Amanda Scott - [Dangerous 04] (34 page)

“He is perfectly well, of course. He always is,” Daintry said. “I nearly expired though, through holding back laughter when he told us he had asked you to persuade the queen to reserve a ship for him.”

“What do you hear from young Gideon?”

“Nothing of late. I think he persuaded himself he need not write because we had left Paris and had not yet arrived in London, but your papa says we can go to Oxford to see him next week. Can you get leave to go with us?”

“I’ll try,” Letty told her.

“You must get some sleep now, darling, or you will look a hag tomorrow.”

Feeling nearly exhausted, Letty slept almost as soon as her head touched the pillow. And although she had intended to arise early so that she could breakfast with her parents, Jenifry did not waken her until nearly nine o’clock.

“Her ladyship said I mustn’t disturb you till the last possible minute,” the dresser said when Letty exclaimed at the time. “She is bathing now, but she said she knows you must leave before she and your papa do, so you are to visit her in her dressing room when you are ready to depart.”

Dressing quickly, Letty snatched up her gloves and mantle, told Jenifry to let Lucas know she was ready to leave, and went in search of the marchioness. Finding her still in her frilly dressing gown, seated before her looking glass, Letty said as she bent to kiss one rosy cheek, “You should wear that to the palace, ma’am. As beautiful as you are, you would turn every head in the room.”

Daintry chuckled. “You are kind to say so, darling, but my head-turning days are over. I mean to bask in the glory of my lovely daughter. Don’t tell me you haven’t collected a string of beaux here, for I shan’t believe you.”

Letty knew she was blushing, but she said calmly, “I shan’t tell you any such thing, ma’am. Nor would I be so brazen as to boast of a string. For one thing, until recently, most people at court ignored me, and although I received numerous invitations from our friends, I rarely had time to attend Tory parties or balls.”

“Not everyone at court ignored you, surely.”

“Not everyone,” Letty said, blushing again when a vision of Raventhorpe leapt to her mind’s eye.

“Ah-ha, just as I thought,” Daintry exclaimed. “Who is he?”

“No one. At all events, I cannot stay to talk or I’ll be late.”

“Very well, but we are going to have a long talk before we are much older, my dear. I want to hear about everything that has happened to you in London.”

With this daunting promise echoing in her ears, Letty hurried to her carriage, where Jenifry, Lucas, and Jonathan awaited her. Twenty minutes later they arrived at Buckingham Palace, and half an hour after that the queen’s party, in three carriages, traveled to St. James’s Palace for Her Majesty’s drawing room.

Letty had seen Raventhorpe astride a magnificent black gelding while everyone gathered to depart for St. James’s, but for the next two hours she found no opportunity for private speech with him. Upon their arrival at St. James’s, the queen took her place, standing before the throne and facing the wide entryway, the landing, and the grand stair up which the company would stream. The queen’s ladies gathered behind her, as always, and Lady Tavistock’s gaze seemed to rivet itself on Letty. It remained so until the presentations ended.

The only remarkable incident occurred when a deputation of twelve Quakers courteously but adamantly refused to remove their hats. Their doctrine, they explained patiently to the chamberlain, required that they should never voluntarily uncover their heads in the presence of either sovereign or lesser mortal.

Since the room contained a multitude of foreign dignitaries, as well as young women making their first curtsies to their queen, it seemed that a crisis might erupt, until a quick-thinking official solved the problem. As the Quakers mounted the grand staircase in pairs, two Yeomen of the Guard, one standing to the left and the other to the right, lifted off each man’s hat as he passed so that the letter of their rule remained inviolate.

Each man solemnly kissed the queen’s outstretched hand, evidently finding that bit of homage inoffensive to his principles. Indeed, Letty heard the leader of the group comment afterward that he found the act no hardship. “I assure thee,” he added, “it was a fair, soft, delicate little hand.”

At last the final presentation was over, and members of the company remaining in the chamber began to converse in normal tones while they awaited their turn to descend to the carriage hall. The queen engaged Lord Melbourne in conversation, and even Lady Tavistock allowed herself to respond cheerfully when someone approached her to chat.

Letty, having noted that her parents were among the remaining company, hesitated only a moment before making her way toward Raventhorpe, who stood alone for the moment near a window embrasure.

He smiled at her approach. “I like that gown,” he said the moment she was within earshot. “You wear lavender better than nearly any other woman of my acquaintance.”

“Thank you,” she said, surprised at how warming she found the simple compliment and wishing she need not spoil the moment by telling him about the recent events in Upper Brook Street. “Have you a moment to speak privately, sir?”

His eyes twinkled. “Perhaps it would be better to speak later, when Lady Tavistock is not so near at hand.”

“Where would you suggest we meet?” Letty asked with a grimace. “I could ask you to call at Jervaulx House now, but my parents are in town, so we cannot be private there, and you have forbidden me to visit Upper Brook Street.”

His mouth quirked. “Are you suddenly so obedient, then?”

“No,” she retorted frankly. “That is precisely why I must speak with you. I went there yesterday, and—”

“The devil you did!” The twinkle vanished, and his expression grew forbidding. “Just once, I wish you would show some sense, my girl.”

“I wish you would not call me that,” she snapped. “Moreover, we have no time for recriminations. I must tell you—”

“You have got to stay away from there until I can be certain—”

“You did not even stay in town long enough to see if your aunts obeyed your orders, sir. You went to Newmarket to the races!”

“I had committed to do so with friends, but what if I did? I could hardly stand over my great-aunts with a whip, you know. I believed them when they gave me their word. Are you telling me now that they broke it?”

“No.” She bit her lower lip, suddenly loath to tell him what had happened. She was facing him, her back to the general company, and when she looked at him again, she saw that he was gazing beyond her, his eyebrows knitted in a frown. “I wish you will stop glowering, Raventhorpe. People will wonder what we are saying. It’s bad enough already without that.”

“Your father is looking at me,” he said.

She was glad to note that his expression relaxed. “You can scarcely wonder at it if he is,” she said.

Raventhorpe smiled at her then. “No,” he said, “but no one warned me that the man cuts such an imposing figure as he does.”

Her heart warmed at seeing the smile, but she knew it would be short-lived. “There is no use putting this off,” she said a little sadly, “but you are going to be dreadfully angry, I think. I took Jeremiah with me when I visited them, you see.”

“I can scarcely be more angry at that than at your putting your reputation in jeopardy again,” he said gently.

“No, but that is not all.” She sighed, then added in a rush, “The maidservants have been helping your great-aunts by entertaining customers of their own, you see, and what’s worse than that is that your own mother is one of …”

The black look that descended on his face silenced her. For a moment he said nothing, but faced with that look she felt her knees begin to quake. Then, in measured words and an implacable tone that she had never before heard from him, he said, “Do continue. My mother is one of what?”

T
HE NOISE OF THE
drawing room seemed to fade, leaving Letty alone with Raventhorpe and his anger. She wanted to look away. Even more, she wanted to run. Never had her courage come so close to deserting her.

“Well?” Still that horrid, implacable tone.

“I should think you would be concerned about the maidservants’ activities,” she said. Then, before he could reply, she added hastily, “Did you hear what I said, sir? They have been granting sexual favors to all sorts of men.”

He said nothing.

“They thought they were helping your great-aunts make ends meet. Jeremiah surprised Mary in bed with Charles Morden, of all people, and she said all the maids have been doing it. She said that mostly they entertain servants who accompany your great-aunts’ patrons. She is the only one who has been with someone grander, she said. As if Morden were grand.”

Still he remained silent.

Exasperated, Letty said, “Have you nothing to say, sir?”

“I am waiting for you to answer my question.”

Feeling a sudden lump in her throat, and wishing she had never approached him, Letty swallowed hard. Then slowly, painfully, she said, “I don’t want to tell you. Surely you’ve guessed that by now.”

“But you will.”

“Yes,” she said with a sigh. “I cannot be party to keeping it from you any longer. The danger has increased past the point where anyone could justify silence. She … she is one of those who have made use of your great-aunts’ services.”

“Do you dare insinuate that my mother is having an affair with someone?” His outrage was unmistakable, his tone a menacing growl.

“I’m not insinuating anything. I’m
telling
you. It’s true, sir.”

“I hope I do not intrude.”

Letty nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of her father’s voice, and Raventhorpe’s head snapped up, showing that he, too, had remained unaware of the marquess’s approach.

“Perhaps you should present this gentleman to me, my dear.” Jervaulx’s tone was calm, his words innocent, but Letty knew better than to think he did not know he had interrupted them at a tense moment. She wondered how much he had heard.

All sign of Raventhorpe’s fury had vanished. His countenance showed no expression at all, but she knew that his anger still lay just below the surface, that the slightest spark would set it afire.

He did not know her father, and suddenly, fear that he might stir the marquess to forget his diplomatic training became more important than anything else. She did not want to cause strife between them. Without a thought for the consequences, she said, “Papa, this is Viscount Raventhorpe, but I have something that I simply must explain to him, and it cannot wait. Lady Tavistock will summon me at any moment. Please, sir, I will present him to you properly at another time.”

Meeting Jervaulx’s stern gaze, she knew that she had displeased him, but she did not look away. After a long moment’s silence, still looking right into her eyes, he said evenly, “As you will, my dear. I am sure your explanation will be a good one.” With a nod to Raventhorpe, he left them.

Letty turned back to the viscount and saw, disconcertingly, that he looked amused. “Do you dare to laugh at me, sir?”

“You never cease to surprise me,” he said. “Was he speaking of the explanation you have yet to give me, or one that he expects you to give him later?”

“The latter, I’m afraid.” Knowing that his amusement was transitory, that most likely she would anger him again, she felt briefly overwhelmed. That Jervaulx was unhappy with her as well, only added to her woes. His anger was not as formidable as Raventhorpe’s, for he had never made her knees feel as if they had turned to wax. Still, at the least, he would demand to know what she had been thinking, to keep what she had learned about the Upper Brook Street house from him and from Mr. Clifford both. At the moment, she had no good answer to that.

“I would have my explanation at once, if you please,” Raventhorpe said.

Drawing a deep breath and hoping she could say what she had to say before anyone else interrupted them, she said, “Mrs. Linford said not to tell you. Matters have reached such a pass, however, that I was afraid you would find out through some other means. For all I know, Morden is aware even now that—”

“How long have you known this?” The anger was returning.

Swallowing again, she said, “For some time, sir, but—”

“How dare you keep something like that from me!”

“I did so because your mother asked me to. Indeed, sir, I should not be telling you now, because she should be the one to tell you, but I feared—”

“You did not trust me. You continue to insist upon managing affairs that are beyond the ability of any female to manage. Had you told me what was going on when you first discovered it, I might—”

“I didn’t tell you because your great-aunts begged me not to tell you. They feared that you would do precisely what you have done, which is to take over and begin issuing orders. Don’t you understand that they have been independent for years, making their own decisions without interference from anyone—”

“And just see where it has got them!”

“You sound just like your stupid Whig friends in Parliament,” she said. “All of you think you know how to run people’s lives from a distance better than they can manage them on their own.”

“Do we, indeed?” His tone was grim.

“Yes! You issue ultimatums and expect others simply to bow down in abject obedience. Well, sir, people don’t behave so! Whether they are Jamaicans or mere British females, people value independence and will do what they must to hang on to it once they’ve got it.”

“Well, in this case, I’m afraid that I—”

“I remind you that the house is mine,” she snapped. “It is also your great-aunts’ home and your mother’s sanctuary. What goes on there is no concern of yours, and I will thank you to keep your notions and orders to yourself henceforth.”

“Very well, you little termagant, have it as you will. When Conroy and his friends threaten you with social ruin, perhaps even with criminal prosecution, you can look elsewhere for help. No doubt your father will be happy to deal with such eventualities when they occur. I own I should like to be a fly on the wall when you explain it all to him. Perhaps this time he will give you your just deserts.”