Regency Pleasures and Sins Part 1
Her relief was abruptly terminated when she realised that the only other occupant was the Duke. His smile, unexpected, was all too reminiscent of Nick at his coolest and she felt her back stiffen as she returned it.
‘You are very prompt, my dear. You found your way with ease, I surmise. Are you comfortable in your suite? Ah, my sons are at your heels.’
Katherine avoided looking at any of the men as she nodded acknowledgement to the footman who pulled out a chair for her and took her place at the table.
‘Most comfortable, thank you, your Grace.’ Acutely conscious of the rigid footmen at the buffet, Katherine was profoundly grateful that he made no comment on the choice of rooms that Heron had assigned to her. Doubtless it would be all over the house in no time that the Marquis was not sharing his wife’s bed. She felt a flush of embarrassment, then thought of how much more Nick would feel it.
‘Has your journey taken you long?’ She pulled herself together and concentrated on making conversation. Naturally the Duke could not ask her where she had come from in front of the servants; he would be endeavouring to make this surprise arrival seem as normal as possible. She set herself to give him as much information as she could without appearing to.
‘We took several days over it, your Grace. Nicholas needed to rest, of course, as he has not been well.’ Katherine ignored the suppressed exclamation from her husband’s lips. ‘The weather in London was very clement when we left.’
‘And your family is well?’
‘My brother is travelling in France, your Grace. Since my parents’ deaths, he has little business, and no family other than myself, to keep him in this county. He left shortly after the wedding.’ Doubtless the Duke’s first recourse when he had returned to the library had been to the Peerage and the Landed Gentry. He would know by now that she had no relatives other than a brother and that their birth, while respectable, was as nothing compared to his.
The meal passed with a rigid formality, which left Katherine dreading dinner. Conversation was measured, general, and left her quivering with tension. The weather, the news of local events, the prospect of a touring company of players at Newcastle and the latest London on-dits served to fill the time unexceptionally. Katherine decided that if it went on much longer she would scream.
Cautiously she glanced at Nicholas while accepting a plate of bread and butter or passing the salt. He appeared calm and relaxed, but she could sense a suppressed emotion in him; doubtless he wanted to have the interview with his father for which he had been bracing himself and this mannered inaction was chafing his nerves as the shackles had chafed his wrists.
Finally the Duke sat back and regarded his family ranged on either side of him. ‘Nicholas, I would speak with you. Robert, perhaps Katherine would care to be shown around the house.’ It was an order, not a suggestion, and Katherine smiled politely.
‘Thank you, your Grace. That would be delightful if Lord Robert can spare the time.’
They all rose and Katherine found Nick at her elbow. He kept his face straight, but the message his eyes sent her was warmly reassuring. However, all he said was, ‘Do not let Robert bore you with every picture in the Long Gallery.’ He bent and kissed her cheek fleetingly and stood aside for her to precede the men from the room.
Nick found himself watching her straight back as she walked away with his brother. Elegance, pride, dignity—he found himself smiling just to watch her.
‘A charming young lady, and one who is disguising with great courage the fact that this household is entirely beyond anything she has experienced before,’ his father remarked drily. ‘Perhaps you can explain to me why you are so intent upon an annulment.’ He strolled towards his study without a backwards glance.
Nick unclenched his teeth, told himself firmly that this was only to be expected and followed.
‘So,’ the Duke continued, ‘I deduce that you did not marry your Clarissa—or was it Annabelle? The objects of your youthful affections are somewhat blurred in my mind after all this time.’ He tugged a cuff slightly. ‘The penalty of old age, no doubt.’
‘I believe you require little reassurance on your memory, Father. You are correct, there were enough young women for you to have easily forgotten Arabella. And, no, I did not marry her; despite the aspersions you cast upon her breeding and upbringing, she was shocked at my suggestion we should elope and for all I know has now married some worthy gentleman.’
‘But you took me at my word and left?’
‘Yes, sir. I understood it to be a command.’ He was damned if he was going to explain now how Arabella’s refusal to give up everything for him had hurt. He had been prepared to estrange himself from his family for her; now he could hardly conjure up the memory of her face. But at the time, to return home a rejected suitor was too hard for youthful pride to swallow.
‘Most dutiful.’ The sceptical expression on his father’s face showed that he had read the situation aright at the time and his next words confirmed it. ‘I expected you to return after a week or two.’
Nick did not rise to the implied question and to his surprise the older man continued. ‘I confess to being less than pleased with the news that my son and heir was keeping himself in London as a Captain Sharp.’
‘I never fuzzed the cards,’ Nick said flatly. ‘I did not need to—you taught me too well.’
‘Gratifying that something I endeavoured to educate you in remained with you. And after two years you disappeared. Why?’
Nick shrugged. ‘I was bored. I moved around the country for eighteen months, then I joined the army on a whim and found I liked it.’
‘Which regiment? Why did I not hear of this?’ The old man stared at him from under levelled brows. ‘What rank?’
‘Private,’ Nick replied, expecting an outburst.
‘A private? My God—’ the Duke threw back his head and gave a bark of laughter ‘—someone to teach you discipline at last.’
‘It certainly taught me self-control,’ Nick agreed pleasantly. The old devil, outflanking him as he so often did in the past!
‘And between that and your career as a highwayman?’
‘Nothing, sir. I was discharged after Waterloo.’ He saw the flash of some emotion in his father’s eyes and pressed on. ‘I returned to England and was on the road to London when I found myself in a country inn. I was drugged and, when I woke, found myself in the guise of the infamous local highwayman Black Jack Standon. I could not prove who I was, so I ended up in Newgate awaiting my execution.’
‘Why did you not send to me?’
‘I really am not sure.’ Nick thought back to those confusing first days after his capture. ‘Too proud, perhaps—and uncertain whether you would acknowledge me. Soon it was too late in any case.’
‘Not acknowledge you!’ The old man was on his feet, his face thunderous. Nick sprang to his and they confronted each other for a long moment before the Duke dropped heavily back into his chair. ‘Damn it, you are my heir, Nicholas.’
‘Robert would make a better one.’
‘He is a good man, too good in many ways—but you are the elder and, whatever your sins, I will do everything in my power to see you step into my shoes when the time comes.’
There seemed to be no answer to that, or at least none that did not carry the risk of giving his father an apoplexy.
‘So how did Katherine come to rescue you from the gallows?’ the Duke enquired finally.
‘Her brother, a spineless young pup, managed to gamble away the family assets, then tricked her into signing the papers for a loan. She found herself confronted with pressing creditors and her lawyer and brother persuaded her that marriage to a condemned man was her only escape from debtors’ prison.’
‘And she agreed? I find that hard to believe.’
‘Very reluctantly, that was obvious. And when I consider how I appeared when she saw me, I can only be astounded that her resolution held. Once she had heard my story, she made up her mind that I must be cleared and set about it. The entire story still makes my blood run cold, but to summarise, she sold the last thing of value she possessed, bearded the real highwayman in his den, convinced him to meet the magistrate in the case, persuaded the magistrate of my innocence and dragged him to London where they arrived, despite a carriage accident on the way, in time literally to cut me down from the gallows.’
‘A remarkable and courageous young lady,’ the Duke remarked. ‘I confess I am not quite clear why you wish to end your marriage to this paragon.’
‘I do not.’ Nick got to his feet and walked across to look out of the window on to the wide and somewhat old-fashioned parterre that the Duke insisted on preserving, despite the best endeavours of his landscape gardener. In the distance he could see Robert, who had Kat’s hand tucked into his elbow and was pointing out something in the view to her. She turned and laughed up into his face and Nick felt a sudden pang inside; she would not be amused when he was finally alone with her, he was quite convinced.
‘I owe her my life. I am honour bound to marry her. I am aware she has not a great name and brings nothing but a debt with her, but …’
‘But I entirely agree with you. The family can cope without the necessity for you to marry an heiress and the girl is obviously of respectable birth. The problem appears to lie in her quite understandable reluctance to marry you, a sentiment with which I can heartily sympathise. You are staring at me, Nicholas—do try for a little more decorum. Now I suggest you go and find her or you may discover that your brother has cut you out.’
Nicholas shut his mouth with a snap. ‘I believe that would be within the prohibited degrees of marriage, sir.’
‘Surely not, if your marriage is annulled?’ his father said gently. ‘Oh, and, Nicholas, if you intend to stay, I trust you intend to work. Witherspoon will be delighted to take you under his wing. He is always politely intimating that he wishes I would concern myself more about the estate.’
Nicholas bowed his head respectfully, managed a smile with tight lips and retreated. ‘Rolled up—cannon, cavalry and infantry too, the old devil.’ He laughed suddenly, unaware that the two footmen in the hall started nervously, believing the old Duke was about to appear. He let himself out on to the terrace and scanned the gardens for Kat and Robert. ‘Made me feel seventeen, never mind the twenty-two I was when I last saw him, damn him.’
He grinned. He had been braced for a rare scene; what he had experienced was his father’s remarkable ability to catch one wrong footed whatever the circumstances. But he liked Kat, that was a relief. Nicholas realised that a good part of his apprehension had been the expectation of having to protect Kat from his father’s opposition to the marriage.
He rounded the corner of the house into the rose garden, the grin still on his lips as he remembered his father’s neat attempt to make him jealous of Robert. Robert, for goodness’ sake! There they were, sitting in the far arbour, Kat with her hands in Robert’s, the pair of them gazing deep into each other’s eyes.
With a muffled oath Nick strode across the lawn.
Chapter Fourteen
‘I think you would make an excellent clergyman,’ Katherine said firmly, catching Robert’s hands in an effort to convince him of her sincerity. ‘Surely your father can have no objection now that he knows Nicholas is safe?’
Her brother-in-law returned the comforting pressure of her hands with an answering squeeze. ‘I suppose so. It is cowardly of me, I confess, but I have suppressed the very idea for so long that it is hard to talk of it now, let alone believe it would be possible.’
‘It is not so hard—you are telling me,’ Katherine said encouragingly.
‘And I hardly know you. I should be showing you around the house, not pouring my troubles out into your ears.’
‘Well, I am scared of the house and quite comfortable with you, so I would much rather hear about your ambitions. I have heard of many members of the nobility in the church. You will become an archbishop—I can tell you are destined for great things.’
‘And I can tell you are a darling,’ Robert said warmly, planting a kiss on her cheek.
Katherine laughed, quite at ease with him. ‘Thank you, but you flatter me. Oh, look, here is Nick.’
He must have had a difficult interview with his father, she realised, seeing the black fire flickering dangerously in his eyes. ‘Nick! I was a complete ninny and had to confess to being totally confused by the house within minutes, so Lord Robert brought me out here to enjoy the gardens.’
‘So that is what he is doing, is it?’ She saw Nick glance at his brother and felt a sudden qualm. Surely he did not think …?
It appeared that Robert also recognised danger when he saw it. ‘I was confessing my secret ambitions to Katherine and she has taken it upon herself to encourage me.’
One dark brow rose and Robert added hastily, ‘I wish to enter the church.’
‘Good God!’
‘Do not blaspheme, Nicholas,’ Katherine said sternly. ‘Your brother is perfectly serious. I am sure he would make an excellent clergyman. Now you are home safe, should he not speak to your father as soon as possible?’
The darkness had left Nick’s eyes as he regarded his brother with affectionate amusement. ‘Father should jump at the chance of elevating the moral tone of this family.’ Katherine sent him a reproving look and he added with the seriousness that always made her suspect he was teasing her, ‘However, he may not want you committed to this course of action until he sees me married and setting up my nursery.’
‘You are married,’ Robert pointed out.
‘And I have made it quite clear that is a temporary state of affairs!’ Katherine interjected hastily. Nick was teasing, the wretch. Katherine schooled her face and added, ‘But I am sure we can have everything tidied up before next Season and you can find yourself an eminently suitable bride.’ She turned to Robert. ‘I still think you should speak to his Grace sooner rather than later.’
‘Did I mention that I have an exceedingly managing wife?’ Nick enquired.
‘Er, no.’ Robert was watching her face with some amusement and Katherine suspected that she was betraying rather more of her emotions than she was prepared to. She stood up and brushed down her skirt.
‘Delightful as the garden is, I think I should not disregard his Grace’s wishes and should resume my tour of the house.’ She looked expectantly at Nick. The Long Gallery sounded an admirable place to have a private discussion and she very much wanted to speak to him alone.
‘I am so sorry, Kat,’ he replied with a charming smile. ‘But Father has asked that I speak to Witherspoon, our estate manager. I received a clear hint that I am expected to apply myself to learning all those things which I shirked in the past. I am sure Robert can continue to escort you—after all, I hardly feel it would be tactful to deliver a second shock to Father in one day.’
‘Grr.’ Katherine watched his retreating back, wishing that her attention was not drawn quite so forcibly to the breadth of his shoulders or the easy length of his stride.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Robert was also watching his brother. ‘Did you speak? I was just thinking that Nick really must get to a tailor before he goes out into society; we are much of a height, but he is definitely wider in the shoulders than I. It will have to be Newcastle, I suppose. I wonder why he did not stop to order some clothes while he was in town.’
‘Because he had no money and I had hardly any and we were outrunning the bailiffs.’ Katherine began to stroll with him across the grass back to the house. If she only looked at one wing at a time it was not too bad, it was when she looked at the entire extent of the place that she began to feel as though she had strayed into a fairy tale. ‘How much interest do moneylenders charge?’
‘I have no idea.’ Robert looked startled. ‘An extortionate amount, I imagine. But you do not have to worry about that, Nick will pay off the debt. Here, we can go in through this door.’
‘That would stop the interest, of course, but I am sure he will not let me repay him.’ Katherine allowed herself to be guided up a narrow staircase.
‘Why repay it at all? From what I understand, it is your brother’s debt.’
‘I know, but I signed the papers, so it is my responsibility. It will be a lesson to me to read everything first,’ she added ruefully as they stepped out through a jib door into what must be the Long Gallery.
One wall appeared almost to be made of glass divided by slender mullions. The other wall was covered with crimson damask and on it were hung what seemed like hundreds of paintings, nearly all portraits.
‘Behold the family, rogues most of them.’ Robert waved a hand at the rows of gilded frames. ‘You will observe the Nose, and in a few unfortunate individuals, the Chin. Now this one is—What is it, Jenkins?’
The footman bowed. ‘My lord, I am sorry to disturb you, but Durren sent up from the stables to say the farrier is here and he was worried about the shoeing of his Grace’s bay hunter. I cannot find his Grace to ask.’
‘I had better have a word with the man myself. Tell Durren I will be down directly and the farrier is to do nothing until I get there. Katherine, will you excuse me for a little while? The bell pull is over there if you need anything.’ He grinned ruefully, suddenly so like his brother that Katherine’s heart flipped. ‘It is more than our lives are worth to risk anything going wrong with that animal.’
‘Of course, please go. I shall enjoy just strolling here.’ Katherine began to pace slowly down the room, standing back to admire some large groups and full-length portraits of former dukes in ermine-trimmed robes, coming in close to peer at tiny dark paintings, which seemed to her untutored eye to be Jacobean or Tudor.
Nick was unmistakeably a Lydgate; his face looked back at her from countless paintings: dark eyes, straight nose, sensual mouth. Some depictions gave their sitters a familiar haughty look, a few had the spark of mischief she had come to watch for. All had the expression of proud intelligence that she had come to expect of him. One or two had the chin Robert had referred to, not such a handicap for the men, but a definite disadvantage to the ladies on whom a square, determined jaw did not sit prettily. I hope our daughters escape that, she thought, then caught herself with a horrified little gasp. What am I thinking of? Fantasising, that’s what you are doing, you foolish creature. Loving him is no excuse.
Shaken, Katherine continued her examination of the pictures, ignoring her aching neck as she tipped her head back to take them all in. The discomfort was a penance for such undisciplined daydreaming. Suddenly she came upon a group of relatively recent paintings, judging by the hair and clothes. That must surely be the present Duke with a small, fair lady in clothes perhaps half a century out of date. His first wife? Yes, it must be, for here he was again standing behind a different, seated, lady with a baby on her lap and a small boy by her knee.
The child must be Nick. Smiling, she stepped closer to study it.
‘A pretty group, that,’ a voice said dispassionately behind her. She jumped. ‘I am sorry, my dear, I had no intention of startling you.’
Katherine turned hastily. ‘Your Grace. I was quite absorbed by the portraits.’
‘Have both my sons abandoned you?’
‘Nicholas is with your estate manager. Lord Robert left a few minutes ago because of an urgent message from the stables. Something about the farrier and your bay hunter, your Grace.’
‘Indeed? In my young day it would take rather more than a horse to distract me from a charming young lady.’
Katherine’s lips twitched. She was beginning to take the measure of the formidable old man. ‘I believe it was the thought of your displeasure rather than the needs of the horse that animated Lord Robert.’
‘That is as it should be,’ the Duke remarked gravely. ‘I see it falls to me to exhibit the rest of the collection, unless you are bored with an unending succession of Lydgates?’
‘No, your Grace. I find it fascinating.’
‘Then let us see if we can find any other depictions of your husband. Ah, yes, rather over-dramatic, perhaps.’
He had stopped in front of a full-length study of a rearing horse against a stormy sky. Holding its reins, his attention fixed on the animal as it fought for its freedom, was a young man, hardly more than a youth. ‘Two wild animals,’ Katherine said without thinking.
‘And each as stubborn as the other,’ the Duke agreed. ‘Nicholas’s temper was as free as that stallion’s in those days. He appears to have governed it now.’ It was a question.
‘I would say he has quite remarkable self-control,’ Katherine said as judiciously as she could. ‘And remarkable courage. To see him in prison, bearing those dreadful conditions and the certainty of death with such dignity and even humour—that was very impressive.’
The old man said nothing, but Katherine sensed his pleasure. He was not going to admit to his pride in his son, had still not forgiven him, but that pride ran deep and to hear it justified could only gratify him.
All he said was, ‘Nicholas has told me nothing about the conditions in the prison except that he was amazed that, having seen him, you still consented to marry him.’
Katherine chuckled. ‘Well, your Grace, I was desperate. He was filthy, bearded, his hair in rats’ tails and as for the prison smell … But there was something, I am not sure what, something in his eyes that made me feel safe. And his wrists were raw under the shackles.’ She broke off, suddenly finding herself emotional and appalled to be revealing so much of her feelings. She swallowed and said lightly, ‘I sent him soap.’
The Duke laughed, apparently genuinely amused. ‘An admirably practical thing to do. Now, come and see this glass case in the window. There is an excellent series of miniatures that you may like.’
Katherine allowed herself to be drawn into the deep bay formed by an oriole window and they bent over a glass-topped table that contained a dozen or so exquisite miniatures. As she was studying them, there was the sound of doors opening and voices from either end of the Long Gallery.
‘Robert! Where’s Katherine?’
‘I left her here. I had to go down to the stables.’
‘For goodness’ sake, if she has wandered off she will be lost in this maze of a house—we’ll have to turn all the footmen out to look for her.’
The voices were coming closer as the brothers converged on the centre of the Gallery. ‘I am sure if she is lost she will simply ring the nearest bell,’ Robert said placatingly.
‘Fortunately Katherine has not been put to that expedient,’ the Duke remarked drily, emerging from the embrasure, his hand firmly under Katherine’s elbow. ‘Come along, my dear, I will show you the way back to the main hall so you can get your bearings.’ A clock struck and he added, ‘Doubtless your woman will be waiting to help you change for dinner.’ He regarded his two sons as he passed. ‘We have been having a comfortable cose,’ he remarked blandly. ‘Such a pleasure for an old man.’
He shut the door behind them and caught Katherine’s eye. ‘You wish to say something, my dear?’
‘Only that I think neither of your sons regards you as “old,” your Grace.’ She saw the glint in his eye and added daringly, ‘I think you enjoy teasing them.’
‘It is a relief to have two of them to tease,’ he said. ‘Not that you will repeat that to them, I trust.’
‘No, of course not,’ she assured him as they parted company at the foot of the main stairs.
What was it that Nick had said so lightly when she had asked him why he wanted a month to elapse before the marriage was annulled? To allow the charms of my family to grow upon you, perhaps. She had liked Robert on sight, now she found herself unexpectedly liking the formidable Duke himself.