The Charmer (6 page)

A footman approached them and informed Adrian that the duchess requested his attendance in her sitting room.

“It sounds as though it is over,” Adrian said after the footman left.

“What do you suppose she wants?”

“Perhaps she thinks that her new position permits her to order my execution.”

He entered the drawing room, walked through the immense house, found Charles serving as underbutler, and followed his balding head up to Sophia's chambers.

The doors stood open. She paced the sitting room with Yuri and the other two mastiffs on short leads and Camilla following behind. Prinny the Monkey climbed up and down a chair.

Black did not become the duchess. With her dark curls and pale skin and strained expression, she looked like death itself. Annoyance and worry formed faint lines that framed her mouth. Her hair was pulled into an unattractive style that caused curls to spring out from under a silly little bonnet. Her old-fashioned bombazine dress covered fewer petticoats and showed less fullness than current styles, but she could not have looked less attractive if she had tried.

Which probably meant that she
had
tried. Adrian wondered how Gerald Stidolph had reacted upon seeing his intended after eight years.

“I trust that the King and lords are satisfied now,” he said after her greeting. “Confess, it was not nearly as bad as you anticipated.”

“I wouldn't know. I haven't met with them yet.”

“Are you saying that you have kept the King waiting over two hours?”

“I was indisposed. However, he has summoned me again, so it cannot be avoided any longer.”

“You left it to His Majesty to summon you
twice
to greet him in your own house? King William may be generous about this, but I assure you that Wellington will not find it amusing.”

She yanked the dogs to a halt. “Let me guess. He is your hero. You have regretted all your life that you were too young to fight at Waterloo. As a schoolboy you idolized the general and dreamed of sharing his glory.”

“He has the King's ear and is a force to be reckoned with. You do not want him as an enemy. I advise that you present yourself to the King at once.”

She gathered the leads tighter, pulling the hounds closer. They circled her, their heads rising to her elbows. Camilla took up position by her side. Prinny happily climbed onto her shoulder and clutched the little black bonnet.

She presented a positively bizarre picture.

Which, God help him, he actually found endearing in addition to exasperating.

“I intend to go down now. You will escort me,” she announced. “I am ready.”

“Don't you want to drape the snakes around your bosom? If the point is to convince them that you are a madwoman, why not tuck the iguana under your arm?” He walked over, grabbed a squealing Prinny, dumped him in his cage, and slammed the door. “Camilla stays here too.”

“I will not go unguarded.”

“A passion for dogs is a respectably English eccentricity. They may accompany you, but you need no guards at the audience.”

“I suppose not, since you are coming.”

“I was not called. I cannot go in.”

She pierced him with an accusing glare. “You forced me to come back here. Dragged me out of my home, abducted me for all intents and purposes, and subjected me to unknown dangers and possible death.”

“At no time was your life in danger.”

“You cut me off from my dearest friends and dumped me here, where I know almost no one and do not much like the ones whom I know. There is an army waiting for me in the study, Mister Burchard, led by the great Wellington himself. You are no ally of mine, and one of them, but I will be damned if I will enter their camp totally alone. Either you come with me or I do not go.”

He considered refusing. It would cause an ungodly stir. And he could not help her. What was going to happen was inevitable.

The glint of obstinacy in her eyes gave way to one of distress. It flickered and burned, deepening their color. She did not look at him, but at Yuri and his brothers. “Please accompany me.” The words came low, as if making the request strangled her. “It will be my
faux pas,
not yours.”

He had glimpsed her vulnerability several times since meeting her, and it always twisted something inside him. It was probably why her bouts of resistance about coming back had made him more concerned than angry. His role in this had made him responsible for her, in a way.

He stepped to her side and offered his arm. “I promised to deliver you, and if I take my words too literally no one can blame me for it, I suppose.”

chapter
7

S
teeling her strength, Sophia accepted his escort down to where the meeting would be held. The hounds behaved magnificently since Adrian's commanding eye watched.

“You will not bring them in,” Adrian insisted at the study's door, prying the leads from her fingers and handing them to a footman.

As it turned out, the whole army did not await her. Most of the lords had arrayed themselves in the library and corridors. Only ten men sat in the study itself.

They rose upon her entry, forming a masculine wall. The breadth of nobility was as daunting as their number. Besides the King she counted two dukes, two earls, a marquess, and an assortment of minor titles. Adrian's father, the Earl of Dincaster, sat by the window with his eldest son Gavin.

She made her bow to the elderly, rotund King. At his royal gesture she sat in a chair facing him, smack in the middle of the room like a curiosity on display.

“Well, now, my dear, it is good to see you again,” hailed King William after all the introductions had been made. His gray head inclined her way and he favored her with an avuncular smile.

“And I you, Your Majesty. Your presence honors us.”

“My pleasure. Came to settle things. Delightful house. Near the sea too. Old navy man myself. Glad to come. We need to settle this, don't we? Ill winds blowing and all that. Need to settle things.”

A man with gray hair and bright eyes and a hooked nose caught her attention and smiled. “What His Majesty is trying to say, is that we need to settle things.”

She knew this man. His presence did not bode well for her, even if he invited her to join him in a speck of disrespectful wit. She might be able to outsmart the new King known as “Silly Billy,” but not the famous Duke of Wellington.

Having made his official welcome, the old King grew distracted. From the far wall Gerald Stidolph caught her eye and smiled with warm recognition. She hadn't expected him to be here. Even more than the phalanx of lords, even more than the dominating presence of Wellington, she resented the assumptions that had invited Gerald to participate.

Adrian had retreated against the wall closest to her. His magnetism created an intensification of gravity where he stood. Sophia half-expected the lords seated by the window to slide across the floor, right into the hearth.

Did no one else notice but her?

At least one other person did. The Earl of Dincaster's pink-tinted skin flushed a deeper hue. “My youngest son's errand ended with your arrival, Duchess.”

“Mister Adrian Burchard is present at my request.”

“This is a matter for the upper House, and not—”

“If the duchess wants him to stay, he stays,” Wellington snapped.

King Willian jolted alert at the sharp military tone. “Quite. Let us move along.” He pressed his hands on his thick knees. “Now, my dear, here you finally are. Should have come home on your own as soon as you heard. Odd choice not to, but we are not here to talk of that. There's work to be done, and quickly. Ill winds blowing and we need every man on deck. The problem is, you're not a man, are you?”

“It would appear not, Your Majesty.”

“Only one thing for it, of course. If the captain can't take the helm, his first officer is sent instead.”

“What His Majesty is saying,” Wellington clarified, “is that, while at another time your inheritance might not cause problems, at this particular moment it does. Revolution threatens. These elections are crucial to the future of the nation.”

The King slapped his hand on his knee. “Duty. Duty. That is what it is about for the likes of us. Marriage, Duchess. That is what it must be. Nothing else for it. Your father favored your cousin Stidolph over there, didn't he? Good man. Only right to make the match now.”

She summoned every speck of courage that she could. “I could not possibly consider marriage while I mourn my father. Perhaps next summer.”

“Normally such restraint would be expected, of course,” Wellington said, his gaze sharpening on her in a way that said he immediately saw her game. “You honor your father more, however, by doing his will, and the situation in the country cannot permit such delay.”

“It is more than my grief. My cousin and I have become strangers to each other. It may be that we do not suit each other. I will not take such an important step so impetuously.” She got it all out, but her voice sounded awfully small.

Wellington rose. He instantly dominated the King, the study, and her. He looked down his hooked nose at her much as he must have examined the lowest of his soldiers.

“Gentlemen, if you would.”

His brittle tone left no room for argument. The lords bobbed toward the door in obedient formation.

“I must insist that Mister Burchard remain,” she said.

“Of course,” Wellington agreed unctuously. He gave Adrian a glance that said,
Why not? After all, he is my man.

Seeing that Adrian had not budged, Dincaster kept his seat too. Wellington stared at him until the earl's face was red with outrage, but still the father would not move if the third son stayed. Finally only Adrian, the Earl of Dincaster, the King, and Wellington remained.

Except that the King had fallen asleep, so he wasn't with them in truth.

“Now, Duchess, let us speak frankly,” the Iron Duke said, pinning her in place with an eagle's stare. “I am aware that you are a woman of the world, so I will be plain. If marriage to your cousin does not appeal to you, that is unfortunate but hardly a major problem. Produce an heir and then do as you will.”

“I am not such a woman of the world that my views are as practical as yours.”

“This is not about you. It is about Britain. It is about responsibility. Furthermore, there are other matters at work. We did not want to frighten you, but you should marry for your own sake too. There is some possibility that you are in danger, and a husband would be protection.”

In some danger.
The words sucked the wind out of her gathering storm of indignation. A seed of raw fear and sickening guilt that had been planted upon hearing of her father's death suddenly shot out stems and roots.

“What do you mean,
danger
? What sort of danger?” Adrian asked.

The Iron Duke looked at her as if requesting permission to speak of it. The branching fear made her nauseous and she suddenly did not care what was said or done.

“As a girl the duchess had a friendship with a young radical who operated in this area and the midlands. He called himself Captain Brutus. Her father learned of it, laid a trap for the man, and got him transported. That was almost nine years ago, but it appears that Captain Brutus is back. Broadsides have been found with calls to action over his name.” The duke paused. “Under the circumstances, the Duke of Everdon's death while hunting is somewhat suspicious. Those of us who know about the tie between Captain Brutus and this family think that caution is in order.”

“If what you say is true, wouldn't the duchess have been safer in France?” Adrian's icy tone made her twist and look up. He stood closely now, next to her shoulder.

“If she is in danger, it was just a matter of time before the man learned she was there. Better the war be fought on ground she knows, where there are those who want to protect her.”

“We are speaking of one woman's safety, damn it, not the deployment of an army.”

“See here, Adrian . . .” the forgotten earl began severely.

“That is where you are wrong, Burchard,” Wellington countered. He turned back to her. “I am sure that you see the rightness of the solution. It is in everyone's interest, including yours, for this marriage to happen. Gerald Stidolph was in the army, and will both see to your protection and to the proper exercise of Everdon's considerable political influence.”

Wellington's formidable presence, his very size and demeanor, demanded submission.

She raised her chin until she looked the most famous man in England squarely in the face. There was only one thing to do if she did not want to be browbeaten into agreement.

“I am sorry. I will not marry,” she said. “I cannot. You see, I already have a husband.”

Somehow Adrian got the duchess out of that study and away from the shock that greeted her announcement and story.

With perfect poise she allowed him to collect the dogs and make a retreating processional past all those lords, and up to the third level where her apartment sprawled. Once there he banished Jenny and closed the doors of the sitting room.

He pried the gripping hand that revealed her true emotions off his arm and stepped back. “I cannot believe that you told the King that bald lie.”

Her bland expression broke, but she did not appear dismayed. She looked pleased with herself.

“I did not tell the King any lies. He was snoring. I fibbed a bit with Wellington, but since he was trying to force me to marry Gerald, I don't feel guilty.”

“
Fibbed a bit?
You told him the whole ridiculous tale. He probably thinks that you married Captain Brutus and that Everdon is now at the mercy of a man who encourages insurrection.”

She propped herself on a chair. “I made it very clear that it is not Captain Brutus because, God forbid he really has come back, I certainly do not want to be stuck proving that he
isn't
my husband. Nor did I tell the whole tale. I never mentioned about my husband being a spy for the government, for example . . .”

And thank God for that.

“. . . because Wellington would probably know all the spies and would be able to figure out who it was, or rather who it wasn't, which is all of them. I decided that I had to keep it mysterious. Using that excuse was brilliant, if I do say so myself. He doesn't believe me, but he cannot prove that I am lying.”

She appeared happier than she had since he met her. “I have you to thank. When you faced the duke down like that, I realized that he was just another man. The way you were not intimidated gave me strength. I could never have stood my ground without your help.”

He supposed that it was incumbent upon him to give the plan one last try, not that he had much stomach left for it.

“The news about Captain Brutus appeared to frighten you. If there is the chance that he is a danger, it really may be best if—”

“The man I knew would not be a danger to me.”

“Men change, especially if they are embittered.”

“Possibly. I knew his seven years were up, of course. I have wondered if he would come back, and if he would blame me. If he has, perhaps I deserve it.”

“You must take care, just in case.”

She quirked a trembling grin at him. “I will keep the dogs nearby.” He could see her force her mind to other business. “Please bring Wellington a message from me. Tell him that I will accept his advice in exercising Everdon's power. Tell him that I am prepared to nominate the men recommended to me, and will send his selections to the new Parliament.”

Adrian had no trouble recognizing what she offered, and what she withheld. The elections were imminent, and she would submit to the Tory leadership for them, but she made no other promises. Those twelve seats would remain twelve question marks when anyone tried to anticipate voting.

Her green eyes met his in frank acknowledgment that she had survived a crucial battle and found the victory exhilarating.

When he had told Colin that she was trouble, he had not known just how much.

He went in search of Wellington, thankful that his part was done and that he was out of it.

“You have to stay on.”

Wellington gave the order upon receiving Sophia's message. “Offer to help her settle her father's affairs. She probably has no head for that herself and will be glad to have advice. I doubt that she trusts the old duke's lawyers and stewards, since she trusts no one in England, from what I can tell. Except you, a bit.” He stood beside the study window, enjoying a cigar. The King and the earl had departed and Adrian and Wellington were alone.

“Find someone else.”

“Who? She will refuse. She is not sure of you, either, but you at least are the devil she knows.”

“Tell Stidolph to take care of it.”

“I am sure he will try, but having met her, I don't have much faith in Stidolph anymore. I think that he exaggerated their affection for each other, and her claim of being married closes that door until she recants. Even if he should win her, I doubt that he can control her.”

“Then you do it.”

“My good man, I am the enemy. You are only the ambassador.”

“No, I am the man who forced her to return here even though doing so places her in danger.” He had been finding their use of her increasingly distasteful. The realization that they had been using him, too, was thoroughly unpalatable. “Damn it, I should have been told.”

“From your reaction, I am glad that you were not. She had to come back. As to Captain Brutus, I meant what I said. She is no safer in France if the man is determined. If you are feeling responsible, all the more reason to stay close to her.”

First duty, now guilt. First for England, now for his conscience. The Iron Duke was very good at this, but then he would have to be, wouldn't he? You couldn't get thousands to die at your command unless you were.