An Unconventional Miss. Dorothy Elbury

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СКАЧАТЬ after the girl’s rather haughty treatment of him the other day, he could not understand why his negative response to Beresford’s invitation should elicit such an extreme reaction from her. But then, he reasoned to himself, given what young Stevenage had, inadvertently, let fall about the lovely Miss Beresford, coupled with the not entirely favourable impression that he himself had formed, it was not beyond the realms of fantasy to conclude that these highly exaggerated mannerisms were merely part of a well-practised routine on her part.

      Having seen the astonishingly reckless manner in which she had flourished a bulky wad of banknotes under the stableman’s nose—to the considerable interest of a good many onlookers—followed by her total disregard for both her brother’s and Stevenage’s counsel, it had come as no surprise to Wyvern to discover that Miss Beresford in person was even more pig-headed than he had been given to understand. Clearly used to having things go her way, and heaven help those who had the temerity to cross her!

      Well, the little madam could bat her eyelashes at him until the cows came home, thought Wyvern, with a disdainful shrug, but if she really imagined that she could persuade him to join the ranks of all those young jackanapes who were dancing to her tune, she was about to discover how very wrong she was! The girl clearly need to be taught some sort of a lesson and, as his mind dwelt upon the various ways in which the condescending Miss Beresford might be brought to heel, it very soon occurred to Wyvern that, had he but had the time at his disposal, he would not have been at all disinclined to take on the job himself! Such a pleasant distraction could well prove to be most gratifying!

      As the gas lamps in the auditorium were slowly lowered for the start of the second act, an introspective gleam came into his eyes and his lips curved in amusement as he contemplated the possibilities. That softly rounded figure—he could well imagine how that would feel in his arms! And those eyes! He would swear that a man might drown in those glorious pools and be only too glad to do so! A sudden clash of cymbals from the orchestra pit jolted him out of this agreeable reverie and thrust him rudely back to his senses. A deep frown puckered his brow. What, in the name of thunder, had got into him? As if he didn’t have more than enough complications in his life already!

      Having spent the past few days investigating the true state of affairs at Ashcroft Grange, he had discovered that, to his considerable relief, the situation was not nearly as hopeless as the solicitor, Humphreys, had led him to believe. Many valuable artefacts had disappeared, it was true, but Wyvern was soon to learn that the handful of dedicated servants still in residence had been more than anxious to restore the property to its former glory and had worked very hard to repair the damage that had been caused by his brother’s in-continent associates.

      Brigham, the elderly land agent, had informed his new master that there was still sufficient revenue coming in from the four tenant farmers to keep the estate ticking over for several months, given that nothing out of the way occurred in the meantime. This being so, Wyvern was reasonably confident that, for the moment, at any rate, the interest from what was left of his own small capital would just about cover the servants’ wages and his own day-to-day expenses.

      And, even though he had never felt the slightest inclination to involve himself in the running of the rambling estate, the intricate workings of which were still something of a mystery to him, these findings were of some comfort to him. Even more so to his grandmother, perhaps, who had spent the entire period of Wyvern’s absence in a continual fret as to what news he would impart to her on his return from Brentford.

      There still remained, however, the formidable dilemma of how to lay his hands on the prodigious amount of money needed to satisfy the late earl’s creditors who, as soon as the news of Wyvern’s arrival back in the capital had reached their ears, were already starting to clamour for satisfaction.

      It was entirely as a result of his deep concern regarding this seemingly insurmountable problem that he had finally agreed to accompany his grandmother on a pre-arranged call to Draycott House that very morning.

      His dark eyes slid over to the young lady who was seated at his right. With her hands folded primly into her lap, her whole attention appeared to be focussed on the stage below. Having spent the entire obligatory half-hour of the morning visit attempting to engage her in some sort of conversation, it had not taken him very long to realise that, since she had failed to express a single opinion on any of the many topics he had raised, Miss Draycott was apparently still quite incapable of forming one! In addition, she seemed to have developed the most disconcerting habit of demurely lowering her eyes and glancing to one side whenever she spoke, thus avoiding any direct confrontation. And, whilst any other man might find this coy mannerism rather appealing, to Wyvern it was starting to be a distinct irritation.

      As a soft sigh escaped his lips, he felt the countess’s hand on his arm. Turning to face her, he gave a rueful shake of his head, having decided that, despite all of the Draycotts’ obvious wealth and background, he might well be forced to look elsewhere for his family’s salvation.

      Across the auditorium, the entire second half of the performance passed completely over Jessica’s head, so stunned was she at Wyvern’s rebuff. Had he walked into the box and slapped her across the face she could hardly have been more mortified. She bit hard on her lip to prevent the tears from forming. To think that she had been prepared—even eager, as she recalled in embarrassment—to put that first unfortunate encounter with Wyvern behind her and begin anew. After all, she reasoned, how could she possibly have known that the man who had come to their aid was an earl? He had not introduced himself properly and he certainly had not behaved as one might have expected a member of the aristocracy to behave. In fact, as she recalled, having failed to dismount in order to assist her from the carriage, the man had been singularly discourteous!

      Straightening her shoulders, she furtively wiped away the single tear that had managed to find its way on to her cheek and vowed to put the beastly man out of her mind. It was hardly as though she was short of beaux, she reminded herself crossly. She could name more than a dozen hopefuls who would happily cut off their right arms just for one dance with her! But then, as a sudden vision of that rather unpleasant spectacle presented itself to her, she gave a little shudder and, conscious of Stevenage’s anxious eyes upon her, she turned and bestowed such a sweet smile upon the young lieutenant that he was totally overcome.

      Chapter Five

      Wearily tossing aside yet another demand for immediate reimbursement of one of the many outstanding debts incurred by his brother, Wyvern leaned back in his chair. Closing his eyes, he raked his fingers through his thick, dark hair, endeavouring to make some sense of the seemingly hopeless mess that had been bequeathed to him.

      Although he was reasonably confident in the knowledge that Brigham, the Grange’s highly competent manager, was doing his best to return the estate to something of its former excellence, the hiring of the extra labour required had made considerable inroads into what was left of Wyvern’s available funds. Added to which, the lavish affair that his grandmother had insisted upon throwing the following Friday looked set to deplete them even further. More than once this week already, a highly embarrassed Jesmond had been obliged to draw the earl’s attention to the disturbing fact that several of the family’s long-standing suppliers had taken to requesting cash payments for the innumerable items that Lady Lavinia had ordered to mark the family’s re-entry into society. She, however, had been loftily unrepentant, having pointed out that it would hardly do to give their guests even the slightest hint that the family might be in some sort of financial difficulty.

      With a resigned sigh, Wyvern rose to his feet and began to pace about the room, racking his brains to find some solution to the problem. No matter how offensive the idea was to him, it was becoming abundantly clear that he would have to apply for a loan of some sort—but to whom could he turn? He had not failed to register Humphreys’s caution that Theo had outrun the patience of all the major banking facilities, so he was fairly sure that, even were СКАЧАТЬ