Edith Layton (5 page)

His voice became cooler as he stared at Leigh. “But I doubt you’ve forgotten. You see, Jason North’s an old friend of mine. And he tells me it was you who urged him and his good wife to take Miss Corbet into their home and under his protection, because of the dangers facing an untried girl here in wicked old London Town. Naturally, Jason asked me why my name was brought into this equation. Though I understand the wicked part, of course, I confess, it made me wonder, too.”

Leigh’s expression grew shuttered. He looked away from his friend and studied his walking stick instead. “Dear me,” he said with an attempt at flippancy, “I’d no idea you two were old friends. A misstep, that.” He raised his gaze. His eyes were steady. “The truth then. I worried about the girl.”

“Woman,” Alasdair corrected him, turning to view himself in the looking glass. He seemed totally preoccupied with his appearance, but kept careful watch on his friend’s face, reflected behind him. “She’s three-and-twenty, North says. And clever as she can hold together, as I thought. Well able to handle herself. Was it my handling her that worried you?”

Leigh grimaced. “It wasn’t her morals so much as her heart I was worried about, Alasdair. Even if her morals failed, I trust you know the precise line you can walk in a flirtation with a lady of quality. You always have in the past. But you had plans for her, you said as much. You also blithely said you felt she could fend for herself. I just didn’t think it was fair to involve her in your machinations. The Swansons certainly aren’t interested in her welfare. Someone had to be. She may be
three-and-twenty but anyone can see she’s not a woman of experience.”

“I see,” Alasdair said gently. “
You’re
interested in her, then? If that’s the case, I’ll gladly step aside, and congratulate you on your unexpected good taste in women. She’s charming.”

“No,” his friend said quickly. “She’s charming, but I’ve no plans for her. You do. That’s what bothers me. Be damned to it, Alasdair! I’d have the same reaction seeing a snake eyeing a mouse.”

“Snake? Giraffe? Lord, you think well of me,” Alasdair said as he buttoned his jacket.

Leigh sighed. “Alasdair, you want the girl to help you revenge yourself on the Scalbys. From what North told me, and believe me I know how to ask in a roundabout way so he didn’t guess my intent, they aren’t close to her. There’s a thought! Why bother with an untried chick? Why not use one of the Swanson women instead? They’d love your company, if only because it would call other men’s attention to them.”

“It’s not merely a question of aesthetics,” Alasdair said, adjusting a sleeve. “They aren’t related to the objects of my interest. The Corbet woman is, on her mama’s side. The Swansons are connections to her father. And if my attentions would delight the ogresses, why shouldn’t they please Kate Corbet as well?”

“She doesn’t have any town bronze. She’s obviously more sensitive and sheltered,” Leigh persisted. “North said her father’s relationship with all his London relatives is distant, in every way. So you won’t find out anything about the Scalbys from her. Why not just give up the idea?”

“Oh, but I don’t need any more information about them,” Alsadair said, running a hand back over his raven hair. “I have enough to hang them three times
over now. Speaking metaphorically, of course. They have enough money and titles to keep their necks from the noose. Their crimes are many and heavy but not punishable by anything but eternal flames. But certainly enough to make them lepers in polite society forevermore.”

“That’s not enough for you?” Leigh asked.

“No.”
Alsadair said, his mouth suddenly twisting as though he’d bit down on something bitter. “I want to see their faces when
I
reveal all. But how am I to do that?” he asked, recovering his bland expression again. “They’ve become hermits since they returned to London, or at least, since I have. I can hardly set fire to their town house to smoke them out, can I? Now Fate’s thrown me a chance to do that in another way. Come, my friend,” he said, turning to face Leigh. “That’s all I want. Not much is it? Not after what’s owed me. If I keep company with their relative, I’m bound to see them, sometime, someplace, in public. That’s all I’m after. A chance for a public denunciation. How can that hurt the young woman you want to protect?”

“You told North this?”

“No, of course not. But North knows me and trusts me. Do you?”

Leigh ignored the question. “And when you’ve done it?” he persisted. “What’s to become of the girl?”

“The
woman
,” Leigh said patiently. “I won’t take anything from her, if that’s what’s bothering you. Not her maidenhead, not her reputation. Good God, man, I have discretion and control, you know. Nor will I leave her wanting, either. The Swansons are keeping her a secret. My squiring her around London will bring her to the attention of many more eligible gentlemen.”

Leigh still looked troubled. “And if she loses her heart to you?”

Alasdair laughed. “She won’t. You spoke about my knowing which lines to walk. Trust me to know the ones I can’t cross.”

“She seemed infatuated with you.”

“Infatuation is no bad thing,” Alasdair said with a smile. “It can be amusing and, if handled properly, can be a learning experience so that when she meets a man who suits her, she won’t be tongue-tied or awkward. Infatuation can only grow to love if there’s fuel to feed it. Trust me, I won’t do a thing to nourish any grand passion. I’ll entertain the woman. But I won’t let her entertain any misconceptions.” He threw back his head and laughed loudly. “There’ll be no conceptions of
any
kind, I promise you!

“So then,” he added, sobering, “if I promise to be good and bring nothing but good to her? You’ll stop trying to have her far-flung relatives rescue her from my clutches?” His expression grew gravely serious. “Leigh, I’m asking if you trust me. No. I’m asking for your trust. Do I have it?”

There was a moment of silence, then Leigh looked at him gravely. “You’re my friend, and I have no friends I can’t trust. But what if the Scalbys don’t rise to your bait?”

Alasdair smiled, and shrugged. “Then I’ll settle for merely ruining them without the joy of seeing their expressions when they realize I’ve done it. Half a loaf is better than none.” But his smile showed he wasn’t a man who settled for half of anything. “You can see for yourself.”

“Yes, I’m afraid I will,” his friend said with regret.

S
ir Alasdair and Viscount Leigh presented their cards and then were left to cool their polished bootheels in the Swansons’ drawing room. It wasn’t a thing they were used to doing. Or a thing they wanted to do, either.

“If it were for anyone but you,” Leigh finally said softly as he paced the room, “I’d be down the street by now.”

“If
I
were anyone but me, I’d be three steps ahead of you,” Alasdair answered. “But I can scarcely come calling by myself.”

His friend looked at him with bemused inquiry.

“I’ve faced assassins in dark alleys and violent men at knife point,” Alasdair explained, “but even I draw the line. I will not take on the Swanson women alone. Apart from the fact that coming here by myself would give rise to even more speculation.” He shot Leigh a keen look. “You didn’t have to come along. Are you obliging me? Or playing watchdog?”

“Don’t worry about it. A watched dog never bites,” Leigh said lightly. “I’m just interested. You’re throwing yourself to the lionesses. Such entertainment doesn’t often come my way.”

Alasdair gave a cough of a laugh. He looked up as the door to the drawing room opened. Leigh stopped pacing. Both men stared.

They were stared at, too. The three older unwed Swanson daughters entered the room with their mama. The popular quip around London these days was that one Swanson girl was worse-looking than the other, and the other wasn’t good to look at either. This morning they bore that out. It wasn’t their gowns, which were made by the best dressmakers in town. One wore white, one yellow, and one was draped in flowered muslin, but none of the gowns was flattering. It was difficult to flatter forms or faces like theirs. It wasn’t just because the women were large and ungainly, a smile could go a long way to soften anyone’s appearance and bring charm to the plainest face. But they wore identical expressions, and the only word for them was smug.

Two of London’s most eligible bachelors had come calling. Whatever the Swanson daughters didn’t have, they believed they had what these gentlemen callers were after. One of these attractive men probably needed money, and the other had to have a highborn wife. The Swanson women didn’t flutter or simper or try to make themselves attractive to gentlemen once they knew they were suitors. Instead, they frankly eyed their callers, as though they were on display in a window, for sale. But there were three of them and only two suitors, so each finally smiled as she curtsied, while her mama gushed greetings.

“My lords! How charming to see you again,” Lady Swanson exulted.

“My ladies,” Alasdair said, bowing. “The delight is ours, I assure you. I come this morning on an errand of some delicacy.”

Lady Swanson beamed. Her daughters preened.

“My friend Leigh came to bear me company,” Alasdair said. “You see, I’ve a message for someone you harbor under your roof, and an invitation for her, too.”

Lady Swanson smiled more widely. She knew how to dissect flowery speech. The “under your roof” part filled her with glee. The invitation also sounded promising.

“My friend North told me his cousin, Miss Corbet, is staying on here in London with you,” Alasdair went on. “I encountered her by accident the other day in the Park. As it happened, I told him I’d done so. Well, the moment he heard he begged me to present her with his greetings and an invitation to take tea with him and his lady today. Another invitation. It seems he’d asked her to come visit when she came to London, but she has not yet done so. Miss Corbet seemed to me to be somewhat reclusive. I told him that, and added the fact that I didn’t know if she could or would visit him on such short notice. But I promised him I’d try to convince her to. Sometimes sudden invitations can result in instant decisions. Thinking about social engagements can make them seem more terrifying to the timid.

“At any rate,” he went on smoothly, “I’ve come to relay the message and offer to escort her if she wants to visit her cousin.”

There was a stunned silence. But Lady Swanson hadn’t already married off three of her difficult daughters for no reason. “Why, certainly,” she said as soon as she recovered her wits. “She ought to have visited her relatives here in town, and so I’ve told her. But she was so occupied with seeing the sights. How kind of you to
offer to take her. Of course she should go. And so I’ll tell her, I promise you. But, though you two gentlemen are certainly good company, she’ll need the escort of a respectable female, won’t she? Might I suggest one of my daughters and her maid accompany you, too?”

Frances smirked at her sisters as their expressions grew sulky. She was the eldest, and would be the one who got to go.

“What a good idea!” Alasdair said. “Yes, I should have thought of that. Your daughter Sibyl, of course. It was clear to see the two were best of friends. That should certainly put poor Miss Corbet’s fears at ease. How clever of you, ma’am.”

Lady Swanson excused herself and left the room to tell her daughter and Kate about the invitation. Her other daughters sat and stared, thunderous as an August afternoon, unblinking as lizards, as the two gentlemen struggled to make polite conversation with them.

Both men looked ready to bolt by the time Lady Swanson came back. She breathlessly reported that her cousin accepted the invitation, but that Kate and Sibyl had to dress for the outing. “So if you don’t mind waiting a few more minutes?” she asked the gentlemen, and shot a significant look at her mute and angry-looking daughters.

They got the hint. Frances began asking Leigh about his ancestors. Henrietta asked Alasdair about his estate and what sort of repair it was in. Chloe wasn’t as subtle. She asked both of them about their families, finances, and plans for the Season.

When Sibyl and Kate appeared, they were greeted by the two men as though they were seeing dawn after a long, dark night.

“Well, time to depart,” Alasdair said quickly as he
stood. “I’ll take every care of them,” he told his hostess, “and have them back directly after tea. Good day, ladies, it’s been a great pleasure,” he lied, bowed, and hurried to shepherd the two young women from the house.

Once outside, Alasdair looked down at Kate, seeing her clearly for the first time that day. She was wearing her pink gown, and her unruly curls escaped from under the pretty straw bonnet with the pink paper rose on it. But she was obviously upset. Her eyes were downcast, her face pale, her lips held in a tight line.
Poor little thing
, Alasdair thought with a surprised pang of sympathy,
she really is timid. My work’s cut out for me
.

Leigh saw a blushing Sibyl into the coach, her maidservant following, then Alasdair handed Kate up into it. He was the last to enter the carriage, and the first thing he saw was Kate’s blazing eyes as she leaned toward him.

“How could you!”
she hissed at him.

“I beg your pardon?” he said, taken aback.

“Well, you should! I mean, really!” she said, her voice shaking with suppressed fury. “I
told
you I didn’t need to see you again. I
said
I didn’t want you thanking me or singling me out. To accost me in the park was bad enough. But to ask me out? Do you know what problems you’re making for me? And
poor
Sibyl!”

Alasdair sat back. “No,” he said thoughtfully. “You’re mistaken. I have an excellent memory, and what you actually said was, ‘I can think of few things more repugnant than marriage to you.’ You did not say that you never wanted to see me again.”

“Well, I thought you’d guess it,” she said in aggravated tones. “And what a humbug! To say that North was yearning to see me. That I was too timid to see
him? I didn’t see the need! I’ve met the man precisely twice since I’ve grown up, I doubt he’d recognize me if I showed up dead on his doorstep. What is the meaning of this, sir?”

“I think he’d recognize you if you showed up dead,” Alasdair mused, holding his smile back. “Unless you were terribly mutilated, of course.”

She looked as though she’d gladly mutilate him. “Yes, go on, make sport of me,” she said through clenched teeth, color returning to her face, blooming in her cheeks. “When you’re done, pray tell me why you asked me out, set the Swansons in an uproar, and made poor Sibyl’s life miserable! Or didn’t you realize that her sisters will make mincemeat of her now?”

“‘Poor Sibyl’?”
Leigh asked Sibyl with a small smile. “Said twice? So, it can’t be an accident. But how unusual. I’d no idea your first name was ‘Poor,’ my dear. Does it run in the family?”

Sibyl ignored him because she was as impressed as dismayed by her cousin’s fury. Even her maidservant sat shocked, staring at Kate.

Kate noticed. “I’m normally the mildest of creatures,” she went on, trying to keep the anger out of her voice, “but unless I get some answers, I’ll tell the coachman to stop, and I’ll walk all the way home if I have to.”

“It’s only been two streets,” Alasdair remarked, glancing out the window. “But, wait, no, no,” he laughed as Kate reached for the pull to signal the coachman. He captured her hand. “I’ll tell all. Lord, what a firebrand,” he mused as he held her hand in his.

It was a very small hand, and he could feel how cold it was, even through her glove. It trembled, but not with fear. He saw her militant expression, and realized she was fighting with herself to keep from pulling
her hand away—in order to clout him, no doubt. He chuckled, and saw her color rise higher.

“It’s true North wasn’t on fire to meet you at first,” he said quickly. “As you say, why should he have been? But I did mention you to him. Then he did say he wanted to see you. I can’t pretend that I was instantly smitten with you, either, Miss Corbet, but I was fascinated, and wanted to pursue our acquaintance…”

“Gammon!” Kate said, in a rage now. “Don’t try that one with me, sir. I’ve two eyes and three brothers. I know how men think, and I think I smell a rat. You are a clever man of wealth, title, and experience. I’m not that rivetingly beautiful, and I don’t have a penny to fly with.” She glowered at him. “Plain truth. You’re up to some rig or other, and that’s a fact. And I tell you I’ll leave if you can’t tell me the plain truth!”

She sat back, her breath hitching, her pulse racing, and her hand still in his. She still heard a buzzing in her ears, too. She’d gone up in a flame. Whenever she did she literally saw red and exploded with rage. Even so, as her vision cleared, she could hardly believe what she’d done. She’d been speechless in his presence, because she’d been seeing him in secret, rosy, sensual, and improbable romantic daydreams since she’d clapped eyes on him. But as always with her, once she got angry, she forgot everything.

Well, it was outrageous of her, but it was just as well! she thought on a shaking breath. She scarcely noted the viscount. Sir Alasdair had all her attention. He was one dangerous fellow. There could be no room for daydreams around someone like him.

Alasdair exchanged a glance with Leigh, saw his raised eyebrow, then turned to Kate again. He sighed. “Truth, then,” he said. “Your cousin North wanted to
see you. I owed him a favor, so I said I’d escort you to his home. My friend came along for the ride, to give me some respectability. Which I sadly lack.”

“Your friend also came along in order to have the fair Sibyl’s delightful company,” Leigh added meticulously.

Sibyl’s expression showed how much she believed that.

But all of Kate’s attention was on Alasdair. “That’s all?” she asked, incredulous.

“That’s all. For now.”

“Oh,” Kate said, and thought about it. It seemed reasonable. Why should such a man lower himself enough to make a fool of her? When she’d done it so well for herself, she thought in chagrin. That last bit, ‘
for now
,’ was troubling, but he was probably just incurably flirtatious. She wished she’d held her tongue. But what did it matter? She’d be gone from London soon anyway. And at least she wasn’t tongue-tied in his presence anymore.

“Please accept my apologies,” she said, keeping her eyes downcast. “I thought you were making fun of me. Now I see you were only doing a friend a favor.”

“I was grateful to you, too,” Alasdair said. “I thought reuniting you with your family might be some small way of repaying you for…being so kind the other day.” he added with a glance at the fascinated maid, “when we met in the Park.” He absently ran a thumb over the back of Kate’s hand, stroking it as he thought of what else to say. “Some ladies would have shunned me. My reputation’s not the best.”

It sounded right, and felt much too good. His hand was very large, and cradled hers in dry warmth.

“You’d have a great deal more respectability if you didn’t steal people’s hands,” Kate said. “May I have mine back, please?”

He released her hand and gave her a tilted smile. “Not so timid as your cousin believes, are you?”

“I don’t think so,” she said, putting her tingling hand in her lap. She cocked her head to the side. “Well, I don’t know. When you live in a place where everyone knows you and you see the same people day after day, it’s hard to know if you’re timid or not. Since I’ve come to London, though, I suppose I may have been timid.”

She didn’t add that she had no way to test herself either, since she hadn’t met anyone new since she came to London. But there were things she could say because they were true. “It’s such a huge bustling place,” she said, sitting forward in her eagerness to explain. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like market day in my village, only on every street! Every day! So many people, so many new faces. You have to get used to that, and I’m not yet. But, oh, it’s exciting!”

The sunlight made her eyes glow. Her face took on life from her animation. She looked lovely, refreshing. Alasdair smiled. His work was indeed cut out for him, he thought ruefully, he’d have to watch himself as carefully as he did her.

Both Sibyl and Leigh shifted uncomfortably when they saw his expression. Leigh, because he’d seen it before, and was wary. Sibyl, because she’d never seen anything like it, and was terrified even if that long languorous look wasn’t directed at her.

Kate could only stare, trapped in the reflection of his slow, sensuous smile as surely as if he still held her hand fast. Because she couldn’t look away. Even if she’d tried. Even if she’d wanted to.