"He has the ear of one of the judges and seems not to like you."
No surprise there. Damn! If he'd ever guessed that his dalliance with Kitty would cling to him for eternity like the smell of dead fish, he would never have spent one minute in her bed. It had certainly not been worth it.
"Is there anything to be done about the court's bias?" Anthony asked.
"Merely the same things I've urged. Avoid gaming clubs, eschew ladies of the evening, try not to be seen in the company of known profligates— "
"And attend church and apply for sainthood and God knows what else," Anthony snapped. "All to satisfy some dubious idea about what makes a man respectable."
"Dubious it may be, my lord," Baines said, reverting to his more usual manner, "but it is how most people live."
"Then most people be damned!" When Baines frowned, Anthony bit back another curse. "Forgive me, sir, I haven't been myself lately. This matter of Tessa's future is very distressing."
"Perhaps you should abandon her to her relations."
"The bloody devil I will. I won't let the Bickhams sink her in misery." He rubbed the scar on his wrist, then leaned forward. "Can we win? Despite Tarley?"
Baines glanced to the papers showing the steward's perfidy, then squared his shoulders. "I believe we can, yes. Your securing of her enrollment in that school will weigh well in your favor. And I have procured a barrister unparalleled in arguing cases of this kind.
If
you can show the court— "
"That I'm capable of being a decent guardian. I know. I'm working on it."
But when he left Baines's office half an hour later after more discussion of strategy, his unease wouldn't abate. It bothered him he had to provide Madeline with this party at a time when he was supposed to be lying low. It bothered him she was so obviously deceiving him about why it was important to her. Most of all, it bothered him that Lord Tarley was now involved.
Fortunately, Kitty wasn't likely to fuel her husband's dislike by speaking of her recent encounter with her former lover. If she was dim-witted enough to do so, he had only himself to blame, for giving her this power over him in the first place.
His years of thumbing his nose at society had brought him to this, a prison of his own making. Perhaps he
should
have lived his life more wisely.
Gritting his teeth, he climbed onto his horse. No, he had no regrets. Why should he have catered to the madness around him? Why should he have given his aunt and uncle the satisfaction of believing that their despicable methods had been right and just? Wasn't it better to have proved them wrong by his very life?
Yes, and they're certainly suffering for it, aren't they? They'll have Tessa to torment now, all because you couldn't be more circumspect.
He scowled at his conscience, which had chosen a damned fine time to show up. Where had it been while he was cutting a wide swath through society's widows?
Banished by you. Remember?
Bloody insolent conscience. All right, so he'd made mistakes he was paying for now. But Tessa wouldn't pay for them— not if he could help it.
He glanced at his pocket watch. Damnation, that discussion with Baines had taken longer than expected. He'd be late to meet Stoneville at Brompton Vale to discuss the nitrous oxide party. And it was never wise to keep Stoneville waiting.
Just as he'd feared, by the time he reached Stoneville the man was well on his way to being foxed, thanks to a whisky flask he brandished as Anthony approached.
"Oh, for God's sake," Anthony bit out, "when did you start carrying whisky with you everywhere?"
"About the same time you turned into a prig." Stoneville took a last swig, then tucked the flask inside his immaculate riding coat. "Just because you're trying to prove something to the world doesn't mean the rest of us have to be dull."
"I hate to disappoint you, old chap, but you're far duller when you're drunk than when you're sober."
It was true. Why had he never noticed that before? And was he the same— a blithering idiot when he was foxed?
Too much wine often leads to debauchery. Not to mention other idiotic behaviors that a sober person would never engage in.
Wonderful, now Madeline and his damned conscience were working together to plague him. Ruthlessly, he ignored them both. "I need a favor."
"So I gathered from your note," Stoneville said, as they set their horses off at a walk along the perimeter of the vale. "But what was so bloody important about coming to this deserted spot? I much prefer Rotten Row."
"For once, you can do without your daily ogling of the opera dancers in their carriages. I'm not supposed to be 'seen in the company of known profligates' like you. Your servants talk, my servants talk, and I couldn't think of anywhere else to meet that wasn't a brothel, club, or gaming hell. No one will notice us here."
"Very well. What's the favor?"
"I need you to throw a nitrous oxide party."
Stoneville's eyes lit up. "I
knew
you couldn't keep up this monastic life for long. By all means, we should have a party."
"Not
we
. You. I'll be there, but I have to stay out of sight during the affair. My solicitor was very clear on that subject. That's why I need
you
to be the one throwing it— because I can't be connected with it."
"Then why have it?"
He wasn't about to tell Stoneville how he'd been blackmailed into it by a slip of a schoolteacher. "Why do you care? Just throw the party, for God's sake."
Stoneville held up his hands. "Fine. There's a bevy of beauties over at Mrs. Beard's place that I've been eager to try out— "
"Not that kind of nitrous oxide party, damn it. The other kind. One with people of a certain…stature."
"The boring kind?" Stoneville complained. "I never went to those affairs when
you
held them. Well, except the ones attended by those chaps from the Royal Society. At least they know how to enjoy themselves."
"So invite them." He thought a moment. "She'd like that."
"She who?"
Anthony blinked. But Stoneville would have to be told about Madeline eventually. He just didn't need to know the truth. "My…er…cousin. I've been promising for years that if she ever came to town, she could attend one, and now she's holding me to my promise. That's why I need you to host it."
"Ah. Is she pretty?"
Gritting his teeth, Anthony glared at his friend. "Do you ever ask any other question about a woman?"
"Don't care about the answer to any other question. So, is she pretty?"
"Pretty enough, I suppose." If he even hinted to Stoneville that he had feelings for Madeline, the man would flirt with her just to torture him. "But very dull— the bluestocking type. She has a scientific interest in nitrous oxide. Wants to see its effects on people."
Stoneville guided his horse past a barking dog. "She could see its effects on whores just as well as on the Royal Society sort."
"She's my cousin, damn it. I don't want her exposed to such a thing." Alarmed by the glint of calculation in Stoneville's eye, he added hastily, "And she's married, too. To a…er…parson."
Stoneville's eyebrows arched high. "You have a cousin married to a parson? Why have I never heard of her?"
"I've never heard of your cousins, so why would you have heard of mine? She's a distant country cousin."
"Is her husband coming to the party?"
Damnation, he shouldn't have invented a husband. But no unmarried woman would risk her reputation to attend such a party. Even a married woman would think twice. "Her husband isn't in town. She's staying with her friend and wants to live a little while out from under his thumb." He brightened. That was quite good. Perfect explanation.
"Wants to live a little. I see. Definitely your cousin."
Uh-oh, that look was back in Stoneville's eyes. "Stay away from her," Anthony growled. "She's a respectable woman."
"Whatever you say." A half smile played over Stoneville's lips. "And I can't stay away from her. Someone's got to introduce her round, and since you're in hiding, that leaves only me."
He hadn't thought of that. Damnation, this got worse by the moment. He couldn't have too many people speculating about his country cousin, or they'd soon find out she was a fabrication. "Don't introduce her as my cousin, or they'll say I corrupted her. Just…don't introduce her at all. Bring her out after the party is in full swing, and everyone will be too drunk on nitrous oxide to care who she is."
"Someone is bound to ask, and— "
"Damn it, handle it however you must. Just be careful what you say. Now, will you throw the party or not? I need it for this Saturday."
"This Saturday! But I've got plans."
"Have I ever asked you for a favor before?"
Stoneville sighed. "No, can't say as you have."
"And have you ever asked
me
for one that I haven't given you?"
Stoneville knew better than to answer that. He still owed Anthony money for the last favor. "Oh, very well, I'll host the damned party."
"And you'll invite the right sort of people?"
"Yes, though I can't promise they'll all come. Faraday is off somewhere, Barlow went to visit friends in Yorkshire, and Lady Davy has been keeping a close eye on our friend Sir Humphry." Sarcasm laced his voice. "She doesn't let him step out of the house for fear he'll seduce some hapless female admirer."
Lady Davy was a good example of the sort of wife Anthony intended to avoid— paranoid and tyrannical. "Do you really think he beds them?"
"Hard to say. With all the bluestockings who used to follow his every lecture, swooning at his pearls of wisdom, I wouldn't be surprised. He may have retired from lecturing, but he's not dead, you know."
"True." The man had a certain charm that women responded to, facile though it might be. And considering how browbeaten Davy was by his wife, Anthony could hardly blame him if he
did
occasionally stray. "Invite him anyway. You know how much he likes his nitrous oxide. He may exert himself to come."
And Madeline would be delighted, no doubt, to meet the very chemist who'd experimented with nitrous oxide so famously. Assuming she wasn't lying about that article of hers, which might be a large assumption.
"Any other demands for this party?" Stoneville asked. "Preferences for food, type of wine, cushions— "
"Very funny," Anthony said. "Let me know the time as soon as you've arranged it." He reined in his horse. "Now I have to go. I'm dining with friends."
It was a lie, but he wasn't in the mood for Stoneville right now. Something in the man's careless manner rubbed him wrong, which had never happened before. Anthony felt as if he were watching himself the way he was just a year ago, and what he saw unnerved him.
Then a thought occurred to him. "Stoneville, do you remember that bacchanal we had at Eton, the one that got us in trouble?"
"Remember it? I've been living it ever since, whatever chance I get."
Anthony rolled his eyes. "Was it ever gossiped about outside your family? Did anyone mention it to you, or— "
"Don't be daft. My father would have had their heads. He spent a vast deal of money and pulled a great many strings to keep it hushed up. Don't you remember how obsessive he was about keeping up appearances?"
"Yes." Anthony stared off across the field. "As was mine." It still made no sense that Madeline had known of the bacchanal. He'd never heard a whiff of scandal about it in Chertsey.
It was possible the servants had talked, and God knows villagers loved to chatter. Still, with Madeline being so reticent to reveal things, who was to say she hadn't lied about that?
His eyes narrowed. There was one way to find out. Nitrous oxide had the interesting effect of making one more honest, if not terribly coherent. Though everyone reacted differently, he might learn more if she were under the influence.
All he'd have to do is convince her to indulge, perhaps after the party was over and the guests were gone. How hard could that be?
Chapter Fourteen
Dear Cousin,
It seems my "impressionable young girls" have been secretly reading a book that explains physical relations between the sexes. Miss Prescott confiscated it, but I daresay any minor flirtation they witnessed between the viscount and his former paramour pales by comparison. I swear, sometimes girls can be frightening.
Your alarmed relation,
Charlotte
N
o indulging in the nitrous oxide at the party tonight.
Madeline decided that much after three days of Anthony's odd behavior at school and a day at home dealing with her father.