Kitabı oku: «Regency Pleasures and Sins Part 1», sayfa 14
‘I never liked the man!’ Lady Parry burst out, her carefully maintained composure vanishing. ‘I tried to for William’s sake and because his aunt, Agatha Mornington, always speaks so fondly of him. And she is not someone easily taken in.’
‘She has been this time,’ Tallie said. ‘He has taken a post-obit loan out against her life.’
‘Undutiful creature! What a revolting thing to do, to leech onto the fortune of one’s relative in that manner. And doubtless he will be investing much time and trouble in ensuring she remembers him generously in her will.’
‘Hence the portrait,’ Tallie reminded her.
‘A post-obit.’ Nick regarded Tallie thoughtfully. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Mr Harland thinks so.’
‘Well, well, that is a useful piece of information.’ Nick’s grim smile boded Jack Hemsley no good whatsoever.
‘So then what happened?’ Lady Parry demanded. ‘Do come and sit down, Nicholas, you are making me positively jumpy and you are usually so restful to have about.’
He threw himself into an armchair, crossed his legs, and regarded his aunt. ‘I set a man to follow Hemsley. And when I heard that Tallie thought she was being followed, I set a man to follow her as well. You were quite right,’ he added, turning to look at her. ‘Hemsley’s man.’
‘And Hemsley organised the burglary at the studio!’ Tallie gasped, suddenly making the connection. ‘All he wanted was another look at the pictures to make sure it was me, and to confirm that they still needed some work doing on them. Then he had someone go and pretend they were interested in buying classical scenes …’
‘His perfectly genuine cousin Oliver Laidlaw, just returned from Greece and on his way back to Scotland.’ Nick grimaced. ‘He took some finding, Hemsley was keeping him close.’
‘And in all innocence Mr Harland asked me to pose one last time to finish the paintings.’ She looked ruefully across to Lady Parry. ‘I had realised by then that you had no idea what I had been doing after all. I was going to tell you when you came back, but meanwhile I went to the studio yesterday evening to help Mr Harland.’
‘Hemsley’s watcher told him you had stepped into the trap and that I was out of town. Mine too reported to me what was afoot.’
‘And you were able to rescue Tallie in time?’ Lady Parry asked anxiously. Tallie noticed with relief that she was once again using the affectionate diminutive.
‘Just,’ Nick said. ‘I got there only moments ahead of Hemsley and a pack of his friends, all drunk and primed for fun.’ He hesitated. ‘We had to leave by the window.’
There was a silence. Then Lady Parry said carefully, ‘Wearing what, my dear?’
‘Nothing, ma’am.’ Seeing the older woman go pale, Tallie added, ‘It was a narrow ledge, and it was raining and we were high above the rest of the houses. Lord Arndale was wonderful—if he had hesitated for a second they would have found me. As it was, it must have been very difficult for him to get me down safely.’
Nick made an impatient gesture with one hand. The bruises and grazes stood out starkly and he clasped both hands together out of sight. ‘She was frozen,’ he said directly to his aunt. ‘Mrs Blackstock’s household were all out of town. I could not bring her here with only the servants and not a stitch on. I took her home with me and made sure she was warm and unhurt.’
Into the silence that followed this confession Tallie said, ‘I returned this morning properly dressed. The staff think I was with the Blackstocks.’
Lady Parry did not seem either as angry or as shocked as Tallie had imagined she would be. Perhaps her patroness was just stunned, which would be understandable. Tallie discovered that she had a throbbing headache, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
‘May I be excused, ma’am?’ she ventured. ‘I would like to go and take a little sal volatile. I find I have a headache coming on. I will be back directly.’
‘Of course, dear. There is no need to hurry back. And, Tallie …’ Lady Parry smiled at her ‘… please call me Aunt Kate again. I feel a hundred when you both call me “ma’ am” so stiffly.’
Nick relaxed at the twinkle in his aunt’s eye. So, they were not in such deep disgrace as he feared; he was glad for Tallie’s sake. He got to his feet and smiled reassuringly at her as he opened the door to let her out. She blushed and dropped her gaze sharply.
Nick turned back to his aunt. She knew exactly what must follow from last night’s adventures, even if Miss Talitha Grey appeared not to have worked out the consequences. How would she react when she realised? Not that it made any difference—she was as committed as he had been from the moment they had stepped out onto that nightmare of a ledge last night.
He began to pace again, filling in more detail than he had done in front of Tallie, outlining the decisions he had reached after a morning’s hard and serious thinking.
Upstairs Tallie poured a few drops of sal volatile into a glass of water and tossed it back with a grimace. The thought of lying down on her bed was very attractive, but she could not just run away and leave Nick downstairs, doubtless on the receiving end of a lecture from his aunt. Once Lady Parry had recovered sufficiently from the shock of their revelations to react, she could not believe they were not both going to be thoroughly in disgrace and Nick did not deserve anything except her grateful thanks.
Rainbird was just closing the front door as Tallie reached the hall again and he placed an envelope on a salver before handing it to her. ‘This has just arrived for you, Miss Grey.’
Recognising Zenna’s handwriting, Tallie tore open the wrapper without ceremony and scanned the contents.
… absolutely perfect, Tallie dearest! I have taken the liberty of sending the details direct to your attorney, but naturally I could not say anything to commit us without your personal approval. Do, please come and see—I could not bear to lose such a perfect house …
Tallie glanced rapidly through the closely written pages. It was unlike Zenna to wax so enthusiastic, she must indeed have found the ideal home for her long-dreamed-of school. She was walking slowly towards the writing room as she read and stopped outside the partly open door to shuffle the pages back together before entering.
Inside Lady Parry was speaking and the words froze Tallie where she stood. ‘… not at all what you planned. A suitable débutante this Season—I believe that is what you said when we last discussed your marriage.’
Nick appeared to be moving around. His voice became louder, then unintelligible as Tallie strained to hear, unaware that Zenna’s letter was crushed in her hands.
‘Of course, about time as you keep telling me … set up my nursery … perfectly suitable … I had thought Lord Rushingly’s eldest, perhaps. Invite her to Heronsholt in the summer, make up a house party …’
‘Well, you have not had the opportunity yet to fix her interest,’ Lady Parry observed, sounding a little concerned. ‘Unless I have missed something?’
‘… too distracted by this business, which is a mercy as it turns out …’
‘I rather think she has not realised this all means she must marry you,’ Lady Parry observed.
Who? Tallie shook her head, puzzled, confused and with a growing knot of dread tightening inside her. Who?
‘Tallie?’ Nick’s voice was so close by the door that she jumped and dropped the letter. ‘I do not think it has occurred to her for a moment just how compromised she is or what the consequences of that are.’
Tallie was on her knees, scrabbling to pick up the scattered sheets as Lady Parry said, ‘Certainly, one could not imagine for a moment that the poor child would intend to make such a match.’
‘She is not so ineligible,’ Nick said coolly. ‘Her birth is perfectly respectable, her fortune, now, is more than comfortable.’
‘Of course not, and she is a dear child. But not what one would expect for an Arndale of Heronsholt.’
Tallie stayed on her knees, transfixed, waiting for Nick’s reply.
‘Needs must, Aunt Kate. There is really no choice in the matter.’
Tallie stood up, her knees shaking. Until that moment she had not realised that all she wanted in the world was Nicholas Stangate. Now, and for ever. Yes, she had admitted to herself that she loved him, desired him, admired him. The word ‘marriage’ had never entered her thoughts; somehow, while he was a part of her everyday life, that had not been a consideration.
‘You fool,’ she whispered to herself, backing away down the hall. Her mind churned. How else could you have him? Be his mistress? Why, when the world is full of skilled courtesans, should he bother with you? Hope answered her, desperate. He is attracted to you. He kisses you, takes you to his bed. He risks danger for you.
Tallie reached the foot of the stairs. Mercifully neither Rainbird nor any of the footmen were in sight. Her clear-sighted common sense trod firmly on her optimism. Of course he kissed you, of course he took you into his bed. He is a man, is he not? You stood naked before him. What did you expect him to think, to do? And he is a gentleman. Of course he would protect you. He would have protected Zenna or Millie if he had found them in such straits.
The writing-room door opened and Lady Parry emerged. Tallie whisked round and under the stairs just in time to avoid being seen. But she was careless as she stepped out again once her patroness’s footsteps had died away.
‘Tallie. May I speak with you, please?’
It was Nick.
Chapter Eighteen
‘Tallie,’ Nick repeated, ‘if your headache is not too bad, I would like to speak with you.’
‘Of course,’ Tallie replied composedly. It was easy to seem calm. She felt as though she had just stepped off a cliff: it was a very long way down, time would pass until she hit the ground, nothing much mattered in the meantime.
Nick held the door for her and she stepped into the writing room again, sank gracefully into a chair and waited, her eyes unseeing on Zenna’s letter between her clasped hands.
‘I hope you managed to have a little rest since you got home,’ he began politely. ‘It was hard to have to explain everything to Aunt Kate so soon after it happened, but I think it was for the best.’
‘Thank you, yes. I feel quite restored, and I am sure you are correct.’ Tallie took a deep breath. ‘It seems to me that I have never expressed my sense of obligation to you for the way in which you have acted towards me, both before you knew who I was, and since.’
She was not watching him, so she could not tell whether the abrupt movement he made away from her chair was surprise, or simply embarrassment at her words.
‘Thank you. But I do not look for thanks for acting in a way that any gentleman would consider appropriate under the circumstances.’ His voice sounded as stilted as the words. Tallie began to pinch the letter into tiny, perfect pleats.
‘I doubt that many gentlemen would have the initiative to put in place such a careful screen of watchers and informants, nor would many men have the courage to go out onto that ledge as you did.’ She was managing, somehow, to keep her voice as calm and level as his.
‘I did what seemed necessary at the time, including the breaking and entering. Which reminds me, I really must send a note to that householder to warn him that his attic is now unsecured.’
Despite everything, a little snort of amusement escaped Tallie and she looked up. ‘I hope you do not mean to sign it?’
He smiled in return. ‘No, I think that would be taking honesty a little too far. I will include some money for repairs, but I do not intend to add my seal.’
Nick came and sat opposite her, crossed his legs, steepled his fingers and regarded her over the top of them. ‘My agent has collected your clothes from Mr Harland and has ensured that the canvases have been removed and stored securely. Hemsley will not be able to find any evidence to connect you with that studio now, however hard he tries.’
‘Well, that is a relief,’ Tallie said briskly, setting her hands on the arms of the chair and beginning to rise. ‘Thank you for setting my mind at rest. How very efficient your agent is.’
‘Please, do not go. Surely you did not think that was all I wished to speak of?’
His eyes were steady on her face and Tallie schooled her expression carefully to one of mild puzzlement. ‘Why, yes. Was it not?’
‘No. Tallie, you realise that after last night you have been completely compromised?’
‘But no one saw me,’ she protested. ‘Except Mr Harland, who does not count, and your coachman, who I am sure will be totally discreet.’
‘I am referring, not to our rooftop escapades, which by some miracle we did scrape through unseen, but to the fact that you spent last night in my bed. With me.’
‘You put me there,’ Tallie pointed out. ‘And nothing happened.’
That maddening eyebrow lifted as he lowered his hands. Tallie saw his mouth was twisted into a wry smile and found herself hopelessly distracted by the subtle changes of expression those flexible, sensual lips could evoke.
‘Your definition of “nothing” is an interesting one,’ Nick observed evenly. ‘For myself, I retain a very vivid recollection of how your body felt in my arms and how it felt to kiss you.’
Tallie flushed, but held his gaze. If he could recall how her body felt, she was certain she was branded scarlet at every point his naked frame had touched hers. ‘You have kissed me before. Jack Hemsley kissed me, come to that. No one suggested I had been compromised as the result.’
‘There is all the difference in the world between a few kisses and being in a man’s bed. Face it, Tallie, you are ruined.’
What was it she had said to him, days … weeks ago? That this struggle of wills between them felt like a war? What was happening now felt like a duel.
She took a moment to calm her breathing, then asked politely, ‘In what sense ruined? For what am I now unfit? I am physically exactly the same. I have perhaps acquired a little more knowledge of certain matters that I did not have before, but those can stay shut up in my mind. So, please define ruined, Cousin Nicholas.’
Suddenly his control snapped. Nick brought both hands down hard on the arms of his chair and was on his feet in a fluid movement, which gave her a glimpse of what a lethal swordsman he would be.
‘Damn it, Tallie. For marriage, of course.’
It took an effort of will not to press back into the illusory safety of the high-backed chair. Mentally Tallie rallied, raised her guard and riposted, ‘Why? No one else knows. I am still a virgin. And in any case, I have never had any intention of marrying, so the entire matter is academic.’ She saw him begin to open his mouth and added tartly, ‘And kindly do not swear again.’
‘Swear?’ Nick’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘Of course not. I apologise. What I will do next, if you persist in this ridiculous pretence that nothing of any consequence occurred last night, is to put you over my knee and—’
‘Inflict violence upon me?’ Tallie enquired sweetly. Her mind and consciousness seemed to be existing on two levels. On top there was a dangerous enjoyment in sparring with Nick, provoking him, seeing how she could strike sparks from his temper. Underneath something was shrivelling, dying. The man she loved was telling her that his actions had made her unfit for marriage to anyone else. It could only be a matter of moments before he explained that—as any gentleman must—he would therefore marry her himself.
Nick stood glaring at her. ‘No, of course I would not hurt you. It is just that you are so—’
‘Irritating? I must be, to make you lose your prized self-possession, your froideur.‘
He stilled, his eyes narrowed, regarding her. ‘Is that what you think I prize? Self-control? Coldness?’
‘Is it not? I heard it in your voice before I even saw you. Calm, controlled, slightly aloof, just a very little amused at the caperings and emotionalism of us lesser mortals. You need to know everything, be in command. No surprises for Lord Arndale. No messy emotion or ill-bred displays of temper.’ Now even the fencing was no longer amusing. All she wanted was to hold him off, perhaps hurt him a little, just a very little to counterbalance the pain inside her.
It seemed she had succeeded. The grey eyes were like black flint, the sensual, mobile mouth a hard line. Tallie expected a stinging rebuttal. What she got were hands on her shoulders pulling her hard into a crushing, furious embrace. She struggled, stamped one slippered foot futilely onto leather boots, lifted a hand to strike out and found both captured and pinioned neatly between their two bodies, ducked her face away from the angry purpose in his and found that with his free hand he had grasped her chin and was forcing it up.
‘Now this, Miss Grey, is a display of messy emotion and ill-bred temper,’ he ground out before bringing his mouth down hard on hers.
Tallie struggled furiously, her lips a tight line against the onslaught of his anger and her own desperate desire to yield to him, open to him, let him do what he would with her. She closed her eyes, felt the heat beginning to flood through her, felt her legs begin to tremble and suddenly she was no longer struggling.
She had no idea whether he had sensed her capitulation or had merely decided the demonstration of mastery was sufficient. Tallie found herself released as rapidly as he had seized her and sat down. By some miracle the chair was behind her. Furious with herself for her weakness and with him for exploiting it, she dashed the angry tears from her eyes and glared back at him.
Furious grey eyes glared back. ‘Now, Miss Grey, as we have both comprehensively insulted and offended the other, might I suggest we return to discussing what we came in here to resolve?’
‘What you, my lord, came in here to resolve. As I thought I had made clear, there is absolutely nothing I wish to speak about, other than to reiterate my gratitude for your actions yesterday. They were, if nothing else since has been, the actions of a gentleman. No, that is unfair.’ She held up a hand to silence him and continued in a manner of frigid politeness, which she could see was inciting him to even greater depths of anger. ‘I must also be grateful for the manner in which you assisted me in telling Lady Parry a story that must have been very shocking for her.’
‘I do not want you to be fair, Tallie, I do not want your gratitude, what I want is—’ He broke off, one clenched fist poised to thump the table as the door opened.
‘That horse is as sound as a bell. I cannot imagine why you thought—’ William stood in the doorway, whip in one hand, hat in the other, regarding the two of them with some confusion. ‘I beg your pardon. Have I interrupted? I could hear voices and I thought you would want your mind set at rest about the animal.’
‘Not at all, Cousin William,’ Tallie said warmly. ‘I am delighted to see you. Do, please, come in and tell Cousin Nicholas all about his horse. I must go and write a letter.’ His arrival had only put off the painful declaration she was certain Nick was going to make her sooner or later, but, although she reproved herself for being a coward, she could only be glad of the respite.
‘We were just discussing Jack Hemsley’s latest activities,’ Nick said smoothly, ignoring Tallie’s horrified expression. He moved across and placed a hand on her shoulder. Without an unseemly struggle she was effectively trapped. ‘Cousin Tallie thwarted his attempts to seduce a friend of hers and it appears that two blows to his pride by one young lady was more than he could stomach. Added to that, it seems he realised that to attack the young lady living under my aunt’s roof would be to attack me—and I have been acting in such a way recently that his dislike of me has grown inordinately. He hatched a plot to ruin Tallie, which fortunately misfired last night. I have been considering what to do about him.’
Tallie sank back into the chair and considered giving herself up to strong hysterics. Nick was blandly ignoring the furious looks she was shooting him while William was reacting with predictable indignation. ‘What to do? How can you even hesitate? Why, I will call him out, the bast—blackguard. Cousin Tallie is a guest under my roof, my mother’s companion. This is outrageous!’ He took an agitated turn around the room and swung round to face them. ‘What did he do?’
‘I really would prefer not to discuss it,’ Tallie interjected hastily. If she had not been feeling so flustered she might have been amused at the confusion into which she had thrown William, who blushed and began to stutter at the thought he had embarrassed her. ‘And, please, I could not bear it if either of you call him out. What if you were to be wounded?’
William looked hurt, Nick merely raised an eyebrow and remarked, ‘Unlikely. No, we need to avoid any hint of scandal in dealing with Hemsley—Tallie’s position in this household is too well known not to arouse suspicions if one of us openly challenges him. I have a better idea—one that I can thank you for, Tallie. Financial ruin is going to be a much more effective punishment for Jack than an uncomfortable dawn meeting on the Heath. Is Aunt Kate downstairs, William?’
‘In the front salon,’ he replied. ‘I thought it was odd; she is usually in here at this time of day.’
Tallie glared at Nicholas through narrowed eyes. So, Lady Parry had tactfully removed herself while he made a declaration, had she? It was regrettable that she had to disappoint her kind patroness, but she was not going to marry Nicholas Stangate to satisfy anyone’s ideas of what was the right and proper thing for a compromised young lady to do.
‘Then let us consult her.’ Nick opened the door for Tallie and steered them both in the direction of the front of the house. ‘If my memory serves me right, we will have the perfect opportunity for our retribution tonight.’
Lady Parry looked up with a smile that rapidly faded as she took in Tallie’s tight lips, Nick’s expressionless face and William’s pink-cheeked indignation.
‘We have just been telling William that Jack Hemsley has attempted to ruin Tallie.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Lady Parry fluttered a white hand and lay back against the sofa cushions. ‘This is all very … distressing. You will not say anything, William dear, will you?’
‘Of course not.’ Her son looked indignant. ‘Don’t know what happened anyway, so I can’t say anything. I just want to put a bullet in the man. Damn it, when I think I believed him my friend!’
‘Language, dearest! You are not going to call him out, are you, Nicholas?’
‘No. There is too much risk it would draw attention to Tallie.’ Nick pulled over a chair and sat down. ‘Am I right in thinking it is Lady Agatha Mornington’s dress ball tonight?’
‘Oh my goodness, yes, it is! I had quite forgotten, what with all the excitement of having to go down to Sussex and then poor Tallie’s adventures. Were you thinking that Mr Hemsley would be sure to be there in attendance on his aunt and it would therefore be embarrassing for Tallie to see him?’
‘Not at all. I was wondering if you felt rather too tired after your journey to go, that was all.’ Nick sat twisting his signet ring round his finger with a vaguely abstracted air. Tallie eyed him cautiously. He was plotting, she was sure of it.
His aunt was even more certain. ‘Out with it, Nicholas. What do you have in mind?’
‘A punishment for Jack Hemsley that will ensure he is hurt where it will do him most damage—in his pocket and in his reputation. And it will ensure he will not dare to return to town for a good long while. If he can afford to, that is. But I am going to need all three of you to pull it off.’
Lady Parry sat up sharply, eyes sparkling. ‘Wonderful! I have been wanting to box that young man’s ears ever since I heard of his ungentlemanly behaviour.’
Nick turned to look at Tallie, who found that her hands were clenched into fists in her lap. The thought of turning the tables on Jack Hemsley was powerfully attractive. ‘Tallie? Do you feel you can cope?’
‘With anything,’ she affirmed with emphasis. ‘What do you want us to do?’
At ten that evening Nick smiled at his troops as their carriage drew up at the steps of the Morning tons’ town house. In the light from the flickering flambeaux their faces were curiously intent and dramatic. ‘All ready? Are you sure you know what to do? We cannot know the layout of the ballroom in advance, so we will have to improvise if necessary.’
‘We will cope,’ Lady Parry declared. ‘After all, there are only so many ways one can arrange the room and Lady Mornington is not one to be endlessly seeking for variety and novelty. But poor Agatha! I do dislike being the one who reveals the depths of infamy her wretched nephew has sunk to.’
‘Think how she is being deceived now, though,’ Tallie comforted. ‘And you did say she had some very pleasant nephews and nieces on the other side of the family from whom she has been estranged because she so favours Jack. How much better it will be if she has their loyal support and not that of a money-seeking rake.’
‘I would not put anything past him,’ William added grimly. ‘If the moneylenders get impatient at having to wait too long for that post-obit to be repaid, goodness knows what he might do to get his hands on her fortune.’
Lady Parry gasped, but Nick said repressively, ‘Your Gothic imaginings are frightening the ladies, William. Now, if we are all ready, let us draw the first covert.’
With butterflies in her stomach Tallie followed her patroness up the double staircase to the wide landing outside the ballroom. They had deliberately timed their arrival for when the receiving line would have ended and their hostess would be found inside with her guests. Kate stepped into the hot, noisy throng, nodding and bowing to friends. With her hand under Tallie’s elbow, she steered her firmly past the young gentlemen who stopped to request a dance.
‘A little later, Lord Dimsdale, we are on an errand at present … Good evening, Mr Hubbert, I am sure Miss Grey will give you a dance later, but just now we really must find our hostess for a few words.’
Tallie craned to see the other side of the room. Nick’s dark head could be glimpsed in the gaps between sets of the country dance, which was boisterously under way. He was making steady progress up the room and suddenly Tallie saw his objective at the same time as Jack Hemsley saw Nick.
He turned abruptly on his heel and headed deeper into the onlookers towards the head of the room. ‘Gone away,’ she whispered to Lady Parry. ‘Nick has successfully flushed him out of cover.’
‘Good. Ah, there is poor Agatha Morning ton.’
‘And there is William, dodging into the retiring room and out of the other door to get ahead of Mr Hemsley.’
‘This is very exciting … Good evening, General! Yes, indeed, what a crush.’ Kate bowed graciously to the military man and bore down on their hostess, a formidable matron whom Tallie recognised from her portrait at Mr Harland’s studio. ‘Agatha! What a delightful dance! Have you met my dear young friend Miss Grey? Talitha, make your curtsy to Lady Morning ton.’
Tallie bobbed neatly and shook hands, finding herself under a sharp and intelligent scrutiny. How had such a lady been taken in by her scamp of a nephew? she wondered. Presumably she was not the first doting aunt to be deceived by charm and address, and doubtless not the last.
Kate, with one rapid glance across the ballroom to where her son was converging with Jack Hemsley from one direction and Nick Stangate from another, turned slightly and began to stroll towards the head of the ballroom. Just a few steps away a small sitting-out area had been contrived with chairs and divided into two by a screen of potted palms.
‘Agatha, my dear, I wonder if you can spare us a moment,’ she said earnestly. ‘Miss Grey has a favour to ask you.’
‘Oh, please, Lady Parry,’ Tallie interjected, obedient to her script. ‘I would not want to trouble Lady Mornington by asking her about dogs when she must want to be talking to her guests.’
‘Dogs? Are you interested in dogs, my dear?’
‘Oh, yes, ma’am, and I was thinking particularly of buying a pug. Lady Parry says no one knows more about them than you and perhaps you could advise me where the best place to obtain one would be?’
She had been dubious when Lady Parry had told her that a discussion about pugs would be guaranteed to divert Lady Mornington whatever the circumstances, but it seemed that she had been quite correct. Tallie found herself seated and being comprehensively lectured and questioned.
‘Well, yes, ma’am, I do enjoy walking …’ There was Nick a few yards away. He had halted and was standing with his back turned, apparently deep in conversation with another man. That escape route had been stopped then; Jack Hemsley would not care to pass so close to Nick.
‘I had no idea they would need so much exercise.’ Lady Mornington was waxing lyrical about the boundless energy of pugs and the need for long walks whatever the weather. ‘How very invigorating. I had rather imagined them to be lap dogs.’
Through the potted palms she could just glimpse William’s blond head, then she heard him. ‘Jack! I should have known I would see you here.’ He sounded wary, but not unfriendly.
Hemsley’s slightly deeper voice carried even more clearly and Lady Mornington turned her head slightly and smiled, obviously recognising her favourite nephew. ‘Parry, old chap. Er …’
‘Oh, look, I think I overreacted the other week at the ball, you know …’ William was doing an admirable imitation of a callow youth in the throes of hero worship. ‘I mean, I’m sure things weren’t what they seemed … Thing is, I don’t want to fall out with you …’
