Regency Pleasures and Sins Part 1
‘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 …’
‘Don’t give it another thought. Tell you what, come to the prizefight in Bedford with me next week—we’ll make up a party, what do you say?’ There was relief and suppressed triumph in the affected voice and Tallie bit the inside of her lip in an effort to keep focused on Lady Mornington while watching Kate Parry out of the corner of her eye.
Lady Parry, who was dressed in an unusual shade of deep salmon to ensure she was visible, shifted her position and Tallie saw her nod. William must have glimpsed his mother through the palms and seen her signal, for his voice became a little louder and Tallie, hearing her cue, dropped her fan and dance card. With a murmur of apology she fell to her knees and began to hunt round under her chair, cutting off Lady Mornington in mid-sentence.
‘That’s a damn nice new curricle you’ve got, Jack,’ she heard William say enthusiastically. ‘More benefits of that post-obit loan you took out on your Aunt Mornington? Or has the old lady coughed up some more of the readies, seeing what a handsome portrait you commissioned of her?’
Tallie glanced up. Lady Mornington had frozen where she sat, her eyes riveted on the screen of palms. ‘Wish I had your knack of turning old ladies up sweet,’ William persisted loudly. ‘What’s the trick to it?’
Go on, Tallie willed Jack Hemsley. Go on, boast about how clever you are.
Chapter Nineteen
Jack Hemsley did not disappoint Tallie.
‘Trick, old chap? Nothing to it. Old trouts like her will lap up any amount of honey, you can’t pour too much on, trust me. Flatter her dreadful hats, take her driving in the park so she can wave to her ghastly friends, pet her God-awful pugs—they’ve all got something like that, if it isn’t pugs it’s a parrot—you can’t fail. A bit of sharp work with the other relatives to put them out of favour and there you are—favourite nephew and all the dibs in tune.’
Lady Mornington surged to her feet. ‘Excuse me, my dear,’ she said with awful calm to Tallie, who was still crouched by her chair making a business out of picking up her fan. A terrible figure in puce, she stepped round the screen of palms. Kate pulled Tallie upright and the two of them followed apprehensively after her.
The scene that greeted them might have been a tableau from a melodrama. Lady Mornington, bosom visibly quivering with indignation, confronted her white-faced nephew who was pinned between his outraged relative, William—who was inconsiderately Standing fast at his back—and an interested crowd of onlookers who, realising something was afoot, had turned to watch. Prominent amongst them was Nick and the man he had been talking to: the Honourable Ferdie Marsh, the worst gossip in London Society.
‘Despicable boy!’ Lady Mornington hissed, the plumes on her coiffure shaking. ‘Lying, toadying, deceitful wretch! This is how you repay my kindness, this is how you serve your cousins, poisoning my mind against them! I shall change my will tomorrow morning, not one penny shall you get from me. In fact …’ her eyes narrowed, regarding his pinched and furious face ‘… in fact, I will not risk leaving it to tomorrow. The Lord Chief Justice is here tonight—I am sure he will be only too pleased to draw up a codicil for me here and now.’
She swept round, magnificent in her fury, and her eyes fell on Tallie. ‘And you, dear child, can help me find him. Are you acquainted with his lordship? Tall man, always looks different without his wig, I find …’ She swept Tallie off without a backward glance. ‘You shall have one of Esmeralda’s puppies from the new litter. You are a good child and I am sure will look after it excellently well.’
‘Tha-thank you, ma’am,’ Tallie faltered, taken aback by this powerful self-control. ‘Ma’am … I am so very sorry about what just …’ She did not know whether to feel guilty or not. It was horrible for Lady Mornington to have Hemsley’s character exposed before an audience, but perhaps it was much worse that she should be estranged from her honest relatives because of the greed of one unpleasant nephew.
Lady Mornington gave her a sharp look. ‘I have been a foolish old woman,’ she said briskly. ‘Serves me right. His father, my younger brother, was just the same—should have realised the bloodline would breed true.’
‘Is that the Lord Chief Justice over there, ma’am?’ Tallie asked hastily.
‘Indeed it is, you have sharp eyes. Now, off you go, back to Kate Parry and have a good time, child. I,’ she added with a note of grim amusement in her voice, ‘I intend to.’
Tallie hurried back, seeing William energetically dancing a boulanger with a pretty redhead and finding Kate just accepting a glass of lemonade from her nephew.
‘Well done,’ Nick said appreciatively. ‘That was an entirely successful ambush. One cannot but admire Lady Mornington—did you notice the insinuation that she had to change her will immediately or she might not live to see the next day?’
‘Everyone is talking about it,’ Kate Parry said, fanning herself vigorously. ‘And it is losing nothing in the telling, I can assure you. Tallie—is Agatha much upset?’
‘Very cross with herself, I think,’ Tallie said. ‘And resolving to make amends with her other nephews and nieces. But I do not think she is sad, or greatly distressed.’ She looked at Nick. ‘Where is Mr Hemsley? Did he see us?’
‘He has gone. Even someone with Jack’s brass neck could not brazen it out in front of an entire ballroom full of people sniggering at him. There is no need to worry—he saw William and me and I am sure he has wit enough to know that we set out to entrap him, but I do not think he realises the part you and Aunt Kate played.’
‘I am not frightened of him,’ Tallie said scornfully, then caught Nicholas’s eye and added ruefully, ‘Not while I have you and William to look after me at any rate. I have to admit, I am not a match for someone like that without help.’
Nick bowed ironically. ‘That is gracious, Tallie. May I solicit the next dance?’
It seemed they were on ordinary speaking terms again, and at least he could not launch into embarrassing lectures on how ruined she was or, even worse, make a declaration in the middle of Lady Mornington’s dress ball.
‘Thank you, Lord Arndale,’ Tallie said politely, allowing him to lead her out onto the dance floor. ‘What is it? I have lost track of the dance programme with so much excitement.’
‘A waltz,’ he replied, catching her efficiently around the waist with one hand and capturing her right hand with the other. ‘You have to admit, my timing is perfect.’
‘Perfect,’ Tallie agreed hollowly as the music struck up and she was swept into the dance. Perfect. The last thing she needed was to be held in Nick’s arms as the sensuous, exciting music took them. It was hard enough being with him and fighting to keep the yearning out of her voice, the love out of her eyes, without being so close to him that she could feel his warmth, smell the clean, sharp, indefinable maleness of him.
She needed to concentrate on thwarting any attempt to make her an offer, or, if she failed in that, to refuse him convincingly. As it was she could feel him gathering her tighter into his arms and could make no effort to draw away. Another couple brushed against her skirts and Tallie found herself touching his body, then he had released her again and all she was conscious of was the pounding of her heart and the glitter of his grey eyes when she looked up at him.
The music drew to a crescendo and stopped. Couples stepped apart, clapping politely and beginning to stroll off the floor, but Tallie found herself steered ruthlessly through the onlookers fringing the dance floor and into a deserted retiring room.
‘My lord! What on earth are you about! Please return me to Lady Parry at once—she will concerned to know where I have gone.’ Tallie tried to convince herself that the breathless catch in her voice was simply natural agitation and not the effect of being masterfully carried off in the midst of a crowded ballroom.
‘You may return to her side the minute we have had this much-overdue conversation,’ Nick said patiently, moving round to lean broad shoulders against the door panels.
Tallie eyed the only other exit from the room, a narrow window.
‘And we are one floor above pavement level and, if I am not mistaken, that window will overlook the area, which adds another floor to the drop. If you feel you have overcome your fear of heights do, by all means, feel free to leave.’
Tallie glared. ‘I have no intention of scrambling out of a window to escape you, my lord. You have only to remove your shoulders from that door and I will walk out.’ Provided she could stay angry with him, it was easier to cope. Tallie stamped her foot. ‘Will you please open that door, my lord!’
‘Only if you stop calling me “my lord” every sentence …’
‘Very well then, Nicholas, please—’
‘And if you agree to marry me,’ he finished.
It was not unexpected. She had been trying to avoid him putting that very question all day, but that did not make it any better. Every fibre of her being was screaming yes! Tallie raised both eyebrows haughtily. ‘You will excuse me, my lord, if I find the warmth and sincerity of your offer less than compelling. I am, naturally, conscious of the honour you do me in making such a proposal; however, I must decline.’
‘Tallie.’ It was a warning growl.
‘My lord?’
‘I suppose you would like me to come and kneel down, clasp my hands to my heart and beg you to do me the honour?’
‘That would certainly be an improvement,’ she agreed, casting her eyes downwards so that he could not see the sudden resolution in them.
‘Very well.’ Nick straightened up, took two long strides forward and fell on one knee in front of her. He placed one hand on his heart and said, ‘Miss Grey, may I solicit—’
Tallie whirled away and made a dash for the door. Her fingers were closing around the handle when he took her by the shoulders, spun her round and trapped her against the panels, one hand on either side of her head. It had been a mistake to forget just how good his reflexes were and just how fast he could move.
Now what are you going to do? she asked herself. If he kisses you, you are done for and you know it.
‘Tallie. As we were discussing this morning when William interrupted us, I have thoroughly compromised you. There is only one outcome from that. You must marry me.’ He sounded as though he were keeping the lid upon his patience with some effort.
‘And as I explained to you, you may have compromised me, but nothing happened. No one else besides ourselves and Lady Parry knows about it. I have to do nothing whatsoever, and if you tell me that your honour is at stake or some such masculine nonsense, I give you fair warning, I will kick you.’
Frustrated grey eyes stared into hers. ‘Why will you not say yes? I am hardly ineligible. You know you may acquit me of fortune hunting. Is there someone else?’
‘No, there is not.’ Where the breath to keep talking was coming from Tallie had no idea. She was not conscious of breathing at all and her heart was banging so hard she thought it must be visible through the fine gauze of her bodice. ‘I do not wish to make a loveless marriage, it is as simple as that.’
‘But—’ Nick broke off, for once silenced. Then he said with a hint of a smile, ‘I had rather thought that when I kissed you you were not averse to the caress. In fact, when I have held you in my arms you reacted with warmth.’
‘I am aware that ladies are not supposed to enjoy such things,’ Tallie retorted, wondering if the guardian spirit of Modest Behaviour was about to strike her down where she stood. ‘But I can see that is nonsense, some tale put about to shelter innocent girls. After all, if married ladies did not enjoy it, why would they have affairs? I must confess that I find being kissed by you very … pleasant, and being in your arms is positively stimulating. However,’ she hurried on as both Nick’s eyebrows rose alarmingly, ‘that does not mean I want to marry you. Naturally I realise that now we have had this discussion you are not going to kiss me any more—and that is a pity because I do enjoy it and I would certainly not trust any other gentleman of my acquaintance in that way.’
‘Well, that is frank speaking indeed.’ The familiar cool expression was back on his face and she could not tell whether he was shocked, angry or even, just possibly, amused.
‘I am afraid so.’ Tallie tried to look penitent. ‘I did feel ashamed of myself and then I realised that it is foolish to deny one’s natural, er … appetites. Of course, one should not indulge them any more than one should drink too much wine or eat too much rich food, and one realises in the case of ladies that the penalties are somewhat more extreme.’ Now, surely, she had shocked him sufficiently to put an end to any desire to marry her. She was certainly shocking herself.
‘But within marriage you could indulge those appetites completely,’ Nick observed. ‘You know, Tallie, you are not managing to shock me, which is what I believe you are trying to do. Amuse me, exasperate me and try my patience, certainly. But I am hard to shock and quite alarmingly patient when I want to be. And I do not believe your assumption of the mantle of a loose woman remotely convincing. Now, be a good girl and say “yes” and we can go out and tell Aunt Kate and all will be easy.’
‘No.’
‘Tallie, you have failed to convince me you do not wish to marry me because you are a wanton …’
‘Not a wanton,’ she protested. ‘Or at least, only with you. I like you kissing me, I have to admit it, but I would not have said so if you had not produced that as a clinching argument as to why we should marry. But liking kissing someone is absolutely no reason to think they would be the right person to marry. How many women have you kissed?’
‘Me?’ He removed his hands and straightened up, although he did not move back. ‘I have no idea.’
‘Did you enjoy kissing them?’
‘On the whole, yes. Tallie, what has this to do with our marriage?’
‘And how many of them have you married?’
‘None of them!’
‘Precisely my point,’ Tallie said triumphantly. ‘Just because you enjoy kissing someone, it does not mean you want to marry them. So that, my lord, is not a good argument. How else do you intend to convince me?’
‘You enjoy sparring with me, do you not, Tallie?’ He had his hands on his hips now, head on one side as he regarded her thoughtfully. His lips quirked and she fought the urge to either smile back or stand on tiptoe and kiss the corner of his mouth. She was proving a puzzle to him, a problem, and Tallie sensed that she was also becoming a challenge, almost an intellectual conundrum to be solved.
‘Yes,’ she admitted. And how much fun it would be to be married to him, to stimulate that sharp brain and tease that flashing sense of humour.
‘You will not win, you know,’ he observed.
‘That is not gentlemanly of you.’ Tallie tried a pout for effect. The only reaction that produced was a grin of sheer devilment.
‘Are you a gamester?’
‘No … no, I do not think so. I have never been tempted by games of chance.’
‘Well, let me tempt you with a bet upon a certainty. I wager you will agree to marry me within two weeks of today.’
That seemed safe enough, she was not going to agree, whatever wiles he used. ‘Marry you within two weeks or simply agree to do so?’
‘Agree, I think. I see no point in setting myself any harder a task than I have to.’
‘And if you win?’ she asked.
‘You marry me.’
‘And if you lose?’
‘What would you like?’ He stepped back and smiled again at the innocent calculation her face betrayed.
‘My own phaeton and a team of match bays.’
‘Very well.’
Tallie gasped. ‘Seriously? I never thought you would agree.’
‘I have absolutely no intention of losing, so I can afford to be generous. Of course, if you want such a rig, you only have to marry me and you can have one anyway.’
‘You are absolutely the most infuriating man I have ever come across.’ Tallie reached behind her for the doorknob. ‘Now, are you going to let me out of here?’
‘Once we have sealed the bet,’ he said and took her in his arms. His mouth silenced her protests and he made not the slightest attempt to restrain her, simply allowing the drugging, languorous, sensual slide of his mouth over hers and the insidious caress of his fingers on her throat and shoulder to hold her to him.
Tallie moaned softly and let her body mould to his for a long, shuddering moment. Her lips parted and his tongue slid between them, so gently, so subtly that before she knew what she was doing her own tongue had begun to caress his in turn. He left her mouth and began to nibble the taut tendons of her neck. The blood was roaring in her ears so loudly that she hardly heard the question at first, then he repeated it, murmuring it as his lips teased and tormented the soft skin behind the curl of her ear.
‘Marry me, Tallie.’
Tell me you love me, Nick, say it. Then I will marry you. Tell me …
‘You stir my blood, Tallie. Marry me.’
Not enough. Oh, I want you too … but it is not enough.
‘No.’ Tallie pushed him away with both palms flat on his chest. ‘No, and I am not going to kiss you again.’
Nick stepped back, his own hands raised in the fencer’s gesture of surrender. ‘I promise not to try—for tonight at least.’
Tallie caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror that hung on the opposite wall. ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, just look at me!’
‘I am,’ Nick drawled. ‘You look delightfully tousled and it provokes the most terrible desire in me to tousle you even more.’
‘Well, you can’t,’ she retorted crisply, more to suppress her own longing to be back in his arms than out of any real fear that he would snatch her into them. She smoothed her hair, rescued some pins that were hanging on by their very tips, fastened the roses, which her maid had tucked into the knot at the nape of her neck, back with their comb and surveyed herself critically, managing not to catch Nick’s amused eye as he watched her. ‘It will have to do. Now, how are we going to get out of here unseen?’
‘Through the window?’
‘You certainly deserve to!’ Tallie peeped round the edge of the door and saw with relief that a particularly noisy and energetic country dance was in progress with most of the onlookers’ attention focused on the dance floor. She slipped out and wove her way through the chairs and pillars until she had put a respectable distance between herself and the retiring-room door.