Lady Sidmouth turned her head sharply. “Surely that isn’t the duke.”
Harriet whipped around in the carriage seat. “Yes, it is. He does seem to be gaining on Lieutenant Bourne and Nana.”
“I had no idea he was the sort of man who would risk ridicule by racing down a street in evening attire to save his grandmother.”
Harriet quirked a crooked smile at her cousin’s new wife. “There are probably lots of things you don’t know about Sidmouth.”
No matter how the evening ended, the view of her cousin hustling along in Richard’s wake and pretending he wasn’t anxious was well worth whatever gossip Harriet might have to endure. When she sneaked a gaze at Lady Jane’s face, she saw something new there, a speculative look as she perhaps mulled a side of Sidmouth she hadn’t seen before.
And to make everything even better, her former mother-in-law would have a close view of their entire family debacle from her box directly across from theirs inside the theatre.
Richard wasgrateful Sidmouth had apparently figured out the reason for his abrupt departure from the carriage and had decided to join him. He hadn’t said anything before he jumped out, because he didn’t want to frighten Nicholas about his Nana wandering the streets of Falmouth unescorted again. He knew he could count on Captain Thorne to stay with the boy and make sure he didn’t come to any harm.
Just as the duke pulled even with him, Lady Harriet’s Nana stopped short and glared at them. “If you two footpads think you can get the best of me, think again. I am Mary Ann Wyndham, Duchess of Sidmouth. The duke will have both of you thrown into prison for a very long time. You’ll be incarcerated so many years, you’ll die, and the crows will pick over your bones.”
Sidmouth leaned close to her and spoke in such a quiet voice, Richard wasn’t sure whether he’d heard him or not. “Miss Dora, I’m a very good friend of the duke, and he asked me especially to guard and protect you at the theatre tonight.”
She faltered at his use of her stage name and tears rolled down her cheeks. “We’re staging ‘Othello’ tonight, and they specifically requested I play Desdemona.” She opened her cape to reveal a flimsy, white, diaphanous silk dress. “I just happened to have the costume in my old trunk.”
Richard and Sidmouth sucked in sharp breaths in unison at the costume which left little to the imagination.
Sidmouth carefully tied the cape ribbon closings back together. “There. We wouldn’t want you to catch a fever from too much cold air tonight. The duke would never forgive me.”
She sniffed and pulled a delicate lace handkerchief from inside the cape. “You, know, Sidmouth, you very much resemble your grandfather.” She clasped his crooked arm and added, “And you’re kind like him, too.”
The faraway look returned to her eyes. “Now, I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I’m running late. I must see the stage manager.” She fussed a bit with the hood on her cape, but didn’t try to remove the garment again.
When Richard gave Sidmouth a questioning look over the top of her head, he shrugged as if to say he was making up ways to avoid a public spectacle as he went along.
As long as Sidmouth could keep her calm and duck into privacy in their private box once they were inside the theatre, Richard guessed the family could weather her eccentricities this time quite well.
But that was this time. And, he reminded himself, the night was not over.
Harriet could not believeher eyes. Richard and Sidmouth had handled Nana’s latest adventure with aplomb. She’d gone into the theatre without shrieks or a scene. They’d actually just disappeared inside with her docile grandmother between them. Harriet must have been holding her breath, because she let it out in a rush when the doorman closed the entrance behind them.
“What was that all about?” Sidmouth’s duchess had leaned close and watched the unfolding scene with her.
Harriet sighed and gave Lady Jane a long look. “My grandmother, who became the Duchess of Sidmouth two generations ago, was a well-known actress in London when our grandfather met and married her. She’s lived a quiet, respectable life at Bocollyn ever since, except about two years ago, her memory began to slip and sometimes…sometimes, she thinks she’s back in her glory days on the stage.”
“Why would anyone begrudge the poor woman her memories?”
“Of course, we don’t, but that’s not the problem.”
At the questioning look in the current duchess’s eyes, Harriet forged on. “She’s been wandering the countryside, in full costume, frequently appearing in taverns and giving impromptu performances, and, um, sometimes going home with admirers.”
15
Richard was confused. As soon as they’d talked Nana into settling into the family box inside the theatre, Sidmouth had stood and announced he was going to retrieve his duchess. He’d assumed the duke would stay in the box and wait for Thorne and Nicholas to escort Her Grace and Lady Blandford into the theatre.
At times like this, Richard yearned for the simple life of a Marine aboard ship, where his duties were easier to understand. He stood just as Sidmouth was leaving the box and grasped his shoulder. “Don’t leave me here with your grandmother, please.” He spoke low, so as not to upset the elderly woman.
“She won’t cause you any problems.” When Richard flinched, he added. “I promise. I’ll be right back.”
He had no more than closed the curtain behind him than Nana scooted her chair close to Richard’s. “We’re alone now. No one will notice if you decide to steal a little kiss.” She turned her head and raised a regal cheek toward him.
He hesitated for a moment and then gave her a light brush of a buss before drawing back as if scalded.
“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it? I daresay it’s nothing to what you’ve been doing to my granddaughter up at Rose Cottage.”
