A Date with Dishonor

by Mary Brendan

  Elise’s unhappy memories were curtailed as Winnie shyly reappeared, eyes saucer-like, to show the viscount and Hugh Kendrick into the drawing room.

  ‘Oh, how very nice to see you. We are honoured.’ Maude’s welcoming beam drooped a little as she noted the viscount looked as sinfully handsome as ever, but rather too stern. She didn’t want this to be a fleeting visit, so breathlessly rattled off, ‘You must take tea with us.’

  ‘That would be very nice.’ Hugh gave an encompassing smile despite seeming rather subdued. His eyes had soon drifted Bea’s way, but instead of stationing there moved on.

  ‘Please do sit down.’ Maude indicated a vacant sofa.

  Hugh immediately went to it, but before the viscount could follow Beatrice had whipped to sit beside him.

  Elise winced at her sister’s excruciating lack of modesty, momentarily closing her eyes in despair. They opened to clash on a deep-brown gaze that she was sure mocked her. He’d told her the couple would not be nagged apart and must sort things out themselves and reluctantly Elise recognised the truth in it. She could sensibly advise her sister till she was blue in the face but Bea wouldn’t heed one word of it if she didn’t want to. If her sister had listened to her fears over the dratted Lady Lonesome business their family would not have come to the viscount’s notice. Elise sensed that might have been best.

  ‘Do take a seat, my lord,’ Maude urged as the viscount braced a dark hand negligently on the mantelshelf as though he would stay where he was. ‘There’s a place by Miss Elise.’ She opened the door to hiss at Winnie—who’d been instructed to hover outside—that it was time to put the kettle on.

  Alex sat down on the edge of a blue-velvet cushion, clasping his linked fingers on his knees. ‘And how are you, Miss Dewey?’ he asked evenly, gazing at a spot on the ceiling.

  ‘I’m well, sir. And you?’ Elise replied in an equally placid tone that belied the fact she was overwhelmed by his proximity. The warmth from his body was seeping through the thin dimity of her day dress and a scent of sandalwood was in her nostrils. A sliding glance took in his impressive appearance: highly polished Hessians and tight buff breeches were in her line of vision. She averted her eyes from a muscled thigh’s hard contours that mere days ago she’d straddled with her skirts awry.

  ‘I’m glad to be back in London,’ Alex answered, sitting back and turning his dark head towards her.

  Maude had been eavesdropping. ‘You’ve been out of town, my lord?’ It was unusual for people to be drawn away from the metropolis during the height of the Season, but she had heard from her husband that the viscount had recently bought Whittiker’s country acreage that abutted his own. She prayed that particular fellow wouldn’t put in an appearance this afternoon and ruin everything. He hadn’t visited this week and Maude sensed her eldest daughter was relieved rather than sorry about that.

  ‘I’ve had estate matters to deal with in Berkshire. Some newly acquired land needed fencing.’

  Alex caught a muffled sound to one side of him. ‘You find fencing amusing, Miss Dewey?’ he asked without removing his gaze from his long, loosely entwined fingers. They freed themselves so a few could brush a speck from a conker-brown sleeve from which protruded a pristine shirt cuff.

  ‘I find the idea of you personally doing it quite funny. But then I’m sure you did not.’ Elise cast her eyes down to her lap, wishing she’d managed to control her spontaneous giggle.

  ‘I personally did a good deal of it.’ He slowly turned to face her.

  Elise stared at him, moistened her lips, then stilled her tongue when she noticed she’d drawn his eyes to her mouth.

  ‘You believe me incapable of swinging a hammer?’ he asked quietly with a half-smile.

  ‘No...’ Elise could remember very well the strength in the arms that had held her captive in the bushes at Vauxhall. ‘I believed you incapable of lowering yourself to do so,’ Elise blurted truthfully, feeling uncomfortably hot with embarrassment.

  ‘Ah. An easy mistake to make if you’re used to jumping to conclusions about other people. Before my father died and I took my birthright I was in the army and learned many practical skills.’

  ‘Oh...well done,’ Elise praised icily, fuming at his set down. Every time they met he either ordered her about or reprimanded her. But what irked her most was her own behaviour; she’d been wrong to speak too openly. In future she’d guard her tongue and give him no opportunity to air his sarcasm. Then she’d have no need to retaliate in kind.

  ‘Surely you have estate workers, my lord, to carry out such work?’ Verity, although a distance away, had heard snippets of the conversation and gamely came to her friend’s assistance as she saw Elise’s blush heighten.

  ‘I have many staff at the Hall, but we have a measles epidemic in the surrounding villages. It has laid low men in their prime and hit some families particularly hard.’ Alex paused. ‘Cattle have been escaping fields and causing a nuisance, roaming free in the lanes. It’s no real hardship to get my hands dirty once in a while if an urgent job requires it.’

  ‘Ah...refreshment,’ Maude cried in relief. She sensed a tricky atmosphere was fomenting, yet oddly was quite sure that his lordship would not yet take himself off. Under cover of pouring tea and distributing cups she gave the sofa to her left thoughtful glances. In her opinion Elise was very sweet in looks and character, but not a raving beauty. Yet something about the girl interested him; and something about him made Elise nervous.

  Maude suppressed a smirk. She had high hopes of where it all might lead.

  ‘We were going to take a constitutional as soon as it stops raining.’ Bea turned to Hugh and inspected his jacket for signs of drizzle. ‘Have the clouds gone at last?’

  ‘It’s fine enough for an outing.’ Hugh glanced at his friend, hoping he would remember what they’d discussed on the way over.

  Alex spoke on cue, including the Chapman sisters in his invitation. ‘Perhaps all the young ladies would like to take a short drive in the park. If it does come on to rain, the landau has a hood.’

  ‘That is most kind, sir!’ Maude abruptly rattled her cup on to its saucer. ‘Verity, Fiona, fetch your outdoor things...quickly now.’ Maude’s beam commended the viscount for his gentlemanly conduct. She knew he’d sooner have taken just the Dewey girls and Hugh Kendrick, for it was bound to be a squash seating everybody. ‘By the time you return I shall have some spiced biscuits hot from the oven,’ she promised.

  Hugh gave his friend a rueful glance. Alex had a celebrated pastry chef in his kitchen in Upper Brook Street and could have fancy delicacies brought to him freshly baked at midnight if that was his whim.

  ‘I’ll look forward to that, ma’am,’ Alex said graciously on standing up.

  * * *

  ‘I’m sorry I—’

  ‘There’s a matter I—’

  ‘Please...you speak first, sir.’ Elise made a small apologetic gesture.

  ‘No, I insist you do so. You began fractionally before me.’ Alex sounded quietly amused. ‘Besides, it would be churlish to interrupt your apology when one is quite overdue.’

  Elise bristled, spearing him a darkling glance. She turned her head and carried on walking, pondering on her response now he had interrupted her train of thought.

  They had only recently alighted from the landau; Beatrice and Hugh had quite naturally drawn together like magnets and set off at quite a pace along the path as though wishing to put distance between themselves and their friends. Verity had spotted the Clemences in their carriage and had given them a wave. Caro and her mother had openly goggled at the sight of them all seated in the viscount’s crested landau. The Clemences’ barouche had pulled up sharply just yards in front of Alex’s vehicle. Verity and her sister had got down and dutifully gone off to have a gossip with their friends, leaving—quite deliberately, in Elise’s opinion—just her and
the viscount to stroll on alone towards the water. She glanced over a shoulder to see that the Chapman sisters now trailed a long way behind and Jago Clemence was at their side riding a large black horse. Caro and her mother had their heads together with more people and Elise could guess what held their interest.

  ‘Do I need to prompt you again?’ Alex asked softly.

  ‘No, you do not, sir,’ Elise answered with admirable aplomb and level tone. She turned back to him, putting from her mind that talk about them would be circulating in every society drawing room before the day was out. ‘I am thinking on how to phrase my conversation so that you do not immediately take me to task over it.’

  ‘Is that what I do?’ Alex wryly enquired. ‘I apologise in that case.’

  ‘And not before time,’ Elise returned, but her tone held a hint of levity. ‘Pax?’ she ventured appealingly.

  ‘Pax,’ Alex agreed. ‘Now that’s over with, what else were you about to say to me?’

  ‘I’m sorry if you thought me rude earlier. I meant no offence; it is just unusual to hear of a gentleman acting as a labourer.’

  ‘Has your father never used tools or mended things?’

  ‘Oh yes...’ Elise chuckled. ‘A few years ago when he had better health he would from necessity make economies and do odd jobs around the house. He loved his gardening, too. I would scold him often for coming to the table with soil beneath his fingernails...’ Elise frowned, suddenly wishing that the conversation hadn’t turned in that direction. ‘It must be a worry to you that the measles is infecting people close to your home.’ She fluidly changed the subject. ‘It is a nasty disease. Both Bea and I had it when quite young.’

  ‘I also had a dose as a child,’ Alex said. ‘Perhaps I was lucky, but I don’t recall being much put out by it.’ He frowned. ‘Yet one family has lost two children out of six and the parents are both afflicted.’

  ‘How dreadful!’ Elise gasped. ‘Is the doctor of no help? Can such country folk not afford to pay for his care?’

  ‘He has been regularly in attendance and done what he can for everybody...I made sure of it. A woman from the village is going in to help out with the everyday needs of people worst affected.’

  Elise guessed he might have paid for the woman’s generosity and the physician’s visits, too. ‘You are a good landlord and employer?’ she asked simply, wanting to know he was a benevolent man.

  ‘I hope so...I try to be.’ Alex plunged his hands into his pockets. ‘The matter I wished to discuss with you concerns your family.’

  Dejectedly, Elise realised he hadn’t been put off for long in pursuing the subject that really interested him and her admiration for his philanthropy withered a little. She was conscious of deep-brown eyes warming the top of her head and knew he was gauging her reaction to his blunt announcement.

  ‘I imagine you have heard that my parents had their problems before my mother died,’ Elise began coolly. ‘You might also have heard gossip about a scandal concerning my father’s business. I’ve no wish to revisit any of it, so please do not press me to do so.’

  ‘I’ve no desire to hurt you by talking about distressing topics,’ Alex returned quietly. ‘I have brought up the matter because I would like your advice on something.’

  Elise frowned, her interest quickening. ‘Something that concerns my family?’

  ‘Yes...’ Alex indicated a bench set beneath a canopy of branches. ‘Shall we sit down while we talk?’

  Elise allowed him to lead her to the seat.

  After a quiet moment Alex leaned forwards to plant his elbows on his knees and gaze into the distance. ‘Some days ago I had a meeting with my attorney. He gave me a letter bequeathed to me by my late uncle. In it he made mention of members of your family.’ Alex turned to look at her. ‘Tell me...did you know my uncle, Thomas Venner?’

  Elise repeated the name in a murmur, looking reflective. ‘I don’t think so. Was he a friend of my father’s?’

  ‘No...more a friend of your mother’s, I gather.’

  Elise’s puzzlement transformed to an expression of wariness. She glanced at his face, noticing there was a softening to his mouth as though pity moulded it. ‘Are you about to tell me they were romantically involved?’ Elise whispered.

  Alex pressed his spine back against the wooden bench, let an arm unfold along its top rail. ‘It seems they were. I was abroad serving in the army at the time, so have no personal knowledge of any of it.’ He paused, pursing his lips thoughtfully. ‘I have spoken to my mother. She recalls what went on between our kin many years ago. Her brother seems to have had the affair still on his conscience when he died.’ Alex glanced sideways at Elise to find her watching him intently. ‘He has written out a list of his creditors and included in it that he owes your father a wife and a sum of money. For reasons only known to him he expects me to make reparation for that sin.’

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘My mother ran off to Lord Reeves, not Mr Venner,’ Elise blurted, too shocked for a moment to properly form a questioning response.

  ‘I understand she accepted that gentleman’s protection afterwards. My mother informs me her brother had only a brief affair with Arabella Dewey.’

  Elise snapped down her face, frowning at her agitated fingers. It seemed incredible that she was discussing such personal family details with a man who a short while ago had been a stranger. Yet she believed all of what he’d said. She might not quite trust him in some ways, yet knew he would not lie to her over this. It seemed a bizarre coincidence that the scandalous drama that had altered the course of her and Bea’s lives had encompassed his family, too. But what disturbed her, and brought a surge of blood to stain her cheekbones, was the revelation that her mother had moved quickly from one lover to another. She hoped very much that Alex Blackthorne wouldn’t consider Arabella wanton and neither should she. Elise was determined to stay loyal to her mama’s memory no matter the extent of her peccadilloes.

  ‘I’m in a dilemma over whether to act on my late uncle’s wishes or to leave well alone,’ Alex explained.

  ‘What on earth does he expect you can do about it now?’ Elise cried in a stifled tone. ‘How can you make amends for all the hurt and humiliation your uncle heaped on my father’s head?’ She bit her lip, swinging away her tense countenance. There was no point in apportioning blame. She knew her mother must bear her share of the guilt.

  ‘Did your uncle’s family suffer as we have because of the liaison? Did his children feel ashamed?’

  ‘Thomas Venner was unwed.’

  Elise felt unaccountably angry to know it. So the fellow had not committed adultery like her mother. But still he was guilty in her eyes. Thomas Venner might have been unattached, but he knew her mother wasn’t.

  At the ball Elise recalled overhearing Maude and Anthony Chapman discussing Alex Blackthorne’s paramour. Perhaps Celia Chase was a married woman, cuckolding her husband, and the viscount was a hypocrite to affect an attitude of regret over his uncle’s bad habits. He would have betrayed his mistress with her at Vauxhall had she not come to her senses and put a stop to his seduction.

  ‘Even had your uncle been married, the disgrace would not have ruined him, would it? Gentlemen can often act the cheat with impunity.’

  Alex raised his eyes heavenwards, impatient fingers massaging his shady jaw. ‘I’ve no wish to stir antagonism between us. I’m not defending Thomas in any way, although I liked him.’

  Elise twisted to look at him, feline eyes springing to his face. ‘So...what advice do you seek on this tawdry topic, sir?’

  A quiet descended, broken only by the whispering of the sycamore leaves overhead as they danced in a strengthening breeze.

  ‘I’ve no idea how your father might react to a visit from me to discuss this matter,’ Alex finally said.

  ‘You would rub my father’s n
ose in his wife’s adultery?’ Elise accused, whitening in fury and disbelief. ‘My advice to you and to all your relatives is to leave him be!’ She shot to her feet but her elbow was gripped and she was unceremoniously tugged back to sit at his side.

  ‘The last thing I want is to fire the embers of his bitterness.’ Alex had turned towards her, his body positioned to thwart any further escape she might attempt. ‘I’ve sought to consult you for that very reason and would have done so sooner if you’d been a bit more amenable on the night of the ball.’

  ‘Had you stayed more than half an hour perhaps we might have talked,’ Elise snapped. ‘But I believe you were in a rush to get away to other company.’

  ‘Explain what you mean by that.’ Alex’s lazy drawl was at odds with the way he shifted threateningly closer as she made a tentative move to bolt.

  To an observer they might have looked like a couple having a delightfully animated chat, he sitting forwards, facing her. Only she understood his looming torso was pinning her in place. Elise felt her chest tighten in a mingling of thrill and trepidation.

  But she wouldn’t again try to flee. She’d no intention of drawing more eyes to them or of giving him the satisfaction of forcing her to submit. She had told him she wasn’t frightened of him...and she wasn’t!

  Elise lifted clear golden eyes to clash on his impassive regard, reading his challenge. He knew very well what she’d heard about him. No doubt his womanising was common knowledge in polite circles and people enjoyed gossiping about it. Elise sensed he didn’t give a damn what they said.

  ‘I heard that you stayed just a short while at the Clemences as you were more interested in your mistress than a roomful of débutantes.’

  ‘I doubt you would have been included in that conversation so I take it you were eavesdropping.’