Page 26 of Lady Mariel’s Scandalous Love

Chapter Eleven

The dinner progressed steadily, and Mariel spent the entire time torn between the urge to laugh, and the urge to simply run from the room to escape the pretentious falseness of it all. When, after the desserts had been cleared, Lord Kirkwold rose in his place and called for everyone’s attention, she sighed with relief. The sooner he made the announcement, the closer they were to being able to leave.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure this evening to announce the betrothal of my daughter, Lady Phyllida, to the Earl of Hockingmoor. They have not known each other all that long, but their… affinity… for each other became obvious very shortly after they met. I am delighted to welcome Lord Hockingmoor to the family. Please raise your glasses in a toast to the newly betrothed couple.”

Dutifully, everyone did, and then Lord Kirkwold called for the gentlemen to retire to the billiards room for port, and the ladies to the parlour for tea.

Lady Phyllida and Lord Hockingmoor held back, as her parents led everyone from the dining room – perhaps they wanted a moment alone? Mariel turned to Selina with a mischievous smile as they entered the parlour.

“Who shall we talk to, Selina? For I doubt that any lady here is prone to the sort of conversations in which we usually indulge…”

“Well… we could shock someone… but perhaps it is best if we don’t. Lady Chaston seems the safest option – she is obsessed with the hounds she breeds, and will talk of little else.”

They crossed the room to Lady Chaston, and Mariel steeled herself to tolerate the conversation regardless.

~~~~~

Dash allowed most of the gentlemen to leave the room before moving towards the door. Lord Hockingmoor pressed a rather chaste kiss to Lady Phyllida’s cheek as he passed them, and the Lady turned and left the room, following all of the other women. Hockingmoor reached out a hand to bring Dash to a halt.

“Longwood… a word, if I may?”

Dash halted, and turned to the man, curious.

“Certainly, Hockingmoor, what can I do for you?”

The man looked a little nervous, and put a finger to his cravat, as if it had suddenly become too tight.

“Ah… that is to say… I believe that you… have a… collection… of a rather… scandalously interesting nature?”

Mentally, Dash cursed Lord Manderforce with creative intensity.

“I do have a collection of interesting items, gathered during my travels.”

He left it at that – this was not something he wanted to be discussing at the man’s betrothal dinner party. Certainly not before the London building was ready, and he had forewarned his own father. Hockingmoor cleared his throat nervously.

“Is it, as I have been told, of an… umm… erotic nature? Because if that is the case, I would be… most intrigued to know more of it, one gentleman to another, of course.”

Dash sighed.

“My Lord, I am not, at this point, willing to discuss my collection in detail. If I reach the point where I am willing to make it… more visible… to others, I will be sure to let you know. But after many years abroad, where I shipped crates of items home, much of it still remains in those crates, and is not ready to be seen, or discussed.”

Hockingmoor drew back a little, as if annoyed at being rebuffed, however politely, but Dash had the feeling that the man would not give up so easily, even if he abandoned the topic for the evening.

“I see. Well then, let us join the rest of the men for port.”

~~~~~

Lady Phyllida had almost passed into the hallway, when she heard Hockingmoor address Lord Longwood, behind her.

Curious, she stopped, allowing the dining room door to almost, but not quite, close. She stood close by it, and listened, completely unashamed at her own eavesdropping – if she was to marry Hockingmoor, she wanted to know all she could of him. She had not thought that he knew Longwood – so this conversation, so privately arranged, was intriguing.

And it became far more intriguing when Hockingmoor uttered the words ‘scandalously interesting collection’ and more shockingly interesting again when he uttered the word ‘erotic’ – and Lord Longwood did not deny that description of his collection.

Lady Phyllida knew little of Lord Longwood, beyond the fact that he was a neighbour, but had been out of the country, in Italy and beyond, for a number of years. He had seemed, during dinner, to be quiet and a little dull, but this put a new context on the man entirely. She should have expected it, really – after all, he was the Duke of Southolton’s friend, and after the scandal at Christmas, she knew the Duke to be quite reprehensible in his tastes – just look at the hussy he had ruined, then married!

Perhaps there was more to all of it than just that scandal – what if it was the smallest indicator of a seething hotbed of vice, right here in her home district? And… why did her husband to be want to know more of such a scandalous collection? All of this needed more thought. At that moment, Hockingmoor suggested that he and Longwood join the other men, so Phyllida turned from the door, and sped off towards the parlour – it really would not do to be caught eavesdropping!

~~~~~