Mesalliance (19 page)

She giggled. ‘I
do, don’t I?’

The bell
pealed, servants sprang into position and the door was thrown
wide.

‘But you will,
I trust, exhibit a little discretion? This is not a
bourgoise
country party and I pray you to remember it,’
warned her brother pleasantly. Then, offering Adeline his arm, ‘The
world awaits, my dear – but all you need do is to be yourself. Ah …
and comfortable shoes help. But perhaps I should have mentioned
that earlier?’

And was
rewarded with a tiny gurgle of laughter.

At the end of
an hour, the house was full of people and Adeline’s head [none too
clear at the beginning of the proceedings] was positively reeling.
She had sustained introductions to Horace Walpole, Lord Sandwich
and the Earl of March, and had her first amazing glimpse of the
extreme fashions favoured by the Macaroni Club when Mr Fox came in
arm in arm with Lord Carlisle. She had met eagle-eyed dowagers,
confidently sophisticated young matrons and a stream of blushing
debutantes – not one of whom she could with any certainty put a
name to. There were only two familiar faces in the entire company.
Jack Ingram, who had greeted her with his usual unaffected
friendliness; and Harry Caversham, who had given her a wicked grin,
demanded a kiss “for old times’ sake” and engaged her hand for the
reel.

‘Old times’
sake, indeed!’ muttered Nell, having herself received no more than
a charmingly polite acknowledgement and not best pleased by it.
‘Anyone would think he’d known Adeline for years.’

‘I expect,’
said Rockliffe blandly, ‘he feels that he has.’

‘Really? Well,
I only hope you’re sure he can be trusted not to tell anyone what
happened in Oxfordshire.’

The dark eyes
rested on her kindly.

‘I can. The
question is – can
you
?’ And, without waiting for her to
reply, he turned to meet the next arrivals. ‘Isabel, my dear – and
Philip. How very well you both look. Marriage must agree with
you.’

Tall and
good-looking, Lord Philip shook hands with his Grace and smiled
pleasantly at Adeline. ‘Well enough. I’d planned to recommend it to
you – but can now see why you took us all by surprise.’

‘You weren’t,’
said his gentle, brown-eyed wife patiently, ‘supposed to say
that.’

‘Why not? It
wasn’t a criticism. And Rock knows as well as you that I’m forever
putting my foot in it.’

‘Always with
the best of intentions, however,’ murmured Rockliffe. ‘But I am
remiss. Adeline … I would like you to meet Lord Philip and Lady
Isabel Vernon. His lordship’s sister is married to Lord Amberley.
Philip, Isabel … allow me to present my wife.’

Isabel wondered
why the note of pride should surprise her and decided that it was
probably because Adeline was not at all what she had expected. She
smiled and said, ‘We knew of you from Rosalind, of course. She
wrote and told us that Amberley had dashed to town for your wedding
– and how sorry she was to have missed it. She has a particular
kindness for Rock, you see – mostly because he was such a help in
the days when Philip and Lord Amberley didn’t quite see eye to
eye.’

‘Oh?’ Adeline
raised an innocently enquiring gaze to her husband’s face. ‘Pouring
oil instead of making waves? I’m intrigued.’

‘Are you?’ He
smiled at her. ‘But then – after less than two months of matrimony
– so you should be, don’t you think? Upon which happy note, we will
go and open the dancing.’

She had known
that they would have to take the floor alone to formally begin the
ball. She had not anticipated having to do so with her wits in
urgent need of re-assembly. Taking her place under the battery of
eyes, she said with low-voiced resentment, ‘You know, I hope, that
if you go on the way you’ve begun, I shall most likely end the
evening with a nervous twitch?’

He raised one
amused dark brow.

‘If I thought
that, my dear, it is improbable that I would have married you. As
it is, I know you to be fully capable of coping with my little …
vagaries. Furthermore, if you could only relax a little, I suspect
you might become the latest toast before morning.’ The music began
and his mouth curled as he bowed over her hand. ‘You are supposed
to curtsy, you know. And a smile would be nice.’

It was
fortunate that, along with Adeline’s own natural grace, Rockliffe
had proved a good teacher. Even so, the minutes before Nell and
Lord March joined in behind them seemed interminable and it was not
until the floor became suitably populated that she lost the desire
to sink through it.

From the
periphery, Philip Vernon and Mr Ingram watched with interest.

‘Why do you
think he’s stopped powdering his hair?’ asked Philip who, seeing
how it suited the Duke, was considering forsaking the fashion
himself.

‘I have no
idea. Probably his latest whim. You know what he’s like,’ Jack
replied. And then, ‘What do you think of the bride?’

‘I’ve barely
exchanged two words with her so far. Not his usual type though, is
she? I mean, the one thing you’ve always been able to say for Rock
is that he has extremely high standards. Mundane, perhaps – but
high. And I’m still trying to decide whether or not she’s
pretty.’

‘She’s not,’
said a pleasant voice from behind them. ‘But she’s damnably
seductive. And sometimes … just sometimes … beautiful.’

‘Harry,’
breathed Jack, with satisfaction.

And, ‘God. Why
didn’t I notice all that?’ grinned Philip.

‘Because you’re
a good and dutiful husband,’ responded Harry Caversham promptly.
And then, meeting Mr Ingram’s expectant gaze with one of brimming
hilarity, ‘Well, Jack? Our naughty, naughty friend told you half a
story, has he?’

‘Not even that.
He said, as I recall it, something about not stealing your
thunder.’

‘Mighty nice of
him, I’m sure. And I suppose you’ve been waiting for the chance to
pounce on me ever since.’

‘Something like
that. Well?’

‘Wait a
minute.’ Philip stared at the man who was, in reality, his closest
friend. ‘Are you saying that you know more of this sudden marriage
than we do?’

‘Yes,’ said
Harry simply. And then, ‘What it is to be in a position of
power.’

‘What it is,’
retorted Philip, folding his arms, ‘to be in a position of having
your jaw broken. Come on. Tell.’

‘Devil a word,
Phil – devil a word.’ His lordship’s face was alight with palpable
enjoyment. ‘But I’ll give the pair of you a word of advice, if you
like.’

‘And that is?’
asked Jack.

‘Not to believe
everything you hear,’ replied Harry airily. And sauntered off to
claim his dance with Adeline.

On the other
side of the ballroom, his Grace appeared to take snuff in the
languid manner so peculiarly his own and looked pensively at the
outrageously-clad person of his friend, Mr Fox.

‘Instinct warns
me that you are about to insult my wig,’ said that gentleman
calmly. ‘Don’t.’

‘
Is
it a
wig?’ Rockliffe eyed the enormous ladder-toupé with mild disbelief.
‘But you malign me. I was simply wondering if you felt a trifle
bilious … or whether it is merely the lavender powder that makes
you
appear
so.’

‘You know, my
dear,’ sighed Mr Fox, ‘there are times when I am forced to
seriously consider dropping you. Particularly,’ with a wave at his
Grace’s unpowdered head, ‘if you are about to adopt country
fashions.’

The Duke’s
brows rose over eyes full of amusement.

‘But where
would you be then, Charles? You must know that your greatest social
advantage is being noticed by me. It is just a tremendous pity that
I have never succeeded in teaching you how to dress.’

An answering
gleam lit Mr Fox’s sallow countenance and he said, ‘It is as well
you are amusing, Rock. Otherwise I fear your conceit would be
unbearable. And you have pupils enough, surely? Why even now, I’ll
wager you’re busy devising a style for your bride.’ He paused and,
flicking open his chicken-skin fan, plied it gently. ‘She is a very
striking woman, by the way. Very striking. I congratulate you.’

‘Thank
you.’

‘But what I
would give a great deal to know,’ continued Mr Fox meditatively,
‘is why she is the image of a lady I met some years ago in
Paris.’

There was a
tiny, arrested pause. Then Rockliffe said idly, ‘Dear me. Is
she?’

‘Oh yes. The
resemblance is quite uncanny. The lady, as I recall, was married to
a military gentleman.’ Mr Fox matched his smile with a faintly
deprecating gesture of his fan. ‘I daresay I should have forgotten
her but for the fact that she lodged with the particularly inviting
little widow I was pursuing at the time.’

‘Dear Charles,’
sighed the Duke. ‘How very like you.’

‘Quite.’ Mr Fox
eyed him with gentle expectation and then, when nothing was
forthcoming, said, ‘One cannot but wonder if the lady I met is
perhaps a relation?’

Again, the
briefest of hesitations. Then, smiling urbanely, Rockliffe said,
‘Unlikely, I should think. And they do say, do they not, that every
one of us has a double?’

‘Ah yes. So
they do. A singularly tedious thought … and therefore, perhaps, not
worth bothering about?’

‘Certainly not
worth bothering about.’

For a long
moment, Mr Fox’s speculative stare met Rockliffe’s bland one. Then,
holding out his snuff-box, the Duke said smoothly, ‘Silver-gilt and
decorated in the Florentine style. I considerate it rather unusual.
What is your opinion?’

While Adeline
fell into the clutches of the dowagers and tried, in fulfilment of
the promise she had made to herself, to answer their questions with
submissive patience, Nell found herself face to face with Harry
Caversham in the library.

‘Oh,’ she said
disdainfully. ‘It’s you.’

‘Profound,’
grinned his lordship, ‘and beyond dispute. But best tell me
quickly; are you merely in hiding – or have I stumbled on a
tryst?’

‘Neither. I
came in here to repair a torn flounce. What’s your excuse?’

‘Oh – I’m
avoiding Jack,’ he replied carelessly. And then, ‘What happened,
Nell? One of your admirers get carried away by your charms, did
he?’

‘No! And I’ll
thank you to stop making such – such vulgar insinuations,’ she
snapped. ‘If you must know, I caught my heel in my petticoat – not
that it’s any business of yours! And why, exactly, are you avoiding
Jack?’

Harry laughed.
‘Isn’t it obvious? He knows that I know but doesn’t know
what
I know. And he wishes he did.’

Nell frowned.
‘I suppose that means you let something slip.’

‘Yes. Well, you
would
suppose that, wouldn’t you?’ he returned with
unabashed good-humour. And then, ‘I don’t suppose you’d care to
come and dance with me?’

‘Unfortunately,’ she mourned with relish, ‘I am fully engaged for
the entire evening.’

‘Yes,’ said
Harry ambiguously. ‘I thought you would be.’

And, turning on
his heel, left her to grind her teeth at his retreating back.

It was the Earl
of March who unwittingly released Adeline from her ordeal of
interrogation by soliciting her hand for the gavotte.

‘Insipid,’
remarked Lady Fitzroy disparagingly, as soon as they were out of
earshot. ‘Insipid, provincial and rather plain. One wonders what
Rockliffe can have seen in her.’

‘Indeed,’
agreed her friend, Mrs Lowerby. ‘One cannot also help but wonder
what dear Lucilla thinks of it all.’

Dolly Cavendish
regarded them with mildly exasperated amusement.

‘Since dear
Lucilla has been persistently trying to thrust Rock into the arms
of Salisbury’s daughter, I imagine what she thinks is fairly
obvious,’ she said dryly. ‘And don’t be too quick to dismiss our
little Duchess. There is more to her, I feel sure, than meets the
eye … for Rock’s taste, as we know, is never less than
impeccable.’

Lord March,
meanwhile, was finding his companion far from insipid and it was
with open reluctance that he relinquished her at length to Mr
Ingram.

‘It seems
you’ve made a conquest,’ said Jack lightly. And then, with what –
for him – was quite remarkable cunning, ‘Another one.’

Adeline looked
at him with perfectly-concealed wariness and a good deal of
enquiry.

‘I was
referring to Harry Caversham,’ he explained. ‘He admires you a good
deal.’

‘Does he?’ she
asked blankly. ‘Good heavens!’

This was not
quite what Jack had expected and neither was it a help. It was also
ill-timed since at that moment they were separated by the movement
of the dance and he had to wait before adding casually, ‘Of course,
Harry has the advantage of knowing you better than the rest of
us.’

The aquamarine
eyes gathered sudden brilliance and her mouth curved into a
disconcertingly splendid smile.

‘But for which
– like the rest of you – he’d naturally admire me much less?’

Belatedly aware
of his
faux pas
, Jack coloured and lost himself in a tangle
of apologies.

Adeline
laughed.

‘Mr Ingram –
please! I know exactly what you meant and also what you hoped to
achieve by it, so I’m afraid I couldn’t help teasing you a little.
And if you really want to question me, you’d do much better to go
about it directly, you know. It would come more naturally to you –
and I’d respond better.’

Jack stared at
her, temporarily bewitched by those luminous dark-fringed eyes.
Then, slowly and ruefully, he smiled.

‘You’re right,
of course. And I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be.’ She
pivoted gracefully under his arm and sank down before him in a
deep, final curtsy. Then, rising, she said bluntly, ‘The position
is very simple. I’m not going to tell you exactly how my marriage
came about because I don’t know you well enough. Yet. And Tracy
won’t tell you because he’s having fun watching you guess.’