“One doesn’t want to offend Sir Alasdair,” he said slowly. “Because though he has a certain notoriety, he’s certainly an eligible suitor.” He hesitated. They both knew how true that was. If the baronet really were a monster of depravity and had asked Kate to the theater, the Swanson sisters would have simply smirked. They did that very well.
“You couldn’t go alone, of course,” he went on thoughtfully. Before Kate could argue that of course she wouldn’t do that, he added, “And my wife and I are otherwise engaged that night.”
“I doubt he means to get up to any sort of debauchery in a theater,” she blurted. She hadn’t realized that an invitation to a young woman included that woman’s relatives. She’d thought he’d meant a chaperone.
He looked unhappy. “It isn’t that, though the theater does have a shocking reputation. My dear cousin, it’s because a young woman of breeding cannot just attend a theater with a gentleman on her own. Especially one like Alasdair St. Erth.”
Kate sat back and held her tongue. She didn’t know London. And she did know Sir Alasdair’s reputation.
“Still, I suppose we could have Mrs. August accompany you. She’s entirely respectable and always willing to do a favor. She might even find it a treat.”
Kate couldn’t think of a word to say. Old Mrs. August lived with the Swansons, the way a ghost could be said to live in a house. She was an ancient, faded lady, a distant connection to the family, who drifted on the margins of life in the Swanson household, taking her meals in her rooms and showing up at some of their innumerable parties, though always disappearing early in the evening.
“It could be done. If you wish. But, my dear,” he added, “do you think he has serious intentions toward you?”
Kate hesitated. If she said no, and told him Sir Alasdair’s reason for asking her out, he would definitely disapprove. It sounded too smoky by half. Well, it probably was. But if she could keep her head, she’d have such fun. She knew she could. Her wits could guard her heart because she didn’t trust the gentleman by half. No matter how attractive he was, she doubted she’d fall heedlessly in love with a man she couldn’t trust. And she was certain she’d be able to deal with whatever he really wanted of her when she discovered what it was. The mystery was half the fun, she assured herself.
She decided to skip over the direct question and instead tell Lord Swanson half the truth. With a little flattery to soften it. That usually worked when she played intermediary for her parents in their disputes.
“Please excuse my plain speaking,” she said, “but my parents brought me up to be forthright. I was joking about the debauchery, but whatever his plans, I doubt Lord Alasdair means seduction. Whatever cloud there is over his head, he is, after all, by no means insensible to the conventions.”
Her cousin nodded, slowly. “And with all the beautiful women here in London,” Kate went on, “it’s hardly possible that he’s consumed with a sudden passion for me. Even if he’s suffered a head injury and has fallen under my spell,” she added, grinning, “the fact is that I am under your protection. The Swanson name is not one to be trifled with.”
“Indeed,” he said, obviously much struck by that thought.
“And so whatever his intention, it can’t help but be amusing for me. He wants to take me to the theater. We’ll be seen at all times, I’ll be back home soon enough, and it seems like such fun…” She paused, determined to keep that note of pleading out of her voice. She had to convince him she wasn’t a lovestruck chit, but a sensible woman. “It will be good for my cousins, too,” she said more firmly. “Sibyl will be coming along, Sir Alasdair said his friend Lord Leigh will be accompanying us, and surely the viscount is a model of good behavior.”
“As to that,” Lord Swanson said, looking a little hunted, “perhaps you might consider leaving Sibyl home, and taking one of her sisters instead? Sibyl is not yet out.”
Kate had thought this over carefully. “Yes, exactly,” she agreed. “But she’s my friend, and of an age to go out of an evening,” she added, to hint about that oversight. “Sir Alasdair already knows her, as does Lord Leigh. And exactly because she isn’t out yet they’ll know she isn’t expecting any offers. Their friends will know that, too, so it will put them more at ease with her. They’ll feel freer about visiting here in the future, attending your parties and such, don’t you think? That will be better for everyone, won’t it?” She fell silent, hoping he’d accept that.
He glanced at her from under his bushy eyebrows. There were no fools in her father’s family. Her heart sank.
“Yes, I think it will,” he finally said. “So you may go. Sibyl, too. But, Katherine? If there’s any hint of impropriety or difficulty, or any pressures brought to bear on you because of this, don’t hesitate to come to me. And I don’t just mean those that may come from St. Erth.”
Kate stilled, thinking of his daughters’ spite. No, there were no fools in her father’s family. Her smile was gentle and heartfelt. “Thank you.”
“And Katherine?” he added as she stood. “It’s not without the realm of possibility that a gentleman might fall under your spell. Especially when you smile. Just remember that.”
“Thank you again, cousin,” she said, her eyes growing misty. “I’ll try to remember.” She laughed. “I’ll try to believe it, actually!”
“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” Leigh told Alasdair as he settled himself opposite his friend in his carriage. “I’ve risked my neck any number of ways for King and country, for friends, too. But this! This surpasses all. I’m taking a child to the theater,” he marveled. “And she’s one of the Swansons! Lord, the things I do in the name of friendship!”
Alasdair sat back as his coachman pulled away from the curb. “She’s hardly a child. Just a pale little mouse, as overwhelmed by her sisters as you are. Can you even remember what she looked like? I think half the reason Kate Corbet’s agreeing to this is to get that girl out of the house and into the company of a single male before she’s ninety. Because if she has to wait to be presented until all her sisters are married off, that’s how old she’ll be then.”
“Fine. You escort her,” Leigh said. “I’ll have the Corbet woman on my arm…lap…or wherever she cares to perch. She’s a fine-looking woman and seems to have a brain in her head.”
“Certainly you may have her anywhere you wish,” Alasdair said, “after I’ve achieved my goals with her.”
“Alasdair,” Leigh said seriously, “that sounds terrible, even coming from you.”
“But of course you know better,” Alasdair said smoothly. “My motives may not be good, but they’re not evil. There’s a paradox for you. I don’t mean her harm, at any rate. I have my faults, too many to list, but I know a gentleman can’t give a respectable female pleasure without giving her his name, too. At least the kind of pleasure you mean. So her sweet body is safe from me. I can’t have it, and I know it. What I can have is her name—bruited about town in the same breath as mine. At least until it’s noted in certain quarters. Only that. Then you may do what you will with her. But not until then.”
“But what if she thinks you want more?”
“I don’t think she will,” Alasdair said thoughtfully. “The other reason she’s going with me is that she’s wondering why I asked her. She’s suspicious, and curious as a cat. That’s refreshing. And she’s open about it, which is even more so. Some of it must be that country upbringing. The rest is because she knows she’s leaving here soon. London has a certain unreality for her, I think, because I suspect she’s a very realistic woman on her own ground. We do things when we’re away that we’d never do at home, you and I certainly know that. Travel gives us the freedom to be foolish. But I don’t for a minute think she’s ever that foolish. You’re right, she’s got more than a pretty face, she’s got a sensible head on those pretty white shoulders of hers.”
“But you noticed they’re pretty, and white,” Leigh said quietly.
“I’m well intentioned.�
� Alsadair laughed. “Not dead. Since when have you become your friends’ conscience?” he asked more soberly.
“I beg your pardon. A fault of mine. You’ve no idea of how much it limits me.”
“No,” Alasdair said. “It’s one of the reasons I value your friendship. You’re unique, my friend, a complete gentleman, but one who has a heart.”
“No,” Leigh said. “If I had one, I wouldn’t still be a single man.”
“You’re reclusive, and it’s difficult to find the love of your life under your chair. So I’m glad I’ve given you a reason to venture out, too. It’s time. You’ve a cautious heart, but you have one, never doubt it. I wonder if I possess a heart anymore. It got in the way, so I put it aside a long time ago, along with my morals.”
Alasdair laughed at his friend. “Don’t look so worried, I tell you all I want from Kate Corbet is her company, in public. But she is attractive…and I am what I am. So if I seem to be asking for more of her, let me know.” He stared out the window into the dark. “I don’t want to cause troubles while I end my own, because when I’m done with this business, Leigh, I’m done with it all. I’ll want to start life on a fresh page and finally forget the past.
“It’s been a long time and a lot of work. I think I’m becoming as eager to lay the burden down as I was to assume it. You know?” he asked reflectively. “I worry that in time I may even miss this vile mission of mine. It’s consumed me. I can’t imagine life without it. I don’t know how to lead a normal life anymore and don’t know if I ever can again. But I’d like a chance to find out.”
“It’s almost done then?”
“It is done.” Alasdair nodded. “All but the final touches. I have enough information about them to make sure they can never be so much as seen in polite company again. I only want to be sure their names can never be spoken in it either.”
Leigh hesitated. “But—it’s possible you may sully your name, too, if you do that, isn’t it?”
Alasdair laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Sully? You think the son of a suicide, with a cloud of dark rumors over his own head, can shame his name further?”
“Knowing what you’re capable of? If your plans bear fruit? Oh, yes. Alasdair,” Leigh said, leaning forward, his hands clasped between his knees as he stared at his friend, “I’ve never asked you for specifics about the matter, and I never would. But I hope you know that if you ever choose to confide in me, I’d never let it go further either.”
There was a silence. When it became uncomfortable, Leigh sat back, and went on, “Well, just so you know. The rumors about you are many. And unspecified. If what you do makes them clear, and they’re as bad as you seem to believe, then certainly, yes, it will ruin your name further. Completely. Why risk it? You’ve done so many good things for your friends and your country, why rake up old coals?”
Alasdair stiffened. “Because they’re coals from a fire that destroyed my life as surely as it did my father’s!” His voice was too loud in the confines of the coach. He thumped his fisted hand on his knee for emphasis. “I will have my revenge. The rest doesn’t matter, it just does not.”
He took a deep breath, uncurled his hand, and looked at it. When he spoke again his voice was calm, too calm. “They caused my father to kill himself. They almost drove me to it, too. Yes, that’s true,” he said to Leigh’s appalled silence. “I chose to live only in order to revenge myself on them. I will. If it harms me in Society’s eyes, so be it. If it loses me my friends, then they weren’t really friends, were they?
“But I will destroy the Scalbys once and for all and forever.” Alasdair spoke the words like an oath he’d pledged many times. “I could kill them. Don’t think I didn’t consider it often in the early days. I could have done it then and anytime since. Slowly and fairly painfully, too. I learned to do that. But that’s not enough and would be too easy. It was then, it is now. Their pride must be crushed. Their name must become a definition of ’monster.’ Because it is. Not just in my case. They’ve destroyed others by means so unsavory even I don’t want to discuss it. But I can prove it. I will. That’s a worse fate for them. Because they’ll have to live with that. Or not.”
He shrugged. There was nothing casual in the gesture. It was a tic of one shoulder. His voice was dark and deep. “If they die, let it be by their own hands. Let them do as my father did. But I must be the one who causes it, and they have to know that. They have to see and hear it from me. In public. Then and only then, I’ll consider what else—if there is anything else—I want or need in this life.”
This time, the silence in the coach was profound. Alasdair eyed his friend’s rigid form. “I’ve never showed you this side of me, have I? But it exists. It’s why I exist. I don’t usually get so carried away; I suppose I’m getting overanxious. As I said, the time is near. I could end it all for them right now if I chose. But the long wait has made me greedy. I want to draw them to their fate rather than bringing it to them. The Corbet woman is the bait. I’ll see that she doesn’t get swallowed up, I promise. Now,” he said in a lighter voice, “let’s forget it, shall we?”
Leigh sat silent, still looking troubled.
“Of course,” Alasdair said with another shrug, “if you’re having second thoughts, I’ll have the carriage turn around right now and take you home. But I will go on. I honestly don’t know what will happen when the truth is finally out, Leigh. It may all blow up in my face. You may not want to be associated with me then. A man must be careful of his place in Society, at least I’m not insensitive to the fact that other men must be. So if you want to be out of my plans now, I’ll let you off and make excuses to the Swansons for your absence.”
He gazed at Leigh as though trying to see more than the outline of his face in the flickering coach lamplight. “Leigh, I’ve known you a long time and kept up our friendship because even as a boy you were of unimpeachable honor. Our paths diverged after my father’s tragedy, but I made sure to maintain our association even so. Why you agreed still puzzles me. In fact, I never knew why you chose to be my friend in the first place; I suppose it’s a case of opposites attracting.”
Leigh didn’t join in with Alasdair’s forced laughter.
“And so, my friend?” Alasdair asked softly, “final chance. If you want to end our association now, I won’t pretend to be happy about it, but I will understand.”
Leigh made an exasperated sound. “Give me more credit than that. A conscience doesn’t make a man a cad, I hope. What you want is reasonable, I suppose, even if the way you’re going about it disturbs me. But if this means an end to the business, then I certainly want to help you complete the job. Just be careful of Kate Corbet’s feelings. She’s clever, yes. And curious. But even the most clever woman can forget her wits when a fellow like you campaigns for her attention.”
“It’s her cousins’ attention I’m campaigning for,” Alasdair said. “She is clever and suspects something of the sort. But she’s only a lure, and won’t lose by being one. I’ll show her a good time in London. She won’t regret it.”
“And who knows?” Leigh mused. “In turn, she may help you find where you put your misplaced heart.”
Alasdair was still laughing when the coach pulled up to the Swansons’ house.
7
Lady Swanson insisted Kate couldn’t go out wearing the same old things now that she’d attracted a gentleman’s notice, even though Kate’s gowns had been specifically made for her trip to London. So if Kate was going to appear in public with a famous man, especially with an infamous one, her hostess insisted she had to be properly dressed in the latest fashion so no one could say her cousins weren’t taking good care of her. Since even the best dressmaker in London couldn’t cobble together a new wardrobe in a matter of days, a seamstress was called in hurriedly to make over some of the Swanson daughters’ gowns for Kate until her new ones were ready. Kate protested almost as hard as Lady Swanson’s three elder daughters did.
In the end, though, Kate had to admi
t that what she’d imagined was the highest kick of fashion in London must have changed while she was on the coach driving there. After much arguing, Henrietta, Frances, and Chloe finally agreed to donate a gown apiece to Kate. They watched jealously as their mother picked over their wardrobes to see what might suit their cousin. Though they constantly jockeyed for position with each other, none of them wanted to win the competition for most suitable gown to give away.
Kate hadn’t wanted to enter that contest but had to admit she was the one who won it. She had on the most expensive, elegant, and beautiful thing she’d ever worn. Clad in heavy café au lait–colored figured silk that gleamed and shone as she turned to see herself in the mirror, she felt like a different person. A privileged, sophisticated one. The silk felt heavenly against her skin and made her look and feel regal. The gown was extravagant, both demure and seductive. Kate didn’t know how it accomplished all that, but it did. High at the neck and waist, it nonetheless showed both to their best advantage. Long cream-colored sleeves emerged from little puffs at the shoulders to hug her arms, but not as much as the silk hugged her form. And what a form! The material seemed to know just where to cling, molding itself to her shape and flattering it. The silk sighed when she moved, but not so much as Kate did as she looked at herself.
“Whatever he’s up to, I think he’s getting more than he bargained for,” her cousin Sibyl commented, eyeing her. “Kate, you look absolutely beautiful.”
“Yes,” Kate agreed, gazing at herself, enthralled. “How I wish I could call in an artist and have him sketch me now! I’d love my family and friends at home to see how I look.”
Sibyl frowned. “They will. The gown’s yours, Kate. Chloe gave it up. Besides, she’d never fit into it now.”
Edith Layton Page 8
