honoria looked the part of the lady, I assumed she possessed all of these qualities but in actual fact I suspect she has none. I sensed she would conform to convention and never give me a reason to worry about her conduct unless I looked too closely at her activities. I think I was delighted with the restfulness I felt in her presence, a freedom of emotional involvement. Now I wonder if I will not die of boredom with that sort of relationship."

"What do you want, Max?"

"Damn it all, Dev. I want Amity!"

"Ah ha, my friend. At last you are honest with me," he grinned across at his disgruntled friend. "When you described Amity, I did not feel that her actions were vulgar or tasteless."

"That is the confusing part of this whole thing. She is the exact antithesis of my idea of a proper lady and yet in her I find all the qualities of a real lady. The servants adore her and you know how starched up my staff is. She is strong and fine and good." Max sounded as though he had just listed all her worst characteristics.

"Are you in love with her?"

"Yes, damn it! She makes me laugh," Max snapped, glaring at Dev as if to dare him to sneer at such an illogical statement. "She came bursting into my well-ordered life and invaded all the rooms of my house like a horde of avenging Berbers. I grumbled and grumped but discovered an ability to laugh that I have not had since I was a child. She's like sunshine, quicksilver and I find the thought of losing her to some starched-up, stick of a man quite unbearable."

"It would seem to me, Max, that you ought to make some push in her direction. The man of action I used to recall would not sit all evening at his club, swilling brandy and feeling sorry for himself." Dev's face took on a haughty expression and he stared at Max. "Have you mentioned your feelings to the girl?"

"Of course not, Dev! That would be most improper since I am, as you recall, her guardian." He shifted in his chair and a flush invaded the whiteness of his face. Dev raised an eyebrow in question. "It was nothing," Max said hastily.

"Stubble it!"

"All right. All right. I kissed her, if you must know." Max raised a hand palm outward in defense. "It happened when we fell in the water trying to rescue a cat. It meant nothing. It was the excitement of the moment and it was forgotten right afterwards. Of course I apologized. Amity was flustered but she puffed it off as just a kiss between friends."

"And you bought that? Good Lord, Max. You have got straw in your cockloft," Dev crowed. "So you will let your ward marry an unsuitable man while you do nothing to prevent it. Strange actions for a guardian. By the way, I find it hard to believe that the inventive Miss Amity you have described is in love with the unexciting Lord Bancroft Paige. Why is she marrying him?"

"Because I told her to," Max growled. "As her guardian it is my duty to advise her. She trusts me. I told her I thought it would be an excellent arrangement." Dev stared down his nose in condemnation of such stupidity. "What could I say? I was not aware of my feelings at the time. Besides she does not think of me in any way other than as her guardian."

"Are you sure? Did she seem horrified when you kissed her?"

"Well, no. On the contrary, she appeared to quite enjoy the incident," Max said, a momentary glimmer of hope in his eyes. Then he shook his head in rejection. "She has not had much acquaintance with lovemaking so I expect it was the novelty of the experience."

"Believe me, Max, if she did not have some feeling for you, she would have reacted with either horror or affront."

"Do you think so?"

There was a look of such expectation on Max's face that Dev was hard pressed to restrain his laughter. "At least give the girl a chance. Besides it matters not whether she can love you. As her guardian, you cannot sit back and let her betroth herself to that stiff-necked Paige. You cannot ignore the situation."

"You're right, Dev," Max said with conviction, but then his face took on an anguished look. "She told me once that she wanted to get married in order to have a baby, if you can believe that kind of nonsensical reasoning. She understands little about love because she has had so little in her life. Besides she is convinced that I am about to offer for Honoria. I have given her no reason to expect otherwise, so I am not sure she will believe that I have had an abrupt change of mind. Worse than that she has already accepted Bancroft. Even if I tell her I do not think he is the right man for her, she will still feel honor bound to defend his suit. I understand her well enough to know she will never cry off and risk hurting Paige, despite the fact that he will make her most unhappy."

"In that case you will just have to convince Paige that she would make a very poor wife," Dev concluded.

"That's just what I'm trying to tell you. She will make a wonderful wife. Only a dolt and a dunderhead would not be able to see that!" When Max looked up, he noted the gleam of roguery in Dev's eyes and he blinked in sudden awareness. His mouth pulled wide in a devilish grin. "I say, old bean, are you suggesting that Lord Bancroft Paige might be a dolt and a dunderhead?"

Dev spread his hands in a gesture of innocence and his blue eyes were guileless as he returned Max's glance. A deep chuckle rumbled up from Max's chest and he raised his snifter in a final toast.

"To Paige."

"Hear! Hear!" responded Dev.

For Max it was like a return to the old days and he wished Reggie and Dickon were here to join forces. He moved his chair closer to Dev's and they began to consider possible strategies.