Page 19 of A Hint of Scandal (The Mismatched Lovers #2)
O n the following afternoon, Letty’s carriage drive failed to produce the required proposal but, afterwards, Letty professed herself as quite content as she’d had the most wonderful time waving to acquaintances in the park. Gentlemen, of course, and her new friend Lady Arabella Aubrey who’d been out driving with a young man who’d also had the temerity to call on Letty the previous day and express his undying love. However, this had not marred Letty’s pleasure, as Mr. Talbot’s horses were far better than “the pair of bone-setters Lady Arabella was being driven around the park behind”. Letty could, in fact, have been described as unattractively smug. Mr. Talbot possessed a pair of “beautiful steppers”, or at least he’d informed Letty, who had no eye for horseflesh, that they were.
The early spring weather had been almost balmy, so the carriage hood had been lowered and she’d been able to stop and chat to numerous people, including several of the other young gentlemen who had been her callers, all having to control their expressions of resentment at seeing her out in Mr. Talbot’s company.
“It was such fun, Fina,” she confided on her return, while well out of earshot of her mama. “I saw Sir Arthur on his horse, a fine blood chestnut that made him look so dashing. Almost like an old-time knight in shining armor.” She giggled, no doubt at the memory. “And he was quite green with envy that I was in Mr. Talbot’s carriage. So I waved to him, and Mr. Talbot had to stop so we could speak, and when we parted, it was Mr. Talbot who was the envious one, for I shamelessly flirted with Sir Arthur just for that reason.” She giggled again, those blue eyes dancing with mischief. “I’ve decided that my favorite pastime is flirting. In fact, I’m not sure I want to become engaged. At least not yet. For it would prevent me from flirting with all the gentlemen who seem to like me so much. That would be boring.”
As she’d already worryingly expressed a similar sentiment, for a moment, Serafina couldn’t think of a reply to this confession. At least not one that wouldn’t send Letty off into a sulky huff. She took the time to perform several more neat stitches on the embroidery she was doing. One that Letty would be required to sit holding and pretending to sew whenever callers could be expected, so they would see her as the perfect image of feminine industry. Araminta knew all too well that were Letty to sit holding her own embroidery, no one would be fooled into thinking her accomplished in that direction. A ridiculous notion, as surely men were not attracted by the sewing skills of their intendeds.
Having composed herself, Serafina poked her needle into the edge of the embroidery and looked up. “I can quite understand why you find talking to all your young gentlemen so much fun. But we need to remember the purpose of our visit to London, Letty. Your mama and papa, who love you dearly, are keen to see you married well.” She managed a smile. “You’re young, and this is your first time in London.” As it was her own, of course. “And the excitement of it must be intoxicating for you, especially as you’ve already been such a success. However, it might be wise to fix your interests on one gentleman, although of course it doesn’t have to be Mr. Talbot.” She paused to let that sink in. “However, it should perforce be a gentleman who is likewise looking for a spouse, not someone who merely wishes to flirt, or more, with a young and pretty lady.”
“Or more?”
Serafina frowned. She was groping in the dark here due to her own lack of experience, but she had observed a few love affairs amongst the servants and tenants at Milford, albeit from a discreet distance. “Yes. More. Not all gentlemen are… true gentlemen. It behooves us to make sure we do not associate with their like. To do so could be disastrous for a young lady.”
“Do you mean to imply that Sir Arthur is not a gentleman?”
Serafina nodded. “I fear he is not.’
Letty’s turn to frown. “But he’s very handsome.” She dimpled. “Like a Greek god. He has such broad shoulders, and the sort of hair a girl could run her fingers through, and the most kissable lips shaped a little like a Cupid’s bow, and…”
“None of those things featured on the list we made before leaving Milford, and I fear they are all the things that make him a successful rake.”
“But he’s so very handsome…”
As was Max. And yet Serafina was sure he was a gentleman in every sense of the word, if one didn’t take into account his desire to marry purely to inherit his estate. That didn’t sound all that gentlemanly when she thought about it. If he hadn’t been so handsome, would she have considered agreeing to the arrangement? If he’d been old and fat, or short and bald? Or ancient like the Duke of Dunbar Araminta had dismissed as unsuitable for Letty. She wouldn’t think about the possibility that her agreement had anything to do with his looks. She stiffened her spine. “Being handsome and charming is part of the weaponry of the ungentlemanly gentleman, I fear.”
Letty leaned in close, keeping her voice low, even though they were alone in the parlor. “Like Will Masters?”
Will had been the stableboy she’d had the dalliance with. Who knew how long it had been going on before Serafina had surprised them in one another’s arms in the stables? There was, after all, ample room in a hayloft for all sorts of misdeeds. Serafina had not grown up in the countryside without gaining a reasonable knowledge of procreation. “He was not a gentleman at all,” she said, with determination. “Not in any sense of the word.”
Unabashed, Letty dimpled. “But he was very handsome, as well as decidedly charming and excellent at kissing.”
Serafina nodded. “He was indeed, and I suspect that he is the sort of young man who uses his looks to his advantage wherever he works. Just like a rake does in society ballrooms. That young man took advantage of your lack of experience, which was unforgiveable, and he paid for it by losing his position. I fear Sir Arthur is cut from the same cloth as young Will, but had the luck to be born with more advantages in life. However, I’m certain he intends only the same outcome.”
A whimsical expression stole over Letty’s face as though she were remembering with fondness her brief association with young Will. “Do you think so? Do you think he will want to kiss me? I think I’d rather like that…”
Good heavens. Did the naughty girl actually want to be seduced by a rake?
Serafina sighed. “I do indeed, and you can stop simpering about it because it’s not good. Not at all.” Letty had to be weaned from this rather disturbing propensity to encourage the most unsuitable of admirers. “And if you were to behave in such a way with any of the young gentlemen who call on you, straightaway you would be ruined. Men like Sir Arthur have no intention of marrying, even if they have compromised the lady in question, and once compromised, men like Mr. Talbot, or even octogenarian dukes in search of a nurse for their old age, would never consider you for marriage. You would have to remain an old maid at Milford for the rest of your life, with all that entails.”
Letty’s face fell as the enormity of this outcome settled over her. “Oh my goodness. I don’t want that to happen to me.” She sounded properly frightened, which was just as Serafina had intended. Now the prospect of that fate had been removed from her own future, she felt at liberty to use it as a stick with which to castigate Letty.
Better rub it in just a little bit harder so her charge wouldn’t forget it in a hurry. “No, you don’t. Imagine all your life in that house with no fires in the bedrooms and chilblains every winter, because Teddy will grow up to be as tightfisted as your papa, you mark my words.” One of the best things about her niece was the ease with which she could be manipulated. Possibly due to her distinct lack of brain power.
Letty nodded with vigor. “You are quite right. I can assure you that dear Mr. Talbot looks more attractive by the minute. I shall dismiss Sir Arthur and his deceptive good looks from my mind immediately.” She turned a bright smile on Serafina. “I’m so glad I have you, Fina. I did think that when I was married I might take you with me to my new home, to help look after my children.” She sighed. “But now I won’t be able to, and I shall miss you dreadfully. Are you sure you want to marry Captain Aubrey? Might you not be happier to come and live with me? I promise you that you’ll have a fire in your room all year around.”
Serafina put an arm around Letty’s slender shoulders. “I’m sorry, my darling, but I do wish to marry Captain Aubrey, and even your tempting offer of a fire all year round in my room won’t sway me. However, when we are both in charge of our own households, we can visit each other whenever we like. I shall look forward to that.” And she planted a kiss on Letty’s forehead. “I think if your Mr. Talbot offers for you, you’d best say yes.”
News of Max’s engagement received a far different reaction in Cavendish Square. Both his mother and sister were pleased for him, eventually, Maria a little more so than the dowager.
“That’s wonderful, Max,” Maria said, a genuinely relieved smile on her face, when he met her at breakfast. “I shall invite Miss Gilbert to call on us forthwith. Your mama will wish to become acquainted with your intended.”
His mother, who hadn’t been at the Hadleigh ball, reacted with slightly less enthusiasm much later in the morning when she deigned to rise and descend to the parlor. In fact, she looked down her long nose at him with a distinct air of reproval to start with. “Miss Gilbert? Do you mean the rather fast hussy who has been attracting all that attention to herself and has all the young men of the Season queueing at her door? Throwing herself at my grandsons, too, so I hear.” By this she meant Henry and Louis, who were really only her step-grandsons but of whom she had become very fond over the years.
Max shook his head. “No, Mama, not her, for goodness sake. Do you think me mad? Her aunt.”
His mother’s thin eyebrows shot towards her hairline. “Her aunt?” Her voice rose in astonishment. “That girl has an aunt? How old is the woman? You need to marry someone young enough to bear you children, Maxim, not some dried up old maid.”
“Mama,” Max said, his tone even more reproving than hers had been. “You are jumping to unnecessary conclusions, as usual. Miss Gilbert is a very young aunt, being only a few years older than her niece. Quite young enough to produce children.” As he said this last sentence, heat swarmed up his neck to his cheeks, impossible to control. Because there would be no children, as this was purely a business arrangement, and she didn’t want his attentions. She’d made that very clear.
His mother, her sharp eyes on his warm cheeks, harrumphed. “You are certain she’s not lying to you about her age?”
“Absolutely certain. Her father was married twice. The first marriage produced her brother. The second produced Serafina. She was a small child when her father died.”
“No mother?”
“No mother.”
“Gilbert. Let me see. I’m sure I know the name. Are they from Hampshire?”
“Berkshire. Her uncle, Sir Ogden, owns a small estate there. I believe it is called Milford.”
She stared past him towards the window, for a moment far away. “She can’t be related to Sir George Gilbert, can she by any chance?”
What was that wistful tone in her voice? Unsure, Max could only shrug. “I don’t know. She might be. Why?”
A smile crept over his mother’s face. “He was a young man I once knew, that’s why. When I was a girl. A long time ago now.” She shook her head but Max didn’t miss how misty-eyed she’d become. “I came out when I was just seventeen and he was one of my many admirers.” She patted her graying hair. “You might not think it now, but at seventeen I was considered quite a beauty.”
“I’ve seen your portrait, don’t forget. And Arabella takes after you.” He paused. “And of course, you’re still a beautiful woman now, Mama. You know you are.”
“Age leaves its indelible mark, Max. I’m no longer a girl of seventeen. But when I was, one of the young gentlemen who came calling at my father’s house was called Sir George Gilbert. Older than me of course, but devastatingly handsome with his auburn hair. Hidden under a wig, back then of course, and cut very short, but given away by his beautiful brows.” She chuckled. “I quite fell for him, I confess, my heart being that of an impressionable girl. And he for me. But your own dear papa was also pressing his suit, and of course, my parents preferred an earl to a mere baronet for me. In those days, one had to do what one’s parents instructed, not like the lax approach nowadays.” She shook her head again, eyes even more misty at the memory. “Don’t mistake me. I had a very happy life with your papa, but I’ve never forgotten George and his auburn brows. Never. That must be where the young Gilbert hussy gets her striking coloring from.”
His mother so infrequently revealed anything about her inner feelings that Max could find nothing to say in return. That she might have married Sir George herself was a revelation, but if she had, they would all have been different people.
His mother reached out and took his hand. “I think you should invite your Miss Gilbert to call on us. I would very much like to find out if she is George’s daughter and see if there’s anything about her that reminds me of him.”
Max nodded. “Maria was before you in this. I believe she’s already issuing an invitation.” He sighed. “However, I fear we’ll receive not just Serafina but also her brother and his wife.”
His mother looked pleased. “Wonderful. I should very much like to meet them if they are related to Sir George. I wonder if the present baronet is as handsome as Sir George was?”
She was going to be sadly disappointed when she met Ogden, and Max couldn’t help thinking she might also be disappointed in Serafina. Yes, he could see beneath the plain exterior, and she had beautiful eyes which perhaps she’d inherited from her father, but she was nothing like her pretty niece. It seemed more than likely that there was a close relationship between his mother’s old beau and Serafina’s family, but that did not mean they were going to please her.