The Regency (85 page)

Lucy coloured. 'Really, Danby! As if I couldn't look at your
wound without —' She stopped in confusion.

‘Pink suits you,' he said agreeably. 'Did you really miss me?’

‘Never mind that. Are you sure you're all right?'

‘Never better.'

‘
Campaigning seems to suit you,' Lucy said, 'though you're
too thin.' As her arms were unaccountably still around him at
that moment, she was in a position to judge.

‘You can feed me up,' he offered unselfishly.

‘How long can you stay?'

‘
I'm due for six weeks' leave, but Hookey told me not to
come back until my shoulder's completely healed.'

‘
Then it is a serious wound,' Lucy concluded, paling a
little.

‘
Don't fret, it ain't so bad. Can't use my sword properly,
that's all, and wounds take longer to heal on campaign. I
balked a bit, but it makes sense. No use to anyone if I can't
use m' sword.’

Lucy privately resolved she would look at the wound, by
hook or crook, but was wise enough to keep the resolution to
herself. 'You didn't want to come home?'

‘
What do you think?' he asked, squeezing her a little. 'But
I'd have liked to be there for the taking of Madrid. Joseph's
there — Boney's brother — and quaking in his shoes already.
We'll take it by the end of the month — would have liked to
share in that, before I came on leave. However —' He
shrugged, and winced, and seeing Lucy open her mouth
hastened to put in a question. 'What're you doin' still in Town
in August? Expected to have to go down to Wolvercote for you.'

‘
Didn't you get my last letter? Flaminia's to be married in
September, to Harvey Sale.’

Wiske's brow wrinkled. 'I thought he was Hippolyta's
beau? Seem to remember you said something in one of your
letters —'

‘
No, that was nothing. I was mistaken. They danced
together once or twice, and you know how rumour starts. It's
all arranged, settlements, everything — very handsome. And,'
she added with satisfaction, 'you'll be able to be here for it.’

The tone of her voice made him look down seriously into
her face. 'You really did miss me, then?' he said softly.

Lucy felt absurdly shy, but forced herself to meet his gaze.
‘Yes, I did,' she said. 'I didn't know that I would, but I did.'

‘
A handsome admission,' he said. He placed his hands one
either side of her head and tilted her face up to him, and
kissed her. Lucy quivered with an astonishing desire, a reac
tion that surprised and disturbed her. His male, muscular
body, the faint smell about him of leather and fresh air; the
thought of him commanding his men, fighting, being
wounded; the strong, lean hands holding her face with such
gentleness, the touch of his lips, the taste of him: he was
strange and exciting, different, familiar — her own, hers to command, and yet still a male animal, unpredictable, under
her control only because he wished to be.

She barely thought these things, only felt them wordlessly
in a hot, exciting flood which made her press against him
avidly. For an instant she felt his response, before he
controlled himself and drew away a little, breathing hard. He
stroked her cheek with a hand that trembled slightly, and
then dropped it to his side.

‘
Any more of that sort of thing,' he said softly, 'and I might
end by shewing you my wound after all.’

*

Marcus, standing in the entrance hall while Hicks went to
enquire if my lady and the Major were at liberty, had his
attention called by a hissing from above.

‘
Marcus! Up here!' Rosamund was hanging over the
bannister.

‘Hello, Rosy. What are you doing?'

‘I saw you come up the steps, so I slipped out. Are you staying long? Will you come up and see me?'

‘
I don't know — I'll see. I'll come if there's time.’

‘
What do you want with Mother?’

Marcus smiled indulgently. 'None of your business.'

‘
She's with Major Wiske. I think they're going to get
married. What do you think of that?'

‘
That's not your business either, Rosy-posy. Hadn't you
better get back to your lessons?'

‘
Docwra says one wedding brings on another. I don't mind,
really, if Mama wants to marry Major Wiske,' she said gener
ously, 'but I think Lord Harvey's wasted on Minnie: she never
rides. I don't think she even
likes
horses. I shall be fifteen next
month — don't you think that's old enough to marry?' she
added wistfully.

‘
You have to be brought out first,' Marcus pointed out.
‘People marry from the schoolroom sometimes — I saw it
in the novel Moss was reading the other day.'

‘
That's only a novel. It doesn't happen in real life. Anyway,
why all the hurry to get married? I thought you didn't
approve of that sort of thing.'

‘
Well, I'm only worried that you might get tired of waiting
for me to grow up, and marry someone else,' she said.

Marcus looked up at her anxious freckled face floating
above him, and the two long plaits hanging down like bell-
ropes on either side. 'I'm not going to marry anyone for a long
time yet,' he said. 'You concentrate on doing your lessons
and learning how to be a lady. By the time you're grown
up, you won't want to marry me. You'll have met dozens of
men you like much more.'

‘
I shall
never
want to marry anyone but you,' Rosamund
said solemnly. She glanced over her shoulder. 'Here comes
Hicks,' she said, and disappeared.

A few moments later, Marcus was ushered into the small drawing-room, where Major Wiske greeted him cordially, and proposed to withdraw.

‘
Oh, no sir, please don't go! I beg your pardon, ma'am,' he
added to Lucy, 'but I wanted to consult Major Wiske as well
as you.'

‘
Very well,' Lucy said, and gestured towards a chair.
‘Please sit down, Marcus. What was it you wanted to ask?’

Marcus perched rather uneasily. 'I heard you were back,
sir,' he said, 'and I thought you would be the very person to
advise me. Mr Firth says you were at Salamanca?' Danby
nodded genially. 'What was it like?' Marcus asked eagerly
forgetting what he had come for. 'Is it true that it only lasted
forty minutes? Did the French centre really collapse so
quickly? I've read Lord Wellington's report in the
Chronicle,
but I dare say that doesn't tell the half of it.'

‘
Nor the quarter neither,' Danby said. 'That's a tale for
some other time. Don't want to bore her ladyship with it,' he
prompted.

‘Of — of course! I beg your pardon. Well, sir — ma'am — I wanted your advice about something.'

‘Fire away, then,' Wiske said.

‘
Well, you know that Papa is serving in the Peninsula? And
for years and years I've wanted to follow him, but Mama —well, Mama wasn't keen on my becoming an officer. I think
she was afraid I might get killed. And then,' he coloured as he
came to a delicate matter, 'there's the expense of a pair of
colours, and the horse and the uniform and everything.'

‘
Expensive business,' Wiske concurred. 'Not a poor man's
sport, bein' a soldier. Mess bills — fodder — servants. All cost
a ransome.’

Marcus nodded gratefully. 'Precisely, sir.’

Lucy looked from one to the other. 'Are you sure you need
me here? Because if not, I have a thousand things to do.’

Marcus turned to her eagerly. 'Oh no, ma'am, please don't
go. You see, the thing is, her ladyship — that's to say, Mrs
Firth — called me in this morning to tell me that she would
like to buy me my colours, and fit me out, all out of the
estate. It was Bobbie's idea, apparently, and she and Mr Firth
talked it over, and decided it could be done.’

Lucy raised an eyebrow. 'That's very generous. You're a
fortunate young man.'

‘
The thing is, ma'am,' Marcus bit his lip, 'that I don't
know whether I ought to accept.'

‘Accept? Of course, why not?' Lucy said.

‘
Because — well, I've no claim on Bobbie or the estate.
Perhaps it's too generous. He's such a good, kind fellow, it's
just like him to think of this, because it's the one thing in the
world I've always wanted, but how can I accept something so
valuable from him, when I've already had so much — my
keep and my education — at his hands?'

‘
That's silly,' Lucy said. ‘If they don't mind, why should
you? Accept it with a good grace, and say no more.’

But Danby Wiske looked at him with sympathy, under
standing a young man's touchy pride better than Lucy ever
could. 'If young Chelmsford wants to give you this out of
affection,' he said quietly, 'it would be churlish to refuse.
Hurt his feelings. Nothin' worse than givin' somebody
somethin' you've thought long and hard about, and havin' it
thrown back in your face.’

Marcus looked doubtful. ‘Do you think so, sir?'

‘Sure of it. Makes you feel a fool.’

Lucy was catching up. 'You don't want to feel under an
obligation, is that it? Well, I can tell you, if it makes you feel
any better, that Roberta took on your education for Bobbie's
sake, so that he would have someone to share lessons with.'

‘
Really, ma'am?' He reflected. 'Yes, that does make a
difference.' His brow corrugated again. 'But then there's the
question of my mother — might she not be offended if I
accepted my colours from Bobbie, when she couldn't afford to
buy them for me herself?’

Lucy opened her mouth to tell him that Lady Barbara
could well afford to send him to the war twice over, only she was too clutch-fisted to part with a penny where there was no
hope of profit; but Danby Wiske caught her eye and shook his
head minutely. She closed her mouth, rearranged her words,
and said with an effort, 'I shouldn't worry about that,
Marcus. Roberta will know how to tell your mother so that
it doesn't offend her. And she's bound to be glad of
something that advances you, isn't she? Any mother would
be.’