Music echoed through the long halls, as they walked on the red carpets back to the ballrooms. Smaller rooms on either side were opened, to show tables set for cards. A long evening, thought Valerie. She hoped she would not grow dizzy. She must be careful and not dance so much.
A maid took their cloaks. They proceeded to the ballroom, where Lady and Lord Berkley greeted them kindly. They went on into the room, where the polished floors gleamed with fresh waxing, chandeliers shone with a thousand candles, French windows were opened to the balconies to admit fresh air and allow guests to wander outside, even down the steps to the gardens.
Malcolm turned to Valerie. “The first dance, my dear,” he said, but his tone was cold. He was always so proper, she thought savagely. If only he would tell her the truth! As though she needed to be told! She knew he did not love her, that he merely endured the marriage.
She slipped into his arms, and they circled the room in a silence. The waltz was playing, a slow sweet melody, not a fast one.
“There is your dear admirer, Reggie Darlington,” said Malcolm, at the end of the dance. “He is making in our direction! I can safely leave you to him!”
He waited only until Reggie came up, then stalked away. Reggie gazed after him in mild surprise. “Didn’t even say how-do-you-do,” he said. “Up the trees, is he?”
“Always, with me,” said Valerie bitterly, then bit her lip. “I beg pardon — I should not have said that. Please forget that.”
Reggie looked keenly at her, shook his head, and drew her away from the dance floor. He settled her carefully into a comfortable chair near the window.
“Wanted to talk to you, Valerie. And there’s more air here.” He sat down beside her, close, but not so near as to cause talk. “My poor darling Aunt Darlington has broken her leg.”
“Oh, no!” Valerie gazed at him in horror. “She didn’t!”
He nodded. “She did. Doctor says her bones are brittle, it could have happened anyway. But she was out in the evening, missed a step, before anyone could get to her she had fallen flat — groaning and moaning. My blood went cold, I can tell you! Tried to pick her up — worst possible thing, she let out a shriek and went dead faint.”
“Oh, how terrible, how terrible! Poor Lady Darlington, I am so sorry! Is she now comfortable? When did it happen?”
“Two nights ago,” said Reggie, patting the hand she held out in sympathy. “The doctor has patched her up, she lies all day in her drawing room and wails that she has nothing to read, and nobody likes her any more, for no one calls. Sorry for herself, and snapping and growling at us all. Miserable, I can tell you!”
“Oh, if she is allowed visitors, I must call on her as soon as possible!” said Valerie, her own worries temporarily forgotten. “Poor dear soul. Such a good-hearted woman. I shall take her four new books, they are elegant reading, and she may enjoy them.”
“Here they are, hiding in the corner, it’s a shame to disturb them!” cried Deidre’s merry voice. She was hanging on to Malcolm’s arm, he was glaring at Valerie and Reggie talking quietly together in the corner.
“Oh, Malcolm, Lady Darlington has broken her leg!” said Valerie, to her husband. “I must call upon her soon. She is so miserable.”
“Oh, is that right? Too bad, how did it happen?” But Malcolm did not seem deeply concerned, thought Valerie, and the scowl did not leave his handsome face.
They soon went away, and Lord Maitland appeared and asked for the honour of a round dance. Valerie stood up with him, and then Peter Pratt came, and presently Lady Alice Prost with her distinguished cousin, Mr Gilbert Prost. He asked for a dance from Valerie and, to her surprise, he proved very graceful. He apologized for his lack of practice.
“Dear me, sir, how could you practise in the jungle? With a monkey, perhaps? But indeed, you malign yourself — you dance very well.”
“You are most gracious, my lady. You know, I do not usually enjoy my sojourns in London. They are but a pause before the next journey. However, this time has been different,” he said, significantly, gazing deeply into her eyes.
She gasped a little. “Oh, indeed,” she said faintly. “I … ah … do hope you enjoy your stay. How long do you remain?”
“Until the autumn,” he said. “Until I am ready to make another expedition. Lady Grenville, may I call upon you one day? It is rare that one meets a beautiful lady who is so intelligent, and so very knowledgeable about such masculine pursuits as explorations! I should like to talk over my next project with you.”
“Beg pardon!” Malcolm was at his shoulder, frowning heavily. “The dance is over, and the next I have with my wife!”
Mr Prost seemed startled. “Your … wife?” he echoed.
“Yes, this is my husband. Malcolm Villiers, Viscount Grenville,” said Valerie quickly, conscious that her cheeks were flushed with colour. She had not dreamed that the serious Mr Prost could so think of her, wish to pursue her.
“I beg pardon. I … somehow I had formed the impression that Lady Villiers … Lady Grenville … I mean … I did not realize she was married,” said Mr Prost flatly.
“She certainly is,” said Malcolm curtly and put his arm possessively about Valerie’s waist and led her away. In a low angry tone, he asked, “And what did you say to encourage him, eh? Letting him think you were single! What’s going on?”
“N-nothing, M-Malcolm. I was …’mazed as you … I but wished to speak about his … indeed, I never dreamed…”
He whirled her about without speaking, his mouth grimly set. Valerie’s mind was whirling. Mr Prost had thought her single! He had been interested in her, in her!
She could not help feeling flattered, for the man was intelligent beyond anybody she had ever met. He had gone through such adventures, contributed so much to human knowledge … And he had been interested in her, Valerie Gray, no, Valerie Villiers! He must have thought the earl was her father, rather than her father-in-law.
“You shouldn’t flirt, you know,” said Malcolm, just before the music ended. “You don’t know how to do it, and people take you seriously! Won’t do, you know. Better discourage Reggie, before he falls head over heels!”
Valerie gasped at him. “Well, I never … of all the crass … ignoble…”
He bowed, and left her to Lord Maitland, who promptly took her into another round. She danced more than she had intended, and began to become weary and dizzy once more.
Presently she saw Lady Deidre, and the girl came over to her. “Valerie, you look so white! Is anything wrong?”
The blue eyes were keen, and in the candlelight they seemed softer than usual.
“I don’t feel well,” Valerie confessed. “I am tired from all the visiting this week. I wonder if Malcolm would consider leaving…”
Deidre lifted an imperious hand, and Reggie promptly stopped beside her. Deidre gave him her sweet smile. “Reggie, dear Valerie is weary, and white, and quite ill. Would you be a love and take her home quietly? She really should not stay!”
“Malcolm will not like it…” Valerie began weakly. Her head was spinning.
“Malcolm is playing cards, I’ll explain to him when he returns to the ballroom,” said Deidre kindly. “Go ahead, dear, don’t wait. You do look sick!”
She helped get the white cloak, set it about Valerie’s shoulders, gave her a little push towards the stairs. “Go ahead, do. I’m afraid you will faint, I really think so! I’ll explain to Malcolm!”
Reggie took her home, then returned to his own home. It was late, and Lady Darlington was irritable, he explained, when he was long away from her.
Valerie sent her best sympathetic greetings to the good lady and went wearily up to bed.
Malcolm wakened her about four in the morning, coming into her bedroom, lighting several candles, and sitting on the bed.
“Now you can explain what you’re about!” he said, as she sat up against the pillows, blinking at him in sleepy surprise. “What do you mean by leaving the ball with Reggie Darlington! Don’t
lie about it, everybody saw you, and teased me without mercy!”
He was very angry, a white line about his mouth.
“Deidre said she would tell you … I did not feel well …”
“Don’t lie! You wanted to leave with him! You were talking with him as soon as you got there! Valerie, I won’t have you making me the laughing stock of London! What do you want, to provoke a duel between me and Reggie? Have you gone so far?”
She was too sleepy to collect her wits. “Reggie has been a good friend to me! Nothing more! He understands —”
“Oh, he understands, does he? What does he understand? That you are ready to take a lover? Have you become so abandoned? Has London gripped you in her toils so quickly? You begged to remain in the country! I should have left you there … you do not know how to behave yourself! My mother is most distressed with you!”
“That is very unfair!” she protested. “I love her dearly, I would not hurt her for the world. I felt ill…”
“You were not ill when I talked to you just earlier!”
He got up and walked out, slamming the door in the night stillness. All the household the next day knew they had quarrelled. They did not speak to each other, except in the most frigid polite terms. A coldness had settled between them, an ice barrier beyond melting, thought Valerie, deeply unhappy.
CHAPTER 14
Malcolm strolled into the drawing room. “We are going out in the carriage,” he said curtly to Valerie, who was working slowly on an embroidered cushion cover. “Care to come along?”
It was so indifferently given, that invitation, that she glanced up at him, then down again. His eyes were cold, his tone was take it or leave it.
“I should like to go to visit Lady Darlington,” she said, in a muffled tone. “Would you mind taking me there?”
He hesitated. Deidre had followed him into the room. “Oh, not to pay sick calls!” cried Deidre. “It is such a glorious day! We want to tool around the park in the open carriage, and see who is there!”
Malcolm continued to look at Valerie.
“Then, thank you, no. I believe Reggie is coming later this morning, and will convey me to Lady Darlington’s. I had promised to call.”
Malcolm did not wait until she had finished speaking. He turned and left the room, Deidre darting after him, calling, “Wait until I get my cloak and bonnet, Malcolm!”
The countess said, very gently, “Was that wise, my dear Valerie? You could have gone with them.”
“I promised to call on Lady Darlington,” said Valerie stubbornly, her mouth set.
The white hands of the older lady fluttered over her embroidery. “Oh, dear. But you grow farther apart, my dear. Do you not see? Deidre leads him where she will.”
“He is easily led, then, Maman!”
“You could keep him with you, if you chose. He is very fond of you.”
“Oh, fond! What is that? He cares nothing for me, what I like, what I wish to do! If he wishes to do what Deidre wants, why should I object? We are two quite different people!”
She bent her head again to the work, and jabbed at it so fiercely that it went through to her hand. She sucked the finger childishly, tears in her eyes. The countess shook her white head sadly, her mouth drooping.
Reggie Darlington arrived in about an hour and was shown in to them. “Good morning! Lovely day! Shall you come with me to Aunt Darlington?”
He was so easy, so charming, that Valerie smiled up at him. “Yes, at once. Let me but get my bonnet and cloak, and I shall come.”
He sat down to talk to the countess, who was reserved with him, eying him so dubiously that he was rather puzzled. He had always been welcomed in their home.
In the carriage, he asked, “What’s amiss? Have I stumbled somewhere? Your mama was all coldness to me.”
She hesitated, then finally admitted the truth. “Malcolm is mad with me because I will go out with you to your Aunt Darlington, yet refuse to go riding in his carriage with him.”
“Oh, ho!” He whistled inelegantly, raised his hat to some ladies in the street, then went on. “And what about you, Valerie? Do you hate to see him escorting the beauteous and greedy Lady Deidre about? Are you jealous of her?”
He was so blunt, so kindly, so like her brother used to be, that tears came to her eyes. She blinked them back, in the shade of the broad brim of her bonnet. She smoothed her blue velvet cloak over her knees, settled the blue ribbons of her bonnet, until she thought her voice would be steady.
“I … I think I am, yes, I admit I am, Reggie. However, if Malcolm prefers the company of such as Lady Deidre, then we have nothing in common. I shall not … shall not remain married to a man who is a rake, a gambler, a woman-chaser. That is what I have to decide. If he … loves me enough, I may stay. Though I think he has no fondness for me at all.”
Reggie was silent for a time, his attention on his pair of matched blacks. His charming good-humoured face was unusually serious.
“You are not … really … thinking of separating, are you, Valerie?” he finally asked.
“Not just separation,” she said firmly. “Divorce. I shall leave him. I can work and earn my own living. I would rather do that, than to live with a man I cannot respect and who does not respect me.”
“Didn’t know it had gone so far,” said Reggie, with a sigh. “Malcolm is a good chap, none better, Valerie. My best friend. He would give his life for me, and I for him. Think it over carefully, my dear. Big decision and all that.”
“Thank you, Reggie. You are … very understanding.”
“If you need help at any point, glad to offer,” he said, awkwardly. “Might break it up with Malcolm, my friend, but I want to help you if I can. Never thought more highly of any female, except Aunt Darlington. Truth, you know!”
She sniffed a little, raised her handkerchief to her eyes at his rather unexpected kindness.
“Hey, you’re not going to cry, Valerie? Can’t do it, we’re out in public!” he said, alarmed, which brought a watery laugh.
Lady Darlington was so unaffectedly glad to see Valerie that it brought further comfort to the girl. “Come in, come in. Wish I could get up to receive you, but demn this leg! Broken clean across, and giving me the devil of some pain! Excuse my language, I’m not fit for company, but I crave it! Books? Dear girl, you are too good to me. Sit down, sit down, Reggie, the chair nearer to the light so I can see her face! Take the cloak, yes, and the bonnet, you are going to stay for a time, aren’t you?”
The dowager was attired for receiving morning guests, in a formidable wrap of blue satin with blue-dyed feathers all down the front and around her wrinkled neck. Her blonde wig had been removed, and instead she wore a close-fitting high bonnet of white muslin and lace down to her ears. Lines of pain were grooved into her wrinkled face, her hands seemed more claw-like today, and she looked every bit her age.
But her voice went on and on, strongly, as though to deny anything was wrong with her. She demanded the news of the world, where Malcolm was, how the ball at the Berkleys’ had gone, who was run off with whom, what news of the Peninsula and the Wellington forces.
They talked and talked all the morning, which went like lightning. Tea was brought on a grand silver tray, with heavy embossed silver and delicate China porcelain of white and gold. Valerie poured and talked and listened, until she had quite forgotten her own troubles.
The dowager was amusing, rather risqué, full of more gossip and news of London and society than anyone could imagine for one on a sick-bed. She told a story with wit and charm, and a wry knowledge of human nature that had them laughing and nodding in agreement.
“Now, tell me, what is this about Malcolm and that silly Lady Deidre?” she asked abruptly, when she had finished her tea. Her keen sharp eyes were fixed on Valerie’s expressions, and she did not miss the shadow that came quickly.
Reggie crossed and uncrossed his legs uneasily. “Now, Aunt Seraphine, you have no right to cross-question the girl,” he began.
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br /> She waved him to silence. “I’m talking to Valerie. What do you mean, girl, letting that greedy little girl who drove nice Eustace Villiers to his death … letting her take Malcolm in hand? Can’t you fight for what you want? Can’t you see what she is doing? Letting his family pay for her gowns, and another season! Her mother was just like her, grabbing with both hands, until she finally married that stupid Lord Ramsey who gambled all his fortune away within five years.”
Valerie gazed at Lady Darlington’s shrewd face in surprise. “I … I didn’t know that … I thought they had…”
“Title but no money, and the estate whittled down to the manor house,” said Lady Darlington briefly. “Mama Ramsey sent Deidre off to marry money and a title, and she keeps pushing at the girl. Know a second cousin of theirs and hear all about it. Now she has lost Eustace, and her mama is mad as fire at her. So little Deidre is after Malcolm. Why do you let her get away with her grabbing? She has no right to those diamonds she flaunts about. Lady Arundel is too soft with her, far too soft! I’m surprised at your father-in-law, he is a shrewd one. Can’t he see what the girl is doing?”
Valerie gathered her wits together. “I … I cannot discuss, no, I cannot discuss the matter, madam,” she said with dignity. “I am waiting to see…”
“To see if Lady Deidre can get your husband away from you? Fight for him if you want him, girl! Malcolm used to be a wild one, but I thought he had settled down. Give him a child, see if that works.”
Valerie’s head raised, her gaze met Lady Darlington’s firmly. “If he wishes to run about and gamble and dance all the night, it is his decision,” she said firmly. “Within another month, I shall decide whether to stay or to go. I am going to leave him … if … if he does not settle down. But it must be his own decision. I shall not lead him by the nose. If he is not strong enough, then I do not want him. If he does not love me enough, then I do not want him!”
“Oh, bravely said,” said Lady Darlington, soberly. “However, my girl, you don’t know what you’re talking about! A woman today must remain married to be respectable. What could you do, all by yourself? Your father dead, your brother dead. Who would protect you?”
Amethyst Love: A passionate Regency romance Page 18
