The Duke Conspiracy (12 page)

“As right as rain,” Rose answered
cheerfully.

“That expression does not reassure me. To my
mind rain is always a little melancholy.”

“But so necessary for things to grow,” Rose
countered, which brought a grin to Elizabeth's face.

“You always have an answer for everything,
don't you?”

“I try. Now what can you tell me about Lady
Anne?”

“Not much, really. She is a pleasant enough
girl, a little mousy. I must agree with the duke. I never would
have thought she had it in her to be involved in something as
complicated as a scheme to entrap a nobleman into marriage. But she
and her father are very close—they only have had each other since
her mother died—so no doubt it is out of a sense of devotion to
him. As I told you the other night, he is rather far up the River
Tick so she is probably trying to help him recover the family's
coffers.”

“Do you like her?” Rose inquired softly.

“To be honest she does not inspire strong
feelings either for or against. She seems pleasant. Rather like
many of the debutantes, really. Always proper, never having much of
an opinion. She will probably drive you mad,” Elizabeth concluded
with a grin.

“Excellent, so I shall not be overly sad at
upsetting her plans.”

“Would you have been otherwise?” Elizabeth
was surprised.

“Of course. Marriage is an honorable
arrangement. I believe it is a dishonorable way to go about trying
to entrap someone, but since she lost her mother and her father is
depending on her, my heart does go out to her. If she had set her
sights on someone other than Alex and if Broderick were not
involved, I would have looked the other way gladly. In fact, if I
found I quite liked her, perhaps I would have been inclined to even
help. But they
did
pick Alex and Broderick
is
involved, so there is no other choice but to step in and stop it. I
just hope it can be done without ruining anybody's reputation.”

Elizabeth stared at Rose. “You are one
complicated young woman, aren't you? It seems to me that you think
too much.”

“Mayhap you are correct. Now, I feel a little
parched after all this talking.”

Elizabeth's tinkle of laughter announced she
had taken no offense over her friend's broad hint as she reached
for the bell pull. “Tea shall be here momentarily.”

After being suitably refreshed, the two
ladies set out to call upon Lady Anne.

Rose was surprised as Elizabeth's carriage
pulled up in front of a large, elegant townhouse on a very
fashionable street in Mayfair. Her thoughts must have been written
upon her face because Elizabeth smiled with glee.

“Did I fail to mention that the Austens are
staying with Lady Anne's maternal aunt, the Countess of
Silverthorne? The countess is sponsoring Lady Anne's Season. She
and Lady Austen were sisters and quite close.”

Rose was a trifle discomfited by these words.
Somehow it made it seem so much more difficult knowing that Lady
Anne was well connected. Bracing her shoulders staunchly she
reminded herself that it was a good thing that the lady was well
connected. She would be protected from any fallout. And no matter
her connections she should never have set her sights upon Alex. Nor
gotten involved with Sir Broderick. Really, when one looked at it
from a certain perspective, Rose was doing the lady a favor by
attempting to sever her connection with the despicable knight.

Thus resolved, she followed Elizabeth from
the carriage and up the stairs to be admitted by the attentive
footman.

“We have called by to see if Lady Anne is
receiving visitors today.”

“Very well, Lady Elizabeth, if you and your
friend would like to have a seat in the Green Room. I shall see if
Lady Anne is at home to visitors.”

The footman escorted them to a lovely room
just off the foyer. Rose looked around with interest. The room was
aptly named: it was an inviting, cheerful shade of green. Rose
quite thought she would like the countess if she were anything like
her color choices indicated. The pleasant smile remained fixed upon
her face while there was a commotion in the foyer.

A wispy young woman fluttered into the room.
Rose could well see why Elizabeth had described her as mousy. She
was very petite and her hair was rather like the color of a field
mouse, a brown that leaned toward gray rather than gold. She looked
nervous and fidgety, but it could have just been a trick of her
small eyes. At least she was smiling pleasantly enough, Rose
observed, avid curiosity about the young woman battling with the
conflicted feelings urging her to protect the duke.

Stepping into the room, she dropped a brief
curtsy, smiling nervously. “How kind of you to visit me, Lady
Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth, always poised, smiled graciously
and turned to introduce Rose. “Thank you for seeing us, my lady.
Please allow me to introduce my friend, Miss Roseamund Smythe. She
is a little late in making her debut and has not yet made the
acquaintance of everyone around Town.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Anne,”
Rose said as she dipped into a curtsy of her own. “I was just
admiring this lovely room. It must be a pleasure to receive people
here. It would be impossible to remain out of sorts in such an
environment.”

Anne looked surprised as she gazed about at
the walls. “I never thought about that before. I did think it was a
pleasant room,” she agreed.

Rose had to stifle her grin as she remembered
Elizabeth's words about Anne rarely having an opinion of her own.
How could she not have noticed how lovely this space
is
? she marveled, wondering if the poor girl might not be
all right in her head.

“Have you been enjoying your first Season,
Miss Smythe?” Lady Anne asked politely after they had all taken
their seats.

“I have, thank you, now that I have made a
few friends and feel a little bit more at home. I will admit to you
that in the beginning I felt a trifle awkward when everyone felt
like strangers. It seemed to me as though everyone else already
knew each other and I was the only odd one out.”

“I know just what you mean. I felt the very
same way,” Lady Anne agreed once more.

Rose thought of the way to steer the
conversation in the right direction. “I never even had a dance
partner at my first couple of balls. I feared I was to be a
wallflower for the rest of my days.”

“Oh yes, that is such a terrible
feeling.”

Elizabeth could see where Rose was taking
this conversation and she had to bite her lip to stop the quiver as
she was swept with an appreciation for how droll the situation
was.

“Oh come, now, Lady Anne, you cannot mean to
make me think you ever suffered from being amongst the wallflowers.
Why just the other night I was so sure I saw you dancing with the
Duke of Wrentham.”

Anne blushed rosily, making her appear much
more animated than was her usual mien. “Well, yes, I did dance with
the duke,” she admitted with shy pride. “He is such an elegant
dance partner. And so kind.”

“I have not spent overmuch time in his
presence, although I did dance with him that same evening that Miss
Rosamund is referring to,” Elizabeth said, “Did you enjoy dancing
with him?”

“Very much,” Anne answered simply with a wide
smile.

“Have you danced with him often?” Rose
prompted, hoping they did not appear too eager for information,
thinking they ought to change the subject for a moment and then
bring it back somehow.

“Not yet, that was our first dance, but
hopefully there will be more,” Anne blushed.

“To be sure,” Rose replied, seeing that the
young woman seemed sincere. “I am happy to report that while I did
not have such an exalted dance partner, I finally did make it onto
the dance floor at that very same ball. Lord Dunbar was the first
gentleman to invite me, but after that I was kept quite busy. It
certainly changes your perspective once you get away from the
sidelines.”

“Most certainly,” Anne agreed pleasantly.

Rose wondered how they could possible get
much information out of the young woman when they heard the door
knocker sound. All three looked toward the doorway expectantly.
Rose was unsure whether to be disappointed or delighted when Ladies
Emmaline and Constance Chadwick were announced. They may be a help
or a hindrance.

Lady Anne rose gracefully to welcome the new
arrivals. Her bland reception did not inhibit the Chadwick ladies
in any way. They strode in energetically, Emmaline chattering away
as Constance echoed her sentiments at intervals.

“Oh, how lovely to see you here, Lady
Elizabeth, and you too, Miss Smythe,” Emmaline greeted.

“Yes, lovely,” Constance parroted as Rose and
Elizabeth tried to control their amused smiles.

“Good day to you, as well,” Elizabeth replied
politely while Rose merely bowed in their direction, allowing
Elizabeth to take control of the conversation with the newest
arrivals.

“We were just talking about how we are
enjoying the Season. No doubt neither of you have ever spent any
time amongst the wallflowers, but we were just discussing how much
more enjoyable a ball is when viewed from the dance floor.” This
was just the conversational gambit to set Emmaline off.

“Oh, yes, my lady, is it not just the very
thing? You said the truth, of course, when you mentioned we have
not much been sidelined, but I can just imagine it must be awkward
if one does not have someone to ensure you have the proper
introductions at your first ball.” With those words she glanced in
Rose's direction, leaving her to wonder if the look was one of
sympathy or gloating. Rose returned her gaze with as enigmatic a
smile as she could muster, refusing to be cowed by the likes of
her. Undeterred, Emmaline launched into a litany of her best dance
partners.

“Lord Dunbar is a dream to dance with, but I
must say my favorite dance partner thus far has been the Duke of
Wrentham.”

“Oh, we were just talking about him,” Lady
Anne interjected, surprising everyone by volunteering some
information.

“Isn't he lovely,” Emmaline asked
rhetorically.

Rose made an effort to control her desire to
scoff over this statement as she remembered the multitude of times
she had seen him standing knee deep in mud with a frog in his hands
or some other loathsome boyish stunt. “What do you find to be so
lovely about him?” she asked, pleased with the neutral but
inquisitive tone she managed to achieve.

“Well, he is handsome and polite,” Lady
Emmaline began.

“And he has quite a bit of hair,” interjected
Lady Constance, which caused Rose to have to bite her lip to keep
from chuckling. If that was the best thing to recommend him clearly
these ladies had not set their standards overly high. Or so she
thought.

“That is an excellent point,” Lady Elizabeth
pointed out. “So few of the earls or dukes have kept their
hair.”

Nodding with enthusiasm Lady Emmaline
continued, “And, of course, one cannot discount the matter of him
being a duke and rumored to be as rich as Croesus.”

“And he actually listens,” Lady Anne added
quietly into the silence that had followed Emmaline's words.

Rose blinked with a touch of surprise at this
statement. Fearing she was not going to be happy with the answer to
the question, she asked it anyway. “What do you mean by that, Lady
Anne?”

Anne lifted her shoulder in a little shrug,
clearly embarrassed to have said something requiring further
explanation, but she finally answered after a moment of thought. “I
have only spoken with him a couple of times, but I have noticed
that he will ask a question and actually wait for you to answer. It
appears as though he listens to your words and how you say them and
gives thought to what you have said. Have you not noticed that most
gentlemen merely expect you to agree with them or say the same
thing as everyone else is saying? Conversations at balls are so
rarely original. That is not to say that I have anything original
to say, but the duke gave the impression that if you did have a
thought, he would be prepared for it.”

Rose blinked furiously to rid her eyes of the
ridiculous mist that had formed as she listened to Anne's
explanation. It crossed her mind that she wished it was
her
that the duke was listening to so attentively. The plethora of
feelings she was feeling at the moment were complicated and not
ones she would be able to decipher and deal with at the moment, so
she shoved them to the back of her mind to be dealt with later.

There was a little silence following Anne's
words, which Emmaline cheerfully broke. “Like I said, just lovely.”
These words were met with a ripple of laughter.

Rose was torn between relief and
disappointment when Elizabeth stood, signaling the time for their
visit had come to an end.

“It was lovely to see you all today but Miss
Smythe and I must be on our way.”

Lady Anne stood to see them out. “Thank you
for stopping by. You must come and have a longer visit one day
soon.”

“Thank you, my lady. That would be most
pleasant, I am sure. Why don't you join Miss Smythe and me for a
cup of tea tomorrow? I am planning a quiet day without much running
around, so having someone come to me would be the perfect
thing.”

Lady Anne blushed with her gratification.
“Thank you, I shall be delighted.”

Rose too was delighted with her friend's
maneuverings and was quick to compliment her as they walked away
with her maid in tow. “That was very well managed, my friend.”

Elizabeth's tinkle of laughter rang out.
“That was nothing, Rose, wait until tomorrow. Today we just laid
the groundwork. Tomorrow, when we have her on our terms, we shall
really dig into the matter.”

Rose grinned at her friend's enthusiasm. “The
only problem I foresee is that the poor dear appears to be sincere.
It seems to me that her life is not a happy one and her words about
the duke listening to her really struck me. What if she truly does
have feelings for him?”