Page 12 of Second Chances (Intrepid Heroines #3)

Eleven

A llegra shut the book with a sigh, then let her eyes close as well, savoring a rare moment of solitude in the deserted morning room. The last few days had passed in a blur, with more fashion fittings than she had imagined possible, and excursions with Lady Alston and Max to the Tower of London and Astley’s Amphitheater, on top of hours spent going over the nuances of behavior within Polite Society. And then, there had been the first few morning calls to a select group of Lady Alston’s friends.

Since they were all chosen because they loved to gossip, news about the arrival of the recently widowed—and extremely wealthy—cousin of the earl should have reached even the most reclusive member of the ton .

Allegra sighed on recalling the experience. But it appeared that she had contrived to get through the ordeal without making any egregious mistake. Indeed, she had even managed to chatter at great length about absolutely nothing, a feat she would have normally considered beyond the powers of her patience. What mattered was that Lady Alston had been well satisfied that all was going according to plan.

Another sigh escaped her lips. It was the thought of tonight that had caused the book to slip from her fingers. The prospect of facing a ballroom filled with bejeweled ladies and titled gentlemen—among them Lord Sandhill—was a daunting one. She found herself wondering whether Wrexham would put in an appearance. A familiar face, even a disapproving one, would be of some reassurance. But aside from a few brief glimpses at the breakfast table, she had hardly set eyes on him since their arrival in Town. He seemed to be going to great lengths to avoid being in her presence.

Could there be any doubt why?

Allegra found herself wishing yet again that she had not sunk herself so irredeemably in the earl’s eyes. She missed the comfortable friendship that had grown between them, along with their spirited discussions, even though their opinions rarely matched. She missed sitting curled in one of the oversized armchairs with a book while he worked at his desk …

“Allegra?” Lady Alston poked her head into the room and surveyed the growing shadows near the french doors. “Good heavens, my dear! It is way past time to begin preparing for the evening’s festivities. Come along, Clotilde is waiting.”

Allegra set aside her musings with some reluctance and followed the other lady upstairs, feeling a little like a lamb about to be led before a pack of wolves.

Sometime later, Lady Alston’s formidable French abigail stepped away from Allegra with a sniff of satisfaction.

“ Pas mal .” she announced under her breath as she surveyed the results of her labors.

“Clothilde, you are a true artiste,” murmured Lady Alston, causing her abigail’s ample chest to swell out to even larger proportions.

Allegra stared into the gilt looking glass, hardly believing what she saw. Her hair was twisted into a simple arrangement atop her head, but with an artful snip here and there, the abigail had created a tumble of soft curls to frame her face. The effect was amazing—she hardly recognized herself! The fact that the new gown revealed quite a lot more of herself than she was used to only heightened the feeling that she was looking at a stranger.

“Oh,” she managed to whisper.

“You look absolutely stunning,” said Lady Alston with a smile. “The color is perfect on you, just as I imagined it would be.”

There was a knock on the half-opened door, then Wrexham stepped into his sister’s room. “Olivia, have you seen where the deuce they have put my—” He fell silent as he caught sight of Allegra.

“Doesn’t Allegra look lovely?” said Lady Alston.

The earl remained speechless.

“Be prepared, my dear, to find yourself attracting any number of offers,” went on Lady Alston.

Allegra colored to her roots. “You are being absurd, Lady Alston. A female of my advanced years, not to speak of?—”

“Olivia,” corrected the earl’s sister. A decided twinkle came to her eyes. “And we shall see just who is being absurd.”

Wrexham finally found his voice. “Olivia, you don’t mean to tell me you are going to let her appear like … like that in public?”

One of Lady Alston’s brows shot up. “Whatever do you mean, Leo? She looks a veritable picture.”

His wide-eyed gaze was focused on Allegra’s bare neck, exposed shoulders and decolletage. “Why, it’s ... hardly decent,” he managed to growl.

“My dear brother, you have fallen sadly behind the times, hidden away up in the wilds of the north. This style is all the crack, I assure you, and certainly well within the bounds of propriety for even the highest stickler.” She gestured to the front of her own gown. “As you can see,” she added.

Wrexham hadn’t seemed to notice his sister’s gown.

Allegra’s color had only deepened. “Perhaps His Lordship is right,” she said in a near whisper. “It does seem rather?—”

“Nonsense!” scoffed Lady Alston. “Put that absurd notion right out of your head. It is important that you appear as fashionable as all the other ladies.” She turned back to her brother and fixed him with a glare. “And Leo, do stop being such a stick in the mud. Can’t you see Allegra is nervous enough without you carrying on like some old curmudgeon.”

The earl began to make some sort of retort, but the look on his sister’s face caused the sound to die in his throat.

Another attempt at protest by Allegra was just as ruthlessly squelched with a quelling glance. “The matter is settled,” she announced as she continued to give Allegra’s coiffure and dress one last appraisal. “Now, I shall fetch the figured India silk shawl from your room. It will bring out that unusual deep green of your eyes.” As she made to leave the room, she took up a slim leather case from her dressing table and thrust it into the earl’s hands. “And of course we must begin to bait the trap for Lord Sandhill. Leo, kindly help Allegra with this.”

A scowl darkened Wrexham’s features at his sister’s blunt choice of words, but he took the box without argument. He opened it to reveal a finely worked necklace of matched emeralds, all nearly the size of a robin’s egg.

Allegra gave a low gasp. “My lord, I cannot possibly wear that! Why, it must be worth a king’s ransom.”

The earl had already moved to stand behind her “I’m afraid you have no choice,” he murmured as his fingers lifted the heavy creation from the padded satin. “There is precious little anyone can do once Olivia has taken the bit between her teeth.”

Their eyes met for an instant in the looking glass as he brought it around her neck. The simultaneous sensation of the smooth coolness from the jewels and vibrant heat from his touch sent a slight frisson down her spine.

His eyes fell away as he fumbled with the thick gold clasp. “I did not mean to imply that you ... do not look well,” he said haltingly. “I—I am simply unused to seeing you thus.”

She essayed a game smile. “I assure you, sir, so am I. Indeed, I would not be at all surprised if everyone tonight sees me for what I am—a complete charlatan.”

Wrexham didn’t miss the note of self-doubt in her tone. His hand lingered to brush away a wisp of a curl at the nape of her neck. “You are less of a charlatan than most of the ton ,” he replied in a near whisper, with a vehemence that took her by surprise.

He took a step back from her stool, then spoke again. “Now let’s have no more talk like that. Where is the spirit I have come to expect from the female who thinks nothing of scaling manor walls? Surely you are not going to allow yourself to be intimidated by an assortment of nodcocks and widgeons?”

Allegra gave a little laugh. “Well, if you put it that way?—”

Further answer was forestalled by the arrival of Olivia with the silk shawl. She draped it over Allegra’s shoulders, giving a nod of satisfaction at the fortune in jewels around her neck. “That should do nicely,” she remarked. “Come along now, both of you. We are in danger of being more than fashionably late.”

* * *

Allegra took a deep breath, both to steady her nerves and because the crowd of guests and masses of cut flowers had already made the air feel warm and cloying. She had never seen such a crush. The ballroom was already packed, elegant ladies swathed in silk swirling by with gentlemen dressed in equal splendor. From the perimeter, groups of turbaned matrons sat gossiping, all the while keeping a basilisk eye on their various charges, while a number of gentlemen not given to dancing were sidling towards the card room. Her step faltered as she realized that somehow she had become separated from Lady Alston in the crowd. An elbow jostled her side as she searched in vain for a familiar face, knocking home the enormity of the task she had set herself.

It was absurd, she thought grimly, to imagine she could bring this off.

A hand took her firmly by the elbow. “Try not to look as though you are about to mount the gibbet,” counseled Wrexham in a low voice as he smiled and nodded an occasional greeting while guiding Allegra towards the far end of the room. “And try not to wander off by yourself. Olivia has a number of important people she must acquaint you with in order to smooth your entry into Society.”

“Wander off!” she retorted in an equally low voice. “Why, one can hardly draw a breath, much less move.”

His lips twitched. “A hostess considers her evening a sad disappointment if two or three ladies do not faint from lack of air.”

He had her smiling as well. “Are they really so silly?”

“You must judge for yourself—Ah, there is Olivia. I shall leave you in her capable hands until she has finished her introductions.” He reached down for her dance card and scribbled something on it. “Then I am commanded by my sister to lead you out for your first dance.”

She couldn’t disguise her surprise. “I am to dance with you ?”

“I am afraid you must. Olivia assures me that for some reason or another, my presence as a partner will confer some sort of consequence to your debut.”

She found it nice to be bantering with him again. “Ah, so you are rather like the dragons of Almack’s—I need the stamp of your approval before any gentleman would dare approach.”

He grinned, the first time he had done so in a long time. “Quite—though I hope my face is not quite so intimidating as that of Mrs. Drummond-Burrell.”

Allegra laughed lightly, though she had not as yet met that august personage. “I will let you know, sir. Tell me, do you have the same power to ruin a female—” She stopped short, a tinge of color spreading over her cheeks.

The smile disappeared from Wrexham’s face. In stony silence he guided her through a group of young bucks who were eyeing several of the young misses on the dance floor to where Lady Alston was anxiously scanning the crowded room.

“Oh, there you are,” she cried in relief. She took Allegra’s arm. “My dear cousin, I must introduce you to Lord and Lady Westerville.”

The earl bowed stiffly. “Until later ... cousin.”

Allegra bit her lip but there was precious little she could do except paste on a smile and remember why she was here.

Somehow she got through what seemed to be an interminable series of introductions without disgracing herself. And though dreading her required set with the earl, that, too, passed tolerably well. On leading her out, he had confided that he was not a good dancer and would try not to trod on her feet. Concern for his bad leg led her to forget all thoughts of her own nervousness, and by the time the set was finished, she realized that she was indeed feeling more at ease. She flashed him a grateful smile, but had no chance to speak before she was claimed for the next dance by a portly gentlemen who according to Lady Alston’s whispered warning might try to pinch her bottom.

To Allegra’s surprise, the earl’s words proved all too true. One gentleman after another sought an introduction and a spot on her card. Her head was whirling even faster than her feet, trying to keep all the names and faces straight. Breathing a sigh of relief when her next partner turned out to be Lord Bingham, and she gratefully agreed when he suggested that perhaps she would prefer to sit out a set and enjoy a glass of ratafia punch.

His eyes swept over her with frank admiration after he had fetched her a glass and led her over near an arrangement of potted palms where they had a bit of space to themselves. “You are looking very lovely, Mrs. … Ransley,” he said, remembering to use her mother’s maiden name, as had been agreed upon. “And I see you have already made quite an impression on the gentlemen present.”

Allegra dropped her gaze. “You are most kind, sir, but I cannot help feeling that everyone must know I’m not really one of them.”

“Oh, you may feel akin to us sooner than you think,” he murmured enigmatically, then quickly went on before she had a chance to wonder what he meant. “You are doing splendidly.” He watched the dancing couples whirl by for several moments before asking, “Have you seen Leo?”

She shook her head. “Not since ... our dance together.”

“Hmmm.” He kept searching the crowd, then suddenly his shoulders stiffened slightly as his gaze came to rest on a figure not far away. “Tell me,” he said softly. “Do you feel ready to bell the cat, as it were, or would you rather wait?”

Allegra forced her voice to sound more confident than she felt. “I see no reason to put it off.”

Bingham gave her arm a squeeze, then guided their steps back toward the refreshment table. Along the way, he feigned a stumble and brushed into the back of a thickset figure dressed in a foppish coat of in an ugly shade of lime green.

“Your pardon—oh, is that you, Sandhill? Forgive my clumsiness. I must have been pushed by some young jackanape.” He made a slight bow. Then, as good manners dictated, he brought Allegra forward. “By the by, have you made the acquaintance of your neighbor’s cousin, who has only just arrived in Town?”

Sandhill looked her over with interest, his eyes lingering on the glittering emeralds at her neck. “I have not had the pleasure,” he replied with a smile. After the formal introductions had been made, he reached to down to bring her hand to his lips.

It was all Allegra could to repress a shudder at the man’s touch. She forced an answering smile as the three of them began exchanging pleasantries.

Sandhill turned to regard her once more. “I don’t recall meeting you here in London before.” He phrased it as a question.

Her reply was well rehearsed. “My husband did not care for social whirl of the city. He much preferred to stay at home and run his shipping interests—” She gave a little sigh as her fingers came up to toy with her necklace “—though I have little cause for complaint. I’m afraid he rather spoiled me. Alas, now that he has left me bereaved of his presence, I can at least take solace in the little trinkets he has left me.”

A predatory gleam came into Sandhill’s eye. “My condolences, Mrs. Ransley. Let us hope that your stay in Town will help lighten your spirits.”

Allegra brushed at an imaginary tear, hoping she wasn’t doing it too brown. “Everyone has been so kind, especially my dear cousin Olivia, who has offered me the comforts of Wrexham House until I have engaged a suitable residence of my own, even though our mothers are only distant connections. I don’t know what I would have done without her, seeing as I know hardly a soul in Town.”

“You may certainly count me as a new friend, Mrs. Ransley. I would be happy to be of any assistance.”

Allegra dropped a graceful curtsy.

“And now perhaps you will allow me the next set?”

Gritting her teeth, she placed her hand on his elbow and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor.

It seemed like an age before the last notes faded into the trill of conversation and the clinking of crystal. Allegra gave thanks that the steps of the dance had made all but the most cursory conversation impossible. Still, every time his gloved hand touched hers, she had to fight off the urge to be violently sick. Indeed, it took all of her considerable self-control to keep a smile pasted on her face and her eyes from betraying her disgust as he offered his arm to return her to where Lady Alston stood chatting with several other ladies of her acquaintance.

“I shall save you the trouble, Sandhill—I believe my cousin is engaged with me for the next dance.”

Allegra felt a surge of relief as Wrexham appeared from among the milling couples.

Sandhill relinquished his place at her side. “Wrexham,” he nodded. “Didn’t know you were here as well. Thought you never came to Town.”

“I have a pressing matter to attend to,” replied the earl.

“Oh?” Sandhill flicked at a speck of dust on his cuff. “Nothing too serious, I hope.”

“On the contrary, it is of the utmost seriousness, but I have no doubt that I shall resolve it to my satisfaction.”

The other man shrugged his shoulders, making it clear he had little interest in the earl’s affairs. He bowed politely to Allegra. “A pleasure making your acquaintance, Mrs. Ransley. I trust we will see more of each other in the days to come.”

She smiled, not trusting her voice. Only when he had disappeared into the crowd did she whisper, “You may be sure of it.”

Wrexham’s hand came around her elbow as he took note of her pale features. “Are you all right?” he inquired in a low voice. “I have a mind to box Edmund’s ears for rushing you into Sandhill’s acquaintance on your first evening out.”

Allegra was surprised at the look of concern on the earl’s face. “Please don’t ring a peal over his head—I demanded that he do so.” She couldn’t help but give a shudder. “I ... I just hadn’t imagined it would be so repulsive.” Her voice caught in her throat. “It was worse than touching a reptile.”

It was funny, she thought, as she spoke the words—the earl’s touch didn’t make her shudder in the least.

His grip tightened. “The damned bastard,” he swore under his breath. “I am sorry you had to endure that. I would have liked to shove his teeth down his throat just for the way he was staring at your ... bodice.”

“My bodice?” she repeated in some confusion. “Oh—the emeralds. Yes, he did seem to take note of them. But that is what we wished for.”

“I was not speaking of the emeralds,” muttered Wrexham as the music struck up and his arm came around her waist.

It was a waltz. Before Allegra had a chance to feel nervous, he guided her into the first steps and the hours of recent instruction with the dancing master Lady Alston had engaged took over. She followed his lead effortlessly.

The earl abruptly changed the subject. “Are you enjoying your first ball?”

Allegra looked up into his eyes. “I would be less than truthful if I said I was not,” she replied. “It is all so very overwhelming—and rather exciting. I’ve never seen so many candles or flowers. And the people! The gentlemen in their finery and the ladies in their silks and jewels—they are breathtaking.” She didn’t add that feel of his body close to hers, the pressure of his hand at the small of her back was rather affecting her breath as well.

It must be that, for she was feeling a little lightheaded.

Wrexham smiled. “You are more than a match for any of them,” he said.

“That ... that is ... most kind of you,” she stuttered, her gaze falling away from his in embarrassment. “Especially since I am well aware that you don’t approve—of my dress, of this plan, of ... me.”

His brows came together. “As for your dress, I admit to being sadly behind the fashions. It is clear that such a style is all the rage, and on reflection, I am all for it. As for the plan, no, I am not enthusiastic about it, but surely you cannot doubt that I wish to see Sandhill and son punished just as badly as you do. And as for you, I….”

Her eyes had come back up to meet his.

“... I fear you have gotten some odd notion into your head. I do not disapprove of you. Though we disagree on any number of things, you have always had my ... respect, Mrs—Allegra.”

Her insides gave a lurch at the sound of her name on his lips.

“Truly? I am very glad of it, sir.”

His head bent close to her ear. “I have a name as well,” he whispered. “I should like you to use it.”

“I am very glad of it ... Leo,” she repeated.

As the last strains of the violin died away, Allegra was not unhappy that Lady Alston, whisked her away from the earl’s side and suggested they take their leave.

“My dear, I think it best not to exhaust you on your first night out. No doubt your head is spinning with all the new sights and sounds and people.”

Allegra nodded. Oh yes, the evening had given her more than enough to occupy her thoughts.

* * *

Wrexham watched his sister usher Allegra from the ballroom as he took a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing footman and drained it in one gulp. Not approve of her? he repeated to himself. Why, it was all he could do to keep from pulling her close and covering that expressive—and opinionated—mouth with kisses every time he saw her. Tonight had been especially difficult. The sight of her in that stunning gown had nearly undone him.

His eyes closed for a moment. He had avoided her presence for the past few days, hoping to put her out of his mind. And yet he couldn’t seem to force his thoughts away from the way her hair glimmered in candlelight, or how fire lit in her eyes when she spoke of some radical new idea ... or the way she had just now whispered his name.

He looked desperately around for another glass of champagne. For one wild moment he had considered asking her to return to Yorkshire when all this was done. After all, she was a widow, and if they were extremely discreet, Max need not know ... But he had dismissed the thought in an instant. He would never dishonor her with suggesting such a liaison.

There was, of course, another option, but he refused to consider it either. He had long ago promised himself he would never be such a fool as to make that mistake again, no matter what.