Sally James (6 page)

'What the devil?' Adam exclaimed, and tried to dislodge the petrified kitten which was clinging furiously to him.

Kate chuckled unsympathetically. 'You didn't let me finish,' she pointed out. 'The poor creature was asleep on my lap.'

'Where did you get it? We don't permit flea-ridden scraps of fur in the house.'

'But no doubt you do permit heirs to dukedoms to torment helpless animals by tying things to their tails!'

'Is that what happened?' Adam asked mildly. He had detached the kitten and was stroking it under the chin, and the animal, showing no discrimination in Kate's opinion, was purring loudly at the attention.

'Your mother said once he was fed he was to be put in the mews, but I'm sure those horrid boys will find it again. They said it was a stray. Please don't let them get it again.'

Adam looked at her and smiled. He really had a devastating smile, she discovered.

'I'll take it to the stables. No doubt if it's come from one of the houses in the square it will find its way back. If not, there are enough mice there to keep it happy.'

'You mean it can stay?' Kate asked, doubting his meaning. 'But it may not be old enough yet to catch mice.'

'Then I will have to persuade one of the grooms to keep it supplied with bread and milk, if that's what the disgusting mess in that dish is,' he replied.

Kate beamed at him. 'Thank you! I knew you couldn't be quite as bad as you try to make out.'

Adam grinned. 'I'm honoured that a goatherd should find my behaviour acceptable. Will you drive with me in the morning?'

She glanced at him, startled. 'Are you asking me because my grandfather told you to take me about?' she asked suspiciously.

'No. I thought we might try and get to know one another better.'

'I can’t. I'm riding with Chloe,' Kate explained, suppressing a pang of disappointment. 'But I'd like to drive with you some other time,' she added graciously. 'Will you teach me to handle the reins?'

'Would you trust me?'

She grinned. 'I expect you drive better than you ride,' she said demurely, and laughed as he stretched out a finger to tap her cheek admonishingly.

'I'll get rid of this monster, then I have to change. I'm meeting some friends for dinner.'

Chapter Five

Dinner, with Adam not present, was a much more comfortable meal than on the previous evening, though Mrs Rhydd kept commenting on the strange mood Adam had been in when he had called to see the Earl a little earlier.

'He does not wish to have to assume the responsibilities that will fall on him,' she said with a deep sigh. 'He'll have to marry, for one thing.'

'Does he not wish to?' Miss Byford asked.

'He shows no signs of it. It's his duty to provide an heir, but the life he led in the army was not conducive to settling down. I had hoped, this last year or so, that he would find a suitable bride, but he shows no interest in marriage.' She frowned, and sighed again. 'Now, however, he will have to look around him and make a choice. After all, there are dozens of eligible girls coming out every year, it's silly for him to say he hasn't yet seen one he fancies!'

'He was in the army for years, I believe. Didn't he come to London when he was on leave?'

'Oh yes, and you can't believe the number of caps that were set at him then, and since he sold out there have been even more. But he is not interested. He says he will not marry just to satisfy the gossips, or to provide an heir, he means to wait until he finds the right bride. But when the Earl dies he'll have to!'

'I understood he lived here. It must be difficult to entertain while the Earl is so ill.'

'Adam does live here most of the time, but he has his own set of rooms elsewhere, and entertains his men friends there or at his clubs. And he's invited everywhere, of course. Prudent mamas make certain of that!'

Kate did her best to dismiss Adam from her thoughts and joined in the conversation more readily when it changed direction. She replied to all Mrs Rhydd's anxious questions about her doings at home, though she was rather astonished at the detail Mrs Rhydd wanted about their housekeeping arrangements, and what sort of people they were acquainted with. She did not know why it mattered, or why Mrs Rhydd sighed so frequently as though she found the answers unsatisfactory.

Afterwards they went into the large drawing room which Mrs Rhydd had ordered to be opened up.

'We rarely used this room even before his lordship became ill,' Mrs Rhydd explained. 'I have my own suite of rooms and the Earl preferred his library. He has entertained very little these last few years. Kate, my dear, will you play for us?'

Kate went to the pianoforte, and played a variety of music for the next hour, until the tea tray was brought in. She had always had a good memory, and as they had not in any case been able to afford to buy many music scores, she had perforce learnt a good many pieces by copying her aunt and other performers.

'You are very talented,' Mrs Rhydd said as Kate closed the instrument.

'Thank you, Ma'am,' Kate replied. 'Aunt Sophie deserves any credit, for she taught me to play.'

'I wish his lordship could hear you. Your mother played very well and he enjoyed listening to her.'

'How ill is he?' Miss Byford asked.

Mrs Rhydd sighed and shook her head. 'The doctors say that he could go any day. They are astonished that he is still alive. But he has a will of iron, and was determined to see Kate before he died. It was a sudden whim, we none of us expected it. Adam had just left for a quick visit to Rhydd Grange and he may have felt lonely. Adam's a good boy, he spends time with the old man every day when he's in London.'

Of course he did, Kate thought scornfully. He was the heir. He would be bound to keep on good terms with her grandfather, just as he'd weakly given way about something he obviously didn't want to do. Then she realized that Mrs Rhydd was talking to her, and had to drag her thoughts away from the aggravating problem.

'Forgive me, dear, but your grandfather has never talked of you before he ordered that you be sent for. He would fly into a rage if anyone so much as mentioned your mother or yourself.'

'Why did he want to see me?' Kate asked curiously. 'He can't be lonely with so many servants, and surely he still has friends who come to see him?'

'He's outlived most of his friends. Besides, old people often want to put things right when they are facing death,' was the reply. 'He did not treat your mother well. I believe he now realizes that and wants to make amends.'

'Didn't my grandmother try to persuade him?'

'She was much younger than he, and always in awe of him. He blamed her that they had no other children, and broke her spirit. She never defied him, not even to keep in touch with her daughter.'

Kate's eyes gleamed. 'I'd never submit to that! It's barbarous!' she declared.

'True, but he's perhaps repenting now. I do hope that you will do all in your power to comfort him during these last few days.'

Kate willingly promised, for despite her resentment at the way in which her parents had been treated, and herself totally ignored until now, she felt deeply sorry for her grandfather.

It wasn't until she was on the point of going to bed that she recalled her arrangement to ride with Chloe, and that she didn't possess a riding habit. 'What can I do? I just didn’t think, I don't bother at home.'

Mrs Rhydd shook her head, but she was in a generous mood and once more ransacked her wardrobe for an old habit of her own.

'I haven't ridden for years, but it will have to do, and if you decide to take up riding we'll have one made for you.' She sighed. 'When your grandfather dies, you won't be able to do a great deal, socially, but you are permitted to walk and ride.'

Kate was nervous the following day, but Chloe had obtained such a plodding hack that Kate was soon castigating him for a slug when he refused to break into a trot.

'Where is your brother?' she asked, when Chloe rode up attended by an elderly, dour-faced groom.

'He had another appointment - with the ivories last night. Or the cards, I forget which,' Chloe chuckled. 'He didn't get home until after dawn. Papa was furious. But Thompson is a wonderful teacher, he taught all of us to ride. He'll be better than Martin.'

Indeed, by the time they'd made one circuit of the Park Kate was feeling thoroughly confident. She even persuaded her mount to break into a sedate trot as they set off again. Then Chloe waved her whip and hailed some riders approaching. Kate looked up and saw Adam, accompanied by a startlingly lovely girl a few years older than herself. She was seated on a magnificent black mare which pranced and sidled playfully all the time they halted to exchange greetings.

'Good morning, Kate. You've progressed from riding donkeys, I see,' Adam said.

'At least I haven't fallen off,' Kate retorted. 

He laughed, and presented Kate to his companion. 'And this is Annabelle Wilson, some sort of cousin of mine on my mother's side.'

The beauty smiled down at Kate, but the smile, Kate decided, didn't reach her eyes which were icy blue, cold and calculating. 'How long do you stay in Town?' she drawled. 'I always think it's so dreary in the summer, I shall be glad to get away to some secluded spot in the country. I simply adore rural simplicity.'

'With pigs in the garden?' Kate asked.

Adam chuckled, but Annabelle looked horrified. 'Heavens, no! What a ghastly thought. A few sweet little chickens, perhaps, and pretty lambs.'

'You'd look very fetching milking the cows, and cutting the hay,' Chloe added, but Annabelle gave her a disdainful look and then turned to Adam.

'We must be going, Adam, or we'll be late. Goodbye, Polly.'

'Polly, indeed!' Kate fumed. 'Who on earth is she?'

'Adam's mistress,' Chloe said carelessly, and Kate gasped in shock.

'His mistress? And they ride out together, openly?'

'Well, she's very good
ton,
and her husband is very wealthy, and from an old family. She's of good family herself, and they, she and Adam, are some sort of cousins.'

'But - does everybody know?' Kate demanded.

'I suppose so. It was Martin who told me. I believe they once wanted to marry, but something went wrong and she married Mr Wilson. And he's not so very much older than she is, though he's a staid, solemn kind of man. She can't hope to be a widow for years yet, so she's not much hope of ever marrying Adam.'

Kate was thoughtful on the way home. Perhaps this explained Adam's reluctance to marry. Was he hoping that Annabelle's husband would die and release her? What a dreadful thought! Yet Chloe had hinted at it. Was this the way fashionable people behaved? If so, Kate thought angrily, she'd as soon return to her cottage and forget London. Then she reminded herself that she needed to know these things for her novels, so she had better remember as much as she could.

She soon forgot her desire for home during the next few days. Every day she either walked or rode with Chloe, and soon progressed to a more spirited steed. She met many young men, and received so many compliments and admiring glances that she began to believe her friend was right when she insisted that Kate was pretty.

The first to pay her lavish compliments had rather surprised her. They had met one day out walking, and Darcy Limmering knew Chloe because he was a friend of Martin, her brother. He was tall and slender, with dark brown eyes, thick brown hair worn in careful disarray, long artistic hands and a narrow, intense looking face. Kate immediately suspected that he was an artist or a poet.

When Chloe introduced Kate he kept her hand clasped in his.

'Miss Byford, what a privilege and a delight it is to meet you,' he murmured, and the admiration he clearly felt was plain in his eyes.

Indeed Kate, with her slim form and ethereal fairness, did look amazingly pretty in one of her new walking gowns, pale cream and trimmed with dusky pink ruffles. For the first time she was wearing a garment cut and sewn for her by a fashionable modiste. Although she was unaware of it she held herself straighter and moved more gracefully in a subconscious effort to do justice to it.

She was also blissfully unaware that already her charming countenance, with the deep blue eyes, perfect complexion, entrancing lips and lively expression, framed by feathery curls recently shaped by an expert, had caused more than one masculine heart to miss a beat when she was seen walking or driving in the Park.

Unused to such openly expressed admiration as that of Mr Limmering, she blushed and cast down her eyes. She was able to recover her countenance and was grateful when the young man dropped her hand and turned back to Chloe with a request to know how her parents did.

Then Mr Limmering turned back to Kate. 'If you are the Earl of Malvern's granddaughter, Miss Byford, we are connected by marriage.'

'Yes, I am. But how can we be connected?'

'My sister Amelia is married to your cousin William. I believe he inherited the title from your paternal grandfather after your father died.'

'Cousin William? Is he in Town?' Kate demanded, all shyness gone.

Despite his lack of interest in her previously, she still felt that her father's cousin might be willing to help her, and once the Earl was gone she suspected she would need friends of influence. Adam disliked her, he would doubtless send her back to the country, and she now knew that she did not want to resume that life. She had to be able to remain in London amongst her new friends.

'He and Amelia are in Yorkshire. My mother has been unwell, and they have been visiting her.'

'Oh, I'd have loved to meet them. I never have, you know.'

'They plan to return in a few days, and then, if you permit, I will take you to visit them. They live in Park Street.'

Kate was preoccupied that evening, when Adam dined with them. She kept glancing speculatively at him, wondering if his mother knew of his liaison with the lovely Annabelle Wilson. That, no doubt, explained his reluctance to select a bride. And yet, she knew from Diana, many married men kept mistresses.