The Wary Widow (6 page)

Chloe looked up to find Lord Andrew climbing down from his thoroughbred. She hadn’t noticed how dark it had become until he arrived. The air was turning heavy with fog and the smell was quite offensive. She'd heard stories about the awful fog in London. If they didn't leave soon, it might be impossible to find their way home. Where on earth was Lizzie?

“Lord Andrew,” she said, standing to her feet and faltering a little. She felt suddenly awkward and unsure of herself.

“This is the second time today I find you out and about alone. It isn't safe, you know?”

“I wasn't alone this morning, my lord. Daisy can be far more ferocious than any maid. And even now, I'm not...”
alone
, she was about to say, but stopped herself. She was indeed alone, and the reason was because her cousin—
his
betrothed—was off somewhere with another man.

Oh, dear. She had not signed on to lie for her cousin. She looked up at Lord Andrew. Blast Lizzie and her blasted Lord
Edgmond
.

“Mrs. Hawthorne?”

“Yes, sorry!” she exclaimed all of a sudden. Lord Andrew jumped a little at her abruptness. “I meant to say, I didn’t come here alone...that is, I came with Liz- Lady Elizabeth, but...”

Come on, Chloe, you've been talking since you were two! Find your tongue, for pity's sake!

Lord Andrew smiled, seemingly enjoying her inability to form a coherent sentence. Blast him. If he didn't smell so very virile, or look so very handsome, and if she didn't remember their scandalous discussion about his whore-maid that morning, she might be able to compose herself.

“Where is Lady Elizabeth?” he asked, and Chloe clamped her mouth shut.

She would not rat out her cousin.

“She met with a friend and they wanted to walk together, but I was a little tired, so I asked to stay here and wait, so they walked off, but that was quite some time ago, though I don’t have a watch, so I can’t tell you exactly how
—
”

She cut off as Lord Andrew let out a booming laugh. She blinked several times, trying to assess why he’d be laughing at her, and waited for him to calm down.

Really, it was awfully rude of him.

“Forgive me, Mrs. Hawthorne, but I’ve never heard anyone speak for so long without taking a breath...well, that's not entirely true, now is it? My sisters could talk the hide off a mule.” He rubbed his eyes, which pooled with tears of hilarity. “Quite remarkable really.”

Chloe had no idea what to say to this. She merely stood there, dumbstruck. No one had ever funned her this way before. People always thought she was too reserved or too sensitive to be able to laugh at herself. She had thought that, too.
Until now.
She felt a giggle forming deep in her belly, gurgling its way to her throat until she could hold it in no more.

The feeling was quite freeing. She almost didn’t want to stop. But Lord Andrew was staring at her now as if she’d grown a second head, so she forced herself to remember the gravity of the situation.

The fact of the matter was that she was standing here, at dusk, with her cousin’s fiancé, while her cousin was who-knew-where with some other lord.

Chloe sobered rather quickly.

“Well, Mrs. Hawthorne,” Lord Andrew said, breaking the awkward tension. “I suppose it’s a good thing I found you here then. Would you even have known how to get back home by yourself?”

Chloe’s back went up like an alley cat. Never mind that she didn’t have a single clue where home was from here, she didn’t want Lord Andrew to think she was some kind of helpless ninny. “Of course I would,” she lied,
then
added, “I’m not helpless, you know.”

Lord Andrew quirked his brow for the first time in their conversation.
“No, of course not. You don’t seem at all the helpless sort and I’m sorry if I insinuated otherwise.”

“Oh,” was all she could think to say to that. He really was a gentleman, wasn’t he?

She was about to concede that perhaps he should walk her home, when Lizzie appeared. Thankfully, she was alone.

“Andrew!”

Lord Andrew spun around. “Lady Elizabeth,” he said, and Chloe noted the cool tone to his voice.

Lizzie offered her hand and he took it, but did not kiss it. Instead, he leveled her with a rather intimidating glare.

“Is everything all right, Andrew?” Lizzie laughed uncomfortably.

“Where is your friend?” he asked, and Lizzie’s cheeks turned a bright pink.

“Friend?” Her eyes shifted to look at Chloe, who immediately looked the other way.

“Mrs. Hawthorne has been waiting for you to finish your walk with your friend for some time.”
Oh, dear. Was he really coming to her defense? Poor Lizzie looked dumbfounded. She looked from Lord Andrew to her, clearly wondering if she had betrayed her trust. Chloe gave her the slightest shake of her head.

“Yes, I was with Miss Lovell,” she said slowly. “She wanted to speak with me about a certain gentleman who wants to court her.”

Lord Andrew's brow shot up mockingly. Oh, Lord, he didn't believe her. “Oh, really? Miss Lovell, you say?”

Lizzie laughed again.
A strained, uncomfortable laugh that made Chloe want to cringe.
“That is what I said, Lord Andrew.”

“Curious,” he said, looking away and tapping his chin while he dug his riding crop into the dirt.

“Why is that?”

“Well, it's just odd, that's all, especially since I saw Miss Lovell and her two sisters heading out of the park less than an hour ago.”

Lizzie visibly gulped, as did Chloe. She had to say something.

“It’s really all right, my lord,” Chloe stepped in.

His dark eyes turned on her and their gazes locked. Chloe quickly looked away, suddenly ill at ease.

“It would be good of you to remember that I am no fool, Lady Elizabeth. Once we are married I expect you to tell the truth. Right now, you are still free to do as you please, within reason. However, I am appalled to realize that you not only lied to me, but you left your cousin, who knows little of this city, all alone at dusk.”

Honesty? Chloe wondered at his double standard. Would he eventually tell Lizzie about his housekeeper? Or his trips to the bawdy houses, which he'd inadvertently admitted to visiting?

“All alone? Andrew, she was hardly alone. I was just over there, beyond that small copse of trees.”

“You will not argue with me, Elizabeth. The park is a dangerous place after dark.” Andrew's nostrils flared slightly. Goodness, he was upset. Chloe wondered what made him angrier, the fact Lizzie had lied or that she'd left her alone.

Lizzie’s one brow rose in annoyance. “I’ve lived in London all my life, Andrew, and I would never put myself or my cousin in danger. Now, if you will excuse us, we’ll be expected for dinner soon.”

Lizzie grabbed Chloe by the arm and began to pull her away from Lord Andrew. The sound of horse’s hooves pulled her focus to their left. A man, almost identical in looks, trotted toward them on a stallion every bit as lovely as Lord Andrew’s.

Her cousin’s grip tightened as he approached, but she managed an easy smile. Chloe felt as if she’d been caught in a maelstrom. What on earth was going on here?

“Mrs. Hawthorne, I presume?” the man on the horse said.

“I am,” Chloe admitted.

“I am Andrew's twin brother, Lord Michael Wetherby.” He dismounted his horse and gave her a little bow.

Chloe curtsied as best she could with Lizzie gripping her arm.

“Goodness, have I come upon a funeral?” Lord Michael asked.

Chloe looked back at Andrew, who stood staunch, clutching his riding crop under his arm. He stared back at her for a moment before shrugging and turning to his brother.

“Come, Michael,” he
tutted
with a toss of his riding crop.
“We will see Lady Elizabeth and her cousin home.”

“We can make our own way home, thank you,” Lizzie shot back acerbically.

Lord Michael gave a wry smile as he looked back and forth between Lizzie and Lord Andrew. “We just happen to be heading in your direction, Lady Elizabeth,” he said in a placating voice. “It would be our pleasure if you would allow us to see you safely home.”

Lord Andrew and Lizzie both seemed to back down slightly, and Chloe wanted to applaud Lord Michael for his ability to diffuse the situation. Still, far more than met the eye was going on here, and it was going to take more than just a few diplomatic words to get to the bottom of it.

Six

A deafening clap of thunder sounded just as Lizzie stuck her head around Chloe’s door. It was late, but she was still up, finishing the letter to her mother.
 

“May I come in?” she asked.

“Of course.” Chloe rose to admit her cousin and shut the door behind her. She couldn’t help but notice the troubled look on her face. “Is everything all right?”

Lizzie turned and nodded. “I just wanted to apologize for this afternoon. Andrew was right. I should never have left you alone like that.”

Chloe held up her hand. “You needn’t worry about it.”

“But I should not have put you in such a position.” Her blue eyes turned downward. “Thank you, though, for not telling him the truth.”

“You mean for lying,” Chloe bit back. Lizzie’s expression grew pained at this and Chloe felt awful for having spoken so bluntly. “Listen, Lizzie, I’m not here to judge you, only to chaperone you, and frankly, I’m not even comfortable with that. Your affairs are your own, but I should probably warn you to be more careful next time.”

“I know,” Lizzie sighed, plopping down onto the bed. “Lord Michael gave me the same warning.”

“Lord Michael?”

Lizzie nodded. “He found us. He promised not to say anything, but it was clear he wouldn’t hold his tongue forever.”

“But why, Lizzie? Why do you risk it?”

Lizzie flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. “It’s just, well, I care about Andrew and all, and of course I want to marry him, but I just can’t seem to help myself.”

Another clap of thunder boomed, followed by a bright flash of lighting. Lizzie turned to look out the window, but Chloe cocked her head like a confused bird, trying to understand what her cousin was talking about.

“What do you mean?” she asked, moving to join her on the bed.

Lizzie looked at her as if she should have understood. “Well, didn’t you ever wonder if there were other men who could love you as much as Sam did?”

Chloe shook her head, hoping her face did not deceive her words. “No, although we didn’t have the same caliber of man wandering about in Essex as you do here in London. Sam was the best, and didn’t every girl in the village know it?”

“Yes, but suppose another man had come along and told you things you’d never heard before?”

“Like what?” Chloe asked.

Lizzie grew wistful and turned her face to look out the window. “Like how beautiful you are. How clever and smart.”

Chloe chuckled lightly. Poor Lizzie had succumbed to the attentions of a flatterer. She knew how her cousin felt. There had indeed been another man in her life, one
who
wrote horrible poems about her and begged her every day to choose him over Sam. And she’d spent countless nights, lying awake, debating the merits of her two suitors. But she hadn’t loved Louis, and she knew she never could. That alone kept her from marrying him.
 

“Well, then,” she advised, “I suppose I would make sure my decisions are based on practical things rather than flattery.”

“It’s not flattery,” Lizzie practically shouted over the thunder. “He really does think I’m beautiful and clever.”

“That’s not surprising, Lizzie,” Chloe said, somewhat alarmed that her cousin had lashed out so. “You
are
beautiful and clever. No one would deny that, but perhaps some are simply more vocal about telling you.”

Lizzie didn’t appear satisfied with this answer, but Chloe didn’t know what else to say. Was she really thinking of backing out of her agreement with Lord Andrew because of that peacock from the park? If Lord Andrew were
her
betrothed...

But he wasn’t, and it was horrible for Chloe to even entertain such thoughts about her cousin’s fiancé. Like a rotten berry, she tossed aside the image of him standing before her on the stoop earlier that morning, his dark hair tousled, his breeches tight, and his eyes dancing with amusement then darkening in concern for her scraped hand.

“Well, perhaps I prefer the more vocal ones, then.”

“Does not Lord Andrew tell you things you'd like to hear? He seems awfully vocal to me.”

“Yes, when he is dictating what I should or should not do. Goodness, could you believe his audacity this evening? To scold me like a child, and in front of you, no less.”

Chloe sighed. A good cousin would tell Lizzie that flattery was fleeting, but a man like Andrew would take good care of her forever. And that the only reason he'd yelled at her was because she'd made two very stupid mistakes that evening. It was common sense. However, what Chloe really wanted to do was encourage her cousin to break off her engagement and pursue the peacock.

Of course, Chloe chose the first option. “You're simply having second thoughts, Lizzie. This will pass and you will soon realize that you’ve got the most wonderful fiancé a girl could hope for.”

***

“What has you in such a mood tonight?” Michael inquired from his side of their usual table at White’s.

Andrew glanced up from his dinner. He hadn’t realized his face was such an open book. He shook his head.

“Nothing,” he replied, before shoving a spoonful of peas into his mouth.

Michael gestured to the steward for two more pints of ale. He obviously anticipated a long evening of trying to get Andrew to admit to what was wrong. Unfortunately, Andrew had no idea what was wrong.

He knew he was troubled by the scene in the park, especially Mrs. Hawthorne’s desperation to cover for whatever his fiancée had been doing. And the fact that she had to cover for Lady Elizabeth in the first place meant that his betrothed had been doing something improper.

But what?

Furthermore, he wasn’t sure that he cared. What he did care about was that she had left her cousin, a girl clearly not accustomed to city life, all alone in the middle of Hyde Park at dusk. What could she have been thinking to do such a thing? Though Mrs. Hawthorne had spoken to the contrary, he was positive she could not have made it home alone. Hyde Park was a complicated place in the daytime, even for one who was familiar with the park, let alone in the dark.

The thought of Mrs. Hawthorne being left alone there at night sent a shiver down his spine. He was going to have another talk with Elizabeth about her careless behavior. The one in the park certainly hadn’t gone as intended. How dare she argue with him over the matter!

That wasn’t all that bothered Andrew, though.

“Come on, out with it. I have nowhere to go this evening, so I’m willing to sit here all night until you tell me. I haven’t seen your brow furrowed so deeply in- well, ever, to be quite honest.”

Andrew sighed and leaned back, bringing his pint with him. He took a drink and then held the glass on the arm of the chair. Should he voice his concerns to his brother? Or just accept them as wedding jitters and forget about them at Madam Stone’s?

He looked up at Michael, who sat patiently, waiting for him to explain. Damn. There was really no way out.

“What if I said I was having doubts?”

“Doubts?” Michael repeated.

“About Elizabeth.”

Michael’s eyes widened at this admission. He leaned
in,
his voice lowered, and asked, “Are you planning to break off your engagement?”

“No, of course not,” Andrew assured him and then added, “At least not yet.”

“There’s someone else, isn’t there?”

Someone else? Was he referring to him or her? Andrew had his suspicions about Lord
Edgmond
, based solely on Benjamin’s advice, but for him-

A vision of Mrs. Hawthorne standing in the fading sunlight invaded his thoughts just then and for no apparent reason. He remembered her laughing; the way her eyes lit up with mirth. He could even smell her, as subtle as her soft, floral scent had been.

He shook his head. Why was he thinking of
her
at a time like this?

“I think so,” he admitted to his brother. “Benjamin alerted me to a situation involving Lord
Edgmond
. Said I should pay more attention to my fiancée, because
Edgmond
appears to be on a mission to steal her from me.”

Michael’s expression grew shuttered all of a sudden, and Andrew wondered if his brother knew something he didn’t. “But why call off the engagement?”

Andrew sighed and thought for a moment before answering. “I just know that I don’t...that I never could truly...love her.”

He expected his brother to erupt into laughter at this. They shared a lot of things, but rarely did
feelings
come into their conversations. But Michael simply stared back at him, an understanding smile on his lips.

“It’s hard to imagine a marriage without it after the examples that have been set forth for us, isn’t it?”

Andrew chuckled as a loud clap of thunder penetrated the walls of their club. So, his brother understood. That was comforting, and not all that surprising when he really thought about it. Why wouldn’t his twin feel the same way about the institution of marriage? They’d grown up in the same house watching their parents moon over one another. They’d watched as their brother fell in love with Phoebe, and then as Katherine grew devoted to William. No, it was really no surprise at all that his brother understood.

He took another long swig of ale, feeling much better about the whole thing, and gestured for another round. Perhaps it really was just a phase of the betrothal process.

He cared for Elizabeth. She was beautiful and well mannered. Together they would certainly produce attractive looking children. And what did it matter if they didn’t love one another right now? Perhaps he could learn to love her someday.

For heaven’s sake, they hadn’t even shared a kiss!

Andrew tried to imagine kissing Elizabeth. He closed his eyes and saw her
face,
her blonde curls, and in his mind, slowly moved in to meet her lips. But when he pulled away-

Good God, what was wrong with him? And why was Mrs. Hawthorne appearing in his fantasies about Elizabeth?

“Damn,” he muttered, slamming his pint down on the table, sloshing ale onto his breeches.

Michael raised a brow. “Everything all right?”

“No,” Andrew replied as he stood from his seat. There was only one way to get a woman from one’s head. “I’m going to see Madam Stone. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

***

“Ah, my favorite customer!” Madam Stone greeted Andrew as he strode into the receiving parlor of her
Bruton
Street establishment. “Why the furrowed brow, my lord? Never mind, it doesn't matter, I'll fix you up with one of my best girls and all your troubles will be but fleeting memories.”

Andrew smiled. He'd been coming here to forget his woes since he was eighteen. He and his brother were well known now and highly regarded by the madam. She always treated them with the utmost regard and had rarely disappointed when it came to her selections for them.

“What's your fancy this evening, milord?
Small and malleable?
Buxom and languid?
Your wish is my command.”