Elisabeth Fairchild (20 page)

Bandit rolled ecstatically in the grass. Beau Ferd smiled one of the slow, engaging smiles that so disarmed her.

“We both feel much better. Thank you for asking, Miss Quinby, and I do beg pardon, both for soaking your glove, and for allowing Bandit to shake himself near your person.”

“Never mind,” she said, struggling to slip her hand back into the damp kid glove. “Did you mail my letter?” She gave up on the glove and tried very hard to look severe. In this she failed as miserably as she had in donning the glove, for there was something very unsettling in the way that Beau Ferd stood respectfully answering her, as water dripped in a most ridiculous manner from his soaked shirt, and breeches and a lock of wet hair that hung down over his forehead.

“Your words are on their way,” he said. “In addition, I have news from Mr. Gates, He has located a bay for your aunt.”

Chapter Fourteen

Ursula Dunn’s nerves were all adither when she discovered that she would soon have her matched pair of horses, did she but approve of the bay Gates had discovered. “We must send a note around to Mr. Tyrrwhit,” she instructed her niece.

And so the next morning, Nell and her aunt were in expectation of both the carriage and Mr. Tyrrwhit, who had sent word that he would be delighted to accompany them. For the second occasion since coming to Brighton, Nell went to answer the knocker at her Aunt Ursula’s front door, expecting to be met by their coachman, and found someone else in his stead. Her sister Aurora, stood expectantly on the steps.

“’Nella!” she cried, beautiful face alight with glee, and before she could respond, Nell found herself engulfed in the sweet cloud of Aurora’s perfume, wrapped in Aurora’s soft embrace.

“We are come to Brighton, of all places, is it not wonderful?” Aurora chortled. “I was never more pleased than when Beatrix decided we must make an effort to locate her brother.”

“How wonderful to see you, Aurora,” Nell disengaged herself and stepped out of the door to look at the empty hackney waiting in the street. “But, where is Lady Cowper? Came she not with you?”

Aurora tipped back her head and laughed. “You will never find her there, silly. He is merely waiting to be paid, and I haven’t a penny with which to do so. Have you any spare coin?”

Nell, with very little of her own spending money for the month left in her reticule, did not hesitate to offer it to her sister, so happy was she to see Aurora.

It would appear that Aurora was equally pleased that they should be together again, for once the cabman was paid, she linked her arm through Nell’s saying, “I cannot wait for you to meet Beatrix, ’Nella, for I am sure you will adore her as much as I do. She is quite the most independent young woman of my acquaintance. No sooner did we arrive, than she directed me to seek accommodations, while she herself went immediately to inscribe our names in the ledger at the library. Otherwise, she says we shall not be allowed to attend tomorrow’s masquerade, and that would never do, for we have both of us the loveliest costumes to wear. Bea is of a mind that she must run onto her brother at such an Assembly. She is determined to find out what he has been doing with himself, and intends to peruse the pages of the register for any mention of where he might be lodging.”

“The Duke is without a doubt, come to Brighton then?”

Aurora giggled. “Came to Brighton long ago it would appear. Beatrix has only just run him to ground.”

“Did he really leave town without a word to anyone? I can scarcely credit such paltry behavior.”

Aurora’s eyes sparkled dangerously, and she lowered her voice to murmur with acidic humor, “I am of the opinion that the Duke was too terrified to face me.”

“What kind of man would not care to meet you, Aurora? Does he not like women?”

“I do not think it is that he does not like women so much as that they would seem to make him uncomfortable. Beatrix tells me that her brother still suffers greatly the death of their father, and while she has never said so, I am of the opinion that I am not the only female the family has thrust under his nose, for Beatrix did go so far as to tell me that her brother’s speech impediment is far more pronounced when he is presented to any young lady of good breeding.”

It crossed Nell’s mind that it was rather coincidental that another gleman with problematical speech should cross her path, if only in conversation.

“The Duke has a speech impediment?”

“Yes, isn’t it dreadful?” Aurora ’s voice was full of sympathetic distaste. “Poor man stutters.”

Nell thoughtfully narrowed her eyes as suspicion darted into her mind, and was as swiftly dismissed as ridiculous, for why in heaven’s name would a Duke take up position as private coachman?

As if her thoughts had drawn him into being, Mr. Ferd appeared at the end of the drive in her Aunt Ursula’s sparkling clean curricle. The horses were carefully groomed, their harness gleaming in the sunlight, and while their driver cut a bit of a dash, whirling into the carriageway with an artistic flourish of the whip, Nell could not convince herself that this might be the Duke of Heste.

“Aunt Ursula and I mean to go look at a bay horse this morning,” she said to her sister. “Shall I encourage her to put off the errand, since you have only just arrived, or would you care to come with us? It is a bit of a drive, but our friend, Mr. Tyrrwhit, has planned to take us to a spot called Devi ’s Dyke, for luncheon
al fresco.
”

“Tyrrwhit?” Aurora repeated, with bright-eyed interest, “You cannot mean Charley Tyrrwhit?”

“But yes, do you know him?”

“I know of him. He is one of the Duke’s Whip set. However did you meet him? Do you think he might be able to tell Beatrix where her brother has gotten himself off to?”

“You may ask him yourself, if you mean to accompany us.”

“Well, it is decided then. I shall go with you to examine this horse, if only to meet Mr. Tyrrwhit, but we must drop by the courier’s office on our way out of town to pick up my trunks, and tell Beatrix my plan.”

“Perhaps we had best do that now, for we’ve a quarter of an hour before Mr. Tyrrwhit is expected.”

“Splendid! Let me just pop up to tell Auntie where we are off to, and give her a kiss.”

Aurora darted into the house as Beau pulled the curricle to a halt in the drive and stepped down off the carriage seat to open the door for Nell. His eyes met hers as he did so, with one of the flatteringly appreciative looks for which Nell had so much come to depend. She allowed herself to return that look for a heartbeat or two longer than was ordinarily her custom, for it crossed her mind that with Aurora here, competing for such attentions, she must not expect such tribute to be directed her way quite so often.

“Good morning, Miss Quinby.”

“Good morning, Mr. Ferd. My sister is just arrived, but she seems happy enough to accompany us.”

He smiled. “And how is Miss Catherine Quinby? She does not come for the cure, I trust.”

Nell laughed at such an idea. “No, it is not Catherine at all, but my elder sister, Aurora.”

He was smiling when she mentioned Aurora’s name, and Nell could not help but notice the marked change that overtook his features. And yet, she had no time to determine just what it was about his expression that struck her odd, for here was Aurora herself, come skipping breathlessly down the steps, with a brilliant smile. Nell focused then most intently on Mr. Ferd’s reaction to her sister, for she was curious to see what effect Aurora might have on him. In her heart of hearts, Nell feared that the look of admiration, that flattering, heart-fluttering look with which Beau blessed her every time their eyes chanced to meet, must change somehow with the intrusion of Aurora’s incomparable beauty.

In that, she was rather pleased to find herself mistaken, for Mr. Ferd looked more concerned than impressed by her sister’s intrusion. He smiled pleasantly enough at Aurora, but his manner seemed stilted in her company, and possessed none of the glowing admiration that fired so readily in his look for Nell. In fact, his pale blue eyes looked almost frozen, while his tongue seemed locked in his lips, when Aurora beamed at him as he helped her up, and said in her endearing way, “Have I kept you waiting?”

He answered with a simple, subservient, “No, miss.”

And then, from behind her sister’s back, as he helped her into the curricle, there it was again, for Nell’s eyes only, the look that set Nell’s heart aquiver with the perception that he regarded her as something unique and rare and wonderful.

Aurora nudged her as the coach was set into motion. “What spell have you cast on Auntie ’s handsome coachman, ’Nella?” she whispered. “The young man does not seem at all inclined to take his eyes off of you.”

Nell was amazed that this was her sister’s immediate impression, for she had not thought that the looks she and Mr. Ferd exchanged were anything but discreet.

“I had not noticed,” she lied, coloring with pleasure. Behind the barrier of her fan, Aurora whispered in jest,

“Your blush says otherwise! Anyone would think you had a
tendre
for him.”

Nell sank against the cushions, blushing rosily.

Aurora’s cornflower blue eyes got very big above the edge of her fan. “Oh my? It ’s best that I’ve come then, for it would appear that I must save you from yourself.”

Nell laughed. “You pretend to come for my sake, then? I would have guessed at quite another reason.”

Aurora archly rolled her eyes. “’Tis true, I have lowered myself to come chasing after a Duke, who is so disgusted by his sister’s matchmaking, that he fled London.” She twirled her parasol provocatively at two gentlemen who quite brazenly stared and tipped hats to the lovely occupants of the open carriage as it swept past. “Do you know, Fanella, it would seem that you have had more opportunity to make the Duke’s acquaintance than I have, for Beatrix tells me that a shipment was made to her sister Anne, from the Duke, by Brighton courier some weeks ago.”

Nell smiled. Aurora was an incurable flirt, and she could bend the truth when it pleased her purposes without looking any the less innocent.

“That has little enough to do with why you are here,” Nell challenged her with a laugh. “I am not so foolish as to believe that you would chase after this paltry fellow, Duke or no Duke, whom you have never met, when he refuses to so much as acknowledge your existence.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Aurora very prettily fanned herself, and feigned confusion with dancing eyes.

“Do not think you can pull the wool over my eyes. It is another young man entirely who lures you here. ’Fess up,” Nell teased, “or I shall not tell you a word of what a certain young captain of the guard has had to say to me on the occasions we have had to meet and converse.”

“Never tell me you have actually spoken to Jeremy? That would make me too jealous for words. What did he say, ’Nella? Do not tease me. Did he ask after me, or has he forgotten me entirely?” Aurora demanded with such ill-contained excitement she fairly bounced upon the seat.

When Fanella had told her everything, not once but twice, in minute detail, Aurora sank back with a sigh, and quite forgetting that the coachman could hear her every word, said, “We are a prey pair, are we not, ’Nella dear? I would toss away the chance to snare a Duke who is reputed to be as rich a Croesus, for all he may stutter, in exchange for a tent and sea-biscuits, as wife of a Captain of the Hussar, while you have sunk even further, in allowing yourself to become enamored with a coachman, who would come home to you smelling of horse and all over hay.”

“Aurora!” Nell gasped, as the coach pulled to a halt before the courier’s offices. She was horrified that her sister could have been so careless as to speak out loud within earshot of the very coachman she referred to, and with a nudge in Aurora’s ribs, she shot her a warning look as Mr. Ferd tossed the reins to the boy who stood at the curb for just that purpose. She hoped her sister would take the hint.

“Oh!” Aurora bit down on her lip, momentarily contrite. “He cannot hear me all the way up there, can he?”

Face awash with crimson, Nell hoped that such were the case. Had she the privilege of viewing the lively twinkle in Beau’s blue eyes, she could not doubt that he heard every word and was perversely pleased with the hearing.

 Beau was not so pleased a moment later, when he heard to his dismay that he was to fetch out the trunks from the courier’s, not only for Miss Aurora Quinby, but for the Lady Beatrix Cowper as well.

“Lady Cowper?” he repeated stupidly.

“Yes,” Nell interrupted chatter with her sister to inform him. “Lady Cowper will be staying with us.”

“Oh yes,” Aurora confirmed, and then struck terror in his heart by saying with obvious pleasure, “Here she comes, even as we speak.”

Flabbergasted to see that Beatrix was indeed approaching the carriage and overtaken by the nasty realization that he had completely run out of luck and time, Beau leapt from the curricle, head down, and darted into the courier’s office, with every intention of looking for a back door.

Behind him, he could hear his sister’s voice, acknowledging Aurora’s query of, “Did you have any luck locating your brother, Beatrix?” with news that brought him skidding to a halt.