Page 41 of Fortune Favors the Frivolous (Matchmaking Mischief Makers #2)
A n hour later, Henry couldn’t decide between disbelief and hope as he paced the length of his study, Caroline watching him anxiously from her perch near the window. Her mama was out visiting and she had an hour at best before she needed to return home before her absence would be noticed.
“This is madness,” he said finally, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. “Complete and utter madness.”
“It’s our only chance,” Caroline insisted.
“Think about it, Henry. Rothbury is perfect—he has connections to Venetia’s family, a sterling reputation, and from everything I can tell, he’s been secretly enamored with her for over a year.
” She decided to leave out the fact that Mr. Rothbury had actually been quite adamant about having no intention of offering for Venetia based on some apparently noble motive.
But what motive was that? Because she was currently betrothed to Henry?
Well, tomorrow Venetia would not be betrothed to Henry.
Not to please her aunt, though. She’d need to break her engagement at just the right time to deflect any danger of Mrs. Pike sailing in to push her into Windermere’s evil clutches.
Henry shook his head. “Based on servants’ gossip? And you expect me to trust the future of not only Venetia but ourselves to this scheme?”
“It’s more than gossip,” Caroline insisted.
“Based on what I observed when Amelia and I saw him yesterday. And as for Venetia, you should have seen how her face lit up when she remembered him from childhood. When Mary told me he has her portrait, I didn’t believe it.
But in fact it’s a portrait of Venetia’s mother and he had it right there, to hand, among his papers.
Nor did he want to give it up unless it was to Venetia directly. ”
Henry tried not to sound as glum as he felt. “Even if he does harbor feelings for her, it’s rather unlikely he’d act on them. You say he’s a man of integrity? Well, he knows Venetia is betrothed to me,” he repeated.
“Then we must create a situation where they are unable to escape one another… directly after she breaks off her betrothal to you.” Caroline moved to his side. “Two people, suspended hundreds of feet above London with nowhere to escape… Lady Townsend told mama there was no greater feeling.”
Henry gave a short laugh. “How would you possibly mastermind such an event: first getting Venetia to break off our betrothal and then, within minutes, getting her to climb into the basket of a hot-air balloon with Mr. Rothbury? Alone. Besides, you have no reason to believe she has—or could develop—any feeling for Rothbury.”
“I believe she could. You should have seen her face when she recalled him telling her that ‘even the most timid can exhibit the greatest courage if the goal is important enough.’”
“But, I repeat—practically speaking? How do you propose to get Rothbury and Venetia into that basket together, when Mrs. Pike is determined to force Windermere upon her?”
Caroline smiled with more confidence than she felt. “I’ll coordinate with Lady Townsend. At the appointed time, I will create a distraction for Mrs. Pike—”
“While I intercept Windermere,” Henry finished, still skeptical. “And it’ll all go to plan as it did when you threw those missiles through the window of Lord Windermere’s hunting lodge?”
“Exactly.” Caroline was not going to be deflected by his cynical rejoinder.
“Meanwhile, Lady Townsend will guide Venetia to the balloon under the pretense of showing her how it works. You recall how persuasive she can be. And, you know, I’m quite sure she has a soft spot for Venetia and wants only the best for her, so I’m sure if I speak to her—”
“And Rothbury?”
“I’ll say what needs to be said. Maybe I could ask him to verify some documents or matters regarding the Playford estate while the festivities are underway—documents that would show Venetia, clearly, that her aunt was telling lies when she told Venetia her parents had married after—” She blushed, before mumbling “—after her birth.”
Henry swung round. “What?”
“They’re lies, Mr. Rothbury says,” Caroline soothed him.
“Besides, you’re not going to marry Venetia, so it wouldn’t matter to you either way.
” Caroline hesitated. “In fact, this is what Venetia was intending to tell you tonight as a reason to break off your betrothal. Except that it won’t happen in the way she or her aunt expect. ”
Henry stared at her, frozen to the spot.
Then he let out a low whistle, and didn’t even apologize.
“My, my, Caro, what a clever, cunning mind you have inside that beautiful head of yours,” he said, admiringly, if not poetically, before his brow furrowed.
“Not that this will work, but Rothbury would be furious to be duped into the basket with Venetia. Alone. Meaning that… perhaps propriety would require that he married her rather than… me?” Despite himself, he grinned before letting out a long sigh.
“Oh, Caro, this is all so masterful, and it would be so wonderful if there were even the slightest possibility that things could run to plan as you seem to imagine they might.”
A moment of silence stretched between them. Then Caroline whispered, “I truly believe Mr. Rothbury harbors strong feelings for Venetia. And that being alone in the basket of a hot-air balloon would give him the opportunity to tell her this.”
Almost wonderingly, Henry shook his head. “Just imagine if, by some miracle, Rothbury declared himself and Venetia accepted?”
Caroline stepped closer, raising her hand to gently brush his cheek. “Then we would be free.”
“Free,” Henry echoed, the word hanging between them like a precious, fragile thing.
“To follow our hearts,” Caroline whispered, pressing herself against him and resting her hand against his chest. She felt his soft sigh as his arm went about her. “To be together, as we have longed to be.”
His grip tightened. “It seems impossible.”
“No more impossible than arranging for two unsuspecting people to fall in love in a balloon basket,” she replied, smiling.
“When you put it that way…”
With a regretful sigh, Henry set her away from him as they heard footsteps in the passage.
“I just fear that Mrs. Pike really will put enough pressure on Venetia to break off the engagement for no other reason than that I am still persona non grata. People look askance at me when I’m at White’s.
A mere sniff of scandal is enough to have one blackballed and each time I enter its hallowed precincts I’m in dread of being turned away. ”
Caroline put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“The reason they don’t—and they can’t—is that all this is merely gossip.
Sir Frederick has done his best to put the word about that his mysterious lady in blue, this foreign Hungarian princess or whatever she was supposed to be, was actually a paid actress.
I hear some wonder if it was a practical joke. ”
“Some might wonder that, but others don’t. According to them, I transgressed during my time on the Continent and they are fully expectant that Venetia will withdraw from our arrangement at the final hour. And Mrs. Pike is fanning the flames.”
Caroline sighed. “I wish Barnaby was called to account. The lies have all but been proved. It’s time for him to say it was just a jest or a cruel joke.
Because Amelia heard the truth from the woman he hired to ruin your reputation.
And yet Barnaby now studiously avoids you every time you want to challenge him.
Does he think he can get away with this? To think he was once your friend.”
Henry shrugged. “I had thought him so. And I’d thought Charlotte would believe in me. But she is quite under Barnaby’s influence.”
Caroline began to pace while she tried to mull over the conundrum.
“Clearly Barnaby is in Lord Windermere’s power.
I don’t know how or why, but he is playing to what Windermere and Mrs. Pike want.
Why would he sully your name? Well, so that Venetia will break off your engagement, leaving the path clear for Windermere.
We’ve essentially established that. But… what is Barnaby’s role in this?”
Henry looked helpless and Caroline ran to him and put her arms about his waist. “Goodness and honor will prevail, my darling Henry!” she cried.
“There must be a way of making Barnaby reveal his duplicity.” Raising her head, she said, “I shall make Charlotte trick him into confessing the truth! Yes, that is what I’ll do.
And then, tomorrow, at the Celestial Comet Viewing, not only will we push Rothbury and Venetia together so that their attraction is undeniable, your name will be cleared by Charlotte revealing that her betrothed set up it all up as a joke or a wager.
That way, Barnaby will not be embarrassed and perhaps lash out.
I really don’t trust him and am so very sorry Charlotte seems to be so taken in. ”
“So, now we have Venetia and Rothbury conveniently married off, and my name cleared.” Henry shook his head in mock amazement. “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”
“Not everything,” Caroline admitted. “I haven’t yet decided what I shall wear to our wedding.”