“You had best be much more concerned that no one else does.” He scowled. “Where is your guardian? And what the devil do you mean coming alone to my house? No respectable young lady would be caught dead here.”
Vesta looked bewildered. “Whyever not? You are my godfather, after all.”
“But I have a rep—” He cleared his throat. “I have reasons, my dear.” DeVere took up his quill and scratched a brief note before ringing for his servant. “Winchester,” he commanded, “see this delivered at once to the Baroness Palmerston-Wriothesley at Upper Grosvenor, and then have my open chaise put to at once. The young lady and I will be taking a drive in Hyde Park.”
“Not Hyde Park! Please, Uncle Vic,” she pleaded, “anywhere else but there.”
“Of course, my pet. London has many parks. Perhaps you would enjoy seeing the deer at Richmond Park? Even the road to Richmond is a scenic drive. The prospects from the new bridge and the hill are quite remarkable.”
“Yes,” Vesta said. “It sounds lovely.”
“We shall go anywhere you like,” he promised. He placed his fingers under her dainty chin and upturned her face to look into her deceptively guileless eyes, for he knew in his being that the girl was up to something. “And you will tell your godfather precisely what is troubling you.”
***
Vesta climbed into the chaise with her godfather’s assistance. “Might I drive?” she asked as he settled himself and took up the ribbons.
He looked aghast. “I think not!”
“I do know how,” she insisted.
He gave her a dark look. “You don’t know London.” His commanding tone laid the question to rest. Vesta only shrugged.
They departed the mews in fits and starts with her godfather Lord DeVere expertly maneuvering through the mass of merchants’ carts, hackneys, sedan chairs, and private coaches comprising London’s daily traffic until reaching Richmond Road where they finally settled into an even pace. Vesta lost herself for the longest time in the rhythmic clop of the iron-shod hooves, rendering only halfhearted response to the sights he pointed out along the way. After several miles, they drew up before the new stone toll bridge spanning the Thames with its magnificent five arches.
“This structure was erected only a few years ago to replace a ferry that was in service dating back to the Norman times,” said Lord DeVere. “I am told it is one of the recommended sights to see in London.”
They sat for several minutes admiring the view of woods, water, softly swelling hills, and downs in the near distance as well as the towers and spires of Richmond Village across the river, but Vesta was far too distracted to much care. “Fascinating indeed,” Vesta remarked drily.
“My sentiments exactly.” Her godfather chuckled. “Since I am quite as bored as you are with the tour, shall we dispense with the drive in the park altogether? Do you now wish to tell me what it is that sent you to my door, Vesta?”
“Must I have a reason?” she shot back. “You are my godfather, after all.”
He chuckled again, long and hard. “No, my dear, reasons are only for those beings with inferior understanding.”
She brightened. “I just knew we would be of one accord.”
“Did you now?” He grinned. “We have found but one topic in which we agree. Am I to believe there are others?”
“Undoubtedly!” Vesta exclaimed.
“Do you care to elaborate? Although it probably is best not to be seen alone in my company, why were you so insistent on avoiding Hyde Park?”
Vesta plucked at her skirts.”Because they must not know I have spoken with you.”
“They?”
“Aunt Di and Captain Hew.” She slanted a sidelong look to gauge her godfather’s reaction.
“Ah.” He nodded. “And why is this?”
“Because they would neither understand nor approve.”
“Of you speaking with me?” He scowled.
“No, of what I speak to you about.”
His blue gaze bored into her. “And that topic would be?”
Vesta bit her lip. “Aunt Di and Captain Hew.”
“Ah, but of course.”
She was glad to see his expression relax.”It’s all wrong, don’t you see?” Vesta insisted. “Aunt Di is lovely, but she’s far too old.”
“Old? I daresay she is younger than I.” He gave her a shrewd look. “Or do you really mean too aged for Captain Hew?”
“Indeed, I do! And she has already been married once! Should she not give others a chance? It’s only fair, after all.”
“Undoubtedly.” He smirked.
“And Captain Hew, he is far too distracted by her.”
“So distracted that he sees nothing...or no one else?” he suggested.
“Precisely! I just knew you of all people would understand.”
“So what do you propose as an answer to this dilemma, my dear?”
Vesta wrinkled her brow. “I haven’t quite decided. ‘Tis why I seek your advice. I first thought about asking her to return home as it is my father’s house, after all, but then who would I have to chaperone me? Polly couldn’t do so.”
“Polly?”
“My maid. Well, she’s only a borrowed maid to begin with. So you see why that wouldn’t answer at all.”
“No, borrowed maids are always an inferior lot.”
“Even if I found my own abigail, she still wouldn’t be an appropriate chaperone, so you see why I can’t send Diana home.”
“Indeed, I do. Have you another solution?” Her godfather took up the lines and signaled the horses to turn about.
“I do, but it’s a thorny one.” She gave him a sidelong glance. “It would require the assistance of one with considerable resources, one who might be in harmony with my proposal.”
“Go on, my dear,” he urged, cueing the team into a brisk trot.
“It’s simple, really. If Diana cannot be sent home, then Captain Hew must be taken away from her. It’s the only way as I see it. And it’s purely for his own good.”
“Then you have only my brother’s best interests at heart?”
“Of course I do, godfather!”
“And that would be...”
“Because I love him.”
He turned his head sharply in her direction.”You are in love with Hew?”
“Madly. Desperately. Passionately.”
“Does my brother know of his good fortune?” he asked. “Moreover, does he share your sentiments, Lady Vesta?”
“But how can he when he is blinded by her?” Her voice quivered. “He hasn’t even had a chance to look in my direction.”
“So in truth, you seek only to enlighten him of the treasure that lies under his very nose?”
“Yes! Do you not see that this is the only way?”
“But of course I see, my pet.”
“Then you will help me?” Vesta asked with the same wide-eyed look that always worked with Papa. She was unsure how to read the twitch of her godfather’s mouth until he turned a brilliant smile upon her.
“My dear, should I search the world over, I can’t imagine finding a more perfect match for my revoltingly straitlaced brother, Hew. Moreover, I have considerable—some would even say nearly infinite—resources, all of which I am willing to unwaveringly place at your disposal.”
“You would? How positively lovely of you!” Vesta cried, throwing her arms about his neck with a kiss on the cheek. “Papa said he could always count on you in a pinch! I am so happy he was right!”
***
“I can’t imagine where she could have gone.” Diana worried her lower lip. “We’ve searched the park and the local shops.”
“It surprises me she should have ventured out alone, but I can’t imagine she has gone far,” Hew said. “She struck me as such a timid child.”
Diana regarded him with an incredulous look and then laughed outright. “Vesta? Timid? I fear you are sadly mistaken in your impression, captain. Vesta is a willful, highly spirited, and intre
pid girl who has been accustomed to running wild since her mother’s passing.”
Hew frowned. “The child wants for discipline.”
“Her father indulges her every whim, and yet I am as much to blame. It is all we can do to keep a rein on her.”
“Yet you chose to conduct such an ungovernable hoyden to London?”
“There were circumstances, changes that made things vastly uncomfortable for her.”
The exchange was interrupted by the butler’s appearance. He gave Diana an apologetic look. “Beg pardon, madam, but a message is arrived from Lord DeVere’s running footman.”
“From Lord DeVere?” Diana accepted the missive with a look of surprise. Hew noted the slight tremble of her hands as she broke the seal. He strode to her side as she scanned the contents and then collapsed in a chair. “Thank God! She is safe!”
“She is with my brother?”
“Yes. He has taken her for a drive.”
“Then you know Vesta is safe.”
In only seconds, Hew saw fury replace her relief. “That is small consolation considering the company she is in. Mighty high-handed of him, don’t you think? To have absconded with the girl without so much as a by your leave!”
“Yet he shows you considerable favor in having sent the dispatch.” Hew gave a wry smile. “For my brother generally answers to no one.”
“He is an abominable man!” Diana said with a scowl.
“Inarguably.” Hew chuckled. “My lady,” he began, suddenly sober. “You were speaking only a moment ago of your reasons for coming to London. Am I to suppose it was due in part to Ned’s remarriage?”
“Yes. Vesta is vastly displeased about it. One can hardly blame her for being unsettled, given the suddenness of it.”
“I pray you would indulge my impertinence, but might I assume the marriage made you uncomfortable as well?”
“Perhaps,” Diana answered evasively.
“You have feelings for Ned?”
“Only of a platonic nature,” she said. “I have known Edward for half my life. He is a good and kind man. I think sometimes had he asked, I might have been persuaded to assume a legitimate, rather than surrogate role as Vesta’s mother, but now there is no longer a need. She is grown.”
“But what of yourself? Do you not desire security?”
“What woman does not?” She laughed. “Yet, I have a home for as long as I wish and an income sufficient to my modest needs.”
“What of companionship?” he asked.
“I have had that with Edward and Vesta.”
“And affection?”
Diana briefly met his inquiring gaze and turned away. “Surely every woman desires all those things, Hew, but they are not always to be.”
“I shan’t hedge any longer,” he said with growing impatience. “You must know I wish to pay my address to you, Diana. I can offer you security, my affection, and utmost fidelity.”
“Priceless gems,” she answered with a sad smile. “But do you not seek passion in a marriage?”
Hew’s face instantly suffused with heat. “I would expect that to follow.”
“There you are wrong, dear Hew. Affection may spring from mutual respect, but passion can never be willed. It just is.” She added softly, “Sometimes whether we desire it or not.”
“It’s my brother, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” Her retort was quick, too quick.
“I know about the leasehold, but the rest was mere speculation until the dispatch. Don’t deny it, Diana. Your reaction to his missive betrayed you, and your disquiet disturbs me.”
“As you well know, my husband’s death occurred at your brother’s estate. It was all a most unpleasant episode that I have no desire to resurrect.”
“Please know it is not my desire to further unsettle you, yet as a gentleman, there is one more thing I must ask—did my brother, Lord DeVere, at any time importune you?”
He could almost see her hackles rise. She answered tersely, “There is nothing between me and Lord DeVere.”
Her too carefully worded reply and is as opposed to was confirmed his suspicions. “Pray pardon my impertinence, my lady.”
“Hew, you are all that is good and honorable. You have my greatest respect and admiration, but I have no wish to wed. I would never do so again unless I could give my heart. I cannot. And you deserve much more.”
“That is your final word?”
“I’m a woman who knows my own mind.”
Hew couldn’t deny his disappointment. Diana was all that one could want in a wife, beautiful, intelligent, and poised. They understood one another and no doubt would have rubbed along well, yet he was surprised by what he didn’t feel—crushed. “Very well then,” he said with a fleeting smile. “We will speak no more of it.”
***
“Pratt!” Lord DeVere ran his head groom to ground upon his return. “I wish to know all about this misadventure in Hyde Park with Lady Vesta Chambers.”
The groom studied the toe of his boot with a crimson flush. “Cap’n Hew told you about that, eh?”
“Damned right he did!” DeVere thundered. “Why didn’t you apprise me of the incident? Did I not put the girl under your protection?”
“That ye did, my lord.” The groom’s shoulders slumped.
“Then how the devil did you let a horse get away with her?” DeVere demanded.
“Wi’ all due respect, my lord, ‘tweren’t no accident.”
“The devil you say!”
“Aye, my lord. There be no devil like a she-devil.”
DeVere gave his groom a piercing look. “And what does that mean?”
“’Tweren’t quite what the cap’n and my lady thinks.”
DeVere felt his temper subside. “Talk to me, Pratt. What really happened?”
“Well, when we rode to the park, to my mind the wee miss was in a fit of pique, hot as her little mare she was that Cap’n be fawning all over my lady.”
“Was she, indeed?”
“Aye, my lord, a wee rogue wrapped in a pretty package is that one. I begin to think sommat amiss when she lost her hat. The cap’n and my lady was riding ahead, so they didn’t see when she asked me to fetch it for her. T’weren’t really the hat what spooked the horse, as the hat were already on the ground. After I dismounted, I seen the miss throw away her reins and spur the horse.”
“Preposterous! That’s damned reckless, dangerous, and altogether absurd!”
“That may be, my lord.” The groom laid a hand on his heart. “But ‘tis also God’s honest truth.”
“You mean the little wretch endangered her own life in a fit of jealous pique?”
“Aye, my lord.”
“You knew this and failed to expose her fraud?”
Pratt regarded his master with a plaintive look. “Ye should have seen the little vixen! ‘Twere some ‘o the best ridin’ I ever seen. There be few men with the bollocks to do what she done. Mayhap Cap’n Hew be one o’ the few. So ye understand, my lord, I hadn’t the heart to peach her.”
“So you say the entire escapade was just a fit of passion because Hew was making up to the baroness?”
“Aye. That be the way I seen it.” Pratt nervously twisted his cap while he awaited the master’s verdict. “Your pardon for the breach o’ trust, my lord?”
“Don’t get into a lather, Pratt. I’m not about to dismiss you,” DeVere said. “Indeed, I have a more fitting punishment in mind.”
“How’s that, my lord?” asked the worried groom.
“Given that you’re already complicit with the scheming little baggage, I intend to put you completely at her disposal. From this moment on, Pratt, you are to answer solely to Lady Vesta. Not the baroness. Not Captain Hew. Whatever the girl’s whim is to be your command. Without question. Without hesitation. This injunction is to be superseded by no one but myself. Do you understand me, Pratt?”
“Aye, my lord.”
“Shameless little hussy.” DeVere chuckled unde
r his breath as he departed his stables, his former black mood utterly forgotten.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Vesta!” Her godmother nearly ran to her when she entered the vestibule. “Where on earth have you been?” She clasped the girl’s shoulders with a stern reproach. “Don’t you know we were worried sick about you?”
“But why?” Vesta asked innocently as she removed her bonnet and gloves. “I was with my godfather.”
Diana led her into the drawing room. “But how was I to know that, Vesta? And moreover, how came you to be with him in the first place?”
Vesta bit her lip. “Did I not say? He invited me for a drive.”
“No! You didn’t say!” Diana retorted.
Vesta tried to look suitably contrite. “I’m so sorry to have worried you, Aunt Di, but I was so eager to see my godfather, and he has yet to pay a call.”
“I would strongly discourage him from doing so, Vesta.”
“But why?”
“Because you are in my charge and should do as I ask,” Diana replied with an evasiveness Vesta couldn’t comprehend.
“But he has a box at the Theatre Royal for us, Aunt Di!” Vesta protested. “It’s for The Maid of The Oaks. By the by, I’ve invited Uncle Vic and Captain Hew for afternoon tea tomorrow.”
“Tell me you did not!” Diana retorted with an expression of outraged mixed with dismay.
“But I just told you I did! Why should I not? I am excessively fond of my godfather. This is my father’s house, after all, and Uncle Vic is his best friend. Besides, you appear to have no objection to entertaining Captain Hew.”
Diana sniffed. “That is my own business, young lady. Besides, they may be brothers, but I assure you the two are cut from distinctly different cloth.”
“You are unfair, Aunt Di!”
“I have my reasons to be, Vesta. You may entertain him if you like, but I feel a megrim coming on and just may feel the need to spend tomorrow abed. I pray you will make my excuses to Lord DeVere.”
“Of course, I shall,” said Vesta. She smiled her secret smile, thinking the hand couldn’t have played out any better.
***
“Where have you been, missy?” Polly scolded Vesta with a wagging finger the moment she entered her bedchamber. “My poor lady was almost in vapors after you disappeared. They all but raised hue and cry over you.”
The Virgin Huntress (The Devil DeVere #2) Page 4
