“Lady Lavina, I am sorry to hear of your predicament, but I really don’t know what I can do. What you suggest is quite impossible. Nobody would believe it. It’s common knowledge that I don’t live in society, so where could we have met?”
“Surely that is no real problem, sir? It’s true that you are seldom seen in society, but you go into it sometimes. Lord and Lady Bracewell, for instance, are friends of ours, and I believe you are acquainted with them.”
Now he would ask her how she knew and she would remind him that he had been in the Bracewells’ London house three years ago. And he would recognise her.
But he only shrugged.
“I have not seen the Bracewells for some time. We could hardly have met there.”
“Not recently, but – ”
“If not recently, when? Just how long ago are we supposed to have met? And how did we renew our acquaintance? Or have we both been secretly pining for years?”
His cool, bored tone made Lavina grind her nails into her palm. She fought hard to keep her temper, but it was slipping away from her.
“As a matter of fact we have encountered each other at the Bracewells – ”
His brow furrowed.
“Have we? Surely not?”
Only the recollection that she was a lady prevented Lavina from slapping him.
“Please don’t waste time trying to remember me, Lord Elswick,” she said with spirit. “I assure you I haven’t wasted the ghost of a thought on you, and I most certainly haven’t been pining for you.”
“I’m relieved to hear it, ma’am. Now we can have nothing further to say to each other.”
He turned his back on her, walked across the room and stood with his back to his visitors, looking out of the window into the garden.
Everything about him was redolent of finality.
It was over.
Her future was unimaginably horrible.
CHAPTER THREE
She had thrown away her chance, Lavina realised, if, indeed, there had ever been a chance.
If only she could have contained her temper and not flared up at Lord Elswick. But how could any woman contain her temper with this insufferable man?
She moved towards her father and sat down beside him on the sofa. He put his arm round her and she leant against his shoulder.
“That was very brave of you, my darling.” the Earl said in such a low voice that only she could hear.
“I cannot do it, Papa,” Lavina replied. “I cannot marry the Prince. But it’s no use hoping that this man will help us. We had better go, and try to think of something else.”
They rose, and the Earl spoke with dignity.
“I am sorry to have troubled you, sir, and will do so no longer. I must try to find another answer to the problem. I don’t know what it can be, but I will never allow my daughter to go to Kadradtz and marry that monster.”
The Marquis swung round.
“What did you say?” he asked quietly.
“I said I will never allow – ”
“You mentioned Kadradtz.”
“Yes. It is Prince Stanislaus of Kadradtz she would have to marry, a man of whom I have heard many vile things.”
The Marquis nodded.
“All of them true. He is notorious.”
“Then you understand my determination to protect my daughter?”
“Only too well,” the Marquis agreed. “You are quite right.”
Then he began to walk towards them from the far end of the room. He stopped just far away for him to survey them, saying in a harsh voice,
“You have certainly brought me a terrible problem. I don’t like telling lies or assuming a false position.”
“You have made that very plain,” Lavina said coolly, “and I am only sorry that we have imposed on you. We will leave at once.”
“Sit down, young woman,” the Marquis said harshly. “Allow me to finish speaking. As I say, I object to pretence, but I object even more to this way of bundling a helpless young woman off abroad as though she were no more than a pawn.”
He paused a moment before saying,
“I am prepared to enter this false engagement if it is the only way I can help you.”
“But – ” Lavina stammered, not certain that she had heard correctly, “you just said that you would not help us.”
“Never mind what I said then. Listen to what I’m saying now. I am prepared to do as you wish.”
For a moment both the Earl and Lavina were silent in astonishment.
Then the Earl said in a voice which sounded strange,
“If you mean that, I can only say ‘thank you’ from the very depths of my heart.”
There were tears in Lavina’s eyes. As she spoke, two of them ran down her cheeks.
“Thank you – thank you!” she murmured. “I have been so frightened – you are kindness itself and I am so very, very grateful.”
“That’s enough of that,” the Marquis said brusquely. “I don’t want thanks, and I’m not kindness itself. I never do anything that doesn’t suit me, as you will soon understand. And please don’t bore me with the waterworks. I can’t stand weeping and wailing females.”
“I do not weep and wail,” Lavina flashed. “I was trying to be pleasant to you, to express my gratitude for – ”
“Very well, there’s no need to say any more,” he said impatiently. “Kindly keep your emotions for some time when I am not present.”
Lavina gave him a furious glance, but, reading only indifference in his face, bit back her words and seethed in silence.
If anybody had told her that it was possible to be so furiously angry with a man who was doing her a favour, she would not have believed it.
“Lord Ringwood,” the Marquis continued, “you may inform Her Majesty that your daughter is engaged to me. I give you leave to say all the right things and contact all the right people, but understand that I want no part of it.”
“Of course,” the Earl said eagerly. “I’ll do everything.”
“I suppose there’ll have to be a devil of a fuss,” said the Marquis, sounding bored. “It can’t be helped. You’d better come and stay here for a while.”
The grating sound of his voice robbed the invitation of all semblance of generosity, and prompted the Earl to say,
“That’s very kind of you, but we don’t wish to inconvenience you.”
“Inconvenience me?” echoed the Marquis, as though he could not believe his ears. “Of course it inconveniences me. But I’ve given my word, and when I say I’ll do a thing, then I do it properly. Rooms will be prepared for you, and I will expect you tonight.”
He turned a hard look on Lavina.
“You will not, under any circumstances, marry Prince Stanislaus, because I will take whatever steps are necessary to thwart him. You have my word on that.”
“I – thank you,” she stammered. There was something in his look that almost frightened her.
“Do you understand?” he repeated. “I will do anything that is necessary. Anything.”
For a moment Lavina was too taken aback to speak, Lord Elswick’s manner was so strange. It was as though he were looking through her towards a far horizon, where he could see something that he wanted, and which had nothing to do with her.
To her relief he resumed speaking in a more normal voice.
“We must go about this properly, and be prepared for any eventuality. The Queen will be annoyed, no question about that. She will also, probably, be suspicious.”
“Yes, I’m afraid she will,” the Earl agreed with a sigh.
“She’ll set people to watch us, and report back to her how we behave. If you come and stay here it will look more convincing. Have you heard from her yet?”
He shot this question out suddenly at the Earl.
“She’s had no chance to reach me,” he replied. “I left London too quickly.”
“If she doesn’t find you at home in London she will send her messenger to Ringwood Place. She ha
d better not find you there either.
“In fact it’s best if a notice appears in The Times as soon as possible. We can do that by telegram.”
“I’ve never sent a telegram before,” said the Earl, who was nervous of new-fangled inventions.
“I send them sometimes, or rather, my secretary does it for me. The local newspaper office has a cable facility by which they transmit news to London, so we’ll use them.”
He sat down at his desk and began to write the announcement. The Earl passed the time by looking around some of the books. He was not an imaginative man, and he had completely missed the currents of emotion and agitation that had swirled between Lavina and the Marquis.
Lord Elswick took advantage of the Earl’s absorption to indicate for Lavina to sit beside him so that he could talk to her in a low voice.
“It is as well that you understand me,” he said quietly. “In a moment my secretary will arrive, and I will give him the announcement. Once that has been sent off, the die is cast. Do you realise what that means?”
“Of course,” Lavina said.
“I’m not sure that you do. It means that I will not be made a fool of. When our engagement is announced it will last until I say otherwise. I and I alone will decide when and how it is terminated. Is that quite clear?”
Lavina did not answer. She was outraged at this manner of talking to her and longed to put this arrogant man in his place. But she did not dare. She needed his help too badly.
After a few moments of silence he looked up and saw her face, full of outrage.
“Be as angry at me as you like,” he said coolly. “I care nothing for that, so don’t bother to tell me about it. I am not fooling, madam. If you want my help you will do as I say, in every particular. Swear to that now or so help me, I’ll turn you out to meet your fate.”
“I have no choice,” she said in a voice of deep mortification.
“On the contrary, you do have a choice. You can tell me to go to the devil.”
“And marry Prince Stanislaus?” she asked bitterly. “I would rather die.”
The Marquis shrugged.
“Oh, I don’t think so. One says these things, but one doesn’t die you know. Life goes on, somehow. Are you going to give me the promise I want, or shall I tear up this announcement?”
“I promise,” she said in a low voice.
“Good, then we understand each other. You will find me a most attentive and devoted fiancé, and I expect the same from you. That will be necessary if we are to carry this off.”
Without waiting for her to answer he held up the paper on which he had been writing and said,
“There, I think that will do.”
He rang a bell and after a moment a young man with an austere manner entered the room.
“Hunsbury, I want you to send a telegram immediately,” said the Marquis. “The engagement is announced between Lady Lavina Ringwood, daughter of Lord Ringwood, and Ivan, Marquis of Elswick.
“The bride and her father are currently paying a visit to Lord Elswick’s estate in Oxfordshire.”
Hunsbury was too well trained to allow his astonishment to appear by more than the very slightest hesitation in his manner. He took the slip of paper the Marquis held out to him, glanced at the words and hurried out of the room.
“Now he’ll tell everyone, and it will be in The Times tomorrow morning,” the Marquis said. “The Queen will read it over her breakfast, and that may save you a deal of trouble.”
“It would be a great relief,” said the Earl.
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t occur to Her Majesty to contact you by telegram.”
“She hates the things,” observed the Earl.
“Good. Go home now, get what you need, bring whatever servants you consider necessary, and arrive back here as quickly as you can.”
“Then I shall bring my maid and my dresser,” Lavina told him defiantly. She was resolved that this man, who disliked having women in his house, should never be able to say that she had not been honest with him.
“Whatever you please,” he replied, sounding uninterested.
“I mention it,” she said firmly, “because you are reputed to have no women in the house, even servants.”
His head jerked round to look at her suddenly, and his eyes bore a look of cold malevolence that almost made her flinch. Then it was gone.
“You are mistaken, madam,” he said distantly. “I have very few women here because it is a bachelor residence, and the house is run by a butler, rather than a housekeeper. But there are several female maids doing the cleaning.”
“The menial tasks, in fact?” she said.
She knew she was unwise to be going out of her way to provoke him, but, despite the fact that he was to be her saviour, he annoyed her more than any man she had ever met.
He regarded her, baffled.
“Do not maids dust and clean in your own establishments?” he asked.
“Well, yes, but – ”
“Then I am at a loss to understand what point you are making.”
“It isn’t important,” she said, chagrined.
“I am not quite the ogre that legend appears to paint me, and you are welcome to bring any female servants that you wish. Just tell them to stay out of my way.
“Hurry now, so that you can return to your home and leave it quickly. And make sure you tell everyone in your household before you leave, that’s the best way to spread news.”
There was a touch of bitterness in his voice as he added,
“Servants love nothing better than to gossip about their masters.”
“We’ll go at once,” agreed the Earl.
Lavina took a step forward. Her anger had faded. Now all she could think of was that he was saving her from a terrible fate, and she spoke earnestly.
“Thank you! You have helped my father and saved me. We are both very, very grateful to you.”
The Marquis did not look at her as she was speaking.
But as she finished he rang the bell which was at the side of the fireplace. The butler appeared so quickly that he must have been just outside the door, and it was clear, from his face, that he had already heard the news.
“My guests are leaving,” said the Marquis, apparently unaware that his butler’s eyes were popping. “Show them to their carriage”.
“Very good, M’Lord,” the butler said, holding open the door.
Lavina held out her hand to the Marquis, but he did not take it. In fact, he put both hands at his sides and bowed from the waist.
Lavina was astonished to realise that he would not touch her.
Then, as if she understood, she dropped her hand and said,
“Thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
She turned away to her father, and they walked from the room together. She did not look back, and so she did not see Lord Elswick watching her with a strange expression on his face.
Only when they were in the corridor did Lavina realise that the Marquis had not followed them, as courtesy indicated, and as a man would normally do for his fiancée.
So much for being an attentive fiancé, she thought.
Or perhaps this was how he thought attentive fiancés behaved!
The news had spread through the house like wildfire. As they walked through the corridors towards the front door Lavina realised that they were being watched by a hundred eyes.
Servants looked out to catch a glimpse of the woman who had apparently achieved the impossible. If she looked at them they vanished, only to reappear the moment she had passed.
But in the hall they were lining the stairs, frankly staring. And just before she climbed into her carriage she glanced back to see the windows crowded with faces.
As they went down the drive, Lavina turned towards her father and clasped his hand between her own.
“We have won, we have won!” she said.
“I hope so and believe so,” the Earl replied. “At the same time, my darling, you ma
y find that strange young man somewhat difficult.”
“It does not matter,” Lavina answered. “I can put up with him, because I know that in the end I will escape him. After all, the worst I know of him is that he is very rude. And the best I know of him is that he is putting himself out to help me.”
“He certainly seems to be exerting himself to do everything thoroughly,” the Earl agreed. “His idea about the telegram was excellent. And after he had refused us so definitely, too.”
“Yes, it was strange how he changed his mind so suddenly,” Lavina mused. “In fact, I can’t help the feeling that he’s doing this for his own reasons, and not for us at all.”
“Yes, I too received that impression,” agreed her father. “But how it could matter to him I can’t imagine.”
Then, because he had a romantic heart, he added,
“I remember it happened when he turned round. I wonder if he saw you in a better light, realised how beautiful you are, and fell instantly in love with you.”
“Papa!” she exclaimed scornfully.
“All right, my dear, it was just one of my fancies, you know.”
“It’s an appalling idea. Rude, arrogant, insufferable, bigoted – ”
“If this is how you talk about the man who’s doing you such a huge favour, I dread to think what you’d say about an enemy,” her father observed mildly.
It flashed through her mind that, in his own way, the Marquis was an enemy, but she did not trouble her father with the thought. He would not have understood.
Instead, she replied,
“That’s quite a different thing. He’s the last man in the world I’d want to have in love with me. Why, he’d be almost as bad as Prince Stanislaus.”
Her father patted her hand.
“If you say so, my dear.”
*
As soon as they reached Ringwood Place both Lavina and her father realised that something had happened. The butler, who admitted them, was in a state of agitation.
“The Queen’s messenger called while you were away, My Lord,” he said, holding himself very upright, as befitted a man who spoke of the Queen.
“Oh heavens!” Lavina exclaimed. “Already. I thought we would have a little more time.”
For a horrible moment she could see all their gains slipping away.
An Introduction to the Pink Collection Page 17
