Andrina’s hands, which were trembling, went to her head. Then with what she hoped was a dignified grace, she moved towards the open window.
She was well aware that the Duke was frowning and he was still angry with her, but she was at the same time grateful that he was preventing her from having to speak to Lord Crowhurst again.
There was no doubt, she told herself later that night that the Duke and Lord Crowhurst between them had spoilt the ball for her.
She had managed to dance, to smile and make herself pleasant to a countless number of people.
She had accepted the Prince Regent’s congratulations on her appearance, conveyed to her in the flirtatious but charming manner that was all his own and yet she had only felt miserable.
The gaiety and sparkle had gone out of the evening.
It was some consolation, when the last guest had departed long after dawn had broken, to hear both Cheryl and Sharon exclaiming that it was the most wonderful, perfect party there had ever been!
“I always dreamt of a ball like that,” Sharon enthused, “but I never thought I would go to one and, if you had told me even a month ago that it would be given for us, I would have known I was dreaming!”
“We were very proud of you all, were we not, Tancred?” Lady Evelyn asked.
“Of course,” he replied. “I was effusively congratulated on having been so clever or so lucky as to find such attractive and well-behaved Wards!”
Although her sisters were delighted with the compliment, Andrina knew that the Duke was being deliberately sarcastic.
“You must go to bed at once, girls,” Lady Evelyn urged. “I cannot have you looking pale tomorrow night and we have a reception to attend in the afternoon.”
“How exciting!” Sharon exclaimed.
Cheryl curtseyed to Lady Evelyn, then to the Duke, and turned towards the stairs. Andrina followed to slip her arm through her younger sister’s and ask softly,
“You have been happy, dearest?”
“It has been a wonderful evening!” Cheryl replied.
“I saw you dancing with the Marquis. You like dancing with him?”
“He was very kind.”
There was something in Cheryl’s tone that told Andrina that she did not wish to discuss it further and, having taken her to her bedroom where there was a sleepy maid waiting to help her undress, Andrina went to find Sharon.
Her youngest sister was waltzing dreamily round and round her bedroom.
“Oh, Andrina,” she said, “could anybody have had a more perfect, more marvellous, more glorious evening?”
“Did you dance with the Duke?” Andrina asked.
Sharon stopped waltzing and walked towards the dressing table.
“Of course, I did as you told me.”
“What did you talk to him about?”
Sharon did not answer and after a moment Andrina said,
“You know what I want, Sharon. He is a difficult man, but if anyone could charm him into a good mood, if anyone could make him into an acceptable husband, it is you!”
Sharon was still silent, then after a moment she said,
“Do you suppose that being a Duchess would really make one happy?”
“But, of course, it would,” Andrina said quickly. “You would have everything – this wonderful house, all the jewels we saw tonight, and the Duke has many other possessions we have not yet seen, his house in the country about which Papa used to talk, a hunting lodge in Leicester and a house at Newmarket where he stays for the races.”
Andrina paused and after a moment continued,
“I have never seen Cheryl so gay as she seemed tonight with the Marquis and if you were both Duchesses, think what an achievement that would be!”
“The Duke was not a particularly amusing partner,” Sharon said after a moment.
“You have to charm and fascinate him, Sharon. After all, if he had been easy he would have been married before now. Think of all the women who must have wanted to be the Duchess of Broxbourne! But I am quite certain that none of them are as beautiful as you!”
Sharon gave a little yawn.
“I am tired, Andrina.”
“Of course you are,” Andrina replied, “and it is selfish of me to want to talk. Go to sleep. There are lots of exciting things to do tomorrow. But Sharon, just remember one point, we have very little time.”
When she was in her own room and the maid had taken away her ballgown, dressed only in her thin nightgown Andrina walked to the window.
She pulled aside the curtains.
The pale morning sun was already climbing up the sky, shining on the roofs and glittering on the window panes of the houses that she could just see beyond the drive.
“So little time,” she whispered, and yet somehow she had to marry Cheryl to the Marquis and Sharon to the Duke.
She could not help feeling that the latter might prove an impossible task, and yet, she told herself, she was determined – completely and utterly determined – that she would do her best for her sisters.
That was why she had come to London. That was why she had sacrificed her pride to plead and beg the Duke to make them his protégées.
Then she remembered the contempt and anger in his voice tonight.
How could he have said such things to her?
‘He despises me,’ she thought, ‘and he has told me often enough that I am brainless, idiotic and in his eyes unprincipled.’
She felt a surge of anger once again that he could accuse her of such indiscretions, and yet she had to admit that when she had come from the garden, he had some excuse for his comments.
It had been crazy of her to let the Earl take her into the arbour. She ought to have refused to leave the ballroom with him in the first place and should have allowed Cheryl, as she had supposed the unknown girl to be, to look after herself.
‘I suppose I am very – foolish,’ Andrina admitted humbly.
Then, as she put her head down on the pillow, she thought that she would not have to endure the Duke with his suspicions and his innuendoes for long.
The moment Cheryl and Sharon were safely married she would be free of him.
Yet she wished before that time came she could prove him wrong, confound him in some way so that he would be sorry not only for the cruel words he had said to her but also for his behaviour when they had first met.
‘How can I make him respect me?’ she asked herself and found that there was no answer to that question.
*
The following day it was late before anyone was aroused from sleep and actually it was Andrina who came downstairs first to find the hall filled with flowers of every description.
There were bouquets, baskets, bowls and sprays addressed in almost equal numbers to Cheryl and Sharon and, to her surprise, some for herself.
There were two magnificent bouquets from the gentlemen who had sat either side of her at dinner, two from gentlemen she could not remember, and one huge basket of white orchids, of which she knew the donor before she opened the note.
The Earl’s writing was like himself, Andrina thought, dark, uneven and somehow slightly sinister.
“To Andrina, who has captured both my heart and mind.”
She tore up the card and threw it in the wastepaper basket.
‘I cannot think why the one man in London I really dislike should be the one who pursues me,’ Andrina thought.
“You have certainly all been a sensation as far as floral tributes are concerned,” Lady Evelyn proclaimed when she appeared just before luncheon, “but flowers die. What you girls need is something lasting.”
“What is that?” Cheryl asked.
“An engagement ring!” Lady Evelyn replied. “Preferably of diamonds!”
“Oh, an engagement ring,” Cheryl said and there was something in the way she spoke that made Andrina look at her sharply.
Could the Marquis have said anything last night she wondered.
She did not wish to press her younger sis
ter, but she felt excitedly that Cheryl was undoubtedly thinking of marriage and it was obvious that the only man she could have in mind was the Marquis.
Sharon collected the cards from her flowers immediately after luncheon and put them away in the little satin reticule she carried on her arm.
“Are you not going to tell us the names of your admirers?” Lady Evelyn enquired.
“I am too tired to worry about them now,” Sharon said in a voice that did not sound as if she was at all tired, “but later this afternoon I shall have to write and thank them.”
“I think we can forget about ‘thank you’ letters for today,” Lady Evelyn said. “I thought we might go driving.”
“That would be lovely!” Andrina said. “But first I had better take the jewellery we borrowed last night back to Mr. Robson.”
She put the stars that Sharon had worn in her hair and the necklace that had encircled Cheryl’s white neck back in their boxes and went along the corridor to Mr. Robson’s office.
“Thank you very much, Miss Andrina,” he said, taking the jewellery from her. “It’s very kind of you to be so prompt in returning them. I don’t mind telling you it worries me when such things are not safely in my keeping. The Duke trusts me and if anything was lost I should have no one to blame but myself.”
“That is a horrible feeling, as we all know,” Andrina smiled.
“May I tell you how beautiful you looked last night, Miss Andrina?” Mr. Robson asked. “I thought, as I watched you dancing, you had been quite right in thinking you needed no jewels. They would only have been dimmed by the excitement in your eyes!”
Because he was an elderly man Andrina did not feel it was impertinent of him to speak in such a manner.
“Thank you very much,” she said. “I thought no one would be looking at me when my sisters were in the ballroom. At the same time everyone was very kind.”
‘With the exception of the Duke!’ she added to herself.
He had not only failed to pay her a compliment, he had actually abused her and once again aroused her anger.
She talked to Mr. Robson for a little while about the other guests and he told her how much he admired Lady Cowper and how everyone in her employment worshipped her.
Then Andrina had returned to the salon to find Lady Evelyn alone.
“Have Cheryl and Sharon gone to get ready to go driving?” Andrina asked.
“They have already gone,” Lady Evelyn informed her.
“Gone?” Andrina questioned.
“The Marquis of Glen called for Cheryl. Apparently they had arranged that he should do so last evening,” Lady Evelyn explained.
“You let her go alone?” Andrina enquired.
“My dear, he was driving a vis-à-vis which, as you well know, only provides for two occupants. I could hardly sit on the driver’s lap, nor could you expect Cheryl to sit on mine!”
Lady Evelyn laughed as she went on,
“Stop looking like a worried hen who has lost her chicks, Andrina! Cheryl and Sharon are perfectly all right and it is entirely convenable I assure you, for girls to go driving in the afternoon providing they keep to the popular parts of Hyde Park.”
“And with whom has Sharon gone?” Andrina asked a little anxiously
She knew even as she asked the question what the answer would be.
“Who else but the handsome Count Ivan?” Lady Evelyn replied. “I saw last night that he was very enamoured and I must say that he is one of the most attractive men I have ever met.”
“He is not at all suitable for Sharon,” Andrina said sharply, “and I hope, ma’am, you will not encourage this association. I thought she danced with him far too frequently at the ball.”
Lady Evelyn said nothing and after a moment Andrina went on ,
“You yourself told me that he was looking for a rich heiress. I think he should be warned before things go too far that Sharon is absolutely penniless.”
There was a smile on Lady Evelyn’s lips as she replied,
“You sound exactly like my mother. That is the way she talked when I was a girl and yet I married my husband and we were very happy!”
She saw Andrina’s expression and said,
“He became an Ambassador and made a great success of his career. When I first met him, he was no one of any importance with little influence and nothing to recommend him even in the Diplomatic Service except that he had an aptitude for languages.”
“I want Sharon to make a good marriage,” Andrina said. “I am quite sure, ma’am, that Count Ivan Birkendorff is not the type of husband we would want for her.”
“I am sure you know best, Andrina,” Lady Evelyn answered, “but don’t forget that the last word rests with the Duke.”
“Why is that?” Andrina enquired. “I am looking after my sisters.”
“On the contrary,” Lady Evelyn replied, “we have proclaimed to the world that you are the Duke’s Wards. Therefore if any young man wishes to lay his hand and his heart at your feet he has first, as you are all under twenty-one, to ask your Guardian’s permission.”
“I should have thought that was unnecessary,” Andrina retorted quickly.
Lady Evelyn shook her head.
“Most young men would be extremely nervous of doing the wrong thing, especially in the eyes of someone like the Duke of Broxbourne. His Grace, as we both know, can be very autocratic when it suits him and I have a feeling that any suitor of whom he does not approve will be very quickly shown the outside of the front door.”
“Do you think I should speak to the Duke about this?” Andrina asked reluctantly.
“I think you will find that he is your strongest defence,” Lady Evelyn replied. “At the same time he will undoubtedly have his own ideas on the subject.”
“We can be quite sure of that!” Andrina said bitterly remembering the way the Duke had spoken to her last night.
“I still think you must have cast a spell on him,” Lady Evelyn said. “After all these years during which no ball has been given in this house and Tancred has only entertained his own particular friends.”
She laughed and went on,
“When I think how he has lived up to his reputation of being difficult and inhospitable, I can hardly believe this is really happening!”
“It was a lovely ball,” Andrina said without much enthusiasm in her voice.
“I saw you dancing with the Earl of Crowhurst,” Lady Evelyn said. “Now if you can bring him up to scratch, that would be a great achievement!”
“No!” Andrina said vehemently. “No! I assure you, ma’am, that he is not really interested in me, nor I in him!”
She walked from the salon as she spoke and did not realise that Lady Evelyn gave a knowing little laugh as the door closed firmly behind her.
Chapter Five
Andrina returned to the house with Lady Evelyn after attending a reception, which secretly she had found rather dull.
It had been full of her Ladyship’s friends and, although they had been kind and flatteringly inquisitive, Andrina was well aware that what they really wanted was to gossip about the Duke.
It had obviously caused a sensation that after all these years he had suddenly entertained on such a lavish scale and she sensed that the Beau Monde was already speculating as to which of his attractive Wards he would marry.
She wondered if in fact Sharon had done as she had advised her and gone out of her way to be charming and fascinating to him.
‘Of course,’ Andrina told herself with a sigh, ‘Sharon is very young.’
At the same time it was impossible to think of the Duke being married to Cheryl.
As she returned to Broxbourne House in the Duke’s comfortable London carriage with Lady Evelyn chattering beside her, Andrina was wondering whether she would find on arrival that Cheryl had received a proposal of marriage from the Marquis.
He had certainly singled her out, both at the ball last night and by taking her driving alone in the Park. But when she remem
bered that Sharon had also gone driving with the Count, it overshadowed her pleasure about Cheryl.
“You are very silent, Andrina,” Lady Evelyn said when she had asked a question and received no answer.
“I am sorry, ma’am, if I appear rude,” Andrina answered. “I was thinking of Cheryl and Sharon and wondering if they will have returned.”
“I am sure they will have done so,” Lady Evelyn said, “and you will doubtless find them both having tea in the salon.”
Unfortunately this hope did not materialise.
There was no one in the salon when Andrina arrived at Broxbourne House and she learnt to her consternation that neither Cheryl nor Sharon had returned from their drives.
“How could they be so long?” she asked.
“Time does not exist when one is young,” Lady Evelyn said blithely and went upstairs to change.
Andrina was just about to follow her when the butler spoke up,
“His Grace is in the library, miss, and wished to see you when you returned.”
Andrina felt her heart give a frightened throb.
Was the Duke still angry with her as he had been last night?
She had a sudden terror that perhaps he was so incensed that he was unwilling to continue entertaining them and intended to send them away.
Then she thought that she was alarming herself unnecessarily.
He had been angry, it was true, but it was not Cheryl’s or Sharon’s fault and she had the feeling that, difficult though he was, he would be just. Yet, she asked herself, what grounds had she for thinking that?
She knew nothing about him, nothing at all except that he was overpowering, autocratic and at times infuriating.
‘Where he is concerned, I always seem to do the wrong thing,’ she thought.
Then her pride made her add,
‘Why should it trouble me? Once Cheryl and Sharon are married I will never see him again.’
However, feeling that it would be unwise to keep the Duke waiting, she took off her bonnet and the light silk pelisse she had worn over her pretty muslin gown and gave them to the butler.
Then holding her head high she walked along the corridor to the library.
A footman opened the door for her and she went in to find the Duke at his desk.
The Husband Hunters Page 10
