Bluestocking Bride (13 page)

"Oh no, sir, that will not be necessary. A
sister
must always feel some concern for a
brother's
welfare."

"Catherine, you have wounded me. Have you not observed that I wish to become much closer to you than a brother?"

She had a retort already on her tongue, but they were joined by Lord Levin, and
Rutherston
adroitly turned the conversation. Catherine was grateful to
Rutherston
. He had flirted with her outrageously, but had ensured that she would not worry needlessly about Tom. When he put his mind to it, he could be the most charming gentleman.

As she and Lucy were taking their leave, he disengaged himself from a group and came toward them, and when he offered to see them to their carriage, Lucy quickly accepted before Catherine could say a word. He took Catherine's hand in his and held it firmly.

"Catherine, I have no idea how young ladies spend their time in London, but I can't continue to call on Mount Street only to find you absent. I should be obliged if you would remain at home on Friday afternoon, when I shall wait on you. Tomorrow is promised to your brother Tom!"

"I can't, my lord. I believe I have an appointment."

"What appointment?"

"To
return my books to the library."
He was taken aback, until he saw her impish smile.

"Catherine! You will do as you are bid."

"Yes, my lord."

"Richard!"

"Yes, my lord Richard."

"Minx!"
He snapped the carriage door shut, and brought her hand to his lips.

"Till Friday, my love."

As the carriage moved away, Catherine reached for

Lucy's hand and clasped it tightly.

"No!" She said in mincing accents in imitation of \ her sister's voice. "Mr. Norton has never mentioned the state of his heart to me! It is his
cowlike
expression of devotion which has informed me of what his lips cannot say."

"Catherine, hush! The coachman will hear you!"

"Dearest Lucy," Catherine whispered as softly as she could, "he is as deep in love as any man can be."

"As deep in love as Lord
Rutherston
?"

"Oh, yes. My suitor only admires me. Your suitor adores you."

Lucy protested, and Catherine said no more. For the rest of the drive home, she thought of Lucy and Norton and tried to think of how their attachment could be brought to a happy conclusion, but no answer came. She could not be sure that
Rutherston
would lend his support to Charles in so imprudent a match. With his title and fortune,
Rutherston
could marry where he chose. It was the first time that Catherine had any sense of the honor that was being paid to her, and she was quite overwhelmed.

Tom Harland closed the door of the library gently behind him and headed for the stairs that would take him to his welcoming bed. London parties lasted well into the early morning, and Tom, accustomed to country ways, had been impatient for sleep these many hours past. He had left the two cousins to imbibe their second brandy of the night, and it occurred to him that he had been dimly aware of a restraint between
Rutherston
and Norton that he had never noticed before, but as his mind was slightly befuddled by the effects of the champagne and brandy that he had consumed rather freely during the evening, he inclined to think that he was imagining things.

Mr. Norton settled himself more comfortably in his armchair, crossing one leg carelessly over the other, and assumed as indifferent a pose as he could manage. He swirled the golden liquid in its glass and brought it to his lips.

Rutherston
watched him through narrowed eyes.

"So," he said at last. "Whose turn is it to be found out now, cousin?"

"I beg your pardon?" Norton was nothing if he was not cautious.

"I said that I have found you out, Charles,"
Rutherston
replied with a touch of severity.

Norton grinned broadly. "Well, so you have. What of it?"

There was no answering smile on
Rutherston's
face. "It won't do!"

"And what do you mean by that?" Norton's voice had become dangerously quiet.

"I mean that it isn't fair to the girl. You must either offer for her or stop your attentions. I'm sure you know
that as well as I do
."

"Are you meddling, Richard? I didn't think that was quite in your style!" A note of
aggrievement
had crept into Norton's voice.

"In the normal way, I wouldn't,"
Rutherston
offered the decanter to Norton who shook his head, and his lordship proceeded to refill his own glass. "But I have a particular interest in anything that affects the Harland family."

"Oh yes, I can see that you
do—I
and the whole ton! But don't imagine, Richard, that I shall brook any interference from you in my affairs. You are not my guardian, you know, and I shall look out for my own interests, without any reference to you."

Norton had never in his life before spoken to his esteemed cousin in such an ill-humored way, and
Rutherston
paused, the decanter poised over his glass.

"The devil you will! Your
interests
d'you
say? And what of Miss Harland's interests? Have you given a thought to that? I really don't care a brass button if you make a fool of yourself, cousin, but I won't have you making a fool of Catherine's sister."

The two men sat on either side of the fireplace looking warily at each other.
Rutherston
spoke first.

"Charles!" he said in a friendlier tone. "I am not warning you off if you intend to offer for the girl. I am simply trying to ascertain your intentions, as, if I remember
,
you once did with me some months ago."

The recollection of that earlier interview between the two cousins, when their positions had been exactly reversed, did much to ease the tension between them now. Both gentlemen found themselves grinning, and Norton held out his glass for
Rutherston
to refill.

"Cousin Richard, I am in a damnable position. What can I offer Lucy? A thousand a year won't go
far—it
would mean a life of shabby gentility. She deserves better than that. To press her into making so imprudent a match right now would be taking advantage. She's hardly out of the schoolroom—not up to snuff."

"Perhaps if you apply to your father, he will make you an allowance?"

Norton shook his head energetically.

"It won't do. The
gov'nor
has expressed himself vigorously on this subject ever since I came out of
shortcoats
. Everything is entailed on Jack, except for the money my mother left me. You
dont
know how lucky you are, Richard, not to be a younger son!"

"Yes, I begin to see how awkward it makes things. But knowing all that, how could you allow your affections to become engaged so recklessly?"

"I didn't know I had till it was too late to draw back. Surely you, of all people, understand how it is?"

Rutherston
had to own that he did. But his case was not the same as his cousin's.

"I haven't sorted everything out in my own mind as yet, Richard, but I do want to be fair to Lucy. She's so inexperienced." He sighed and fell into a reverie of thought.
Rutherston
waited.

"You haven't said anything to me that I haven't been telling myself for some weeks now. If she means to have me, I will have to make a push to find some occupation that will give us a reasonable living. Holy Orders don't appeal to me, politics bore me,
so
it looks as if I shall have to embark on a military career." The thought did not bring any sense of pleasure or relief to his troubled mind. The two men sat for some moments in gloomy thought, sipping their brandies companionably. The prospect of having to embark on a career for monetary gain rather than a disinterested high-mindedness filled them both with repugnance. Another sigh escaped Norton's
lips .
"But I do see that I cannot let matters drift the way they have been doing." He put down his empty glass and stood up to go.

"Thank you for your cousinly concern, Richard. I know that you will trust me to do what I think is in the best interests of both Miss Harland and myself?"

Rutherston
inclined his head gravely.
"Of course."

"Then I'll bid you goodnight." As Norton reached the door,
Rutherston
recollected himself and called after him. "Charles! You won't do anything rash without letting me know?"

"Anything rash?"
Norton's back stiffened.

"I simply meant, cousin, that if you decide to embark on a military career, you'll inform me before the event, and not after it?"

"Oh, I see.
Certainly.
But I can't see what difference that will make."

"Can't you? Well, never mind. Just be sure to keep me informed."

Rutherston
poked the embers of the dying fire, and returned to his chair in a reflective mood. He decided against another brandy, since he needed a clear head on the morrow for taking Catherine's brother round to Tattersall's to look over the horseflesh that he had come to purchase for the
Ardo
House stables. He thought that it had not occurred to his cousin to apply to him, as Lucy's prospective brother-in-law, to ease their financial straits. He would, of course, whether he was applied to or not. But they were both ridiculously young. Lucy was just a girl of eighteen or nineteen years, and Norton only four or five years her senior.
Rutherston
did not mean exactly to depress the attachment, but he could not see why such a couple of children could not wait for a year or so to ensure that this was no infatuation, especially when the match had little to recommend it on either side but strong affection. That he was not prepared to wait for his Catherine a minute more than he had to
did
not strike him in the same light at all.

Nor could he see what it was in the younger Miss Norton that had attached his young cousin so securely to her side. That she was a pretty little slip of a girl, not unlike Catherine in looks, he could
not -
deny. But she lacked his beloved's spirit and wit,
and
he was sure that her proper manner was an
exact
reflection of her inherent passivity. No, she would not do for him. With that thought, his mind began to dwell on the alluring Catherine, and he became restless to think that he had promised a whole day of his time to Tom when he was in a fever of impatience to regularize his position with her and so put an end to the wagging tongues of all the
tittle
-tattlers of the ton.

Charles Norton arrived in Mount Street shortly after luncheon and carried Lucy off, intending to drive her to Richmond Park. It was further afield than he had ever taken her, but he wanted the time to rehearse what he should say. He had forborne to take the curricle, since he was doubtful whether he could give his undivided attention to handling the ribbons of the unpredictable grays, and had, on reflection, selected
Rutherston's
phaeton, since it was marginally easier to control. His good-natured cousin never seemed to mind having to accept whatever conveyance Norton saw fit to leave him for his own use, saying that he could well remember his own inordinate pleasure, at Norton's age, in handling the latest rig that put his ability as a whip to the test. The phaeton had no place for a groom, so that Norton was assured that he could speak to Lucy as freely as he wished.

As they rode along at a brisk trot, it needed but a few minutes for Lucy to become aware that a more serious humor had taken possession of Mr. Norton than she had ever observed in him before. She held her tongue in check, waiting for him to begin, but her observations did nothing to relieve the weight of her own mind. Little was said by either, except of a most desultory nature, until they arrived at then- destination. Here, Mr. Norton drew in, slackened the ribbons somewhat and permitted the chestnuts to graze.

"Lucy, I have been wondering, this long time past, how I am to begin." If he had said these words in a different tone, Lucy's heart would have been in a flutter, but they were said with such gravity that she felt her spirits sink even lower.

"Yes, Charles? I can see that you have something of a serious nature that you wish to say to me.
Dont
keep me in suspense. Tell me what it is."