The wicked proposal, p.20
The Wicked Proposal, page 20
Once the dance concluded, Penny gave the slender Russian an envious glance before confiding to Jonathan, “I do believe she is the very best of us all. I expect she had a good deal of practice while at court in Berlin before coming here. I heard she was shockingly young when they married her to the count. I believe I had rather wait a bit, politics notwithstanding.”
“I understand she was placed in the hands of the Empress Maria at a tender age. I daresay she might sympathize with you on the subject of forced marriages.” His hand slid around Penny’s waist to guide her to one side of the room, and she felt the heat from it radiating out as though the sun had chanced to beam upon her.
As the evening advanced, Penny threaded her way through the gathering, accepting the felicitations with composure. What, she wondered, would they all say when the betrothal was dissolved? Chuckle with glee, undoubtedly. Her vision flew to the three witches of Endor, their caldron transformed into a Sheraton tea table with Society matrons substituting admirably in their place.
Lord Stephen presented himself before her, looking at her with chastising eyes. “Fair one, you leave me utterly desolate. You might have warned me.”
“Anyone who looks less forsaken I cannot imagine,” she replied with amusement.
“One dance? A cotillion?”
Still amused at his preposterous display of love lost, she agreed, first catching sight of Jonathan doing the proper with Miss Dunston.
During the movement of the dance, Lord Stephen found opportunities to speak. “You intend to become the perfect English wife?”
“But, of course,” Penny replied with a smile. “What do you believe the requisites to be?”
“Oh, a woman easy to live with, one who can make her own little world and be content in it.” The dance separated them for a few minutes. When he returned to her side, he continued, “She must be assured and self-reliant, however. And a dash of wit might help. I do not want a wife forever banging on my sleeve, if you must know. It would suit me well to live independent, yet joined.”
Penny was grateful when the dance separated them again, for she was deep in thought. The woman he described as the perfect English wife was precisely the life she sought, or had when she came to London. She wondered what Jonathan’s concept of a wife would be.
While Lord Stephen escorted her to Lady Harford, Penny took the opportunity to ask him, “Do you approve of a wife remaining in the country with that little world of which you spoke, content to be there and not in the gay whirl of London?” She awaited his reply with more than a little interest.
With the air of a dashing bachelor speaking to one safely beyond his reach, he replied loftily, “Of course. No man wishes his wife to be forever looking over his shoulder, if you must know.”
“I believe you are a naughty tease,” she commented lightly before joining Lady Harford. Her fan hid the ironic twist of her mouth.
Withstanding the searching look from her sponsor, Penny watched as the people began to depart, slowly, lingeringly, chatting as they strolled down the stairs, murmuring reminders of upcoming social engagements as they drifted from the house.
Behind them servants swiftly went about removing the remnants of the party. Penny plucked a white carnation from a bouquet to twiddle it between her fingers, then sniffed the spicy fragrance with pleasure.
“I believe it was a success fou, dear mother,” Jonathan said with quiet elation.
“A wild success? Is that how you view it?” Penny questioned, dangling the carnation in her hand as she also went down the staircase toward the front door and escape.
“You will see. Andrew and I shall take you and Letty home now before you fall asleep on your feet.”
“Perhaps the girls can stay here, Jonathan? I would like to speak with them in the morning, for we still have plans to make.” Lady Harford placed a staying hand on Penny’s arm at the bottom of the stairs.
Knowing that morning would be somewhere around noon for them all, Penny shook her head. “We shall come over about one in the afternoon, my lady. That way we can be in our own beds and far less bother to you.” She gave Lady Harford a quick kiss, then gathered her violet taffeta cloak from the footman who had materialized with it.
“You believe it is safe for her to be there with no protection from her aunt?” Lady Harford softly asked her son, anxious eyes on her future daughter-in-law that she had come to love.
“For tonight, I believe,” replied Jonathan, watching while Penny spoke quietly with Letty near the door. “The Crow will take a day or two to formulate new plans, I suspect.”
“I think our strategy must be changed. You and Penny must wed immediately. No date was mentioned this evening, and even the Countess Lieven urged speed. Lord Lanscomb could arrive any day now. Who knows what the next ship will bring ashore?”
“So Penny told me. I confess I am reluctant to press her. I want no silly notions in her head that I wedded her for her money alone. She is lovely and desirable.” He studied the pretty picture she made as she chattered to Letty and Andrew Oglethorpe across the expanse of black-and-white-tiled floor. Her proud head with her beautiful blond curls in artfully tumbled charm rose regally from the violet taffeta billowing about her.
His mother smiled fondly. “I am pleased your heart is captured. Marriage is so much more enjoyable that way.” She tilted her head in a slightly flirtatious manner and smiled broadly when he let out a hoot of laughter.
Penny wished Jonathan might have confided to her what had prompted that shout of laughter while he spoke with his mother. Was it perhaps something to do with the future and of their betrothal? Or was she being excessively sensitive about the matter?
At the house on Upper Brook Street Letty and Andrew joined Penny and Jonathan in the entry. Letty fiddled with the strings of her reticule before looking to Andrew for assistance.
“You see, the thing is, we have decided we do not wish to wait any longer,” he explained.
“Neither of us grows younger, you see,” Letty added by way of clarification.
“And you desire our help?” an astute Jonathan inquired. “We should like very much to have you as witnesses. Tomorrow,” Andrew declared. “Then we shall take ourselves off to the country for a bit before returning to the city.”
“I fancy it shall be a month or two,” added Letty again, looking at Andrew with starry eyes. Turning to Penny, she said, “Although I shall be sorry to miss your wedding.”
“Of course, we shall help you,” Penny said in a soothing. way. “Do not worry about a thing. Lady Harford will doubtless be disappointed.” Penny turned concerned eyes on Jonathan.
“She will survive, and she understands the difficulty of a prolonged wait. Shall we meet, say, at eleven at the clock m the morning?”
It was decided they could all manage that time. Letty floated up the stairs after Andrew departed.
“How do you feel about not waiting, my pet?” Jonathan warily searched Penny’s eyes, watching for a clue to her true feelings. He wondered what she had meant when she said she had no need for a love potion. Had she changed her mind about Stephen? He didn’t like to think so. He knew what he hoped, but was he too optimistic?
“Be serious, my lord. We have only to convince the world, not each other.” She bestowed a faint smile on him, then moved toward the stairs. “I am tired, and if we have to get up at such an ungodly hour, I must be off to my bed.”
Jonathan watched her go up the stairs, a cloud of violet and lavender. He suspected she was quite sincere in what she said. The drive to his elegant little house was a very thoughtful one. How was he to convince her that Lord Lanscomb was an unknown quantity, that he had the power to overset all her hopes and their plans? She might not think Jonathan was serious in his intent to marry her, but it made his goal no less real.
Daily the danger grew for her, for their happiness. Would that he could bring her with him before the cleric tomorrow as well!
* * * *
In the morning the house on Upper Brook Street was total chaos, from the attics to the basement kitchen.
Letty, attired in a cream silk gown of simple lines and a clever little bonnet decorated with cream ribbons and peach silk roses, ignored it all. She gathered one of her many shawls, then issued an order for a few of her trunks to be packed with what she desired. When the time came to depart, she had things amazingly well in hand.
Penny trailed behind her to the carriage, marveling that her absentminded cousin could organize when she chose.
At the little church on South Audley the two men waited. Andrew held a posy of cream roses in one hand. His coat of deep blue contrasted nicely with his fawn trousers. He had somewhat the appearance of one who has been struck by unexpected good fortune and is not sure what to do with it.
His man had been at the church to smooth their path. All was in readiness.
Penny had eyes only for Jonathan, also attired in a dark blue coat, with biscuit trousers that strapped over his shoes and showed off a trim pair of legs. Dragging her gaze from him, she resolutely watched Letty and Andrew as they approached the front of the church.
Letty showed no signs of nervousness in the least.
“Dearly beloved,” the curate began in a richly impressive voice, “we are gathered together in the sight of God . .
Penny listened and considered the portion of the ceremony that said that marriage was to bring mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. It was a noble sentiment, if possible. She darted a glance at Jonathan. How would she feel to actually be exchanging these vows with him? At one time she had thought it an expedient thing. Now she wondered if she would so willingly accept that marriage of convenience. At least, to him.
The curate exhorted Letty and Andrew to love each other as they cared for themselves. Love, not financial arrangements, nor expediency. She simply could not bind Jonathan to anything so permanent as marriage unless there was love, that was clear. To do otherwise would be a sin.
Letty’s “I will” rang out in a defiant voice that Penny found endearing. The bridal couple signed the register, followed by Penny, Jonathan, and the curate, and the wedding was over.
After the ceremony, the four returned to the house on Upper Brook Street, where all was in readiness for a light meal. If the staff looked breathless and harried, it was not to be wondered. While the bridal party had a lovely nuncheon (Penny suspected it was deliberately drawn out), the carnage was loaded, and then the staff, along with Jonathan and Penny, waved them off.
Penny wandered up alone to her bedroom. She supposed that Mrs. Flint had collapsed somewhere below.
Jonathan took himself off to see if he could find out more about Lanscomb, suspecting now was not the moment to press Penny about a wedding. She had seemed adorably confused and bewildered this morning. He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake in waiting. Miss Nilsson could hold matters in hand. At least for a brief time, and by then he hoped to have Penny as wife.
* * * *
When at one of the clock Penny presented herself alone at Harford House, Lady Harford took the news well.
“I daresay you were wishing you might do the same,” she said archly after patting the sofa at her side to be certain that Penny would sit close to her.
Penny perched gingerly on the striped satin sofa, drawing off her gloves, then toying with the reticule in her lap.
“Ma’am, that would be folly, would it not? Do you not recall that this betrothal is temporary, until my aunt takes herself away from London?” Penny fiddled with the handkerchief she had tugged from her reticule. Her pretty blue leather slipper absently traced a line of the pattern of the Aubusson carpet beneath her feet.
‘What if she stays here until Lord Lanscomb arrives in Town?” Lady Harford inquired with a curious inflection to her voice.
“I daresay I shall contrive a way to cope with the problem. Perhaps I shall take a ship to foreign parts, where he cannot reach me?” Penny gave a lopsided grin at the lady she had come to admire. “Never fear that I shall trap your fine son into a marriage he does not wish,” she concluded earnestly.
“You are convinced he has no desire to wed with you?” Lady Harford gave an impatient sigh. Really, these children were so silly. Why Jonathan didn’t whisk Penny off to a curate was foolishness. Did he actually feel it so important that she trust in him to this degree? Absurdity.
They visited awhile, discussed what Jonathan hoped to accomplish, then turned to the agreeable subject of Charis and David’s wedding to come.
Lady Charis danced into the morning room, her face aglow with happiness. “Say you will come along with us when we shop for bride clothes. I vow, there is so much to purchase and order, I scarce know where to begin.”
“Begin at the beginning,” advised Penny sagely, with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Shifts, stays, and stockings, of course,” Charis said with a bemused nod. “Then petticoats, gowns, bonnets, and slippers in that order. Last of all a new supply of gloves and reticules to match my gowns and pelisses. I should like to buy a fur tippet for next winter, I think, Mama.”
Penny began to worry about the bills. How on earth would Jonathan begin to pay for all the pretty things Charis intended to obtain, with her mother’s blessing, it seemed?
Yet she knew it was unthinkable that a young woman who is to marry the heir to a duke not be properly fitted out. As a marchioness, she would hold an elevated place in Society. Charis and David were both people who charmed, and would draw their own group about them.
“How fortunate you have time to prepare.” Penny shared a cautious glance with Lady Harford, then continued, “Letty and Andrew were married this morning by special license. I hope you do not feel cheated that they did not wait, but he has courted her for an age and they decided not to delay another day.”
“Oh, famous!” Charis bubbled with delight. “What fun the gossips will have with that tidbit. Shall you send in the announcement, Mama?”
“Your brother will see to it, my love. He is off this afternoon making a number of contacts. Penny refuses to believe that she is in danger of having to face her guardian before the wedding can take place. I urged Jonathan to cajole her into hurrying things along, but he has this absurd notion . . .“ Suddenly aware she had said far too much, Lady Harford closed her mouth, giving Penny an apologetic look. Really, life was most complicated.
Fearing the worst, Penny put on a brave face, returning the subject to that of the morning wedding.
“Since you stood up with Letty, you must consent to stand witness for me,” Charis cried, pleased with her clever idea. “I feel sure that dearest David will wish Jonathan to attend him. Did Letty not seem nervous? I vow, I shall be all atwitter with anxiety that I forget something. Do you know,” she confided,” Mama and I decided that plain white satin trimmed with white lace and tiny pearls would be just the thing?”
Penny smiled and nodded while her heart felt a peculiar twist. A longing for a mother to plan and hope with her came over her with an intensity that near ached. She was alone; she had never realized just how alone until now. On one side of her she had Lady Harford, who politely offered assistance. Her other side was endangered by her aunt, who seemed to become more formidable and menacing by the day, especially when supported by that entire branch of the family. The Winthrops believed in retaining their own.
Sounds from the hall preceded the entrance of the man who had been hovering in her thoughts. Lord Harford stood just inside the door, taking in the little scene. His face could not have been more grim. Lady Harford jumped to her feet, followed by the girls. “What has happened?”
“I just found out that Lord Lanscomb entered London late last evening with that party of Austrian diplomats. They went to the Esterhazy establishment to report. Lanscomb has set himself up at the Clarendon for the time being. I fancy it will not take long for your aunt to seek him out. I think you had better get there first.”
Penny met Jonathan’s gaze quite fearlessly, then walked toward him. “I shall go at once, and hope that he will meet with me.” She gave a peculiar little laugh. “I do not recall ever seeing him, so I shan’t know what to expect. I do hope he is not the dragon I fear. Excuse me, my lady, Charis, Jonathan.” She curtsied, then left the room, looking very alone and forlorn.
Jonathan gave an exasperated look at his mother, then followed Penny across the entry to the front door. “I am going with you. You once admitted that my position carried some weight. Remember?” They left together, his hand firmly at her elbow. Penny found herself being inexorably guided to the curricle that stood before the house.
“My maid?” she murmured in light protest.
“Hang your maid,” he snapped back in aggravation. “We formally announced our betrothal last night. I, for one, do not care a blasted fig for what anyone says at this point.’’
“My, my,” she replied, a faint smile coming to her lips, “we are annoyed this afternoon.”
“You seem to forget that your guardian has arrived in London.” He gave his horse the office to proceed, then spent agonizing minutes weaving through the crush of London traffic.
Penny remained silent until the carriage drew up before the Clarendon Hotel in Bond Street. She walked beside Jonathan into the building with her heart beating far too fast and her mouth as dry as day-old toast.
The request to see Lord Lanscomb was met with a curious look from the man at the desk. He merely nodded, sent a boy off with the card that Jonathan handed him, and they waited.
Penny would have liked to pace back and forth as the gentlemen did. It seemed a good thing to do while waiting. “Pity there is not an accessible fireplace here,” she murmured, to Jonathan’s confusion.
