He shrugged. ‘There will be others. I shall forget it and pass on. As you will, my lady. We are remarkably alike.’ He paused. ‘But you would be wise to provide Rendlesham with an heir, before lying elsewhere. We have sailed close to the wind, you and I, far too close. Husbands can overlook “mistakes”, but not if they are like to step into their shoes. I speak from observation, merely. Of course, if he is not capa—’
‘I have no intention of discussing my marriage with you,’ Lady Rendlesham declared, in a heated whisper.
‘My apologies. You are quite right, of course. A woman should never discuss her husband with her lover, or even her former lover. Now there is Marcus Chivers. I particularly wanted to speak to him about something.’ He sounded insultingly vague. ‘If you will excuse me, my dear?’
He made her a polite bow and turned away, and she was conscious of it being a dismissal. She did not let her eyes follow him, though she knew the urge to do so. She was134not crushed, or broken-hearted, for, as he had said, she was very like him. What had been between them was not love, or even affection, but had been ‘amusing’, and the edge of risk and subterfuge exciting. It had kept her from being bored. What rankled was that he should break with her, rather than she giving him hiscongé. She was not a woman used to disaffection. She understood his cool reasoning, but resented beyond measure that he should be turning from her to Elizabeth Ashling. It was a very thoughtful Lady Rendlesham who let a gentleman so uninteresting as to normally be treated with contempt procure her refreshment.
‘My dear Lady Rendleham, has Easby put you out of countenance?’ Lord Nuneaton proffered the glass. ‘He is not worth a puckering of those divinely arched brows, Iassure you.’
‘Nothing of the sort, my lord. I am merely perplexed as to why he is chasing after Miss Ashling, who has been given the title “the Unassailable” when she ought to be termed “the Unappealing”.’
‘Ah, then I must indeed have misheard, ma’am.’ Nuneaton gave a sly smile, and she looked at him rather closely.
‘Are you telling me it was you who coined the phrase, my lord?’
‘Almost. I did, shall we say, ensure it was not lost to Society.’
‘Why?’ Her question was frank.
‘Because I … have my reasons.’
‘You are very provoking, sir.’
‘Yes, she thinks that too, but for different reasons, ma’am.’ Nuneaton’s smile lengthened the more.
135Elizabeth, despite herself, was happy this evening. Perhaps it was the dancing. Her partners had not proved to have two left feet, and if some were a trifle dull, it meant that she could respond without having to think, and concentrate upon the music. Lord Easby was a competent dancer, and a better companion. He had complimented her upon her gown, but without flowery exaggeration, and sounded, as always, merely a polite man of sense. Lord Foxton was nimble of toe, but not of brain, and Lord Collingbourne had, wisely, been offered only a cotillion. Sir Lucius Radstock, well, she wondered why he had asked her to dance at all, for he had done so with such a serious expression. Part of her wanted to refuse him, and yet she had not done so. He confused her. She wanted to avoid him, but knew that she felt something akin to a ripple of pleasure when they met, even though they usually ended at odds with each other. She did not trust him, and yet felt peculiarly safe in his company.
When he approached to claim his dance, she smiled, but it was a smile with caution in her eyes. A slight frown appeared between his dark brows.
‘Miss Ashling, if you wish to cry off …’
‘No, indeed, Sir Lucius, no such thing.’
‘I will not tread upon your toes, if that is what you fear, you know.’
‘No, oh no. You dance very well, as I have discovered, sir.’ She put out her hand to lay upon his arm, and looked up at the still frowning countenance. ‘If you wear that expression, Sir Lucius, it will be said it is you who are unwilling to dance.’ She tried to make the comment light,136but even as she said it the grey eyes seemed to draw her in, and as he took her in hold they made a peculiarly sombre couple. It was only upon later reflection that she realised how conscious she had been of his guiding hand in the small of her back, of the light grasp of his long fingers. She could not drop her gaze.
‘Why do I get the feeling that I disappoint you, Sir Lucius?’
‘Disappoint me?’ He sounded taken aback.
‘Yes, sir. When you look at me it is as if you find fault.’
The frown deepened, and for a moment of silenceElizabeth thought it anger. When he answered, it was in a dazed whisper. ‘I can find no fault, no fault whatsoever.’
It was not flattery, not flowery compliment. She felt slightly dizzy, and if she told herself that it was the twirl of the dance, it was a falsehood. She blinked at him. ‘I … You found fault with me when you saw me riding, and when I was with Lord Collingbourne.’
‘No, in either case. I found fault in the beast upon which you were mounted, as you did yourself, and with Lord Collingbourne … No fault lay with you.’
She processed this information as they swirled, so effortlessly that she almost forgot they were moving at all. ‘You object to my acquaintanceship with Lord Easby.’
‘I have no right to “object”, ma’am.’
‘No, you do not, Sir Lucius,’ she retorted swiftly, and then sighed. Why did it always end with them at daggers drawn? There was silence for several revolutions.
‘Miss Ashling, my “objection”, if you wish to term it thus, was to you being taught to drive by a man whose137skills are inadequate to the task.’ He paused. ‘And, I admit, because Lord Easby is not a man whom ladies have ever had cause to trust. Forgive me speaking so boldly, but I have been upon the Town a good many years, and you … are far less experienced.’ He sounded sincere.
Her anger dissipated, and she felt her cheeks flush.
