Courting Lord Dorney

by Sally James

  Lord Dorney sighed. ‘I’m too confused, and at the moment she’s behaving in the most outrageous ways, encouraging all the fribbles in town to dangle after her. If she’s not careful, the high sticklers will lose patience with her and she’ll find herself excluded from all decent society. She’ll become intimate with rogues like Lambert and Mrs Williams, people who aren’t invited even to the biggest routs.’

  ‘And you could prevent all this.’

  ‘Could I? Dan, I need to get away, free of the risk of meeting her every time I step out of my room at Lady Fulwood’s. I’m going to Leicestershire.’

  ‘Not at this time of year, surely! What on earth would you do there? Hack about the country on your own, not knowing how you feel? That might, or more likely might not, resolve your doubts, but in the meantime, what will happen to her? I suspect, if you leave, and she doesn’t have even a hope of seeing you, she’ll do even more shocking things than driving down St James’s Street!’

  Lord Dorney clutched his already disarranged hair. ‘Dan, you’re my best friend, and usually I’d listen to your advice, but this time I simply don’t know what to do!’

  ‘Come back to stay with me. I’m fixed here for the next month or so, and then, you tell me, you’ll have to go to Bath for young Alex’s wedding. Lord, it doesn’t seem long since he was a schoolboy, following you around at Dorney Court demanding to be allowed to shoot rabbits.’

  * * * *

  ‘Gareth. I didn’t know you were in town.’

  Bella’s tone was coldly polite. She had never liked her cousin, who was several years her senior, and had, as a boy, made her life a misery whenever he and his parents had visited Trahearne House. He either teased her, broke her toys, and as he grew older and became a pupil at a minor public school, spoke to her in Latin and scoffed when she failed to understand him. His worst crime, one she still recalled with impotent fury, had been to throw a new and much-loved doll into the nearby river and crow with laughter as it was carried away, bouncing against rocks and finally disappearing into a muddy pool.

  Growing up had not improved him, in her opinion. He was pompous and stuffy, convinced of his own superiority and free with unwanted advice to whoever he could persuade to listen to him.

  He smiled with an irritating condescension. ‘Neither did I know you were here until a fellow at the club mentioned the dashing Miss Trahearne and her exploits which were scandalizing the ton. You’ll have to take care, cousin, or the best drawing rooms will be closed to you.’

  Bella fumed. The fact that what he said was true didn’t improve her temper. ‘If I ever want your advice, I’ll ask! But it’s most unlikely. You’re hardly a pattern card of propriety. Has Helen dropped her cub yet? How long have you been wed? Seven months, I think, and that was done in a very hasty and secretive manner. I believe she had a respectable portion, and you could get hold of it only by seducing the poor girl! Papa didn’t even receive an invitation to the wedding.’

  He winced, and she knew she had touched on a sore point. ‘I’ll thank you not to slander my wife! Helen preferred a quiet wedding.’

  Did she, Bella wondered. Most girls wanted the full ceremonial and all the fuss that attended weddings.

  Gareth’s face was red and he paced angrily about the room. ‘I’ll have you know the child was premature, and if you imply differently you’ll be sorry!’

  ‘I doubt it. But don’t worry, I’ve no interest in your morals. Other people can count too.’

  He pursed his lips but clearly decided to ignore this. ‘Premature,’ he repeated. ‘But he’s strong. He’ll survive. I have an heir, Bella. Which is more than you have, and more than you’re likely to have the way you are behaving! No decent man would consider an alliance with you!’

  ‘Not even with my grand fortune? You can’t know how many offers I’ve had, both here and in Harrogate.’ Bella grinned, recalling some of the latter. She had no intention of marrying any of them, but it did no harm to give Gareth a fright. She could get her own back for the many annoyances he’d caused her in the past. ‘I may well surprise you and upset your hopes. I’d rather give all my fortune away than let you and your family get your hands on a penny of it! But that’s enough. Why did you come to see me?’

  ‘I thought it time to mend fences. I’ll ignore what you’ve said today. I quite understand that you must be feeling out of sorts when Society is so critical of you. But with my help, if they see your family support you, your good name could be reinstated. We want you to come to the christening. To be a godmother to little Henry.’

  Bella was speechless with astonished fury. To have Gareth, her despicable cousin, holding himself out as a means of restoring a good name she had not - yet - lost, was beyond enough. It certainly wasn’t because he wanted to help her make a good match. Indeed, the longer she remained single the better he’d like it, for it increased his chances of inheriting Trahearne House.

  ‘I’ll send Henry a suitable christening gift,’ she snapped. ‘I’ve no doubt that was your main reason for seeking me out. You don’t care a rap for my good name, just my money! And thank you for the honour of asking me to sponsor your son, but I’m afraid I have to refuse. I’m surprised you’re not worried I’d either drop him or drown him in the font!’

  Without waiting for his reply she swept from the room, saw Lady Fulwood’s butler hovering, and briskly told him to show the visitor out, and if he called again to say she was not at home.

  * * * *

  On the following day Bella went to visit the Floods in Highgate. Her attorney had managed to purchase their cottage and the one next to it, and she had arranged for a builder to draw up plans for joining the two.

  Jackson drove her in the new curricle, allowing her to take the reins only when the road was quiet.

  She was pleased she was able to control the pair of cobs, but admitted this was only possible in the best conditions. She’d had a struggle to prevent them from bolting when a stage coach had passed them as they crossed the New Road.

  They were approaching Highgate Hill when she saw Mrs Flood walking along, and Bella pulled up beside her.

  Jackson took the reins as Bella jumped down.

  ‘What have we here?’ she asked, pointing to the bundle Mrs Flood carried.

  ‘Oh, Miss Bella, I was going to be at home when you came, but I had this message, you see. It couldn’t wait.’

  She lifted the bundle and Bella saw it was a sleeping child, she guessed a year or so old, but with the wizened face of near starvation. ‘Who is it?’ she asked softly.

  ‘Little Samuel. I used to be in service with his mother. She lived in Clerkenwell after she was wed, but her man died of the bloody flux, and she had to scrape a living taking in mending and washing. I had a message this morning to say she was knocked over by a brewer’s dray a week ago, and died yesterday. There’s no one to look after the little mite. She was from Yorkshire, like me, and has no family. I don’t think he’d eaten since she was knocked down. She was taken to the hospital, and the neighbours didn’t care, until one of them found he’d crawled out into the road and then collapsed, from hunger, I suppose.’

  ‘Oh, the poor little mite. Here, give him to me while Jackson helps you into the curricle. We can all squeeze in for the last mile or so.’

  The child, disturbed by being moved from Mrs Flood’s arms, began to cry, a weak, exhausted wail. Bella lifted him higher in her arms and held him over her shoulder, patting him on the back and shushing him until Mrs Flood was settled and she could hand him back and clamber into the curricle herself.

  ‘Quickly, Jackson, the sooner we can get him home and fed the better.’

  * * * *

  Lord Dorney had thought hard and long about Sir Daniel’s advice. He couldn’t get the wretched girl out of his mind. Did that mean he really did love her? He’d thought he did in Bath. He’d put aside his resolve not to marry then, but he hadn’t known she was wealthy. Ought he to set aside his scruples now and renew his offer? But would
she have him after the way he’d treated her? She could have any one of a number of men, all of them, he was sure, fortune hunters. He’d be one too if he offered for her, and after his brother’s experience he had no desire to have a wife who might wish to rule him because she had a fortune.

  An insistent small voice urged him that Bella would not be like that. Yes, she was headstrong, but all he’d seen of her told him she had a warm heart. She cared for those less fortunate than herself, unlike Selina. She wouldn’t try to hurt him if they disagreed. He grinned. He was sure there would be disagreements.

  Unable to think clearly he decided to ride out, not in the Park where he would have to keep to a staid canter, but up on the hills somewhere, with the wind in his hair, where he could gallop away his odd humours. He’d go to Highgate, it was time he looked at the two houses his mother had left him there, and decide whether it was time to sell them. With the money he could hasten the work on Dorney Court. Suddenly he longed to be back in that familiar and much loved place, restored to what it had been before Selina ruined it.

  He was approaching Highgate village when he pulled sharply on the reins and halted. Was he seeing things? What in the world was Bella doing here? At least she had her groom, Jackson, with her. He would not have been surprised to find her out on her own, trying to control her new pair, which Lady Fulwood had described to him in detail.

  ‘She’ll break her neck one day,’ his godmother had predicted. ‘Fortunately Masters and Jackson both keep a close watch on her and won’t let her take out this new curricle on her own.’

  He watched as Bella stood there while an older woman clambered up into the curricle. Then his eyes widened in astonishment. Was that a child Bella was holding? How in the world did she come to be here, in this unlikely small village, with a child?

  He sat still and watched as Bella handed the child up to the other woman, then climbed into the curricle. Jackson drove away, and Lord Dorney resisted the impulse to follow. There was some mystery here, but it was not his affair.

  It might be, if the child belonged to Bella.

  The unwelcome thought made him jerk the reins, and for some moments all his attention had to be given to the horse. When he was once more in control he abandoned his ride to Highgate and turned back towards London. A sudden vision of Bella, as he’d first seen her in Lancashire when he was visiting Lady Hodder, getting out of a coach and helping a small child out, came to him. He did some swift calculations. That child had been about five years old. Bella was three and twenty. But surely, Lady Hodder would not have countenanced -

  He forced his swirling thoughts into some kind of coherence. There was a mystery, but he must not jump to conclusions. She’d told him the child was one she’d rescued from working in the cotton mills. Surely she would not have pretended that if he had been her own?

  Then he recalled her response when he’d kissed her. It had been shy, tentative, not the response of an experienced woman who had known lovers in the past. She could not have counterfeited that.

  Did he want to discover the truth? One part of him said he had no further interest in Bella Trahearne, but deep down he knew he must find out, if only to satisfy himself that she could not be as depraved as it sometimes seemed.

  * * * *

  The house was in an uproar when Bella reached Mount Street. From the trunks and other baggage in the hall Bella knew someone had arrived. When she went into the drawing room she found Jane sitting on a sopha, and her husband with his arm round her.

  ‘Philip! Oh, how good to see you!’ Bella cried, and Philip stood up to kiss her heartily on the cheek.

  ‘You too, Miss Mischief! How come you and my wife have been gallivanting in Bath? I’ve no doubt it was your suggestion!’

  Bella glanced swiftly at Jane, who shook her head slightly.

  ‘Well, yes,’ she began, wondering how much it would be wise to tell him.

  ‘Oh, we’ll talk about that later,’ Jane said hastily. ‘I want to know all about your voyage, my love.’

  ‘Uneventful,’ Philip said with a laugh. ‘I’m sure Bath has been far more exciting.’

  ‘Bath? Exciting?’ Lady Fulwood said, laughing. ‘It is never exciting in Bath, and it was the end of the Season there, and many people had come back to London well before my dear Jane and Bella came to me. The house has been far livelier with them here.’

  ‘How long a furlough do you have?’ Bella changed the subject.

  ‘Two months, and I mean to enjoy every minute.’

  ‘I - I suppose you’ll want to take Jane home to Lancashire,’ Bella said, suddenly realizing the implications of Philip’s arrival. Of course he would want to be in his own home, and have Jane to himself. What would she do? Could she stay on in London with Lady Fulwood, or would she have to move to the little house she was thinking of renting? If she did, she would need to find a companion as soon as possible. She would visit one of the agencies that provided such people on the following day.

  ‘We’ll stay here for a short while, as I haven’t seen my dear godmama for a long time,’ Philip said. ‘Then I want to go home.’

  ‘You are welcome to remain with me, Bella dear,’ Lady Fulwood said. ‘I enjoy your company, and taking a young gal to balls reminds me of the days my own daughters were young.’

  ‘I’m grateful,’ Bella said. She felt an enormous sense of relief. If Lord Dorney remained too, they would inevitably be thrown together more. She still had hopes of making him change his mind, but she knew she had more chance of success if they were living in the same house.

  * * * *

  They were invited to a ball that evening, but Philip pleaded tiredness, and with a smile Lady Fulwood bade him and Jane to have an early night. Jane blushed, then laughed.

  ‘Very well, ma’am.’

  Bella wore a new gown, in a delicate shade of green with a silver gauze overskirt. One of her uncle’s necklaces was of emeralds, and Bella, feeling rebellious, determined to wear that instead of the discreet pearls Lady Fulwood preferred. She was very rich, and everyone knew, so why should she pretend not to be?

  The first dance ended, and she was standing at the side of the ballroom with her partner. Her card was filling up quickly when she saw Gareth approaching across the room. He reached her and stepped slightly to the side, revealing Mr Salway who had been behind him. Bella’s partner, bowing himself away, did not see her sudden pleading glance, and politely removed himself.

  ‘Dear Coz,’ Gareth said, with what Bella could only describe as a smirk. ‘How pleasant to see you here, and so well provided with jewels. Or are they glass? I understand the Indians can be very clever at imitating real gems.’

  ‘You understand nothing,’ Bella snapped. ‘I would have thought you were needed at home, to support your wife, and your son and heir!’

  ‘Oh, nursery doings bore me. I’d far rather be in town. I believe you met Mr Salway in Harrogate? He’s been telling me all about your successes there.’

  ‘Has he, indeed? And his failures, too, I suppose,’ she said, trying to drag her hand away from Mr Salway’s, but he had pretended to shake it and was holding her too tightly, and she was not prepared to indulge in a public trial of strength, for she would be sure to be worsted. ‘Pray release me, sir!’ she added.

  Mr Salway smiled, and instead of letting go her hand, carried it up to his lips and planted a wet kiss on her wrist.

  This time Bella succeeded in snatching away her hand, and rubbed it furiously against her skirt. She looked round for help, but no one she knew was near enough for her to attract their attention.

  ‘May I crave a dance?’ Mr Salway was asking.

  ‘My card is full,’ Bella began, but Gareth twitched it out of her hand and held it out to Mr Salway.

  ‘You can have the supper waltz,’ he said. ‘Won’t that be delightful for you, my dear Bella? I’ll find a partner and join you both. We’ll have a cozy little chat over the salmon mousse and the crab patties.’

  Mr Salway was wr
iting his name against two other dances, and with a flourish handed Bella her card. She snatched it, and tore it into tiny pieces.

  ‘I don’t dance with you, Mr Salway,’ she said, loudly enough for a couple of passing gentlemen to hear. They turned, eyebrows raised, and stared. With relief Bella recognized Major Ross, and before Gareth could intervene she stepped forward and grasped the Major’s arm.

  ‘Please sir, will you escort me to Lady Fulwood? The air just here is decidedly malodorous!’

  ‘Are they annoying you?’ the Major asked, and both he and his companion turned to face the other men.

  They both showed clenched fists, and Bella shrank from an even more dreadful confrontation. ‘No more than usual. The larger one is, unfortunately, my cousin, but I wouldn’t dream of presenting either of them to gentlemen. It would be an insult.’

  They moved away, the Major bending solicitously over Bella.

  ‘You’re trembling, my dear. Do you wish to go home? I could call for our carriage and escort you, if you’d permit.’

  Bella shook her head. ‘Thank you, but it’s fury rather than fright. Oh, how could they!’ She laughed. ‘Now I shall have to obtain another dance card and try to remember who I’ve promised dances to!’

  ‘I’ll find one for you,’ the Major’s friend offered. ‘Ross, as a medical man, I recommend you take the lady to find a glass of wine.’

  * * * *

  Bella saw no more of her cousin or Mr Salway that evening. She was aware of Major Ross hovering nearby, and was grateful. He was large, strong and determined. She hoped Mr Salway had taken fright.

  Gareth, however, appeared in Mount Street the following morning, and she had no chance to deny him since Lady Fulwood was with her and bade the butler to show him in before Bella could protest.

  ‘I am delighted to meet Bella’s cousin,’ Lady Fulwood said, gesturing him to a chair. ‘I understand your wife has just presented you with a son, Mr Carey. My congratulations. You must be overjoyed.’

  ‘We’re delighted to have an heir,’ Gareth replied. ‘He’s the only boy in the Trahearne family,’ he added, with a significant glance at Bella.