The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown (Lady W 1) (33 page)

A few couples around them stopped mid-dance step and stared, and Lord Veere, who had been standing behind them, began to chortle.

Linney just felt completely disgraced. How horrible of her, really. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly.

“Here. Take this,” Lord Darington said, shoving a piece of folded paper at her.

She frowned at it, feeling as if the whole room revolved slowly around her, making her wish to lose her dinner all over Lord Darington’s highly polished boots.

“Take it, please.”

Please, he had said please. She grabbed the paper, thrust it down her décolletage, and spinning about, ran for privacy.

She was most definitely going to see all the rum punch that now churned in her belly once more. And she rather thought it would be nice to do such a thing without the world watching her.

Let’s
not
dance.
He had meant to say,
Let’s
not
dance.
Terrance watched Caroline wind her way quickly around chattering partygoers and disappear from the room. He had given much thought to his predicament, and realized that if he could not seem to woo Lady Caroline, then he really ought to go back to Ivy Park and practice his speech a bit more before going out into the world again.

But he did hope that Lady Caroline might want to go with him. He could no longer picture his world without her funny little ways in it. He loved to just look at her. It was as if he could read every thought in her head through her eyes.

He had seen her grapple with what must have sounded like total savagery on his part. And he had never wanted to speak so badly in his life.

No,
he wanted to cry,
no, I don’t mean to demand or make you upset. I want more than anything to make you happy. I want to dance with you. Or not dance. I want to walk with you, or stand, or sit. Anything, just let me stand near you, feel your soft skin beneath my fingers, taste your lips, and listen to your voice
.

And most definitely, let me take you out from the shadows and let the world realize what they have been missing
.

He had hoped that he could make her understand this, but he had not completely trusted himself. In fact, he had not trusted his tongue at all. And he had spent the last few days trying to write on paper his feelings.

Now he could just stare at the path that Caroline had taken and hope that she could glean his real meaning from the words he had written.

Chapter 7

Could it be that Lady Caroline Starling refused the suit of the Earl of Pellering because she prefers the Marquis of

Darington? Darington???? Isn’t he the very same cretin who evicted her from her home three years ago, giving her only two days to pack her every belonging?

This Author does not presume to know Lady Caroline’s heart, but the lady was heard (by a great many people, This Author might add), calling Lord Darington a very nasty word at the Shelbourne Valentine’s Day ball.

And it is This Author’s experience that only true love could ever compel a lady to lose such total command of her verbal faculties.

L
ADY
W
HISTLEDOWN
’
S
S
OCIETY
P
APERS
,
16 F
EBRUARY
1814

L
inney awoke to all three cats sitting at the bottom of her bed staring at her. This had not happened in all her lifetime, so she realized immediately that she must had been the topic of feline conversation the night before.

“Oh, leave me be.”

Duchess meowed.

“Right, I know, I acted horribly last night. And I emptied my stomach upon Lord Rake’s tail, but I have been sick, you must remember.”

Lord Rake cocked his head to the side regally, and in that second he completely reminded her of Lord Darington. “Well, obviously I also had too much rum punch. But, be that as it may, you must all take into account the fact that I had the most horrible cold only a few days ago.”

Miss Spit actually spit.

Linney just shook her head, and then groaned. She pushed back her coverlet and placed her feet on the floor. She still wore the silk petticoat she had put on under her pink dress for the Shelbournes’ ball.

She had worn a pink dress because Lord Darington had told her she looked pretty in pink. Could she be any more pathetic?

The much-contemplated dress sat in a crumpled heap on the floor, completely ruined and reeking. She would burn it.

And she would absolutely never have rum punch again, ever.

Beside the dress lay a folded piece of paper. Linney squinted at it for a moment, trying to remember what it was.

Holding her head with one hand, Linney leaned over carefully and picked up the paper. She unfolded it, just as a memory flickered through her fogged brain of Lord Darington thrusting the thing at her and demanding she take it.

“He does like to thrust things at me, and demand, doesn’t he?” she asked.

The cats didn’t seem to care as they all waited for her to read the paper. “I’m reading, I’m reading,” and she glanced down at the thing.

Dearest Caroline
, it started out. That was nice.

I must explain myself in writing for my words do not come easily. I had thought, perhaps, that I could get past this problem and woo a wife, but obviously my speech is even worse than I believed
.

Caroline frowned.

First, I must apologize for making you leave Ivy Park as I did. I will not make excuses, but I will say that I
was not myself at the time and did not realize what was happening. In fact this brings me to my next confession. And I do hope you will choose to keep this to yourself, even if you do not see fit to accept my suit.

Accept his suit? Linney dropped the paper, but then scrambled to grab it again.

I was wounded in the war. And I have a problem making my mouth utter the words that my mind wants to say. I realize this sounds very odd. And I know that society would not understand such a thing. They would probably lock me in Bedlam, actually. But I believe in my heart that you will understand. My mind is sound, I promise. It seems to be a connection between my mind and my tongue that is damaged.

Oh yes, she understood that very well.

I will now just tell you that I love you. I love your eyes and your throat and your mouth and your lips. I love the words that come from those lips when you say the things you try so desperately not to say. I loved you the moment you put my soiled handkerchief back in my pocket. I feel something for you that I have never felt for another person in my life, and I know with all my heart that I want to feel it forever. Please, I know I am not worthy, but will you marry me? I shall spend the rest of my days loving you, and listening to everything you want to tell me. It will be a burden for you, I know, since you will have to smooth over my rather rough ways. But if there is anyone in the world who can do such a thing, I believe it is you. If you do not want me, I think I shall retreat to Ivy Park, as I do not believe I was quite ready for London. I shall leave in the morning, but keep a hope in my heart that you will impede my journey home
.

“Oh my Lord!” Linney cried. She jumped from the bed, her headache completely forgotten. “What time is it?” The cats looked at her as if she were daft.

Grabbing a wrapper, Linney threw the thing about her and ran from her room. “What time is it?” she yelled as she pounded down the stairs.

Teddy stepped out of the drawing room, but with eyes the size of saucers, he beat a quick retreat.

“Teddy!” Linney followed the poor boy. “What time is it?”

Teddy turned away, shading his eyes. “Er, um, I think it is noon, Lady Caroline, or very close to it at least.”

“Oh no! Lord Darington is an early riser.”

“What?” Her mother glided in from the dining room and stopped short. “Linney! What on earth are you about? And how in the world do you know Lord Darington’s sleeping habits? Lord, child, get some clothes on.”

“Mother, I’m going to marry Lord Darington, but I must let him know that I don’t find him altogether repugnant.”

“Excuse me?”

Linney grabbed a bonnet from the stand and flung open the front door. “I’ll explain later,” she said and ran down the stairs and off in the direction of Lord Darington’s town house.

As she ran, she tried to pull the bonnet on, but realized that she had grabbed her mother’s by mistake. The frilly bit of haberdashery was much too big. It kept slipping over her eyes.

It was about two blocks away from her mother’s town house and just a block away from Lord Darington’s that Teddy caught up to her.

“Lady Caroline!” he sputtered, grabbing her arm. “What are you doing?”

The poor boy looked as if he could not breathe.

Linney, on the other hand, felt as if she were running on the wind, and she most definitely did not want to stop and speak to Teddy about it. “I can’t stop, Teddy.” She shook off the butler’s hand and pounded down the walk.

Teddy kept up with her, barely. “La…dy…Car…” Teddy stopped and gulped some air. “You can’t…you have no shoes!”

Linney spared a glance at her bare feet. Goodness, they were rather cold. But instead of stopping, she sped up, rounded a corner, and ran smack into a very large and imposing figure who was directing a footman with a trunk.

“Lord…” Linney’s voice drained away, for it was not Lord Darington at all, but his friend. The man he had been speaking to at the skating party and the Shelbournes’ ball.

The man blinked a few times, his mouth open in a large O. “Lady Caroline?” he said incredulously.

“Lady Caroline!” Teddy yelled with obvious confusion, skidding to a halt behind her.

“Halloo, Lady Caroline,” Liza Pritchard called from her seat at the reins of a high perch phaeton, the handsome Sir Royce Pemberley at her side. Caroline waved automatically, and Liza grinned as if there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary as she whisked by.

“Caroline,” Lord Darington’s low voice said with complete understanding.

Linney glanced up the stairs, and then she ran up them and threw herself into Lord Darington’s arms, just as she had wished to do so many times in the last fortnight.

His strong arms closed around her, his beautiful hands lifting her against him.

And they did not have to say anything at all. She finally understood. And she knew with all her heart that he did, too. And she was home, at last.

“We have…” He stopped.

Linney glanced behind them. “An audience,” she said.

“Yes.”

The street was filled with people, servants, street vendors, carriages, couples walking, and at the bottom of Lord Darington’s steps, three cats.

“You must marry me now,” Linney said, “I am thoroughly compromised.”

“If I must.” Lord Darington turned and carried her up the stairs and into his home. Duchess, Lord Rake, and Miss Spit followed just behind, slithering in before the door closed, obviously realizing that they had a new home as well.

Darington did not stop, though, in the hall. And she was awfully glad of that, since she was most definitely aware now of her lack of dress, and gaping servants seemed to stand at every doorway.

He walked sedately down a long hall, and up a curving staircase.

Obviously, acting pompous did come in handy at moments like this.

And then they were in a dark room, Darington kicked the door shut behind him, and Linney heard an offended yowl. Miss Spit.

“I love you,” Darington said, placing her on a bed. “And I will make love to you.”

Linney frowned. “You know, you could
ask
once in a—” But he covered her mouth with his, and she forgot completely what she was going to say as he pushed her back against the coverlet.

“How’s this, then? Shall we begin on those dozen kisses?” he inquired against her mouth.

“Much better—and most definitely,” she answered.

He kissed her most thoroughly, and then moved back slightly, his voice ragged. “Could we up the count?”

“One hundred?” she said.

“Let’s start with a few million.”

Linney thought for a moment. “That is rather a lot…”

But with a dark chuckle, Terrance pulled her body against his and bit lightly at her neck.

Linney shivered; it was as if every nerve ending was right at the surface of her skin, waiting and shuddering.

“That’s just for today. Tomorrow we start over.”

“Oh, that’s lovely,” she said breathlessly as Lord Darington’s large, strong hand moved up her side and cupped her breast.

She closed her eyes, and threading her fingers in her lover’s beautiful hair, pulled his mouth back to hers. “I will kiss you a dozen times, a million times, I don’t care. Just kiss me forever. It is the most wondrous thing in the world.”

“I shall show you an even more wondrous thing,” he said and moved his kiss down her jaw, against her collarbone and then lower, his tongue wetting the light fabric of her nightgown.

Linney gripped Terrance’s shoulders as his mouth found her nipple. Her nerve endings rippled against her skin. She moved beneath him and moaned.

“That is wondrous,” she managed to say.

And Lord Darington laughed. “That isn’t even what I was going to show you.”

“Show me. Now.”

“Don’t you ever ask?” he said, his hand moving down to cover her belly.

Linney opened her eyes. Terrance was watching her with an intensity she had never seen in another person. And she felt excited and safe and happy all at once.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too,” he said.

And she could tell that was truth just by the look in his eyes.

“But, you know,” she said, “you hardly speak at all, and now, when that particular trait would be a good one, you are speaking full and long sentences. It is terribly annoying.”