Miss Verey’s Proposal

by Nicola Cornick

  ‘There was only one landlord,’ Philip said crossly, ‘and I never promised to marry his daughter!’

  Alex did not trouble to reply. He stretched out his long legs towards the fire and sighed. His brother eyed him with disfavour.

  ‘You have been married,’ Philip said suddenly. ‘How can you then condemn me to a loveless match?’

  There was a sharp silence. ‘I would have thought that my own experiences were the perfect example of the evils of a love match,’ Alex said expressionlessly. ‘I would spare you that, little brother.’

  Philip said something very short and very rude. His brother only smiled.

  ‘I sometimes find it difficult to believe you are only my senior by ten years,’ Philip said, with a final vicious spurt of malice. ‘You seem so very much older!’

  Alex laughed. ‘The weight of obligation!’ he said lightly, but his eyes were cold.

  ‘But devil take it, Alex, you like living like this! You choose it!’ Philip reached for the brandy bottle, staring at his brother aggressively. ‘You never go out, you never entertain…You cultivate your reputation as a recluse! And yet the toadies still try to tempt you with their daughters and their entertainments and their wine cellars!’

  Alex shrugged, indifferent again. ‘A Dukedom is perceived to be always in need of a Duchess,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately for the matchmakers, I am not in need of a wife! Which is where you enter the play, Philip!’

  ‘Damned if I see why I should marry just to oblige you!’ his brother said, aggrieved. ‘I know Madeline played fast and loose, and after she died you wanted no more to do with women! But you hold the Dukedom-you provide the heir! Damnation take it, there are hundreds of women panting after you!’

  Alex Delahaye stretched, crossing one ankle over the other. ‘You’re wasting your time, Philip! I hold the purse strings and I want you to marry! It’s as simple as that. Now, you will renew your courtship of Miss Verey-’

  ‘I can’t do that!’

  ‘Because of your aversion to her appearance? You will find that there is more to marriage than a pretty face,’ his brother said coldly.

  ‘It’s not just that.’ Philip’s face was turned away, suddenly suffused with colour. ‘I have told everyone-told the others how it was with her. I shall be a laughing-stock if I renew my suit!’

  ‘The others? Whom?’ Alex’s voice cut like a whip.

  ‘Ponsonby and Malters and Cheriton,’ Philip muttered. ‘It seemed a good joke-Verey tricking you into agreeing an alliance between the Delahayes and that pudding-faced wench! They found it amusing, at any event…’

  ‘No doubt,’ Alex said, with biting sarcasm. He got to his feet, towering over his brother’s chair. ‘Your drinking cronies have seldom been graced with wit and taste! Well, you must make your choice, Philip! Either you are a rich laughing-stock or you are a penniless one!’

  Philip was out of his chair in a second, confronting his brother. Alex had moved away and stood before the fireplace, one arm resting idly on the mantelpiece. He was the taller, which gave him an immediate advantage, but for once Philip was too angry to care.

  ‘Damn you for dictating my life,’ he said, real hatred lighting his blue eyes. ‘I wish you had died along with our parents!’

  For a moment they stood as though frozen. Philip was the first to look away.

  ‘I’m going,’ he muttered, ‘and do not think to try and pass off one of your candidates for matrimony on to me again! Damned if I’ll ever marry, to oblige you or otherwise!’

  ‘Damned if you don’t,’ Alex said expressionlessly, moving over to the fireplace and pulling the bell for the butler. ‘Tredpole, my brother is just leaving. Be so good as to lock up after him. You may go to bed. I shall not need you again tonight.’

  After the impassive Tredpole had shown Philip out, Alex resumed his seat but did not pick up the book that he had been reading. Instead, he sat staring into the dying embers of the fire.

  Miss Jane Verey…She had been little more than a child when he had seen her at Ambergate, but she had seemed a pleasant and unaffected girl. Alex smiled a little as he remembered the first glimpse he had had of her, riding across the fields close to her home. She had had a good seat on the horse and was clearly enjoying both the fresh country air and the company of her brother, who rode alongside. She had seemed exactly the type of sensible girl who would best keep Philip’s wilder excesses in check. Lord Verey had been flatteringly eager for the alliance, but they had agreed to wait a few years for Jane to reach her eighteenth year. All had seemed set fair.

  Verey’s death had thrown the plan slightly, but when the year of mourning had elapsed, Alex had been glad to find that the widow was still as receptive to the match. Philip had been giving increasing cause for concern over the years, with his deep play and unsuitable friends, and now that he had attained the age of four and twenty, Alex had decided it was high time that his brother settled down. Nor had Philip seemed particularly reluctant at first. Alex gave a rueful grimace. Money was the only currency that Philip understood and the inducements that he had offered alongside Miss Verey had obviously been attractive. More attractive than the girl herself, evidently!

  Alex sighed. Perhaps he had been mistaken, in both Miss Verey and in the strength of Philip’s feelings. It was not always easy to know what was best in the matter of his brother and sisters. There had been an ageing roué whom his sister Eliza had sworn was the love of her life. Alex had disapproved of the man but had not liked to oppose the match when he could see that his actions made Eliza so unhappy. Yet the very next season she had met a young baronet and was now happily married and living in Herefordshire. The other two girls were also married and the middle brother, George, was serving with Wellington’s army. There was only Philip…

  Alex strode over to the bureau beside the window. One of the desk drawers was half-open, a pile of papers almost spilling over the top. His expression hardened. Philip had been granted endless credit on the strength of the Delahaye fortune and now he was the one they were dunning for payment. He slammed the drawer closed, sending several of the bills tumbling onto the carpet. He would not stand for any more nonsense. The Verey match would be put forward once again and Philip forced to comply. Alex’s jaw tightened. His brother’s day of reckoning was approaching in more ways than one.

  Chapter Two

  ‘It’s true, I’m afraid,’ Lady Eleanor Fane said bluntly. ‘It’s the on dit all over Town, Alex, even eclipsing poor Maria Scrope’s elopement with the footman! Everyone knows that Philip described Miss Jane Verey as an ugly, illiterate brood mare! Which,’ Lady Eleanor added fairly, ‘would be bad enough even without the rest!’

  She removed her gloves, discarded her parasol and collapsed into an armchair with a heavy sigh.

  Lady Eleanor, the Duke of Delahaye’s aunt and godmother, was one of the few women allowed past the portals of Haye House. Impeccably connected and with a wide circle of friends, Lady Eleanor often acted as the Duke’s eyes and ears in Society. And her intelligence system was faultless. Which was why Alex Delahaye did not interrupt, but simply waited for her to continue.

  ‘Lady Verey has brought her daughter up to Town,’ Lady Eleanor went on, reaching for the silver teapot and pouring herself a generous cup. ‘Jane is not out yet-she makes her debut at Almack’s next week. When I met Clarissa Verey in Bond Street she had not yet heard the rumours, but it can only be a matter of time before some spiteful scandalmonger stirs up trouble!’ She watched Alex’s face set in lines of deep displeasure. ‘The girl is practically ruined before she starts! It was the utmost folly of Philip to speak as he did.’

  ‘I know it.’ Alex got up from the desk and strode across to the window, hands in his pockets. ‘The foolish young cub! He could never resist bragging to his cronies. No doubt they all thought it a great jest, but if the Vereys hear of it-’

  ‘If! When!’ Lady Eleanor said energetically. ‘The presence of Jane Verey in Town will stir the gossip to a positive mae
lstrom! Oh, Clarissa Verey glossed over Philip’s desertion, claiming that the betrothal had been a mere suggestion rather than a definite match, but she will not be so kind when she hears what Philip has been saying about her daughter! And there is worse, Alex, far worse!’

  Alex raised one black brow, a look of faint amusement on his face. ‘What could possibly be worse?’

  ‘Simon Verey has returned from the wars and is accompanying them to Town,’ Lady Eleanor said, grimly. ‘They are not without protection! If he should hear of the slur cast on his sister’s name-’

  ‘Scarcely her name,’ Alex said mildly. ‘Even Philip has not suggested Miss Verey is anything but virtuous!’

  ‘Her intellect, her appearance!’ Lady Eleanor amended crossly. ‘Must you be so literal, Alexander? Simon-Lord Verey, I suppose we must now call him!-will hear some mention of it in the clubs and we will all be in the suds!’

  ‘Very poetic, Aunt Eleanor!’

  Lady Eleanor gave a snort of disgust. ‘Upon my word, you are in an odd mood today, Alex! But I know that you have always rated Simon Verey most highly!’

  ‘I have indeed-he is spoken of as a most intelligent and sound man!’

  ‘But wait,’ Lady Eleanor said impatiently, ‘you have not heard the final piece of news!’

  ‘I am all attention, ma’am,’ her nephew murmured politely, betrayed only by the twinkle in his eye. Lady Eleanor let it pass in the interests of conveying her information.

  ‘On the strength of our old friendship, Clarissa Verey invited me back to Portman Square,’ she said. ‘Well, of course, I could scarce decline, although I hoped she would not ask my advice on how to make her hideous daughter presentable. Don’t smile at me, Alex, this is serious! Try to follow my chain of thought!’

  ‘Yes, ma’am!’ the Duke said meekly.

  Lady Eleanor looked suspiciously at him but his expression remained quite bland.

  ‘Well, naturally enough, Clarissa Verey suggested that both Jane and the friend she has brought with her from the country should make their curtsies to me! Clarissa had already ordered tea, and mentioned in passing that Jane had a sweet tooth so, coupled with Philip’s comments, I made the obvious connection that the girl ate too many cakes!’

  ‘Naturally enough!’

  ‘Then the door opened, and a divine child tiptoed in and curtsied to me! She was tiny, all pink and white, with golden curls! A veritable angel!’

  ‘The friend from the country?’

  ‘Of course,’ Lady Eleanor said, discontentedly. ‘Miss Sophia Marchment! It’s a tragedy!’

  ‘That the friend is so pretty and Miss Verey not?’

  ‘No!’ Lady Eleanor glared. ‘Really, Alex, how you do leap to conclusions! No, the tragedy is that Philip has made even more of a fool of himself than we had imagined. For then, Miss Verey herself came in. Oh, dear!’

  ‘Pray compose yourself, ma’am,’ the Duke said, lips twitching. ‘I am desperate to hear the end of the tale!’

  ‘Why, but she is quite beautiful! Quite distractingly lovely!’ Lady Eleanor said crossly, reaching for a handkerchief and blowing her nose hard. ‘And the sweetest of girls! How could Philip do such a thing? How could he?’

  The Duke was accustomed to his aunt’s slightly long-winded and sometimes circuitous route when approaching a subject. There was no doubt, however, that he had not been expecting this.

  ‘The girl is beautiful?’ he echoed, dumbfounded. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of course I am sure! How can you be so nonsensical? She is beautiful and charming and intelligent! They are the perfect foil for each other, the one so fair and the other so dark! They’ll break all the hearts in Town!’

  There was a silence. Alex got to his feet and strolled over to the window, hands in the pockets of his beautifully cut bottle-green coat. Lady Eleanor viewed his tall figure hopefully. If anyone could think of a way to bring them out of this mess, it had to be Alex. He was as cool-headed and resourceful as Philip was rash and quixotic. In fact, Lady Eleanor regretted that he sometimes seemed too cold, too passionless.

  It had not always been thus. She could remember the youthful Alexander, Marquis of Hawarden as he was then, flushed with happiness and good humour on his wedding day some fourteen years before. Before his parents had died so tragically in a carriage accident, before he had had to take on the upbringing of his five siblings and before his beautiful young Duchess had disgraced his name with her open affairs, her gambling and the drinking which had lead to her premature death some six years after their marriage…

  ‘Are you still of a mind for Philip to wed, Alex?’ she asked a little hesitantly, as her godson seemed sunk deep in thought.

  ‘I am.’ Alex shook himself, turning away from his contemplation of the view of Berkeley Square. ‘He has to be made to conform, Aunt Eleanor, and what better way than by a respectable marriage and a brood of infants? And the Verey match is a good one! You may remember that it was my grandfather’s dearest wish that there should be an alliance between the Delahayes and the Vereys! I even went to Ambergate myself a few years ago to speak to Verey about it! All was set fair, and now Philip-’ He broke off, his lips tightening in exasperation.

  ‘You went to Ambergate?’ Lady Eleanor sat forward. ‘I had no notion! Did you meet Miss Verey whilst you were there?’

  ‘I did not. I saw her, but I did not speak to her. She was unaware of my visit since her father wished to keep the proposed marriage a secret from her at the time. I believe she was but fifteen and no doubt he did not judge her of an age to be considering her future husband!’

  Lady Eleanor raised her brows. In her experience young ladies with far less than fifteen years in their dish were pre-occupied with their marriages.

  ‘What was your opinion of her?’

  Alex shrugged as though he did not have an opinion. ‘Her looks were pleasant enough, I suppose, although she was a little plump. She seemed a bright, lively girl and hardly the frumpish dullard Philip is suggesting!’

  Lady Eleanor frowned. ‘How could he have been so mistaken in her? I can scarce believe it! Why, the girl he described and the one that I met cannot be the same person!’

  Alex was also frowning now. ‘Yes, I confess that that is the part that exercises me the most! I have every respect for your judgement, Aunt-’ he flashed her a grin ‘-and were it a choice between your assessment and Philip’s, I should settle for yours any time! But the fact remains that Philip describes Miss Verey in terms of pungent denunciation whilst you have seen her to be a veritable angel! One of you must be mistaken!’

  ‘My dear Alex,’ Lady Eleanor said trenchantly, ‘the whole Town will shortly see that my description is the accurate one! And not only can I vouch for Miss Verey’s personal charms, I know she has wit and style to match!’

  ‘Then,’ Alex Delahaye said slowly, ‘Philip must be lying. I can only assume he made up this outrageous fabrication to strengthen his refusal of the match. Perhaps he thought that I would relent if I believed Miss Verey to be utterly unpresentable! Evidently he is prepared to go to extreme lengths to avoid the marriage!’

  ‘Foolish,’ Lady Eleanor said shortly, ‘and dangerous. It only needed for Miss Verey to come to Town for him to be seen to be a liar and a scoundrel! I am surprised at Philip! He may be a loose fish but he is no fool!’

  ‘No,’ Alex said, ‘he is no fool. Which is why-’ He broke off and Lady Eleanor looked at him curiously.

  ‘What is in your mind, Alexander?’

  ‘I am thinking that there are various strands to be resolved here,’ the Duke said thoughtfully. ‘I am still of a mind to try to save the Verey match if I can. More importantly, I must speak to Philip about the sudden transformation in Miss Verey’s person and character. It is that, dear ma’am, which interests me the most.’ His dark gaze, reflective but with a faint hint of humour, rested on Lady Eleanor’s puzzled face.

  ‘We have assumed that it is Philip who is at fault here,’ he enlarged, ‘but no one has yet
thought to ask of Miss Verey’s reaction to the proposed match. I imagine that you had too much delicacy to mention it to her, Aunt?’ Then, as Lady Eleanor nodded in bewilderment, he continued.

  ‘You say that she has wit and charm. Supposing, dear Aunt…just supposing…that Miss Verey herself has objections to Philip’s suit, objections that have been set aside by those making the match. She might have told her mother that she did not wish to marry, only to be overruled. Would she perhaps take matters into her own hands? And take any steps within her power to make herself displeasing to him?’

  Lady Eleanor gasped, recoiling, grasping her parasol as if for comfort. ‘Alex! What a suggestion! How could she possibly-?’

  ‘Anyone may play the fool if they choose,’ Alex said drily. ‘It is more difficult to appear ugly if one is not, but scarcely impossible with a little disguise! And Philip is not very discerning! I wonder…’

  ‘Are you truly suggesting that Miss Verey has tricked Philip?’ Lady Eleanor looked as though she would be reaching for the hartshorn next. ‘No! Oh, no, I cannot credit it!’

  Alex smiled. ‘I may, of course, be doing Miss Verey the greatest injustice. But it should be possible to discover the circumstances under which she and Philip met, the witnesses, the words that passed between them. I believe that I could find out quite easily whether or not Philip has been cozened!’

  Lady Eleanor was still looking confused and deeply reproachful. ‘Alex, you have the cunning of the devil even to think of it!’

  ‘Thank you, Aunt Eleanor!’ Once again, Alex grinned at her. ‘I confess to a certain curiosity about Miss Jane Verey! It is stimulating to suspect that I may have met an adversary as devious as I!’

  ‘No, it is impossible! Not that sweet girl!’

  ‘Well, we shall see!’

  ‘How do you intend to go about it?’ Lady Eleanor asked with misgiving.