by Leenie Brown
“She also informed me that Mr. Carlyle is not a good choice for Victoria, which I believe I already told you, but I think it is good that you have the information from more than one source.”
“Mr. Clayton would be better,” Diana agreed.
That was not what Roger had meant. His brow furrowed. The two – Clayton and Victoria – had spent a great deal of time together this evening. First, there had been supper, and then, there had been cards.
“He is not available,” Roger said as he watched Victoria take a turn of the drawing room on the man’s arm.
“Not yet, but I have heard rumors that he might be… and soon.”
“Where did you hear this?” If it was from Victoria, it was news that was no better than Roger already knew.
“A couple of the other chaperones were discussing it in hushed tones earlier. It seems Mr. Walcott or Mr. Ramsey might be more to Miss Love’s liking.” She leaned close enough to her brother that her shoulder pressed into his. “Their incomes are substantial.”
That information seemed to match nicely – unfortunately so – with what Clayton had said. How did Miss Grace have a sister who was so calculating and cunning? The two ladies seemed to be exact opposites, yet he had heard Grace praise her sister as if Felicity were a goddess capable of no wrong. He shook his head. The chit was more than a trifle naïve just as Victoria had insinuated earlier today.
“Mr. Ainsley’s heart is not unfettered,” Roger said, his mind still focused on the better of the Love sisters. “I have mentioned it to Miss Grace.”
His sister’s eyes grew wide.
“Clayton says the gentleman has a lady waiting for him at home. She is not yet out, but there seems to be some sort of arrangement.”
“Since he is here, his mother must either not be in favor of the match, or she is unaware.” Diana sighed. “Neither speaks well of him, in my opinion.”
“His mother might be unreasonable. Remember how our mother was when you were first out. There was not a gentleman in all of London who was deemed good enough for her daughter. Even Berkley struggled to win Mother’s approval.”
“But he has it now.”
“Because he has provided her with a grandchild,” Roger muttered.
Diana jabbed him with her elbow. “She liked him before Thomas was born.”
“But you must admit she likes him even better now.”
Diana chuckled. “She does, and her admiration of him will only grow as our family does.” She shook her head at Roger’s teasing smile. “No, I am not increasing.” She flicked open her fan. “Not that I am avoiding it,” she added.
Roger laughed out loud at that. His sister may pretend to be shocked by his improper behaviour, but she was not so far removed from it herself. On two occasions in their lifetime, he had come across her in the garden late at night sneaking into the house just as he was sneaking out. Of course, she had been out to go swimming while his purpose was not so innocent. However, the truth of the matter remained, she was not so flawless as she might like to appear.
“Now, if I wish to keep Mother happy…” She scanned the room. “Who here would meet her expectations for you?”
Roger shook his head. “Leave off, Diana. I am not here to find a wife.”
“Humor me,” she cajoled. “Discussing possibilities with you is a great deal more fun than discussing them with the other chaperones.” Again, she flicked open her fan. “Not one of them has yet mentioned any physical attributes – only fortunes and estates. A secure future is a good thing, do not get me wrong, but truly, one must think about whose bed she will be warming to do her duty.”
Roger shook his head and chuckled. “And is that why you chose Berkley?”
Her cheeks flushed. “I was not unaware of how warm his bed could be when we married,” she whispered.
Roger turned startled eyes to her. “Indeed? I am not the only rake?”
“I do prefer the term rake to what Mother would call me, but no, I did not warm bed after bed, my dear brother.”
“Only Berkley’s?”
She shrugged. “Only once… or twice. But that is not what we were discussing, and you will not mention that to Mother. Ever. Or I will have Berkley hurt you.”
Roger chuckled. “I would not dream of telling Mother unless greatly provoked.”
“Now, how many of these ladies capture your fancy?”
Roger looked around the room. There were lithe figures as well as pleasantly curved ones. There were ladies with golden hair and those with tresses of toffee and chocolate. There was even one beauty who wore her flaming locks very well. Some were tall and would be able to nearly look him in the eye without rising onto their toes to do so, and then there were those who would be perfectly sized to snuggle into his side and listen to his heart. Nearly all of them had fair complexions, even if their beauty varied by degrees. There were several whom he should be attempting to charm, for they had very kissable pouts. However, not one of them made him pause long enough to seriously consider her. He shook his head.
“The same number who would meet with Mother’s approval,” he said in answer to his sister’s question.
“One,” Diana said.
“No, none,” Roger corrected.
Diana gave the smallest shake of her head before tipping it toward the door to the garden. “One,” she repeated.
Roger’s eyes followed her head tip. There standing at the door was Victoria.
“You said you would allow me to present any possible matches for her to you for approval, and I am.”
Him? Marry Victoria?
“Think about it,” Diana whispered before rising and leaving him to do just that.
Chapter 8
Victoria’s morning ride had been as delightful as any ride through the countryside could be. The sun was shining in a nearly solid blue sky as only a few clouds were dotting the expanse above. The air was fresh and not at all close. The only thing which had dampened the enjoyment of the exercise had been that it was entirely too short. Well, maybe that was not the only thing which had not met with Victoria’s satisfaction. There had been one thing — or rather, one person — missing.
“Have you seen Roger today?” Victoria had slipped into the library and had taken a seat next to Diana on a sofa.
“He said good morning to me,” Diana replied, looking up from her book. “He was dressed to go riding. I assumed he was going with the group.”
“He was not with us.” Victoria pulled her lower lip between her teeth. He could be anywhere. He had spoken of escaping after a few days of being at the house party when he first arrived, but then, when they had decided to help Grace find a match, he had said he would be required to stay longer. “Did he leave?” she whispered behind her book.
There was worry in the wide eyes that met Victoria’s question. “I will ask.”
Victoria put a hand on Diana’s arm to keep her from rising. “No, please do not. He may have wished to slip away unnoticed, and I should hate for him to become the topic of gossip due to my curiosity.”
“It is not as if his absence will not be noted and remarked on,” Diana argued. “It is best to know now if we shall have to endure such whispers.”
Diana covered Victoria’s hand with her own. “I will only be a moment, and I shall be as discreet as possible.” One of her eyebrows arched. “I should like to know if my little brother is fulfilling his duty to his mother or not.”
Victoria could not help smiling at Diana’s stern tone. Diana would likely lecture Roger about his disappearance, but she would not tell their mother. The two had always kept each other’s secrets. It was a far different sort of relationship that they had than Victoria had with her older brother. He had often found it necessary to tell their mother or father if he found Victoria doing something she was not supposed to be doing. Not that those moments were frequent. Victoria did not like to stray outside of the rules too often. She did not always agree with the guidelines in which she was to live, but she di
d not wish to be found wanting in any way. Therefore, she suppressed her displeasure and behaved as was expected.
Of course, both her mother and father were not severe in their adherence to societal expectations, and that did make for a great deal less displeasure on Victoria’s part. Unlike some in the upper circles, her parents were welcoming of new arrivals – even those who had made their fortune rather than inheriting it. And while Victoria had had all the proper education a young lady should receive from a governess, her parents had also encouraged Victoria to learn all she wished to learn on any subject she chose.
Neither her father nor her mother had ever kept her from exploring books on flora and fauna nor had they kept her from reading her fill of novels. Had she been the sort of lady given to excessive imagination and dramatics she might have found her reading materials restricted, for her mother could not and would not abide anyone who was melodramatic.
Sense should always rule over sensibility, according to Mrs. Hamilton, and in that way, Victoria was much like her mother. It was why she could sit here now, wondering where Roger was, without feeling to great a need to go to the window and watch for him — even if one could see the entry from the second window on the wall facing the front of the house and it had a very inviting chair near it. She would remain where she was and apply herself to her purpose for being in the library.
Victoria opened her book and picked up the lavender ribbon used to hold her place. This had been the ribbon Roger had given her when she was twelve and had just discovered that one could like a neighbour boy much more than one might like a brother. She smiled as she remembered the discussion she had had with Diana about that very thing.
Obviously, there was no way Victoria was going to ask for an explanation from her mother about why her heart seemed to race and her cheeks flushed when Roger smiled at her. Nor was she going to reveal to her mother that, occasionally, Roger kissed Victoria in her dreams. However, Diana, who was a very wise seventeen at the time, had seemed the best person to ask. She was, of course, facing her first season, and so she knew so much more about gentlemen and hearts and the dreary feelings that permeated a young lady’s very soul when a favoured gentleman left to attend school.
Diana had insisted upon Victoria telling her who the young man was who had captured Victoria’s affections, and Victoria had feared that Diana would not approve of her liking Roger. However, on that account, Victoria had been most assuredly wrong for Diana had actually been quite delighted with the idea that one day they might be sisters.
Of course, even now, Diana still hoped one day they might be, but if Victoria were completely honest with herself about Roger – something she had been attempting to be more and more lately – she would have to admit that the possibility seemed less likely than it ever had. Roger still treated her as a special friend, but he never attempted to flirt with her or kiss her. He never had. In fact, he had never even seemed to feel it awkward to embrace her on occasion. It appeared as if Victoria was little different than Diana in Roger’s eyes.
“He has not left,” Diana whispered as she smoothed her skirts after returning to her spot on the couch. “He is just gone off by himself. He does that you know.”
Victoria nodded.
“And from a quick look in the drawing room and a glance into the garden, it appears there are no young ladies missing from our party.” She shrugged when Victoria looked at her in surprise. “It is Roger.”
Could three words spoken with a tone of regret cut a heart more deeply? It was a good thing Victoria was not given to dramatics, or she might take herself off to her room to have a good cry over the idea of Roger seeming to prefer every lady to her. Or so it appeared from the way he spoke of the debutants in town and the ones he had met while at school.
“To be fair,” Diana continued almost as if she could read Victoria’s mind, “it has been some time since I have heard any scandalous whispers regarding my brother. I had hoped it was a sign that he was finally coming to the point, but…” she let her thought trail off.
Victoria had hoped the same when she saw him arrive at the Abernathy’s, for he had immediately asked about her location. She had heard him. However, he had only arrived to deliver presents to her from himself and her father. He was merely seeing to the well-being of a friend. He was good at that. She had heard him speak of a few close friends and how he was going to help this one or that one with some project. She sighed. He had even helped one become engaged. Yet, he seemed none too willing to consider marriage himself.
“Are there any gentlemen here whom you might recommend?” she asked Diana.
“Besides my brother?”
Victoria nodded as she swallowed the sorrow that rose at the thought. “I must start considering other possibilities.”
“Are you certain? You are only three and twenty.”
“Only?” Victoria said in a scoffing tone. “I am a veritable old maid compared to the rest of the hopeful ladies here. I dare say the next oldest is a very ancient nineteen.”
“No, no. Miss Hannington is twenty.”
“That is still three years younger than me,” Victoria argued. “So, you see my point.”
“Not completely,” Diana insisted.
“I doubt I will be invited to many more of these parties.”
“That is not a bad thing,” Diana whispered. “I have never understood the appeal of a house party. There are eight gentlemen here – eight! Out of the hundreds that live in England, you and the others are expected to consider making a match with these eight gentlemen because their parents are friends with Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy, or they are relations like Mr. Danvers.
“I must admit that Mrs. Abernathy has not chosen paupers. I think Mr. Clayton might have the smallest income, and his is not unreasonably low. However, that is not my point. My point is that there are only eight gentlemen here. And,” she leaned closer and gave a look around the room before continuing, “there is no guarantee that any of them will capture your heart. A healthy income is important, but so is your heart.” She gave Victoria a pointed look as she said the last bit. “Do not sacrifice it for some imagined duty which you think must be performed before you are five and twenty.”
“I have been waiting for over ten years for my heart to gain the gentleman for whom it longs. Perhaps it is time to pack that desire away with the toys in the nursery as something from childhood that is not to accompany me into adulthood.”
Diana looked truly pained at the comment. “Consider other gentlemen if you must, but do not give up on him just yet.”
Victoria wove her lavender ribbon in and out between her fingers. She did not wish to lay her love for Roger aside. Indeed, she was not sure she could.
“You know he was not pleased to have Carlyle sing with you,” Diana whispered. “And last evening, he did not seem happy about how much time you spent with Mr. Clayton.”
Victoria tipped her head and looked at her friend. “Then, you think there is hope?”
Diana nodded.
“Very well. If you think there is hope, I shall not despair just yet.” No, she would not despair. She would keep doing as she had begun yesterday. She would spend time with Mr. Clayton and a few of the other gentlemen to see if she could provoke some sort of response from Roger.
With that settled, and with only a small concern left about where Roger was, she turned her mind back to the book on her lap and the Dashwood sisters’ plight as they entered London with the hopeful, matchmaking Mrs. Jennings. She wished them well, for this business of finding a husband could be a dreadful ordeal designed to crush the very soul of a lady who loved where love seemed not to be readily returned.
Chapter 9
“I will require him again in a few hours time.” Roger handed the reins of his horse to a groom.
Then, as he pulled off his gloves, Roger walked behind the stable and down a small path to the pond. He tossed his gloves on the ground and removed his jacket before tossing himself under a tree. Picking up a
small twig from the ground beside him, he threw it into the water. However, it did not create a very satisfying splash. With a sigh, he hauled himself up from his spot and went to gather some rocks – smooth ones which would skip across the water.
Once he had a small pile of ammunition in his hands, he returned to his place and began the task of seeing how many times he could skip each rock. Focusing on such a task and counting the hops across the pond, he hoped, would be just the sort of absorbing trivial activity which would rid his mind of the fear that had settled into it last night.
“I thought I saw you ducking behind the stables.”
Roger looked up to see Diana’s husband, Benjamin Berkley, approaching.
“I did not see you,” Roger admitted. To be honest, he had seen very little on his ride from the Abernathy’s to his home. His horse knew the way, so there was very little need to steer the animal, and so, Roger had found himself lost in his thoughts.
“I was under the impression that I was not going to see you for another week, at least,” Berkley said as he sat down next to Roger.
“You aren’t,” Roger replied.
“And yet, here you are.”
“I needed to get away from all those females.” It was mostly the truth. He needed to find a place away from a particular female so that he could try to sort out his thoughts.
“That is understandable. How is my wife faring?”
“She seems to be enjoying herself. She has taken a second young lady under her wing since Victoria is not challenging enough.”
Berkley laughed. “That does sound like Diana. She does like a challenge, which is likely why she was willing to take me on.”
Their mother had not liked Benjamin Berkley for good reason. The gentleman was not the most sedate fellow. He liked to have fun, and his fun had come in a great variety of forms before he had met Diana.
