‘I don’t think I’ve seen Miss Calverley before,’ he said cautiously. ‘How long has she been in London?’
‘I believe the Calverleys came up from Portsmouth quite recently. But I’m not surprised you haven’t seen them. Sir Henry hasn’t been well, so they haven’t mixed in society as yet.’
He stopped and regarded James with a twinkle in his eye. ‘I can see our lovely newcomer has made an impression on you, James. I’ll willingly introduce you if you wish. You’re just the sort of fellow she ought to meet. In fact, I’ll do it now—her father is a colleague of mine.’ He took a step, then stopped. ‘Ah! It looks as if you’ll have to wait a while. Prince Friedrich is about to take her off for this waltz.’ He turned to James and said regretfully. ‘That’s a real pity. The girl would have done better to wait for you, James. Prince Fred may have been born in Vienna, but his waltz is definitely Berlin!’
They watched as Miss Calverley was led out on to the floor. Sir Charles went on, ‘You know, of course, that the girl’s father is the man who put an end to Croxton’s hopes of a dukedom?’
‘Calverley? How on earth did he manage that?’
‘I’ll tell you, but you must keep it to yourself. Calverley uncovered some unpleasant facts about the sources of Croxton’s wealth.’ He sighed. ‘The Prince has never shown much discrimination, but he couldn’t ignore what was in Sir Henry’s report. So Croxton lost the royal favour, together with any hopes of a dukedom—or anything else. In fact, he’s been told to leave England before the end of the month.’
‘That’s pretty harsh, surely? Where will he go?’
‘He’s lucky to escape worse! I should think he’ll go to the West Indies. He has several estates there. Don’t feel too sorry for him, James. The details in Sir Henry’s report are pretty nasty. The country is better off without a man like Croxton, and so is the Prince. I believe he’s here tonight, but the word is already starting to spread. He’s finished in London.’
‘So that was all Calverley’s doing?’
‘Yes. And if I were Calverley I’d watch my back. Croxton isn’t a man to forgive or forget easily.’
* * *
James was listening with only half his attention. His eyes were on the pair waltzing past them. Miss Calverley was smiling at her partner with a delightful air of interest, but James was as certain as he could be that she was bored. He couldn’t have explained how he knew, but he knew. The feeling of familiarity grew stronger as he continued to watch her. This was no stranger. He was sure in his bones that this was Anne, whatever Sir Charles or anyone else said!
‘Shall we join our hostess?’ he said. Sir Charles readily agreed and they went over to the group that included Lady Carteret and her guest of honour.
It was difficult, but James managed to maintain a calmly courteous manner while he waited for the dancers to return. He wanted to see Anne’s reaction when they met again, to hear what she had to say, how she would explain herself. Sir Henry had just been borne off by his hostess to meet someone else, so he was unable to talk to Anne’s father. But her aunt had stayed behind, and James, who already knew her slightly, exchanged a few words with her. He was surprised at the lack of warmth in her manner until he realised that she must have heard the story of Lady Barbara’s so-called broken heart, and shared society’s disapproval of him. It was perhaps wiser not to touch upon the subject of her niece. He moved on to greet other friends in the group, flirted lightly with Sally Jersey, who was an old friend, and waited. But he never lost track of the slender figure in white and gold circling the floor with her elephantine partner.
‘You shall dance the next waltz with her, James,’ said Lady Jersey with a look of sympathetic amusement. ‘The poor girl deserves a treat after our estimable Prince Friedrich’s efforts. He has trundled her round the ballroom like a gun carriage! And you dance like a dream!’
‘Thank you. I…I would like that,’ he said, his eyes still on the dancers.
‘I prophesy the girl will be one of the Season’s successes, don’t you? You’ll have your work cut out to make an impression on this one.’ She added with a sly look, ‘Or will she too end up going off to Scotland with a broken heart?’
James turned towards her with one eyebrow raised and said, ‘I’m surprised at you, Lady Jersey! You, above all, ought to know that Barbara Furness was simply enjoying herself at my expense.’
‘Of course, I know that, James! You’ve occasionally had a quite devastating effect on a number of young ladies, but the silly creatures must take a share of the blame. As for Lady Barbara—I didn’t believe that story for one moment. Her love of mischief probably got the better of her. I have to say that this last business with Rothmuir was the outside of enough. Her tricks can be quite amusing, but this went too far.’
‘Her love of tricks is not so amusing when it upsets people I’m fond of!’
‘You mean your grandmother? Then I’m sorry to have teased you. Look, the waltz has finished, and Miss Calverley and the prince are returning. Do I detect a look of stoical suffering on her face? No, her manners are much too good for that. She really is delightful.’ Lady Jersey held out her hand. ‘Miss Calverley! I have someone here who wants to meet you. Let me introduce Lord Aldhurst.’
Anne had looked beautiful dressed in borrowed finery on her last night at Hatherton, but tonight she almost took James’s breath away. He bowed and smiling into her eyes, said, ‘Miss Calverley?’ He added very softly, ‘So that’s your name!’
The dark blue eyes widened in surprise, but the expected recognition was not there. If anything she looked puzzled, and a little wary. ‘Of course it is, Lord Aldhurst! What else would it be?’
James almost laughed. So this was to be her game! Pretending she didn’t know him. It was understandable. He could hardly expect her to reveal to the assembled company that Sir Henry Calverley’s daughter already knew James Aldhurst very well indeed. Sally Jersey was looking interested, and it wouldn’t do at all to rouse her curiosity—she was second only to Sir Charles in her love of gossip. For the moment he would have to play the game with her. He shook his head, laughed and changed the subject. ‘Lady Jersey was telling me that you have spent some time abroad. Where was that, Miss Calverley? Spain?’
‘Everywhere, I think. My father’s work has taken us to most of the countries in Europe.’ She eyed a young man coming towards them, and said with a cool smile, ‘I’m so glad to have met you, Lord Aldhurst, but I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me. I believe Lord William is about to claim his dance.’
Before James could say anything more she was gone again, and when he next caught sight of her she was moving up the room in a lively set of country dances. Lady Jersey was now talking to someone else and James was left to himself, a prey to conflicting emotions. He was convinced that Miss Calverley and Anne were one and the same, but how on earth had her absence at Hatherton remained unnoticed? And why was she behaving so indifferently towards him? Apart from that one spontaneous smile when their eyes had first met—surely a smile of recognition?—she had not given the slightest indication, not even a flicker of an eyelash, that she had ever seen him before. She was certainly a better actress than he would have expected.
Miss Calverley returned eventually, looking flushed and animated. Her partner offered eagerly to take her in search of refreshment, but James protested, and Lady Jersey, who seemed to have taken up his cause, supported him.
‘Lord William, alas! I have promised Lord Aldhurst that he may dance the next waltz with Miss Calverley, and I think he must be the one to look after her till then.’ William Chatteris’s face fell, but Sally Jersey was too influential a woman to argue with. He bowed and went away.
Miss Calverley’s eyes sparkled and she said with a slight touch of rebellion in her voice, ‘How kind of you, Lady Jersey! But I am just a little thirsty…’
‘Of course you are, my dear! And I have found you the perfect partner. Lord Aldhurst has the best reputation in London for dancing the waltz, and
he is second to none in his ability to take care of his partners! He’ll find somewhere pleasant for you to enjoy a cooling drink before the next dance.’ Miss Calverley looked for a moment as if she was about to object, but then made a charming little gesture of acquiescence. His heart missed a beat as she took his arm, and without thinking he put his hand on top of hers and smiled at her. She drew a sharp breath, took her hand away and walked off without him. With a shrug at Lady Jersey, who was shaking her head at him, James followed her.
Miss Calverley carefully avoided any contact as they made their way through to the anteroom where refreshments were being served, and James began to feel angry again. She was making a mistake if she thought she could play games with him for much longer. He found a seat in a corner, fetched a glass of fruit punch for her and wine for himself, and sat down facing her, a touch grimly. Much as he wanted to know why she was behaving like this, why she had run away, wanted to demand why she had not been in touch with him, to remind her of what they had meant to each other, he knew he must keep his feelings in check. The room was crowded and, aware that he was always the subject of conjecture and gossip, he sipped the wine, then said calmly, ‘I am doing my best to understand you, Anne. Why are you behaving like this?’
Her manner became even cooler. ‘Anne was my mother’s name, Lord Aldhurst. Mine is Antonia. But I’m afraid it is not generally used by anyone but my family and close friends.’
‘Friends! Dammit, we—’ James controlled himself with an effort. ‘I would say we were a great deal more than that!’
‘I cannot imagine why you should think so, sir,’ she said, and this time her voice was icy. She stood up. This was no acting. James would swear that the young woman standing before him was genuinely offended.
Conscious of curious eyes all around, James got up too and said, ‘I…I seem to have made a mistake for which I apologise. Would you…would you prefer to go back to the ballroom?’
The music was just striking up, and James waited in silence until his partner nodded frostily and they went to join the dancers on the floor. His thoughts were in turmoil. Against all the evidence, he had been quite sure that this was his Anne, but now he was questioning his judgement again. If this was acting, then he had been totally mistaken in her character. No woman who had professed to love him as Anne had could possibly behave like this, however afraid of discovery she might be. He had seen no warmth in those dark blue eyes, no awareness of him as a person she loved, or even as someone she knew! Indeed, she had so far shown only polite indifference, changing to anger when she thought he was being over-familiar. Was he making a serious mistake after all?
The waltz gave him no reason to change his mind. He failed to engage her in conversation, and for the most part they went round in silence. And although James danced with all his usual expertise, neither he nor, apparently, his partner, enjoyed it. Miss Calverley was stiff and unyielding in his arms, and kept an even greater distance between them than the most rigorous chaperon would have demanded. In fact, he thought bitterly, she had been more at ease, danced more gracefully, with Prince Friedrich!
His heart ached when he remembered his last waltz with Anne at Roade. They had danced in a neglected house, in an empty room, with neither orchestra nor company, and yet it had been magical. She had melted into his arms as if they were one person.
Damn it, what sort of idiot was he? He loved Anne with everything in him. How was it possible not to be sure whether this woman was the love of his life—or someone he had just met?
The memory of the waltz at Roade persuaded him to try one last time. As they went up the room to rejoin the others he said carefully, ‘I have offended you again, Miss Calverley, by using your name too freely. For that I apologise. But do you…do you really not feel that we have met before?’
They were nearly there. As she turned and curtsied she said with a scornful smile, ‘Really, Lord Aldhurst, I am obliged to say that I am disappointed! I had expected a less…tired approach from a gentleman who is said to be the most skilled charmer in London. Ever since I was old enough to wear long skirts, gentlemen all over Europe have been assuring me that we have met before—usually because they wanted something from my father. I’m not sure what you want, but my answer is still the same. I’m quite certain we have not…met…before!’
Her words stung. James was angry, but he was damned if he would let her see it! He smiled lazily at her and said softly, ‘Then I have to apologise again. I have been underestimating you, Miss Calverley. I see I shall have to invent another approach, especially for you!’
He bowed and turned away. This…shrew could not possibly be his gentle, vulnerable Anne! She was a complete stranger, the opinionated daughter of a senior diplomat, and he had been tricked by an astounding likeness into making a fool of himself. And now he would have to start the search for the real Anne all over again!
* * *
He walked swiftly across the floor to where his grandmother was sitting. Sir Charles had joined her, and James listened for a while, still able to smile at their strictures on the couples on the dance floor in spite of his heartache.
Then Miss Calverley glided past on the arm of yet another partner. He watched grimly. She still reminded him of Anne with almost every one of her movements: Anne in his grandmother’s walled garden, an aristocrat to the fingertips; Anne with laughter in her eyes, holding out her hand to him in the saloon at Roade inviting him to dance; Anne coming down the stairs in his grandmother’s dress on the last fateful evening they had spent together…Oh, God, what if he never found her again?
His grandmother’s voice recalled him to Lady Carteret’s ballroom. ‘James! James, Sir Charles has told me that the girl dancing with Arthur Porteous is our famous Miss Calverley.’
‘She is, ma’am.’
‘James has already danced with her,’ Sir Charles said.
‘Indeed? Why didn’t I see you?’ she demanded. ‘And why didn’t you bring her to me afterwards to be introduced?’
‘Miss Calverley is in great demand,’ James said curtly.
Lady Aldhurst’s eyes widened and she gave him a penetrating look. To his relief, however, she didn’t comment. She turned instead to Sir Charles. ‘Have you too met Miss Calverley, Charles?’
Sir Charles was eager to talk and full of praise for Miss Calverley. Unwilling though he was to listen to any more about her, James had soon heard enough to put the seal on his conviction that he had indeed been mistaken. It was well nigh impossible for Miss Calverley to be the girl at Hatherton. Her resemblance to Anne was simply one of fate’s crueller tricks.
‘She’s a most enterprising young lady, a true heroine,’ said Sir Charles. ‘I don’t know what her father would have done without her. He was taken ill, you know, halfway to England. He has a very good manservant, but it was his daughter who nursed him for the rest of the voyage, and after they had landed, she was the one who saw to all the arrangements for travel to London. An intrepid young person! Once they were here she brought his papers personally to the Foreign Office.’
‘She seems to be devoted to her father?’
‘They are well nigh inseparable. In fact, I’m not sure what he will do when she marries.’
‘Does she have someone in mind, Sir Charles?’ asked Lady Aldhurst casually.
‘Not that I’ve heard. Sir Henry’s attack of fever was pretty bad. He was tired out by the journey up from Portsmouth and had to rest, so we haven’t heard or seen much of him or his daughter since they arrived. But as far as I know there hasn’t been the slightest hint of any engagement. I very much doubt there is one—I know for a fact that Sir Henry still wants his daughter to meet more people of her own age in London. But if you ask me she won’t have any difficulty in finding a husband. She’s a real charmer.’
Well, that’s a matter of opinion, thought James grimly.
‘I must see if I can do anything,’ Lady Aldhurst said. ‘What is Sir Henry’s direction?’
‘He has a house i
n Upper Grosvenor Street. His sister, Lady Pendell, has been looking after it while he has been abroad. You probably know her, Lady Aldhurst.’
‘Yes, I do. We’ve met on numerous occasions. She is a widow, but mixes quite freely in society.’
James could stand no more. The motive behind his grandmother’s intention of getting to know the Calverleys was only too clear, and he wanted none of it. He excused himself and went in search of more congenial company.
* * *
He found Harry alone and in a melancholy mood. Lady Barbara had ignored his name on her card and had gone to dance with someone else. James found him a drink and took him to a spot from which they had a good view of the floor. Couples came and went, and at one point Lady Barbara passed by and cast up her eyes at them as she was jogged along by her over-enthusiastic partner.
‘She’ll never agree to marry me,’ Harry said morosely.
James decided at least to do someone else some good. ‘Barbara loves you as much as she can love anyone,’ he said firmly. ‘But she enjoys teasing. You could easily persuade her to marry you if you put your mind to it.’
‘Her mother wouldn’t agree. I’m a younger son.’
‘Harry, you were one of the bravest men I ever had in my command in Spain,’ said James briskly. ‘Where the devil has your fighting spirit gone? It’s my belief that after this last escapade in Scotland Lady Furness would be only too pleased to marry her daughter off to a presentable young man such as you, with a pedigree as long as yours, younger son or not. You may never inherit your father’s title, but you’re not poor. You’ve more than enough to support Barbara in the style her mother would like. Don’t let Barbara tell you differently.’
Harry’s face brightened considerably. ‘D’y’know James, I hadn’t thought of that! I think you might be right. I’m obliged to you, old chap! Thank you! I’ll just be off to catch her at the end of this set of dances.’
Reawakening Miss Calverley Page 14
