His face in profile, Sophie saw his lips twist in the travesty of a smile. Then he turned his head to look down at her. “I can only hope, my dear, that when you find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow you’re not disappointed.” With a curt nod, he strode away, opening and shutting the door carefully.
Leaving Sophie in the centre of the empty room.
For a long moment, she remained as she was, proudly erect, then her shoulders slumped. Sophie bowed her head, drawing in an aching breath, squeezing her eyes tight against the pain that blossomed inside.
Ten minutes later, she returned to the ballroom, no trace of misery on her face. Coolly composed, she joined her little circle, brightly responding to Belle Chessington’s quips. A quick glance about revealed the fact that Jack’s dark head was nowhere to be seen. Sophie crumpled inside. She had done the right thing. She must remember that.
If this was what it took to ensure he prospered and lived the life he should live, so be it.
From an alcove by the card room, almost at the other end of the floor, Jack brooded on Sophie’s ready smiles. If he had needed any further proof of the superficiality of her feelings for him, he had just received it. Raising his glass, he downed a mouthful of the golden liquor it contained.
“There you are. Been looking all over.” Ned ducked round the palm that blocked the opening of the alcove. His eyes fell on Jack’s glass. “What’s that?”
“Brandy,” Jack growled and took another long sip.
Ned raised his brows. “Didn’t see any of that in the refreshment room.”
“No.” Jack smiled, somewhat grimly, across the room and said no more. Ned didn’t need to drink himself into a stupor.
“I danced the last cotillion with Clarissa,” Ned said. “Her blasted card was virtually full and that bounder Gurnard’s taking her in to supper. Should I hang around here or can we leave?”
His gaze on Sophie, Jack considered the point. “I don’t advise leaving until after supper, or it’ll be said you only came to dance with Clarissa.”
“I did only come to dance with Clarissa,” Ned groaned. “Can we just cut and run?”
Very slowly, Jack shook his head, his attention still fixed across the room. “I told you, this game’s not for the fainthearted.” For a long moment, he said no more; Ned waited patiently.
Abruptly, Jack shook himself and straightened from the wall. He looked at Ned, his usual arrogant expression in place. “Go and join some other young lady’s circle. But whatever you do, don’t be anywhere near Clarissa at suppertime.” At Ned’s disgusted look, Jack relented. “If you survive that far, I don’t suppose it would hurt to talk to her afterwards—but no more than fifteen minutes.”
“Wooing a young lady in the ton is the very devil,” Ned declared. “Where do all these rules come from?” With a disgusted shake of his head, he took himself off.
With his protégé under control, Jack leaned back into the shadows of the alcove, and kept watch on the woman who, regardless of all else, was still his.
FOUR DAYS LATER, Sophie sat in the carriage and stared gloomily at the dull prospect beyond the window. Lucilla’s little excursion, announced this morning, had taken the household by surprise. In retrospect, she should have suspected her aunt was planning something; there had been moments recently when Lucilla had been peculiarly abstracted. This three-day sojourn at Little Bickmanstead, the old manor belonging to Lucilla’s ancient Aunt Evangeline, was the result.
Despondent, Sophie sighed softly, her gaze taking in the leaden skies. In perfect accord with her mood, the unseasonably fine spell had come to an abrupt end on the night she had refused to let Jack offer for her. A rainstorm had swept the capital. Ever since, the clouds had threatened, low and menacing, moving Lucilla to veto their rides.
Glumly, Sophie wondered if Jack understood—or if he thought she was avoiding him. The miserable truth was, she did not think she could cope with any meeting just now. Perhaps Fate had sent the rain to her aid?
Certainly Jack himself seemed in no hurry to speak with her again. Perhaps he never would. He had been present at the balls they had attended over the past three nights. She had seen him in the distance, but he had not approached her. Indeed, once, when they had passed close while she had been strolling the floor on one of her would-be suitors’ arms, and their gazes had met, he had merely inclined his head in a distant fashion. She had replied in kind, but inside the ache had intensified.
Sophie closed her eyes and searched for peace in the repetitive rocking of the coach. She had done the right thing—she kept telling herself so. Her tears, perforce, had been shed discreetly, far from Lucilla’s sharp eyes. She had stifled her grief, refusing to dwell on it; suppressed, it had swelled until it pervaded her, beating leaden in her veins, a cold misery enshrouding her soul. A misery she was determined none would ever see.
Which meant she had to face the possibility that Jack might take up the invitation Lucilla had extended to join them at Little Bickmanstead. The guest list numbered some twenty-seven souls, invited to enjoy a few days of rural peace in the rambling old house close by Epping Forest. But Jack wouldn’t come, not now. Sophie sighed, feeling not relief, but an inexpressible sadness at the thought.
The well-sprung travelling carriage rolled over a rut, throwing Clarissa against her shoulder. They disentangled themselves and sat up, both checking on Lucilla, seated opposite, her dresser, Mimms, by her side. Her aunt, Sophie noted, was looking distinctly seedy. A light flush tinted Lucilla’s alabaster cheeks and her eyes were overbright.
Touching a lace-edged handkerchief to her nose, Lucilla sniffed delicately. “Incidentally, Clarissa, I had meant to mention it before now—but you really don’t want to encourage that guardsman, Captain Gurnard.” Lucilla wrinkled her nose. “I’m not at all sure he’s quite the thing, despite all appearances to the contrary.”
“Fear not, Mama.” Clarissa smiled gaily. “I’ve no intention of succumbing to the captain’s wiles. Indeed, I agree with you, there’s definitely something ‘not quite’ about him.”
Lucilla shot her daughter a narrow-eyed glance, then, apparently reassured, she blew her nose and settled back against the cushions.
Clarissa continued to smile sunnily. Her plans were proceeding, albeit not as swiftly as she would have liked. Ned was proving remarkably resistant to the idea of imitating her other swains; he showed no signs of wanting to prostrate himself at her feet. However, as she found such behaviour a mite inconvenient, Clarissa was perfectly ready to settle for a declaration of undying love and future happiness. Her current problem lay in how to obtain it.
Hopefully, a few days in quieter, more familiar surroundings, even without the helpful presence of the captain to spur Ned on, would advance her cause.
The carriage checked and turned. Sophie looked out and saw two imposing gateposts just ahead. Then the scrunch of gravel announced they had entered the drive. The house lay ahead, screened by ancient beeches. When they emerged in the forecourt, Sophie saw a long, two-storey building in a hotchpotch of styles sprawling before them. One thing was instantly apparent: housing a party of forty would not stretch the accommodations of Little Bickmanstead. Indeed, losing a party of forty in the rambling old mansion looked a very likely possibility.
Drops of rain began spotting the grey stone slabs of the porch as they hurried inside. A fleeting glance over her shoulder revealed a bank of black clouds racing in from the east. The other members of the family had elected to ride from town, Horatio keeping a watchful eye on his brood. Minton and the other higher servants had followed close behind, the luggage with them. The forecourt became a scene of frenzied activity as they all hurried to dismount and stable the horses and unpack the baggage before the storm hit.
The family gathered in the hall, looking about with interest. The rectangular hall was dark, wood panelling and old tapestries combining to bolster the gloom. An ancient butler had admitted them; an even more ancient housekeeper came forward, a lamp in
her hand.
As the woman bobbed a curtsy before her, Lucilla put out a hand to the table in the centre of the room. “Oh, dear.”
One glance at her deathly pale face was enough to send them all into a panic.
“My dear?” Horatio hurried to her side.
“Mama?” came from a number of throats.
“Mummy, you look sick,” came from Hermione, gazing upwards as she held her mother’s hand.
Lucilla closed her eyes. “I’m dreadfully afraid,” she began, her words very faint.
“Don’t say anything,” Horatio advised. “Here, lean on me—we’ll have you to bed in a trice.”
The old housekeeper, eyes wide, beckoned them up the stairs. “I’ve readied all the rooms as instructed.”
Minton was already sorting through the bags. Sending Clarissa ahead with Mimms and the housekeeper, Sophie came to her aunt’s other side. Together, she and Horatio supported a rapidly wilting Lucilla up the stairs and along a dim and drafty corridor to a large chamber. Mimms was in charge there; the bed was turned down, the housekeeper dispatched for a warming pan. A fire was cracking into life in the grate.
They quickly helped Lucilla to bed, laying her back on the soft pillows and tucking the covers about her. Once installed, she regained a little colour. She opened her eyes and regarded them ruefully. And sniffed. “This is terrible. I’ve organized it all—there are twenty-seven people on their way here. They’ll all arrive before dinner. And if the rain persists, they’ll need to be entertained for the next two days.”
“Don’t worry about anything,” Horatio said, patting her hand. But even he was frowning as the ordeal before them became clear.
“But you haven’t a hostess.” Lucilla put her handkerchief to her nose, cutting off what sounded like a tearful wail. She blinked rapidly.
Sophie straightened her shoulders. “I’m sure I can manage, with Uncle Horatio and Great Aunt Evangeline behind me. It’s not as if you were not in the house—I can check any details with you. And it’s not as if there were no chaperons. You told me yourself you’ve invited a number of matrons.”
Lucilla’s woeful expression lightened. Her frown turned pensive. “I suppose…” For a moment, all was silent. Then, “Yes,” she finally announced, and nodded. “It just might work. But,” she said, raising rueful eyes to Sophie’s face, “I’m awfully afraid, my dear, that it will be no simple matter.”
Relieved to have averted immediate catastrophe, for if Lucilla broke down, that would certainly follow, Sophie smiled with totally false confidence. “You’ll see, we’ll contrive.”
Those words seemed to have become a catchphrase of her Season, Sophie mused as, an hour later, she sat in the front parlour, off the entrance hall, the guest list in her hand.
After assuring themselves that Lucilla was settled and resigned to her bed, she and Clarissa and Horatio had gone to pay their respects to Aunt Evangeline. It had been years since Sophie had met her ageing relative; the years had not been kind to Aunt Evangeline. She was still ambulatory, but her wits were slowly deserting her. Still, she recognized Horatio, even though she was apparently ineradicably convinced that Clarissa was Lucilla and Sophie her dead mother, Maria. They had given up trying to correct the misapprehension, concentrating instead on explaining their current predicament. Whether or not they had succeeded was moot, but at least Aunt Evangeline had given them a free hand to order things as they wished.
Nevertheless, the prospect of having to keep a weather eye out for an old dear who, so the housekeeper had gently informed them, was full of curiosity and prone to wandering the corridors at all hours draped in shawls that dragged their fringes on the floor, was hardly comforting.
A sound came from outside. Sophie lifted her head, listening intently. The wind was rising, whistling about the eaves. Rain fell steadily, driving in gusts against the windows, masking other sounds. Then came the unmistakable jingle of harness. Sophie rose. The first of her aunt’s guests had arrived. Girding her loins, she tugged the bell-pull and went out into the hall.
From the very first, it was bedlam. The Billinghams—Mrs. Billingham and both of her daughters—were the first to arrive. By the time they had descended from their carriage and negotiated the steps, their carriage dresses were soaked to the knees.
“Oh, how dreadful! Mama, I’m dripping!” The younger Miss Billingham looked positively shocked.
Mrs. Billingham, if anything even damper than her daughters, was not disposed to give comfort. “Indeed, Lucy, I don’t know what you’re complaining about. We’re all wet—and now here’s a to-do with Mrs. Webb ill. I’m not at all sure we shouldn’t turn round and return to town.”
“Oh no, Mama—you couldn’t be so cruel!” The plaintive wail emanated from the elder Miss Billingham.
“Indeed, Mrs. Billingham, there’s really no need.” Smoothly, Sophie cut in, clinging to her usual calm. “Everything’s organized and I’m sure my aunt would not wish you to withdraw purely on account of her indisposition.”
Mrs. Billingham humphed. “Well, I suppose with your uncle present and myself and the other ladies, there’s really no impropriety.”
“I seriously doubt my aunt would ever countenance any,” Sophie replied, her smile a trifle strained.
“We’ll stay at least until the morning.” Mrs. Billingham cast a darkling glance out of the open door. “Perhaps by then the weather will have eased. I’ll make a decision then.”
With that declaration, Mrs. Billingham allowed herself to be shown to her chamber.
Hard on the Billinghams’ heels came Lord Ainsley. His lordship had unwisely driven out in his curricle, and he was soaked to the skin. He tried hard to smile, but his chattering teeth made it difficult.
Sophie was horrified, visions of guests catching their deaths whirling through her mind. Issuing orders left and right—for hot baths and mustard to ward off chills, for the staff to make sure all the fires were blazing—she turned from the sight of Lord Ainsley’s back disappearing up the stairs to behold a bedraggled Lord Annerby on the doorstep.
And so it went, on through the afternoon, while outside a preternatural darkness descended.
Belle Chessington and her equally cheery mother were amongst the last to arrive.
“What a perfectly appalling afternoon,” Mrs. Chessington remarked as she came forward with a smile, hand outstretched.
Sophie heaved an inward sigh of relief. The Marquess of Huntly, another who had unwisely opted to drive himself, was dripping all over the hall flags. Her little speech now well rehearsed, Sophie quickly made Lucilla’s indisposition known, then smoothed away their exclamations with assurances of their welcome. Horatio had retreated to the main parlour to play host to those gentlemen who had already descended, looking for something to warm themselves while they waited for the dinner gong.
The Chessingtons and the marquess took the news in their stride. They were about to head upstairs when a tremendous sneeze had them all turning to the door.
Mr. Somercote stood on the threshold, a pitiful sight with water running in great rivers from his coattails.
“My dear sir!” Belle Chessington swept back along the hall to drag the poor gentleman in.
His place in the doorway was immediately filled by Miss Ellis and her mother, closely followed by Mr. Marston, Lord Swindon and Lord Thurstow. Of them all, only Mr. Marston, clad in a heavy, old-fashioned travelling cloak, was less than drenched. Sophie left the marquess; she tugged the bell-pull twice, vigorously, then hurried forward to help the others out of their soaked coats.
Mentally reviewing the guest list, she thought most had now arrived.
Mr. Marston moved to intercept her, unwrapping his cloak as he came. He was frowning. “What’s this, Miss Winterton? Where is your aunt?”
His question, uttered in a stern and reproving tone, silenced all other conversation. The latest arrivals glanced about, noting Lucilla’s absence. Suppressing a curse, Sophie launched into her explanation. Mr. Marston
did not, however, allow her to get to her reassurances. He cut across her smooth delivery to announce, “A sad mischance indeed. Well—there’s nothing for it—we’ll all have to return to town. Can’t possibly impose on the family with your aunt so gravely ill. And, of course, there are the proprieties to consider.”
For an instant, silence held sway. The others all looked to Sophie.
With an effort, Sophie kept her smile in place. “I assure you, Mr. Marston, that my aunt has nothing more than a cold. She would be most unhappy if such a trifling indisposition were to cause the cancellation of this party. And with my great-aunt, my uncle and Mrs. Chessington and the other matrons all present, I really don’t think the proprieties are in any danger of being breached. Now,” she went on, smiling around at the others, “if you would like to retire to your chambers and get dry—”
“You’ll pardon me, Miss Winterton, but I must insist that you fetch your uncle. I cannot be easy in my mind over this most peculiar suggestion that the party proceed as planned.” Supercilious as ever, Phillip Marston drew himself up. “I really must insist that Mr. Webb be consulted at once. It is hardly a minor matter.”
An utterly stunned silence ensued.
It was broken by a stupendous thunderclap—then the night outside lit up. The blaze in the forecourt threw the shadow of a man deep into the hall.
As the brilliance beyond the door died, Sophie, along with everyone else, blinked at the newcomer.
“As usual, Marston, you’re mistaken,” Jack drawled as he strolled forward. “Mrs. Webb’s indisposition undoubtedly is, as Miss Winterton has assured us, entirely minor. Our kind hostess will hardly thank you for making an issue of it.”
A most peculiar frisson frizzled its way along Sophie’s nerves. She could not drag her gaze from the tall figure advancing across the floor towards her. The long folds of his many-caped greatcoat were damp, but it was clear he, alone amongst the gentlemen invited, had been wise enough to come in a closed carriage. Beneath the greatcoat, his dark coat and breeches were dry and, as usual, immaculate.