The Husband Hunters

by Barbara Cartland

  The first morning they had left Broxbourne House immediately after breakfast and, taking the Duke’s carriage to Bond Street, they went first to the shop of Madame Bertin, who Lady Evelyn informed Andrina, was the smartest dressmaker in London.

  Madame Bertin, after taking one look at the gown Andrina was wearing, was at first somewhat supercilious until she learnt who Lady Evelyn was and understood that she was to dress three young ladies who were the Wards of His Grace, the Duke of Broxbourne.

  From that moment she was all ingratiating smiles and brought from the workroom unfinished gowns that had in fact been ordered by other clients promising that some of them would be completed by the following day, if they were definitely ordered.

  Andrina was so bewildered at the beauty and the smartness of the garments, each of which seemed more alluring than the last, that she would have accepted anything that Madame Bertin suggested.

  But Lady Evelyn was far more choosy and Andrina was very grateful to her for her discrimination and good taste.

  Fortunately she knew the exact measurements of both Cheryl and Sharon, having made gowns for them for the last five years.

  “As debutantes they must wear white,” Lady Evelyn said firmly.

  “Cheryl looks lovely in white,” Andrina said, “but Sharon is dark with a magnolia skin and looks her best in colours.”

  “No debutante should wear anything but white,” Lady Evelyn insisted.

  But the problem was solved by Madame Bertin, who suggested that one of Sharon’s evening gowns should be of silver net over white. While on another gown there was lace heavily embroidered with gold, which encircled the décolletage and made three frills round the hem of the skirt.

  It was difficult to imagine that any gowns could be so light, so ethereal and indeed so transparent, Andrina thought.

  Gossamer net, gauzes, tulles, jaconet muslins and sarsenets were all utilised and, whether they were embroidered, embellished or run through with strands of silver and gold, they still revealed every curve and contour of the wearer’s body.

  Sharon had indeed been right in what she had said about the ‘clothes offering glimpses of breasts and legs to ardent young men!’

  But Andrina was prepared to trust Lady Evelyn and actually when the gowns were on they were not as provocative as they had appeared in the hand.

  By the time they returned to Broxbourne House for luncheon it seemed to Andrina that they had bought mountains of clothes and she could not help wondering a little apprehensively if they had spent too much of their precious five hundred pounds that she hoped the Duke would obtain from the sale of her mother’s necklace.

  But Lady Evelyn had not finished.

  There were bonnets, shoes, stockings, nightgowns, gloves, sunshades and a dozen other articles to be bought during the afternoon. Handbags or reticules were now in vogue because in the clinging muslins pockets could no longer be hidden.

  Andrina let herself be swept along on the tide without protest.

  It was only when they were back again at Broxbourne House and Lady Evelyn had gone upstairs to lie down that she thought she had better speak to the Duke and find out if in fact they had overspent.

  She followed Lady Evelyn upstairs to the bedrooms, but instead of resting, as her Ladyship had suggested, she went down again to ask the butler if the Duke was in the house.

  “He is in the library, miss.”

  “Then would you ask His Grace if I may speak to him?” Andrina enquired.

  “I will announce you, miss. His Grace is alone.”

  Andrina followed him to the room where the previous day she had found the Duke when she had expected to meet his father.

  She was conscious that she now looked very different from the girl who had arrived wearing a gown she had altered herself and which she now knew was in Madame Bertin’s eyes only fit for the bonfire.

  Because she was so slim, she had been able to fit into one of Madame Bertin’s models that she kept to show her clients.

  Of hyacinth-blue it was cut in the new line with a very high waist, small puffed sleeves and yet much more ornamented than the gowns had been during the War when trimmings that must come from Lyons and other parts of France were impossible to obtain.

  Lady Evelyn had already instructed the maid who looked after Andrina to arrange her hair in a different style and she was conscious that she looked her best.

  It gave her some confidence as the butler opened the library door and announced as he had done before,

  “Miss Maldon, Your Grace!”

  The Duke was sitting in an armchair reading The Times.

  He looked up as Andrina entered and she thought that he deliberately stared at her for a few seconds before he rose to his feet.

  She reached his side trying to walk proudly, holding her chin high, conscious of the effect he invariably had of making her feel shy and overwhelmed by his commanding and assertive manner.

  “You wish to see me?” he asked, his eyes on her face.

  “I know that Your Grace has no desire – to be worried by details,” Andrina said a little breathlessly, “but I thought I ought to tell you that her Ladyship and I – have spent a great deal of money today. I am sure that it will not come to more than you will obtain for the necklace. At the same time there will be other expenses – and I would not wish to be in Your Grace’s debt.”

  “That would worry you?” the Duke asked.

  “As I have already said,” Andrina replied with dignity, “we must not be a burden on you financially and you must tell me when I can spend no more.”

  The Duke did not speak and after a moment she said,

  “I do not know quite what to say to Lady Evelyn about her own gowns. She informed the dressmaker and the other shops that all the bills were to be sent to you. But I will pay for Lady Evelyn’s purchases as well as for our own.”

  “Is not that rather profligate?” the Duke enquired in a tone that made her think that he was sneering at her. “Even five hundred pounds, if that is what your necklace fetches, will not last for ever!”

  “It should last for two months,” Andrina said, “and, of course, we would wish to pay for the ball, the champagne and the band.”

  “I think I should make this clear,” the Duke answered. “Whatever hospitality I offer my guests in my own house is my own responsibility.”

  “If it were not for us, you would not have had to entertain them at all,” Andrina argued.

  “I am not in the habit of accepting money from women.”

  “There is no need to talk like that,” Andrina said sharply. “You make it sound as if I should not have suggested it, but you know as well as I do that you did not wish us to come here. I should not want to feel that we are battening on your good nature and certainly not financially!”

  “If you don’t like the way I run things in my house,” the Duke replied, “the alternative is very obvious.”

  He is being deliberately aggressive, Andrina thought.

  “I cannot understand why you will not see sense,” she protested. “I forced myself and my sisters upon you – I admit that – but we do not wish to be the kind of impecunious relations who are out to get everything they can. I realise they exist in every family, but I see no reason why we should put ourselves in that position unnecessarily.”

  “You got your own way in one regard,” the Duke replied, “but I am damned if I am going to be bullied in any other. I make my arrangements as they suit me and all you have to do is accede to them!”

  He spoke sharply and Andrina felt herself flush, not with embarrassment but with anger.

  “Very well, Your Grace,” she said, “and of course I am – humbly and servilely grateful!”

  She spoke ironically, curtseyed and went from the room, afraid that she might say something that she would later regret.

  ‘Why must he be so pig-headed?’ she thought and then wondered if perhaps she was being absurd to split straws.

  He was doing so much for the
m already and it would not possibly matter to him who paid for the champagne and the band. He was rich enough not to notice it.

  At the same time Andrina felt almost as if she were sinking in shifting sand and sooner or later it would close over her head and suffocate her.

  *

  When Cheryl and Sharon arrived, it was Sharon who told Andrina that she was being absurd to worry about anything except the fact that they were in London and making their debut in the most auspicious circumstances.

  “The Ward of a Duke! A ball! Oh, Andrina, how did you manage it?” she asked and flung her arms round her older sister’s neck.

  “To tell you the truth,” Andrina answered. “I never thought he would agree. But, of course, we are paying for ourselves. 1 gave him Mama’s necklace and told him that it would cover our expenses. But he will not let me pay for the ball.”

  “Why should he?” Sharon asked. “After all, it is taking place in his house. It’s very kind of him to give it.”

  “I would feel much happier,” Andrina said, “if we were responsible for the champagne and the band, which naturally would mean that we would have fewer gowns.”

  “Don’t be so silly!” Sharon replied. “If we do get married, we shall want every penny that is left to buy our trousseaux. Have you thought of that?”

  “I suppose I have not really taken it into account,” Andrina admitted.

  “Well, for goodness sake, Andrina, let him give us anything he wishes,” Sharon begged. “I gather he has never done anything like this before.”

  “Who told you that?” Andrina asked.

  “Lady Davenport. She was absolutely astonished that we should be coming to London to stay at Broxbourne House. The Duke told her in his letter that Lady Evelyn was to be our chaperone, but she still seemed to think it reprehensible that we should be guests in the house of a bachelor.”

  “I don’t think it’s because he is a bachelor,” Andrina said, “but because he is a Duke and a very autocratic one!”

  It was Cheryl, who was always more sensitive to other people’s feelings than Sharon, who exclaimed,

  “You sound as if you don’t like him, Andrina.”

  “To be honest,” Andrina replied, “I think he is far too pleased with himself, besides being a tyrant and a despot!”

  She spoke so violently that both Cheryl and Sharon looked at her in consternation.

  “Why should you feel like that?” Sharon asked after a moment.

  Cheryl looked worried and took one of Andrina’s hands in hers.

  “If it upsets you, Andrina,” she said in her soft voice, “we can go back home and not worry about making our debut in London. Hugo said I would not like it here.”

  “Hugo is talking a lot of nonsense!” Andrina cried. “But the Duke is a difficult man and, of course, we have to be very careful not to upset him.”

  “It is very very kind of him to have us,” Cheryl said.

  “When are we going to meet him?” Sharon asked.

  As if her words were a cue, Andrina thought to herself, for the entrance of the Demon King, there was a knock at the door.

  They were all in Andrina’s room and three heads turned simultaneously.

  “Come in!” she called out.

  It was one of the maids bringing a message to say that the Duke wished to see the young ladies in the salon.

  Andrina gave a little exclamation.

  “Change! Change your clothes quickly!” she urged. “I do not wish him to see you in your travelling clothes, but in the new gowns I have bought for you.”

  She glanced at the clock.

  “We can keep him waiting for five minutes, but not a second longer!”

  The girls hurried to their bedrooms which adjoined Andrina’s.

  She followed Cheryl to help her into an afternoon gown made of white lace, slotted through with blue ribbon and with a sash of the same colour.

  She chose the blue that was the same colour as Cheryl’s eyes and, when she had quickly arranged her hair and added two bows to hold her curls in place, she looked so lovely that Andrina thought it would be impossible for any man to resist her.

  Sharon’s gown was also white, but cut in a more classical shape and trimmed with touches of leaf-green that made her skin seem more than ever like a magnolia.

  She looked exotic and very beautiful as five minutes later she followed Andrina and Cheryl downstairs and they entered the salon to find the Duke at the far end of it.

  They advanced towards him and all three girls curtseyed almost simultaneously.

  “Your Grace, may I present my sisters?” Andrina asked and she could not keep the triumph out of her voice.

  “This is Cheryl – and this is Sharon!”

  The sisters curtseyed again.

  Then Sharon said impulsively,

  “This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to us! And you look exactly as a Duke should look!”

  “And how is that?” the Duke asked.

  “Very grand and very impressive!” Sharon answered. “I should like to see you wearing your coronet!”

  “Perhaps you will have that privilege on another occasion,” the Duke replied with a twist of his lips.

  Andrina knew that he was being sarcastic.

  At the same time she had been watching closely when she effected the introduction and she had not missed the expression of surprise in his eyes when he looked at Cheryl and then at Sharon.

  ‘He did not really believe that they could be as beautiful as I had told him!’ Andrina told herself.

  “This is a very big house!” Cheryl said after a moment and there was a tremor in her voice that told Andrina she was nervous.

  She took her sister by the hand and drew her to the window.

  “There is the garden,” she said. “Look how beautifully it is kept and the flowers are exquisite! His Grace is having it lit with fairy lights on the night of the ball. It will be very romantic!”

  Cheryl’s fingers were cold in hers, but Sharon was talking excitedly to the Duke and after a moment he said to Andrina,

  “I don’t know whether Lady Evelyn has told you, but we have been asked to dine with the Duchess of Devonshire. It is only a dinner party, but I expect the young people will dance afterwards.”

  “Thank goodness we have some new gowns!” Sharon exclaimed. “I have read about Devonshire House in a magazine. It is very impressive and the Duchess is said to be very beautiful!”

  “I can see you are well informed!” the Duke said. “We will leave here at half-past-seven. Lady Evelyn insists that I accompany you, otherwise she says that no one will believe I am acting as your Guardian.”

  He walked from the room as he spoke and Andrina followed him with her eyes.

  She was certain that he was finding it irksome to be forced by his cousin into accompanying them this evening, but she was sure that Lady Evelyn was right and the Social world would find it hard to credit that the rumours already circulating in London were not just a practical joke.

  “I don’t think he wants to go to the party,” Cheryl said and her expression was troubled.

  “He always talks like that,” Andrina said soothingly. “You must not pay any attention to him, Cheryl.”

  “I think he is rather fascinating!” Sharon sighed. “I expect the reason he has never married is that he has been crossed in love!”

  Andrina could not help wondering if that was in fact true.

  Could that be the explanation of the Duke’s cynicism? And perhaps too why he liked to be self-sufficient and a bachelor.

  But she had no more time to think about the Duke.

  For the moment she was concerned only to keep Cheryl happy and from being intimidated by the largeness of the house, the enormous number of servants there were to wait on them and by Lady Evelyn.

  Not that there was any reason for her to be afraid of Lady Evelyn, who was so delighted herself at the thought of going to a party that she appeared to be laughing about everythi
ng as well as helping the girls to look their best.

  The hairdresser had been ordered to come to their rooms and attend to one after the other.

  There was a great deal of discussion as to which of the many gowns that had already arrived they should wear for their first appearance.

  Then finally, when first Cheryl and then Sharon was dressed, Andrina realised that she had only a little time to dress herself and took the first gown that came to hand.

  Because the girls were to wear white for their first Season and she was no longer a debutante, the dresses she had chosen for herself – and there were not nearly as many as had been bought for Cheryl and Sharon – were in the pale colours that her mother had always wanted her to wear.

  “You will never go wrong if you follow the flowers, darling,” she had said. “Their colours are never harsh or discordant and even when a flower is crimson it has soft tints and shades about it that are never harsh or crude.”

  The gown that Andrina wore tonight was another blue, this time the blue of the forget-me-not.

  It was rather simpler and without the frills that trimmed Cheryl’s gown or the embroidered lace on Sharon’s.

  Andrina hoped too that it was cheaper, but she was quite certain that Madame Bertin was exorbitantly expensive for whatever she made and she was determined as soon as she had time to find a cheaper shop where they could procure any other gowns they required.

  When finally they were ready to go downstairs, Lady Evelyn came to collect them, looking magnificent in a gown of deep purple and wearing on her shoulders a spray of purple orchids.

  “How lovely those orchids are!” Andrina exclaimed.

  To her surprise Lady Evelyn looked a little embarrassed.

  “I always wore flowers when I was in Brussels,” she said, “so I thought that just for tonight I would be a little extravagant.”

  “They are very becoming, ma’am,” Andrina said dutifully.

  But she could not help wondering if Lady Evelyn expected her to pay for them!

  Then she told herself that it was the least they could do and perhaps a simple way of expressing their gratitude.

  Andrina had been right in thinking that the Social world would quickly recognise the beauty of Cheryl and Sharon.