The Caversham Chronicles ~ the Beginning

Chapter Two-1

Chapter Two

The next night as Cav dressed for the evening festivities, the image of the lovely young woman he’d met in the maze returned to his mind. It still irked him that she had refused to reveal her identity, though he supposed he didn’t blame her. He should feel a cad for desiring a woman so young, but he didn’t. In fact, he hadn’t felt this randy in years.

Thinking back, he couldn’t say he’d been this attracted to Clara. Perhaps because he knew she was a mistress before they met, and always would be someone’s mistress. This Miss made him wish he were twenty years younger. He could envision interesting evenings with her. She’d given him enough information that he could have ascertained her identity with just a few questions of his hostess, but that seemed unsporting somehow. And where before he’d thought to leave for Haldenwood as soon as possible, he now wanted to stay.

All during the day he’d kept an eye out for her, but had never come across her. That was likely the reason his desire for her continued to grow. He just needed to see her again and reassure himself that she wasn’t the image of perfection he’d built up in his head.

His valet, Foster, arranged the fabric in his tie again after he placed the ruby stock pin in its folds. Cav made up his mind. He needed to know who she was, sporting or not. And Foster was far better at extracting that type of information from the maids than he would be with Lady Merivale.

“Foster, I have a little task for you. I need the name of a young Miss occupying a room on the fourth floor,” Cav said.

“To my knowledge there are no ladies upstairs, Your Grace. Only a few personal maids and companions.” The man helped Cav with his fitted jacket. For nearly twenty years, Foster had impressed Cav with his skills of deftly extracting the information he’d asked of him. If Foster wasn’t born to be a man’s man, he could easily have worked for the gossip rags or even been a spy.

“The young lady I am interested in says she’s a companion to her aunt, but I don’t know the name of either woman.”

“Ah.” The man’s increasingly stiff fingers took him longer to perfect the knot than it used to. “And when I find her shall I bring her to you, Your Grace?”

“No, I’d simply like to know her name and the name of her aunt.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” Foster said. “I shall go to the housekeeper for this information, and I will be discreet.”

“Please do.” Cav left the room for the saloon where the guests were to meet for an aperitif before dinner.

His silver-haired valet was the only man Cav could trust with a mission of this nature. He needed to learn what the young woman’s situation was. That would determine whether he could offer for her. He smiled as he recalled her very appealing look, and their easy repartee. There was also a quick wit hidden behind her fear of being discovered.

Initially, he hadn’t been in the market for another wife. He had an heir who was almost of age to marry himself, if he could keep him in the country long enough, and a daughter who was the spitting image of her mother, his deceased wife Elizabeth. A daughter who needed a mother’s guidance.

If Cav married again, he imagined a new wife would want to secure her position with a child or two. And while that was not necessarily an unpleasant thing to imagine creating with this Miss, Cav didn’t fool himself one minute to think he’d be around to see children of a possible second marriage settled into adulthood. This made marriage a serious consideration.

“Your Grace!”

Cav glanced at the woman who’d called to him from a few feet away, near the entrance of the saloon. Lady Katherine… Rawlins? Rawdon? Rawdon. That was it, Rawdon. A widow recently out of mourning, with a knack for losing at the card table. Not a completely unattractive woman, she was more forward than he liked.

She raised her hand and beckoned him over to where she stood in a group of three women, all of middle-years, each one more audacious and gossipy than the next. He plastered on a smile, determined to discover the identity of the woman fixed on his mind. It was quite possible she was the niece of one of these three. He didn’t know any of them well enough to know to whom they were related.

The only thing he knew of this group was that they all played the same card game as his hostess, and with the same keen eye and skill, or else none would be here. He’d witnessed their matches at virtually every gathering he’d been to the past few years, had even played with Lady Merivale a few times at some of the more intimate settings, such as this one.

“We were just discussing tomorrow’s amusements, Your Grace,” Lady Katherine said as he approached them.

Another woman, Mrs. Upton, whose husband was a mine owner, chimed in, “I believe the weather will be nice enough for a shopping trip into Swindon. We’re taking several open carriages for the short ride into the village.”

The third woman, a gossipy, turban-headed matron named, Lady Atherton, added, “We were hoping you’d choose to ride with us and you would be our fourth for the carriage. You could keep us entertained with the goings on in Parliament.”

“Oh, yes.” Lady Rawdon leaned in closer to him. “Heaven knows Lord Rawdon never shared any juicy tidbits with me while he lived.”

Cav truly didn’t want to go into town on a shopping trip. He wasn’t a young buck trying to win affections of a woman, nor did he especially enjoy shopping. His staff shopped for him. They knew his tastes and his tailor and cobbler knew his sizes. There was no need to amuse women on an excursion into the village.

“I’m afraid I will be ensconced in Lord Merivale’s office going over some important issues coming up in the next term.” He smiled, determined to keep from letting the women wrangle a commitment from him. “It might surprise you ladies to learn that even though we are not currently in session, the business of the Crown still goes on. We are fighting two wars now, and neither threat should be taken lightly.”

The women nodded. “Well,” said Lady Katherine, “if you change your mind, Your Grace, we will hold our empty seat for you.”

The three ladies smiled, but Lady Katherine’s eyebrow c****d and she had this almost predatory gleam in her brown eyes. The tilt of her head, the upturned corner of her smile, and the way her eyes narrowed just a fraction told him this woman was ready for a lover, much like a mare in heat. But he had no use for someone like her, he wanted a wife he could cherish, not a woman on the prowl for another titled husband.

Now was a good time to mention companions and see who reacted. “You could always invite your companions along. Surely one of them would love a chance to escape into town.”

“Bah, they have something planned,” said Mrs. Upton

“They’ve their own excursion tomorrow,” explained Lady Atherton. “My Ruth asked permission and I approved. They’re headed south to Stonehenge. Seems one of them has a travel guide.”

“That sounds like the companion I just hired. She won’t last long, I can tell already. I cannot abide her impertinence.” This came from an exasperated Lady Rawdon. “And she always has her nose in a book. Said that Lord Merivale was going to loan them a coach, driver and two grooms for their excursion. There are five of them going.”

That was fruitless. There was no way of knowing just from this conversation if his Miss was related to any of these three. He moved on to conversing with a few of the other guests, but couldn’t discern from them either who might be related to the young woman he saw. Of course not all the ladies had companions, just a few. Intelligent man that he was, one might think he could figure this out. Alas, no. Not unless he wanted to attract attention to himself.

Soon dinner was over and the evening’s real entertainments began. While they dined, the staff had arranged card tables with chairs in the same saloon, and thus began another night of whist. Cav played two hands and watched as Mrs. Upton lost a large sum at the turn of one card.

Lady Katherine, the winner, gave her friend a rather gloating smile. “That’s all right, Cecily. Tomorrow might be your night and you’ll win most of this back, so I’ll try not to spend too much of it shopping tomorrow.”

One of the female guests began to play the pianoforte and another to butcher a wonderful Italian aria. Cav decided he’d had enough after two hands. He stood, thinking to make his getaway while the others began to listen to the two musicians. But as he excused himself from the three ladies he’d sat with, so did a few of the other guests in the room. He really didn’t wish to be the tired sport whose departure ended the evening for everyone. All he wanted was to find his bed.

Lady Katherine approached him, and when she touched his sleeve, Cav could almost feel the woman’s talons latch onto his arm. Or was it his imagination? “Perhaps you might like to come to my suite later for a glass of wine?” She gave him a seductive smile and batted her lashes at him. “It would be a perfect way to end the night, don’t you think?”

“I am sorry, Lady Katherine.” Never mind that she was a passable handsome woman, her audacity repelled him. “Merivale and I have a day filled with meetings tomorrow, and I would like to prepare for the discourse.”

He made eye contact with Merivale and lifted his hand to keep the man from leaving the room. He politely excused himself from Lady Katherine’s company and went to his host seeking shelter from the clutches of yet another widow. “If anyone asks, you and I are in a meeting all day tomorrow.”

“So they asked you to accompany them shopping, did they?” Merivale chortled.

Cav nodded.

Merivale began to walk with him as Cav made for the door. “I turned down my wife as well. I think I’d rather have teeth pulled.”

“Business it is then.” Cav tossed back what was left of the wine in his glass. “I’m for bed. It’s been a long day.”

No sooner had Cav mentioned seeking his rooms than several from his card table began to follow him out, Lady Katherine hot on his heels. When they reached the landing, she said, her voice the merest whisper, “My invitation still stands, Your Grace. I should love for you to visit. We can share another glass of wine. More if you’re interested?”

“Thank you, no,” He moved closer to the doors of the library and a footman didn’t know whether to open the door for him or not. Cav nodded at the man. “If you will excuse me.”

“I can think of something better to do than read,” the woman’s breath was laced with the scent of their host’s best brandy. Frankly, the woman was beginning to wear on his nerves.

“As can I, Lady Katherine, except the person I wish to share that event with is not in this hallway.” Her expression changed from seductive to barely restrained anger. Cav wasn’t sorry he’d upset her. It was the only way to be rid of her.

The thought of any sort of liaison with this woman caused a strange revulsion in him. Thirty years earlier and he would have taken her up on the invite. But today? Tangling with a clinging widow wasn’t high on his agenda. Besides, he was getting too old for this. That thought frightened him. Was he getting too old for this sort of thing? Funny, he didn’t feel this way the day before, in the maze when he’d come across Miss. Either way, he needed to avoid this predator. He’d hate to leave Somerhill because of her when he’d yet to discover who his Miss was.

Amelia’s dinner tray had come and gone, and when it was too dark outside for the guests to linger on one of the terraces or in the gardens, the entertainments moved indoors. Her room was near the top of the staircase and the sounds of merriment drifted upward from two floors below, a reminder that she was unwelcome among them. Not allowed. She tried to filter out the tittering voices of women as they carried up the open gallery area and stairwell. There was a horrendous rendition of a Mozart piece on the pianoforte and one woman attempted to sing Scarlatti only to quit part way through with giggles when she couldn’t reach the upper ranges.