“Thank you.” Having finished his tea, Jason rose to take his leave.
“It was so good of you to call.” Lady Diana curtseyed prettily and favored him with another dimpled smile while her sister nodded in polite if less effusive agreement.
Jason bowed and left the room, amused. Lady Diana would do well in her first Season.
Lord Tobias followed him down the passage to the front door, picking up his conversation where he’d left off, listing famous gardens of note.
“Mr. John Nash is a proponent of the picturesque in architecture. Have you met him, Lord Tobias?”
The lad tapped his chin, giving the unlikely event due consideration. “No, I don’t believe I have.”
“And should you like to?” Jason felt confident that Nash, who he knew quite well, would welcome a youngster’s interest in his work.
“Oh, yes. I most certainly would, sir…” His eagerness faded, and an expression of dismay crossed his face. “Father would be unlikely to permit it. I am told that I must concentrate on my studies. Especially Latin and Greek, although I doubt they’ll be of much help to me once my schooling is behind me.”
With a nod, Jason took his hat, cane, and gloves from the butler. “They proved most advantageous for your father, did they not? And your grand tour will be greatly enriched by that knowledge.”
Jason kept his tongue firmly in his cheek. His grand tour had been spent with a group of young men who named their aged tutor Dozy because he would fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and once free of restraint, their tour had become more of a bacchanalian. He doubted the so-called cultural experience had taught him much at all, except perhaps how to drink until dawn and better pleasure a woman. His years in the army had taught him far more about life while bivouacking in camps on the march, reconnoitering behind enemy lines, or riding into battle with the acceptance that he might not see another day.
“I don’t intend to follow in my father’s footsteps.” Lord Tobias leaned against the wall beside a marble statue of a partially dressed Roman goddess. “I have no wish to become a scholar,” he said earnestly, seemingly unaffected by the marble breast at his elbow. “And as I won’t have an estate to occupy my time, as Hector, my older brother—we call him Harry— is to inherit, life would be fearfully dull. That’s why I intend to design houses and gardens. So you see, sir,” Lord Tobias implored, “A meeting with Mr. Nash may be just the ticket.”
“Perhaps, but you will need to work hard at mathematics,” Jason said as the butler, with a wearisome glance at Tobias, opened the front door.
“Well, yes, I imagine so,” Lord Tobias said, crestfallen. He brightened. “But you will try to arrange that meeting with Mr. Nash? I should be most grateful.”
“I will do my best. But only if your parents agree.”
Jason settled his hat on his head and walked out into the fragile spring sunshine. He’d had little success at two other mansions along the Walk, discounting them outright. Nor had anyone or anything alerted him to a possible plot being brewed within the Kinsey’s walls, although he’d hardly expected the informant to approach him while he was taking tea. It was a masterstroke of Parnell’s, getting Jason to do Nash’s job of advising the households of the changes to the district. But none of this sat well with him. He was used to facing logistical problems in the army, where he could formulate a clear plan. Here, it seemed he wandered through a particularly perplexing maze.
The Kinseys had proved to be every bit as appealing as he’d expected. He found it surprising that Lady Helen of the distrustful gray eyes had not yet married. Surely many would have been tempted by a comely lady with a good dowry. Despite her attempts to hide her attractiveness beneath a high-necked gown adorned with a simple cameo broach and behaving like a maiden aunt at surely no more than twenty-two or three. The dress failed to disguise a youthful and alluring figure, and there was no way she could hide her fine eyes and that rosebud mouth. There was a story here. As he walked back home, he allowed his mind to dwell on that more appealing mystery.
Chapter Three
“Well? What did you think of Lord Peyton?” Diana asked Helen as Jeremy seated them at the dining table.
Helen couldn’t help smiling at her sister’s eager question but could offer no clear opinion of the earl. “You were right about his handsome looks. He’s as elegantly dressed as a dandy. But I doubt he is like any of the Bond Street beaus.”
Diana raised her eyebrows. “Why?”
“Just an impression.” In her first Season, Helen had detested finding herself the subject of discussion by a band of dandies whenever she shopped and attended balls. “I can’t imagine Peyton ogling women while considering their potential as wives.”
Diana shrugged. “I shouldn’t mind if he ogled me. I’m not like you, Helen. I’m comfortable at the center of attention. And I don’t see why you think he’s so very different from other men. He will surely want to marry like all men in need of an heir.”
“What Helen means, my dear, is that you could not easily wrap Lord Peyton around your little finger, as you might do with some young blades,” Mama said as she was seated.
Diana’s eyes flashed. “I love a challenge.”
“Your father would not approve of him for you. I fear you’ll be hurt.” She nodded to the butler who waited to serve claret from the decanter while Jeremy and the maids brought in the first course under silver covers, filling the dining room with delicious aromas.
Steam coiled from the cream of cauliflower soup placed before her. Helen picked up her spoon. “Perhaps it’s his lordship’s experiences during the war. He is nothing like Lord Falkingham, who smiles beguilingly and hangs on Diana’s every word whenever he comes to see Papa.”
“Falkingham is a fop.” Diana sighed. “Peyton is very masculine.”
“My dear love, you will have your pick of prospective husbands at your come-out ball,” Mama said. “Choose a man who will deal gently with you. A man who does not understand you might crush your spirit.”
“That sounds as if you don’t like Lord Peyton.” Diana served herself some halibut. “He is very approachable and exhibits none of thefroideurso fashionable amongst the dandies.”
“No, he was not cold or aloof in his manner, in fact, I found him quite amiable. Nevertheless, there is steel beneath. You also are of a determined nature, Diana. You have been thus since you were a baby. But some men will not easily bend to your will.”
