Mesalliance (39 page)

‘By all means –
if you can prise her away from March and promise to keep her out of
secluded alcoves.’

‘
What
?’

‘Nothing.’

His lordship’s
brows rose.

‘If I didn’t
know better, I’d think you were jealous.’

‘No. This is
something else,’ said Rockliffe thoughtfully, as he watched the
minuet draw to a close. Then, as if reaching a decision, he
muttered something under his breath that, to Amberley, sounded
suspiciously like ‘Buggrit!’ and strode purposefully across the
floor, leaving the Marquis to stroll behind him, laughing.

‘March, my dear
fellow – you won’t mind if I steal my wife for a moment?’ his Grace
said pleasantly, taking a firm grip on Adeline’s arm. ‘No. I
thought not. Adeline – a brief word with you, if I may?’ And he
drew her inexorably out on to the chilly, deserted terrace.

Completely
startled, she said, ‘Tracy? What -- ?’

Then his arms
were round her and his mouth stifled both words and thought. She
had wondered if he would ever kiss her again … and, if he did,
whether it would produce the same dizzying response. It did more.
Fire rushed through every fibre of her body and stars exploded
around her. She gasped … and he deepened the kiss until he felt her
clinging weakly to him. Then, slowly, he released her.

‘I thought,’ he
said, as if nothing had happened, ‘that if you wanted to kiss
someone this evening, it might as well be me.’ Completely
disorientated and beyond speech, Adeline allowed him to lead her
back into the ballroom. ‘Dominic is waiting to dance with you.
Hopefully, it is now safe for him to do so.’ And, placing her hand
on Amberley’s velvet sleeve, he strolled unhurriedly away.

The Marquis
looked down into dazed aquamarine eyes with some amusement and
said, ‘What was that all about?’

She shook her
head as if to clear it. ‘I don’t know. He …’

‘He what?’

Adeline
swallowed, summoned a smile and said, ‘Nothing.’

In another room
and exquisitely gowned in blue, Diana Franklin found her path
suddenly blocked by Mistress Garfield.

‘Di –
dearest
! How lovely you look.’

Diana smiled
and let her gaze travel over Cecily’s expensive but grossly
over-trimmed pink satin.

‘Thank you. I’d
say the same to you, if I could – but you know I’ve always held
that pink makes you look sallow.’

Cecily’s
undistinguished eyes narrowed a little but she continued to
smile.

‘How irritable
you are this evening. But one can hardly wonder at it, of course.
You must be feeling dreadfully low. I only wish I knew what to say
to cheer you up – but it’s rather difficult. You really aren’t
having much luck lately, are you?’

Diana stared at
her freezingly.

‘I haven’t the
faintest idea what you’re talking about – and, to be honest, I
don’t care. Excuse me.’

‘Wait! Do you
really
not know?’

‘Know
what?’

A gleam of avid
pleasure informed Cecily’s sharp features.

‘But, my
dear
… about Harry Caversham and Nell. Haven’t you heard?
They’re betrothed.’

Quite slowly,
the blood drained away from Diana’s skin leaving her patchily pale.
She said distantly, ‘I don’t believe it.’

‘Well, it’s
true, I assure you. The notice was in the newspaper this morning. I
can’t understand how it was that you didn’t see it. And they’re in
the ballroom this very minute, receiving everyone’s
felicitations.’

Diana
discovered that she felt rather sick.

‘If you’re
making this up,’ she said viciously, ‘I swear I’ll make you sorry
for it.’

‘Don’t be
stupid, Di. Where would be the point of making it up?’ Cecily
paused to savour the moment. ‘I’m just sorry I had to be the one to
tell you. It must be a horrid shock – particularly when we all know
you had such hopes of attaching Harry yourself –
oh
!’ This
as Diana pushed her violently aside in order to blaze a trail
towards the ballroom.

It took no more
than a few seconds’ observation to convince Diana that Cecily had
spoken the truth … but much longer than that for her brain to start
functioning again. She looked at Nell in her gold and white gown,
leaning laughingly on Harry’s arm whilst replying to words thrown
at her by Philip Vernon and Mr Fox … and then at the expression of
tender amusement in his lordship’s blue eyes as he smiled down upon
her. For a time, the picture had no more meaning than a scene in a
play; and then, deep down inside her, something began to stir.

Harry had
cheated her. He’d flirted with her and deliberately led her to
suppose that his intentions towards her were serious. But they
hadn’t been. He’d probably always intended to have Nell … and she,
Diana, had been his dupe. It was not something she was prepared to
tolerate.

Of its own
volition, Diana’s gaze moved on to encompass her twin, moving
lightly through the gavotte with Jack Ingram. Thea had been
different of late … less admiring and a good deal more assertive.
It wasn’t satisfactory – and neither was the improvement in her
looks. Thea was becoming just a little too pleased with herself;
and the cause of it was that dull, ordinary man who’d not only been
stupid enough to prefer Thea to herself but also dared take her in
open dislike. He ought to be made to regret that, thought Diana
clinically; and then, looking on Althea’s transparent happiness,
‘
They
both
should
.’

Adeline danced
by with the Marquis of Amberley … and the cornflower eyes followed
her stonily. Who would have thought that her dowdy cousin could
have acquired such style? But so it was. From the curling,
peacock-dyed feathers in her luxuriant hair, to the high jewelled
heels of her shoes, Adeline was the epitome of seemingly effortless
elegance. Her gown – almost devoid of trimming but of such cut and
so daring a shade that it made every other woman in the room look
insipid – could only have come from the master-hand of Phanie and
must have cost upwards of three hundred guineas. And the diamonds
sparkling on her wrists and around that slender white throat caused
Diana’s hands to clench savagely on her fan. She would have sold
her soul for those diamonds …and, but for Adeline, she would almost
certainly have had them.

At this point
it was no more than a logical progression to let her glance seek
out Rockliffe; and, though she had not anticipated the hot tide of
feeling that surged through her when she found him, she was not
surprised by it. She had known for a long time that he was her evil
genius and somehow responsible for all the ills that had befallen
her. She looked at him now, standing slightly apart in his
magnificent black and silver and doing nothing to court attention,
yet in some way commanding it. He was, without question, the most
attractive man in the room … tall, perfectly-proportioned and,
above all,
masculine
. And those dark, enigmatic eyes … that
just now were resting so intently on – whom? Diana interrupted her
train of thought to find out – and then stiffened as the knife
twisted unexpectedly in her stomach.

Adeline. He was
watching Adeline … and watching her, moreover, as though no one
else existed. The blood began to seethe in Diana’s veins. She
thought, ‘
So that’s the way of it, is it? What a fool he is …
what fools they
all
are! But I could change that. I wonder
how his Grace will like to learn that his precious duchess is on
such intimate terms with his good friend Jack that she tells him
all her dirty secrets? I wonder how he’ll feel if he hears that
he’s probably married a
bastard?’

A little smile
curved her mouth and her eyes gleamed with malice. A sense of power
flowed through her, as exhilarating as wine; and, with a step as
light as it was predatory, she bore down on Rockliffe.

His gaze was
still on Adeline and his mood one of determination. In recent
weeks, he had somehow lost sight of the fact that there was an
explosion of sparks whenever they came together. Last night he’d
gone home intending to seduce her but had let Jack’s unexpected
presence deflect him. Tonight, he would make no such mistake.
Tonight, come hell or high water, he intended to turn the sparks
into a full-blown conflagration; and then … then he might finally
find out if he had her heart as well.

‘Good evening,
your Grace. Are you admiring your wife – or keeping an eye on her?
I’m sure you could be forgiven for either one.’

Rockliffe
looked down into the jewel-hard eyes and took his time about
replying. Under normal circumstances, he would have nipped this
overture firmly in the bud. Just now, however, his particular devil
was stirring … and Mistress Di was as good a target as any.

He said gently,
‘And why is that?’

‘I should have
thought that was obvious,’ she shrugged. And then, as though
changing the subject, ‘Nell looks happy. One can only hope it
lasts.’

‘But you, of
course, doubt that it will.’

‘Don’t you? You
must know that Harry only - ’ She broke off artistically. ‘Well,
let’s just say he is a desperate flirt.’

His Grace
smiled.

‘I am not sure
of my cue. Do I observe that it is a case of pot calling kettle –
or simply remark that it takes one to know one?’

Something
flickered in the blue eyes and then was gone.

‘Oh - that!
That was nothing.’

‘No,’ agreed
the Duke. ‘So Harry has said.’

‘Has he? Well,
well.’ Her voice thickened with spite. ‘And has he also said that
there’s nothing between himself and Adeline? Because if there
isn’t, I’d not wager a groat that there soon won’t be. Why else is
he marrying Nell?’

Rockliffe
appeared to be in rapt contemplation of his snuff-box.

‘You are the
one who appears to have all the answers. You tell me.’

‘To make it
easier for him to be close to Adeline, of course. I should have
thought you were bright enough to have worked that one out for
yourself.’

‘Did you? Then
you did me an injustice, my dear.’ His tone was like honeyed silk
but his eyes, when he looked at her, held an expression of icy
contempt. ‘You see … unlike yours, my mind is not filled with
sordid imaginings.’

Diana’s mouth
contorted, showing small sharp teeth.

‘The truth
hurts, doesn’t it? But go on deluding yourself, if you like. It’s
nothing to me. I’m just sorry for you all … you and Nell and my
poor sister. Yes – particularly for Thea.’

‘Desolate as I
am to be obliged to contradict you,’ came the blighting reply, ‘it
has to be said that you have never been sorry for anyone in your
life.
Particularly
your sister. Your problem, at this
precise moment, is that you are jealous.’

‘
Jealous
? Not I! Why should I be?’

‘I should have
thought,’ he mocked, ‘that the reason was obvious. Despite your
undeniable beauty, you are being forced to watch others succeeding
where you have failed. In short, Mistress, you are just beginning
to suspect that you may be unmarriageable … and you still don’t
know why.’

‘It’s a lie!’
she spat breathlessly. ‘I’m not unmarriageable – I’m just choosier
than some.
I
won’t make do with other people’s
leavings.’

‘It’s unlikely
that you will ever be given the chance.’ The lean mouth curled in a
hard, derisory smile. ‘It is plain that you have accosted me for
the purpose of saying something I should probably much prefer not
to hear … and, in a moment, I shall permit you to do so. But first
you must allow me the satisfaction of informing you that you are
undoubtedly the most vain, selfish, and unprincipled brat it has
ever been my misfortune to meet … and the man who is foolish enough
to marry you will have my profoundest sympathy.’

For almost a
minute, Diana’s fury threatened to choke her. Something was boiling
inside her and the closing strains of the gavotte seemed to come
from a long way off. The sticks of her fan snapped in her hands as
she fought for control of her lungs. Then she said unevenly, ‘Save
your sympathy for yourself, your Grace. By the time you’ve heard
what I have to say, I doubt you’ll have any to spare.’

‘By the time I
hear what you have to say,’ drawled Rockliffe, flicking open his
silver snuff-box, ‘I am likely to have expired from pure
boredom.’

The bubbling
cauldron inside her brain reached its zenith and was propelled, by
the sheer unconcern of his manner, into violent explosion. Freed of
its last feeble constraint, her self-control snapped and she
hissed, ‘
Bastard
!’ Then, her voice starting to rise, ‘You’re
a bastard – and that’s funny, if you only knew why! But you don’t,
do you? Shall I tell you? Or shall I just tell you to ask your dear
friend Jack?
He
knows. She told him.
She told him
, do
you hear? But she didn’t tell you, did she? It’s so funny – I vow I
could die laughing!’

The gavotte had
finished and, in the area around them, people were already staring;
so Rockliffe refrained from saying that he rather wished she would
and, instead, snapping shut the lid of his snuff-box, said coldly,
‘You are distraught. Were it not that I am all too well aware what
could come of it, I might offer to listen to you in private. As it
is, I can only suggest that you strive for a little self-discipline
and abandon this … charade … until you are calmer.’

‘Oh no!’ She
backed off a little way, wild-eyed and laughing. ‘You won’t stop me
like that – no, nor frighten me with your clever little threats,
either! I’m going to tell you something interesting about my sweet,
irresistible cousin and there’s nothing you or anyone can do to
stop me!’

The silence was
spreading and a space was beginning to yawn about them. Behind
Diana, the dance-floor had all but emptied and, strewn in little
knots along its edges, the cream of London society was gradually
congealing in blank astonishment.