The House in Grosvenor Square (16 page)

“
And there shall be no more curse…”

“
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
”

While she was speaking, a man carried up behind her a life-sized cross, but it was evidently not heavy as he lifted it easily. He stood it up directly behind her and then took his place behind the cross as its support. Mrs. Tiernan stretched out her arms. “
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be…”

Then her voice grew passionate. “
For without are dogs, and sorcerers,”
she said, turning her gaze directly upon the Regent and with blazing eyes continued, “
and whoremongers
,
and murderers, and idolaters
.”

It seemed as if the entire audience was suddenly holding its collective breath. Ariana certainly was. She felt faint, in fact, though she had never swooned in her life. Lady Merrilton came to her feet, but even she seemed at a loss as to what to do.

Mrs Tiernan continued. “
And whosoever loveth and maketh a lie…”

Indignant murmurings started sporadically but grew louder as more people joined in. Soon Mrs. Tiernan could not be heard at all. The Regent was sitting ram-rod straight in his chair as the footmen hurriedly lit the candles around the room. Mrs. Tiernan at first ignored the unrest but then gave in and exited the stage.

The room grew lighter as the larger candelabras were lit. People were coming to their feet, and soon it was all confusion. Ariana noticed two footmen escorting Mrs. Tiernan from the room.

“What are they doing to her?” she asked alarmed.

“I'm sure they are merely returning her home. It is no doubt for the best,” replied Mornay.

Then Ariana noticed that some people were giving her strange looks, hostile ones. The Regent had come to his feet and was speaking in clipped tones to his hostess, who was apologizing profusely.

Ariana's hand went to her mouth, but Mr. Mornay gently took it and held it fast.

“It isn't our fault,” he said.

She looked at him worriedly. “Everyone will think it is. They will think I had a hand in this. I know it!”

“Then we shall set them straight.”

“If they give us the opportunity.”

The Regent and his retinue were leaving. Lady Merrilton was watching them go with a decidedly unhappy frown. She turned then, met Ariana's gaze, and began walking toward the couple.

“Here is our first opportunity,” Mr. Mornay murmured. “Allow me to handle it.”

By the time Lady Merrilton reached them, there were others in her train, and a small crowd was gathering around Ariana and her companion. Mr. Mornay held up an arm for silence, but Lady Merrilton was not about to be silenced in her own house, particularly when she had something of import to say.

“Mr. Mornay, you are no doubt blameless in this affair, and I am perfectly prepared to allow that it is so. Yet Miss Forsythe, I daresay, does owe an explanation!”

Lord Merrilton had joined them and was glaring at Ariana. “
If
there is one to be had!”

Others in the crowd expressed their approbation of this thought. Lord Horatio approached, looking concerned and meeting Ariana's eyes with compassion, but he was silent. What could he say? Fortunately Mr. Mornay had no qualms about making his sentiments known.

“Miss Forsythe had as much to do with that lady's performance as you yourself, Merrilton!”

“Me?” the man returned. “But of course I had nothing to do with it! As for her, it is a different thing as it was her doing!”

“Not at all! She merely spoke about her own pleasure at seeing Mrs. Tiernan in an entirely different sort of performance, and her ladyship,
your wife,
insisted she must perform here. Miss Forsythe went so far as to warn her to expect an exceedingly religious reading.” He looked at Lady Merrilton, daring her to deny his words. She didn't, but her eyes were expressive of her resentment, and her mouth was set in a decidedly disagreeable frown.

The marquess looked at his wife. “You were rather keen on having her, I do recall.”

Her ladyship balked. “Miss Forsythe painted her as being so wonderful! I was utterly misled into the opinion that she would make a proper entertainment for His Royal Highness.”

She looked accusingly at Mornay. “
You
should have known better, I daresay, Mr. Mornay.”

“How could anyone guess at her intentions? The only person who could answer for this night's work is the lady who presented it.”

The marquess had heard enough. “All right then. Prinny will get over it. Let us not stand around arguing like a bunch of coves!” He relented and in a peacemaking gesture looked directly at Ariana. “Come, Miss Forsythe. Has anyone shown you the conservatory?” Then looking around, he added, “We have illuminations to go off shortly. The conservatory window gives an excellent view.”

The crowd began to scatter. Her ladyship turned abruptly on her heels and stalked away, with a few other women hurrying to keep stride.

Mr. Mornay was grateful to Merrilton. Taking Ariana on his arm was the perfect gesture to convey he did not hold her a whit responsible.

Ariana too was grateful, but she did not feel certain that the worst was over. Lady Merrilton was a formidable woman. She could be immensely amiable, but her disapproval was daunting. Ariana was reminded of the feeling she'd had when she first discovered that Lady Covington had spread odious lies about her.

She hoped Lady Merrilton was not to do the same.

P
rincess Charlotte had not come with the Regent, so neither did she leave with him. However, when Ariana noticed how the marchioness hovered over the princess the rest of the evening, all her hopes for a future acquaintance with Her Royal Highness dissipated.

With a mere look, her ladyship let Ariana know that she was far from ready to forgive what she was determined to view as Miss Forsythe's fault. Even if Princess Charlotte did not hold Ariana to blame for Mrs. Tiernan's insult, Lady Merrilton did, and the Regent may well have felt the same. Further, it was not beyond the prince, she knew, to bar his daughter from keeping an acquaintance he did not approve of.

She thought too of the mysterious events at Grosvenor Square and felt sad. The illuminations from the conservatory were indeed as beautiful and spirit-lifting as promised, but the Regent's displeasure had left a pall over the gathering that nothing could erase. This only added to Ariana's regrets so that by the time she was back in the coach with her beloved, she had fallen into a melancholic mood.

She felt as tragic as Cordelia, the good but misunderstood daughter of King Lear. No, she was Ophelia, singing sadly and strewing flower petals as she glided down a stream, not knowing her very death was around the next bend. Better yet she was Desdemona, the wife of Othello, whose own husband was going to kill her under false suspicion of wrongdoing. Perchance she was Jepthah's daughter, a virgin dying before her time due to an ill-spoken oath. Oh, the slings and arrows of outrageous—

“Ariana?”

She was pulled abruptly from her tragic deaths.

Mr. Mornay was watching her with a little smile. “What
are
you thinking?”

She searched for how to answer, shaking her head. “I am exceedingly cast down from tonight's work.”

“On what account? Nothing will come of it, I assure you.”

“Nothing? I feel as though tragedy has struck me again without warning. As when Lady Covington spread her odious falsehoods about me.”

“Which brought
me
to your parlour, recall,” he said, his eyes warmly upon her.

She smiled reluctantly. “True.”

“All is not lost. The marquess has shown his favour to you, and Lady Merrilton has ever courted mine and will continue to do so, I am persuaded. Her ladyship will not remain out of countenance with you, I am certain of it. She really has no one to blame but herself. Which is no doubt why the episode vexes her so!”

“But this is the second scandal you said my name could not survive!”

He chuckled. “No such thing. Your mind has a dramatic turn. Next time we ought to give you the platform. It would be much more to the company's liking than Mrs. Tiernan, I daresay. And the Regent has never disliked a beautiful woman to my knowledge. We will pay him a call, and you will win him over in a matter of minutes!”

“Do you indeed think so?” Her eyes came alight with hope.

“Of course.”

On the following evening, the Herleys were having a card party. It was nothing like the card parties of the most
tonnish
families, for wagers were kept strictly low. Ariana had, of course, been invited and felt it incumbent on herself to attend. Mrs. Bentley had an invitation from Viscount Dickson and was much against the Herley party, so Ariana was in a flummox, not wishing to displease her friend or her aunt. Mr. Mornay saved the day by agreeing to take Ariana to the Herley's for a short visit (with the emphasis on
short
), and then join Mrs. Bentley at the Viscount's. With the usual footmen on the back of the carriage as chaperones, he came for Ariana in good time.

Somehow his idea of keeping distance between them was turning out to be untenable. He had meant to have it so, to stay occupied apart from
her, but with the season in full swing and so many invitations for the two of them, it was impossible to fulfill the plan.

He handed her into his plush black coach with a greater feeling of contentment than he'd known in two decades. It was extraordinary—these feelings of satisfaction with life and of
love
for Ariana. He realized that he had not known what it felt like to be in love before. His youthful passion— and heartbreak—following an ill-advised, teen-aged liaison, he now viewed with the suspicion of maturity. It hadn't been love after all. It was merely an infatuation, which, coupled with his youth, inexperience with the world, and then the succession of deaths in his family—first his father, then Nigel his brother, and then his mother all within the space of eighteen months—had made him think himself heartbroken, heartsick, and world-weary. He realized now that he had mostly been grieving. But his grief had been pushed aside, and in its place he'd developed a deep distrust of women and the world in general.

Faced with the treachery of his youthful love-interest, he had avoided females—for years. He'd been quite successful at it too, feeling no need to change his conviction on that head until he'd met Ariana. Having charge of her now, tonight, felt very enjoyable.

He may have been failing to keep his distance from her, but he was at least doing better at keeping her out of his arms. But when she asked him point-blank to escort her somewhere, such as to the Herley's, how could he refrain? Did he want someone else doing so? No, most assuredly not—particularly in light of her near abduction! He moved into the equipage after her, sitting down across from her. He remembered the prior evening, how admirably he had behaved when he took her home, and was determined to do so again.

When the wheels began turning, she said, “Thank you for taking me to the Herley's.”

“Not at all.” He reached across and took her hand, and she allowed him to hold it firmly between his. For a few moments they sat that way. Then suddenly he moved and sat beside her. She gave a weak smile.

He kissed her hand.

“My aunt, I daresay, will expect us no later than ten o'clock!”

“No doubt.” He turned her hand palm upward and kissed it again.

“May I take part in one card game, do you think, at Lavinia's?”

He paused for a second over her hand and said softly, “If you like.” And then he kissed it once more.

“Thank you.”

“Do not thank me. I delight in doing aught for you.” He kissed her palm again more lingeringly, and just as Ariana was thinking what a good thing it was that she was wearing gloves, he took hold of the end of the glove at the fingertips and began pulling it off. Ariana snatched her hand away.

“Do not!” she chided laughingly, hiding the offended hand beneath her other arm.

He gave her a look of mild reproval, while taking back possession of her hand by prying it away until she was forced to relinquish it.

“Mr. Mornay! You are quite shocking!”

“Am I?” he replied, looking at her doubtfully. “If so, I am merely behaving in character, for I have always, I'm afraid, acted in a manner you find shocking on occasion. Can you disagree?”

“No, but in this matter you have ever been a gentleman.”

“5/12/2010?”

She looked down at her hand, which was locked within his strong grasp.

“Am I not to be trusted with your hand? Only your hand?” He softened his hold on her, and Ariana suddenly felt that it
was
a bit silly to be so concerned.

“Very well. I give you my hand, but that is all—until you take it in holy wedlock Friday next.”

“Which I am eager to do,” he replied, looking into her eyes but pulling the glove off in one swift movement. He immediately put her hand up to his lips and kissed it on one side, then the other, and then lingeringly slid his mouth to her wrist. He pushed the fabric of her capelet aside, revealing her delicate arm all the way up to her elbow.

Ariana was decidedly unready for such an assualt upon her senses and pulled her arm away. “You are indeed shocking! I must beg you to cease your attentions to my arm at once!” She colored instantly for having said such a perfectly foolish statement, but she meant it, never mind.

“Do you indeed?”

“I insist.”

“Very well.” He released her hand and leaned over and instantly applied a direct kiss to her mouth. She made a sound of exasperation and pushed against him. He moved away but then went to pick her up and bring her onto his lap. She was just able to gasp, “No!”

Her tone did cause him to look in surprise at her face, after which and with a sigh, he released her.

Ariana moved away from him, staring with wide, wary eyes.

“You needn't look at me like that,” he added with a sigh of resignation. “I just forgot myself for a moment. It won't happen again.” In a much lower tone, she heard him add, “For now.”

She turned her face away to hide a smile, which threatened to reveal her true emotions. Then she pulled her glove back on and smoothed out some imaginary wrinkles in her gown. They were both silent then, and she felt suddenly embarrassed. For the first time in recent memory, she was uneasy in his presence.

“Ariana.”

“Yes?”

He chose his words. “Are you angry with me?”

She thought for a moment. “No.” She could
feel
his eyes upon her. Slowly she raised her eyes to his. “I was rather…alarmed. But not angry.”

He gave a defeated sigh. “I'm still a beast, you know. Never did have good manners.”

Her face softened. “Nonsense. You have the finest manners. We—neither of us—are accustomed to being in love, I think.”

His demeanor relaxed. “Very true.”

When the coach began to slow, they prepared for their arrival. In minutes the Herleys' butler announced the couple. Ariana noted that Phillip had taken on the guarded expression he had by habit cultivated when having to do anything disagreeable. The prospect of spending the next hour in this less-than-exciting gathering of her friends was not something he was savouring.

“
Mr.
Mornay!” Mrs. Herley rushed ahead of her husband to greet their famous guest. “Only think how gratified I was to learn that you were to honour us by coming to our little gathering. May I invite you to sit at a table and play a game with us, perhaps?”

“I thank you, no.”

At that point Mr. Herley came forward, hoping, as he thought, to rescue the man. “Allow me to offer our distinguished guest some refreshment, Mrs. Herley.”

“Why yes, of course, Mr. Herley! The very thing I was about to suggest. A refreshment.”

Mr. Mornay moved off with the gentleman, glad to be occupied while not having to mingle. He was still prepared to merely endure the next hour in the place, but with rare insight, his host suggested, “Might I take you to a quieter room of the house, sir? Where gentlemen can be expected to hear one another's conversation—the library perhaps?”

“Excellent.” He willingly followed his host from the room, after taking a last look at Ariana, already sitting at table with Lavinia and other ladies. The cards were dealt. To his eyes she was like a star among the rubble, her hair shimmering even in the dim light of a single candelabra. Her evening gown draped beautifully to the floor as she sat. Her slim frame appeared quite pretty alongside the ladies who flanked her, both of whom were no longer in the blush of youth. Stopping to look, he was momentarily blind to the fact that his good-natured host was watching him.