Wentworth Hall (11 page)

The heavyset duke’s small, dark, bright eyes bore into her. Bowing at the waist, the duke reached for her hand. Willing herself not to flinch, Maggie extended her hand to be kissed. Although she knew the duke to be an avid hunter, his hands were disconcertingly soft, almost feminine, a thing Maggie found repugnant in a man. His kiss left a wet mark on her hand, which she forced herself not to wipe away as she withdrew it. “Are you enjoying the quadrille, Duke?” she asked politely.

“Please, call me Edmund,” the duke replied. “And yes, I am enjoying myself immensely. I thank you for the invitation, for Mr. Fitzhugh here has informed me that it was you who extended it.”

How she wanted to strangle Teddy!

“We are neighbors, after all,” Maggie said, trying to mitigate the situation by making it known that neighborly obligation was what had motivated her, and nothing more scintillating.

“We have not seen nearly enough of each other,” Edmund Marlborough replied in a tone that Maggie found oily and unctuous.

“We certainly will be seeing much more of you, Edmund,” Lord Darlington said with warmth.

“Would you and your family accept my invitation to lunch tomorrow?” Edmund asked Lord Darlington.

“We would be delighted,” Lord Darlington replied.

This was getting out of hand. The intent way the duke was gazing at her was making her flesh crawl. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to rebuff Teddy. At the very least he was her age and handsome. “Lunch tomorrow might not be good for me,” Maggie said. “Teddy and I
always take our stroll at that time, don’t we, Teddy?” This was almost true. They used to take a lunchtime stroll but since their blowup three nights earlier they had not. If the duke thought she was involved with a man more her age, he might back off.

“I won’t be able to stroll with you anymore,” Teddy put in quickly.

“Really? Has there been a change in our plans?” she bluffed. She hadn’t expected him to turn on her so completely. Not to the point of out and out rudeness.

“No, I won’t be strolling with you anymore ever, I’m afraid,” Teddy continued. “The business of my upcoming inheritance will require my full attention from now on.” With a sharp bow Teddy bade the men good-bye and walked off.

Lord Darlington looked perplexed. “Poor boy must be feeling the pressure of having to run his late father’s empire. He is not normally so brusque.”

“Young men are so fickle in their… pursuits,” Edmund remarked evenly.

“Yes” was all Maggie could think of to say. She shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, unable to think
of a new plan, especially with the duke and her father right there staring so expectantly at her.

Edmund offered her his bent elbow. “I heard you have recently been abroad,” he began. “Tell me your impressions of Paris. It’s been several years since I have been there.”

He smelled of the heavy pomade he’d used to slick his thinning hair over the bald top of his head. “Did you attend the Opera House?” he asked.

“No, I never got there,” Maggie replied.

“I adore opera,” the duke said as he strolled with her and Lord Darlington.

“The theater must be grand, I suppose,” Maggie answered. “I’ve never quite understood opera.”

“You must try it!” the duke said to her. “The opera is thrilling.” He went on at great length as they descended the stairs, telling her of last season’s operas and their various plots. Maggie felt as though she was attending a classical music appreciation class.

The duke steered them back toward the side door from which she’d exited, and guided her down onto an ornate outside bench of wrought iron. “We can enjoy the lovely evening here together if you like.”

Trapped! There was not a chance of escaping from him now. How pleased Teddy must be! At least her father was still with them. Her mother would have abandoned her with this catch long ago!

“You two chat and get to know each other better,” Lord Darlington cut in. “I need to check something with Lady Darlington.”

Drat!

Maggie had no choice but to sit and listen to Edmund continue on regarding his early days as a young opera fan. Her nostrils flared as she suppressed waves of yawning.

A servant burst from the side door, a look of alarm on his face. “Sir,” he addressed Edmund urgently. “Your horse is galloping loose on the grounds. Somehow he jumped the paddock fence where he was being cooled!”

Edmund leaped up, seeming to forget Maggie entirely, and rushed back inside behind his servant.

Maggie stood, straining to see out onto the grounds beyond the circle of lights cast by the estate’s lanterns. She discerned large forms moving in the darkness and detected the pounding of hoofbeats off in the distance.

“Michael,” she whispered to herself. Thrilled by the
idea, she realized only Michael could have—would have—done such a thing. He’d done it to free her from Teddy and from Edmund. Michael—her hero even when she didn’t deserve one.

Lila gathered the rose-colored silk of her gown. Her dress was not the gorgeous off-the-shoulder affairs the grown women wore—her mother had forbidden that—but a dress she was happy with nonetheless, with a shawl neckline. She was pleasantly amazed at how unopposed her parents had been to her more mature makeover. Perhaps they simply accepted it was the right time, though a darker part of Lila suspected that they were just too distracted with their own lives—her mother with James and marrying off Maggie, and her father with Wentworth Hall—to take much notice.

The quadrille had become quite dull since a large population of the male guests had run off to help the Duke of Cotswall retrieve his carriage horse that was now galloping free across his fields. How happy and eager the men had been to shed their formal coats and go out to help recapture the escaped horse. What a stroke of luck for Maggie! Evil as Maggie had been since her return, even Lila pitied
her sister having to duck the attentions of a man nearly as old as their own father.

Lila had noticed that Jessica had disappeared from the ball and now headed for the outside garden. It was pretty clear that Teddy’s affections for Maggie had been rebuffed. The two of them hadn’t even spoken for the last three days and Teddy was in a foul mood, all scowls and growls. Hopefully that would pass in time. Finally this was Lila’s chance to make him forget about her haughty sister. If only she could catch his attention. Perhaps Jessica could help her with that.

When Lila was near Jessica’s room, she saw that the door was open and the girl had seated herself on a bench facing the Duke’s famed beautiful rose bushes. The fashionable deep red gown she’d worn during her brief appearance at the quadrille seemingly matched the budding blooms. Her auburn hair was bound up in an elaborate twist of braids and curls. Lila thought she looked gorgeous.

Since their friendly conversation of the week before, the one that had suddenly turned sour at the end, Jessica seemed to be avoiding her. Lila was mystified by what had happened. It seemed to coincide with Teddy losing interest
in Maggie. So many secrets inside Wentworth Hall, and as usual, Lila was in the dark about all of them.

With a light step toward her, Lila coughed to get her attention.

Startled, Jessica twisted toward Lila and pouted at the sight of her. “Oh, hello, Lila. Bored of the ball?”

Lila presumed to settle lightly at the end of the bench. “The men have run off to catch a runaway horse,” Lila reported.

Jessica shut the red notebook she’d been writing in, slipping it into her purse, and straightened. “You people can’t even throw an intriguing ball, can you?” she complained. “The men in this neighborhood would rather catch a horse than flirt with the pretty girls. What a pack of rubes.”

Stung, Lila scowled at her. “‘You people’? I suppose the gentry are so much more fascinating in South Africa,” she snapped.

“No, not in Johannesburg, though we have our share of darlings. The place where they’re really suave is London,” Jessica declared.

At the mention of London, Lila decided to bite back
the instinct to match Jessica’s peevish tone. “You’ve been to London?” she asked.

“During this past spring season: Father wanted Teddy and me to meet some of society’s best, so he brought us over. He had his fatal heart attack at one of the season’s fanciest balls given by one of the best families in London. That’s how we happened to come to you. We wouldn’t have come all the way here from South Africa. Our father’s solicitor, who has our money held hostage right now, insisted that we come here until we turn eighteen. It’s so dreadful.”

“Is it really so awful?” Lila challenged, her temper rising. “Hasn’t everyone been nice to you here?”

“It’s not that,” Jessica allowed. “It’s simply so dull here.”

Lila stood up, deeply annoyed. Jessica’s implication was that Lila—the only one who had attempted to be friendly to Jessica—was too dreadfully dull for words. Lila felt foolish for ever believing Jessica could be a friend to her, or an ally in trying to win Teddy’s affection. Would she think it was hilarious for poor hopelessly boring Lila to set her cap for the fascinating and incredibly wealthy Teddy Fitzhugh?

“Thank heavens I have this notebook to write in or I’d go mad,” Jessica continued. “There’s not even an interesting novel in the entire library. Believe me, I’ve searched.”

She couldn’t fault Jessica for that last statement. Lila had often thought the same thing herself. Lila wandered to the edge of the patio and looked out over the moonlit field. She strained to hear any sign of the runaway coach horse or the men. Lila was about to turn away when she spied movement in front of the stable.

Under the beam of the overhead stable lantern, Michael stood talking to Maggie, who looked like a figure out of a romantic painting. The skirt of her gown was caught up over one arm, and her soft blond hair was coming unfurled from its silver combs.

Lila leaned closer to the glass. What were they talking about? Was Maggie smiling? It was a smile Lila remembered from long ago but hadn’t seen in over a year. Michael was leaning toward Maggie.

In the glow of the lanterns, Michael looked devastatingly handsome. In fact, Michael and Maggie made a gorgeous couple. It was a scandalous thought! Lila almost laughed out loud at the idea.

Regardless of what they were talking about, they seemed to be having much more fun than Lila was. Maybe they wouldn’t mind her joining the conversation.

“Where are you going?” Jessica asked, looking up from the writing to which she’d returned.

As Lila dashed across the lawn, she looked over her shoulder at Jessica. “I think I will see what’s happening with that horse,” she said.

Chapter Ten

M
ICHAEL GAZED INTO MAGGIE’S BROWN
eyes and every feeling he had been denying came rushing back. How he’d missed her!

“When I saw you needed some help, releasing the duke’s horse was the only thing I could think of,” Michael told her. “It was a bit drastic, but it worked.”

“Absolutely! It worked like a charm. I can’t thank you enough,” she replied, laughter in those lively eyes. “Are you sure the horse won’t come to harm?”

“Very certain,” Michael assured her. “It will gallop across the fields, enjoy its bit of freedom, and then head back for its stall. It knows the way back. The men know it as well. They’re making a big show of finding it but I
think they’re just enjoying a little freedom too.”

This made Maggie laugh hard. The sound of it made Michael’s heart leap. It had been so long.

“So everyone is in this plot together,” she concluded. “It’s just that no one will admit what’s really going on.”

“Something like that,” Michael agreed, the smile fading from his lips. “It’s somewhat like what’s going on with you.”

Maggie also became serious. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t you?”

“No.”

“I mean that you’re angry with me and I don’t know why.”

Maggie turned her back on him. “I was, but it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Because you’ve moved on?” Michael asked.

“You were right, Michael,” Maggie told him. “I couldn’t accept it at the time but I’ve grown up since then.”

“Don’t do this, Maggie,” Michael urged. Maybe he was being rash, he knew. But the chances to be alone with her were so few and far between. He had to say his piece,
especially now when she wasn’t shutting him out. “That night before you left, I only said I didn’t love you because I thought it was impossible between us. I didn’t want to hurt you; I actually thought I was helping you by setting you free from a love that could never be. But since you’ve been gone I’ve realized it was pride and false nobility on my part. I’ve grown too. I know now that we belong together. Whatever it takes.” Michael was surprised to find he meant it. He had fooled himself into believing he could go on without Maggie. Finally being able to talk to her—to tell her all the things he’d meant to the moment she got back, before the weeks she’d spent ignoring him for Teddy—unleashed his true feelings.