Gayle Buck (7 page)

Lord Trilby laughed quietly. “You do not yet know the real facer, my dear. The Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits will be accompanied by the young lady of her choice, so that I may meet her formally before we are whisked to the church altar.” He expected that his last revelation would come as something of a shocking climax, but his companion’s reaction was not quite what he had anticipated.

After an astonished second, Lady Caroline threw back her head and pealed with laughter. She whooped so hardily that the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Still caught in the throes of her amusement, she made a helpless gesture that his lordship understood.

Lord Trilby obligingly offered his linen handkerchief to her.

Lady Caroline snatched it. She mopped her eyes, but they were still brimful with laughter when she looked over at him. At his pained expression, she bit her lip, suppressing a fresh outburst. She cleared her throat experimentally before she dared speak. “That is better. I can see your dear foolish face again,” she said. There was an unmistakable wobbling in her voice. “You
have
done it, haven’t you, Miles?”

“And for no better purpose than to provide you with such unholy amusement,” Lord Trilby said gravely.

That nearly set her off again. Lady Caroline gurgled protest, throwing up her hand in appeal. “Do not tease me, pray! I will be good, I promise.” She straightened her shoulders and clasped her hands in her lap in an attitude of grave attention. “There, you see? I have put on my most sober frown. I am ready to make all sorts of sympathetic noises and to offer well-meaning advice.’’ Despite her declaration to the contrary, an irreverent chuckle escaped her.

“I appreciate the massive effort, my lady,” Lord Trilby said, his eyes reflecting his own pronounced amusement.

Lady Caroline’s eyes danced irrepressibly. “My poor witless friend. What will you do?”

“I still harbor hopes that you will step into the breach, my dear,” Lord Trilby said lazily.

At once her high appreciation of his imbroglio was at an end. Lady Caroline shook her head quickly. “Not I! I value your friendship, my lord, but not to the point of ruining my reputation and yours. The risk of taking part in such a grand deception makes my faint heart flutter with fear. Lord, but think of the gossip and the scandal.”

“You said but a moment ago that most of the neighborhood has taken up residence in London for the Little Season. As there is no reason why any of our neighbors should ever hear of the arrangement, I begin to think that the possibility of a scandal is very nearly nonexistent,” Lord Trilby said.

Lady Caroline was taken aback by his calm assertion. “You cannot possibly be serious, my lord!’’ She saw by his thoughtful expression that he was indeed quite earnest. She raised a further objection, one which she was certain must weigh heavily. “You have forgotten my aunt. Amaris would of a certainly tumble to something being in the air if you were suddenly to pay assiduous court to me in the company of the grandduchess.”

Lord Trilby nodded, but slowly. His brows were slightly knit while he reflected. “Mrs. Burlington is a formidable hurdle, I agree, but I think not unapproachable. She need never hear of the arrangement. I shall not call upon you here with the Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrande. Instead, you may ride over to visit with my great-aunt over tea. Mrs. Burlington will not cavil at your paying a neighborly visit or two while I am known to be at Walmesley, and I do not anticipate that it will take more than a few appearances on your part before her grace is fully convinced of our ‘understanding.’ As soon as the grand old lady comes to accept it, I shall pack her off as speedily as possible, and then we may be comfortable again.”

Lady Caroline felt as though she was caught up in the unreal plot of the most lurid popular romance. “My aunt would never countenance my going to Walmesley without her chaperonage. Oh, I know that I have ridden over countless times in the past with only my groom in attendance, but I certainly cannot be expected to greet the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits in my riding dress. Really, Miles! I should have to come in the carriage, which would be certain to arouse my aunt’s suspicions. And if Amaris should hear even a whisper that such a grand personage is in residence at Walmesley, she will be bent upon inserting herself into the grandduchess’s presence.”

She paused, seeing that the frown had deepened on his lordship’s face, and when she spoke again, the thread of amusement had returned to her voice. “You know well enough that it is impossible, my lord. Do give it over, for it won’t do, you know! Just see, such a tiny consideration as Amaris’ wishing to present herself to the Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrande throws it all into a cocked hat.”

“Then don’t tell her anything,” Lord Trilby said simply. “Let Mrs. Burlington exclaim to her heart’s content at your frightful manifestation of independence. I’ll wager that there is not a personage in the county that gives serious attention any longer to that lady’s malicious utterances.”

Lady Caroline stared at him. She shook her head, marveling. “You have made it all sound altogether too simple, my lord.”

“I merely see that my original instinct was correct. The notion is not as ludicrous or as impossible as I had begun to fear,” Lord Trilby said, agreeing with her.

“But it
is
impossible!” Lady Caroline explained. “Quite, quite impossible.”

Lord Trilby leaned toward her and took hold of her unresisting hands. “My dear lady, will you not change your mind?” he asked in a persuasive voice. “Pray, will you not do me the honor of pretending to be engaged to me in order to foil the grandduchess’s horrid scheme to marry me off to some chit I have never laid eyes on before in my life? I shall be quite, quite rolled up otherwise, you know.”

With his lordship’s nonsense, the interview was once more placed upon the plain of the ludicrous. Lady Caroline couldn’t stop the smile that trembled to her lips. She shook her head. “My dear lord, you make it difficult indeed to deny you.”

Lord Trilby smiled at her in turn. “Dare I to hope, then?”

Lady Caroline did not immediately reply. She glanced down at their clasped hands.

The scheme was mad. It was ludicrous. It was fraught with pitfalls, not the least of which were her own well-hidden feelings. That, of course, was precisely the fascination of the idea. Such a pretense would be all too poignant a reminder of her once-close-held hopes that Lord Trilby would ask for her hand. Under such dangerous disguise, her heart might betray itself to him. But the temptation to agree to the deception was there, in the fast beat of her pulse and in the seduction of her fantasy that, once entered into, a pretended understanding might become one in truth. She felt her better sense wavering, even though she knew that she should not entertain the idea for even a moment.

“What is the verdict to be, my best of friends?”

The words were the final catalyst. Lady Caroline raised thoughtful eyes to the earl’s expectant expression. His audacity in asking of her such a favor had initially stunned her. His easy assumption that their friendship should stretch so far had struck her as extremely telling. They were intimate but casual friends, and would remain so. In fact, his lordship seemed to look upon her much as he would a male colleague.

Despite knowing all that, she might have agreed.

She might have acquiesced if Lord Trilby had remained silent.

But Lord Trilby had spoken. With humor in his voice, he had addressed her as his “best of friends.’’ Best of friends! It cut her to the quick. Abruptly all fantasies of being able to mold the pretended understanding into one of permanence were dashed as though they had never been.

Lady Caroline rose precipitately, leaving his lordship behind on the settee as she went to the window. She looked through it with blind eyes. “What you would ask of me is ludicrous. I am more sorry than I can say.”

When Lady Caroline left him so suddenly, Lord Trilby caught a glimpse of a peculiar bleakness in her eyes. He gathered that he had gravely offended her. At once he stood up and moved to stand close beside her. He said quietly, “Caroline, you and I have been such good friends. You know that the notion would never have crossed my mind otherwise.”

She made a small dismissive gesture that he interpreted as reproof.

Lord Trilby said even more quietly, “I would not have you think that I hold our relationship trivial or insignificant. That has never been the case, and what’s more, never shall be.”

Lady Caroline turned her head to glance over her shoulder at him. Her large eyes were somber. “I do not think it, Miles. I, too, treasure what we have—more than you know. I would do anything in my power to help you. But to pretend to be your intended...” She shook her head.

The shadow of her former smile returned to her eyes. “Why, the temptation to hold you to the deception could have proved irresistible, my lord.”

She spoke only half in jest. As soon as she had done so, she feared that he might sense the underlying truth in her bantering tone. She was relieved when he laughed.

Lady Caroline turned fully toward him, saying decisively, “Definitely that would not do.”

A full smile now graced her lips, though it did not entirely dispel the shadows in her eyes. “You shall simply have to work your devious escape in another fashion. If the war were not on, I would suggest that you assume another name and take up residence abroad. I suppose that you have thought of making a clean breast of the matter to the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits and discarded it—yes, I thought that you must have. Well, then, I suspect that I shall shortly read of your upcoming nuptials in the
Gazette.”

“I am overpowered with apprehension at the mere thought,” Lord Trilby declared. There was a certain quizzical light in his eyes as he watched her face.

Lady Caroline felt the alertness of his regard and instantly her defenses went up against him. Lord Trilby knew her perhaps better than anyone else. Not wishing him to see more than she wanted him to, she moved away. “I shall inform Simpson that you are staying the weekend, shall I? If you have no other engagements?”

“No, none at all. I did not send word to my staff at Walmesley to expect me before setting out from London. I posted directly down to Berwicke with but one errand in mind,” Lord Trilby said, with the faintest twist of his lips.

Lady Caroline paused before she had reached the door. She said sympathetically, “I
am
sorry your trip has been in vain.”

“Ah, well, it was a gamble, and a madder one than most,” he said with a shrug and a smile.

Lady Caroline shook her head and turned once more to the door. She was reaching for the knob, when suddenly the door was flung open. She stepped backward swiftly to avoid being knocked aside.

Mrs. Burlington stood framed by the doorway, while behind her was the hovering figure of the butler.

Lady Caroline recovered herself almost at once, laughing at herself for her moment of fright. “Amaris! How you startled me.”

Chapter Eight

Mrs. Burlington looked at her niece without a hint of apology in her visage. She did not enter the drawing room, but stood on the threshold with her hand still on the knob. The door shielded most of the drawing room from her view. Unsmiling and without preamble, she demanded imperatively, “What is this I have heard from Simpson that Lord Hathaway has gone away very hurriedly?”

Lady Caroline glanced swiftly at the butler, whose expression was one of appalled anxiety. She sighed and returned her attention to her aunt. “I am certain that his lordship regretted being unable to pay his respects to you, but Lord Hathaway felt that he had overstayed his welcome.”

“Pah! You have sent his lordship away with a bug in his ear! Have you so little sense? Why, the gentleman is positively your last hope of wedding and becoming mistress of your own house. I cannot imagine any female so lost to her senses that she would turn down such an acceptable offer as Lord Hathaway has repeatedly made to you,” Mrs. Burlington said.

From the corner of her eye Lady Caroline was painfully aware of Lord Trilby’s interested expression. The half-open door still hid his presence from her aunt, and she could not imagine why he had not already made himself known, unless he was quite simply struck immobile by the ghastly
faux pas.

Lady Caroline saw that her aunt was drawing breath to deliver another denunciation and she hurried to deter Mrs. Burlington’s embarrassing diatribe. Not for worlds would she have wanted the Earl of Walmesley to know what wretched dealings she endured from her aunt. “Amaris, please. This is neither the time nor the place. Lord-”

Mrs. Burlington pounced. “Lord Hathaway! Yes, he is whistled down the lane for the last time, I’ll warrant, which you will doubtless regret—and much sooner than you could ever anticipate.”

Lord Trilby thought he had heard enough. He had already crossed the room in response to Lady Caroline’s rather wild glance in his direction, and now he stepped around the edge of the door into sight.

Mrs. Burlington gasped and fell back in astonishment. “My lord! I had no idea! I had no notion whatsoever that you were present.”

“So I gathered. It is perhaps unfortunate that I was unable to bring myself immediately to your attention.” Lord Trilby’s voice was austere. His gray eyes rested thoughtfully on Mrs. Burlington’s face. She flushed under his cool assessment.

Lady Caroline trembled with anger and mortification. She held her hands clasped tightly together, fearing that in her vexation she might slap her aunt. She maintained, however, a carefully neutral voice. “Lord Trilby arrived just as Lord Hathaway was taking his leave.”

“As I fear that I now must,’’ Lord Trilby said. He caught Lady Caroline’s fleeting glance before her eyes fell from his. He knew her character well enough to ascertain that the flush of color blooming in her face owed more to the seething fury that he had glimpsed in her eyes than to the embarrassment she must have felt that he had been made witness of her aunt’s abominable treatment of her.

Lady Caroline offered her hand to the earl. “I am glad that you came, my lord.”