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‘I agree, it’s quite a triumph for her. Ferdy’s fortune, his good looks and charming nature mean she would be mad, or maddened, to turn her back on that. But I will have to think.’
Alick enfolded his wife in his arms and, chuckling, said into her neck, ‘You are undoubtedly an interfering baggage, but also a true and loyal friend, and the most irresistible of women. No more schemes and plotting; from now on, only wake me if the house is burning down, or for love.’
* * *
Ferdinand Shilton, focus of his friends’ anxiety and grief, was himself unmoored and at sea. His house was once more his own, but he was restless and lonely in a way he had never been before. Would marriage fill this yawning void that had opened up so shockingly at the heart of his life?
There was no doubt that as a wife, Miss Payton would be a social asset and run his households efficiently, but would she be as keen to fill his nursery with little Billys? It suddenly seemed slightly odd to him that even when he had asked for her hand in marriage, they had not kissed. In fact, he had little desire to kiss her, although he understood this was common enough in a mariage de convenance such as this. It was only when faced with the Wolfes’ evident delight in each other, and the mysterious appeal of Miss Rose whom, to his shame, he definitely wished to kiss, that Ferdy began to regret his thoughtless rush to marry. What a fool he had been.
To relieve his agitation, he decided to exercise his beautiful new hunter, Sabre, an elegant bay bought for a great deal of money from Tattersalls a month before. He also had come to the conclusion it was a matter of will to make his forthcoming marriage to Miss Payton into a thoroughly successful liaison. This only needed him to quell his doubts and channel his energies into making her happy.
Mr Shilton promptly sent a note to South Audley Street requesting Miss Payton join him for a ride in Hyde Park that morning.
Dressed in one of his finest riding coats of a deep midnight blue, with sable-coloured breeches tucked into Hoby’s white-topped boots, he felt more restored to himself. There was some relief at last in having determined to be wholehearted about his decision to marry, and he strolled round to the mews in a calmer state of mind. There, John was grooming Sabre, his coat polished until it resembled silk.
At the sound of his name, the horse turned his head and lustrous golden eyes looked deep into his owner’s face and a kind of sympathy passed between them. Ferdy Shilton laid a hand on the animal’s neck and felt the warm flesh rippling, the muscles and nerves close under the velvet coat, and knew that here was a friend. He mounted the big horse with all the grace of an athlete and, leaving John behind, set off for Grosvenor Square and the gate into the Park.
As he trotted Sabre past the Lockhart house, he did not look in through the window hoping to catch sight of Madeleine Rose, he did not listen out for the distant sound of the pianoforte as she played a Field nocturne or lullaby; his eyes remained resolutely fixed ahead. But an unseen chord dragged mercilessly at his heart. To refocus his energies on Miss Payton and make the best of his marriage, he had to protect himself from any other romantic attachment. Little did he know that Miss Rose and her cousin Edwin had just left in the Lockhart curricle and were already tooling around the Park in uneasy conversation.
Just as Mr Shilton arrived at Grosvenor Gate, he caught sight of Miss Payton on her pretty chestnut palfrey, with her groom beside her. As always, she looked as perfect as a fashion plate in a dark red riding habit and a charming little hat set at a slight angle on her blonde curls. As always, Ferdy was struck by how competent she was at most things, how she never failed to know what was appropriate for the occasion: he determined that he would be as predictable and trustworthy in return. He took her hand and kissed it. ‘Hester, how charming you look.’
Her eyes appraised his jacket and he wondered if even this midnight blue was a bit too flamboyant for her taste, but she smiled and said, ‘Ferdinand, I commend you for your optimism about the weather. Do you think the rain will hold off for us?’ She looked up at the sky, where large cumulus clouds were building castles ever higher into the empyrean blue. Indeed, it was one of those days when brilliant sunshine was followed in minutes by sharp bursts of drenching rain, appearing from nowhere, causing havoc as everyone scurried for shelter, only to disappear as fast as it had come.
They set off together towards the Serpentine, where the water gleamed as bright as fire in the intense light. The few acquaintances who greeted them made clear from their expressions that these two prodigiously good-looking young people cut quite a dash as they rode by. Miss Payton turned to her consort and said, ‘You will be pleased to hear that I have at last managed to talk to my mother about the best date for our wedding. Would the first week in October suit you? It will give my seamstress enough time to make my wedding gown. Perhaps you can book St George’s, Hanover Square?’
Suddenly, the marriage was real, and despite his recent vow to the contrary, Ferdy Shilton could not prevent a plunge in spirit and a sense of looming dread. She continued conversationally, ‘I’ve been wondering, Ferdinand, if you resolved the problem of that foundling child?’
Hester Payton’s refusal to dignify Billy with his name irked Mr Shilton. ‘I have. My friends you met yesterday, Alick and Corinna Wolfe, have kindly offered to care for Billy until his mother arrives to claim him. He will join their own two children in the nursery.’
Miss Payton reached across to squeeze his hand. ‘That is good news indeed. And so much better for the child.’ She then put a neat gloved hand on Ferdy’s arm and said in her most charming voice, ‘I know we’ll live in your house in Brook Street when we’re married. I hope you will allow me to make a few inconsequential changes?’
He patted her hand and said, ‘Assuredly, my dear.’
He was distracted but she liked to pursue her point. ‘For instance, the drawing room could be such an elegant room if we replaced the silk-hung walls.’ She looked across at him, not certain how he would react.
‘I would miss the primrose yellow that glows with sunlight in any season.’ Ferdy Shilton felt vaguely alarmed and his smile froze into a less complaisant expression.
But Miss Payton did not recognise the signs and was not one to be deflected once the bit was between her teeth. ‘Ferdinand, I’ve been thinking, if we had the room panelled and painted in Dove’s Wing – it’s all the rage – it would display your portraits and other ancestral paintings to full effect.’
‘It sounds more like a Stormy Grey to me.’ He managed a smile but it did not reach his eyes. Hester Payton gave a short laugh but rather than console, it grated on his already taut nerves.
They were riding side by side up the farther edge of the water where the rushes were dense. Mr Shilton decided to focus his mind on the positive elements of their life together. He must make good his resolution to embrace this marriage. He caught a glimpse of a family of water voles slipping in and out of their burrows just above the water’s edge, and remembered how intrigued he had been watching them as a child, laughing at their bright-eyed faces with their fur slicked smartly back. How he looked forward to showing the world to a child of his own. He turned to Miss Payton whose attention seemed to be fixed on the darkening horizon and said impulsively, ‘Hester, I quite understand why Billy did not rouse warm feelings in you, he arrived in such inauspicious circumstances, but I take it you have no objections to children generally, to having a family with me?’
She looked surprised, then gave another little laugh. ‘Oh Ferdinand, do not worry. I know my duty and, God willing, will provide you with an heir.’
Somehow, this did not quite reassure him, but before he could pursue the matter further, he felt the first drop of rain land on his cheek in what threatened to be a short, sharp downpour.
‘Let’s shelter in that copse until the squall passes,’ he said, pointing to a stand of elm, and they cantered for the trees’ protective canopy. Just as they arrived, Ferdinand Shilton saw a small pack of the park’s feral dogs heading towards a curricle also seeking shelter. Suddenly, a cur broke from the rest and appeared to bite the heel of one of the pair of horses. It reared in the air, then both beasts harnessed to the vehicle set off, bolting in panic, heading for the northern perimeter that bordered the Oxford Road. One horse bolting was dangerous enough, but two in concert created a crisis.
Mr Shilton immediately could see that the driver was not succeeding in holding his animals. He turned to his betrothed to say in urgent tones, ‘I must try to help. This could end in tragedy.’
Leaving Miss Payton sheltering in the protection of a tree, he set off in quick pursuit, secretly delighted that he could give Sabre his head and they could gallop, despite the restrictions imposed in the royal parks. He leaned forwards and could feel the exhilaration in every cell of his magnificent stallion, the rain drilling into their faces. This sense of freedom, power and speed could not be bettered. The runaway curricle was in his sights, careering along, barely upright. With an extra spurt of speed, he rode Sabre alongside the panicking horses and stretched across to grab the reins, slowing their headlong flight. Finally, he managed to bring them to a halt, still prancing and whinnying as the last of the fear left their bodies.
Mr Shilton recognised the driver as young Lord Lockhart, looking storm-tossed and dishevelled, a mulish expression of embarrassment on his face. ‘Thank you, Mr Shilton, but that was unnecessary. I had the beasts in hand.’
‘Not entirely, Lockhart. I was concerned that you might overturn at speed. Or, indeed, the watery debacle of the Serpentine awaited.’ Only then did he notice Lord Lockhart’s companion, small and drenched through, her bright eyes gazing up at him through bedraggled hair that her bonnet had not managed to protect. ‘Miss Rose!’ He swept off his hat, itself soggy, and caught her dancing gaze. All her heart was in her eyes and her gaze made him sit a little taller in the saddle.
‘Well, Mr Shilton, I am indeed pleased that you came to our aid. For an instant, I was concerned for my life. But you are making a habit of this.’ She twinkled up at him, mischief in her expression, all the while the rain still falling on her flushed cheeks.
