Bachelor Duke. Mary Nichols

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СКАЧАТЬ Lady Myers’s offer was made out of duty, out of the charity Miss Langford so much denigrated, and she would be glad to have someone take the girl off her hands. And Miss Langford was intelligent enough to realise that.

      ‘Lady Myers,’ Sophie implored her, ‘please do not go on. I am not incapable of earning a living and would rather do so than be the object of charity, especially charity so reluctantly given.’

      ‘Earn a living,’ he repeated, ignoring her accusation. ‘How?’

      ‘I have an education, I can teach—I have done it before. I could offer myself to a girls’ school or find a position as a governess or companion.’

      ‘And what will you teach?’ He did not know why he was quizzing her in this way—to see how resolute she was? Or simply to tease? There was a faint blush to her cheeks that could have been embarrassment, or anger—he suspected the latter.

      ‘Whatever is asked of me,’ she said. ‘The basics of reading and writing, literature, languages. I speak French well, German a little and Italian fluently—’

      ‘Good heavens, a blue stocking!’

      ‘That, sir, is better than being a milksop, dependent on the generosity or otherwise of a man who can give it or withhold it at his pleasure.’

      He had a sudden vision of what it might be like to be a young lady alone in the world. She must either work or beg, scrimp to eat and to buy the clothes for her back, unable to go into society, unable to enjoy the sort of social occasions most young ladies of his acquaintance took for granted, unable to marry well. He was used to the ladies of the ton, aristocrats who peopled the Regent’s court, simpering helpless females who did nothing without the permission of fathers, husbands or guardians, or demi-reps who flouted convention and were therefore not received in respectable drawing rooms. But the woman who faced him now was neither. He wished he had not been so sharp with her, but he did not know how to retrieve the situation.

      The footman reappeared with the tea tray. ‘Lady Harley has just returned, your Grace,’ he said, as he set it down. ‘She asked me to say that as soon as she has taken off her hat, she will join you.’

      ‘Thank you, Collins.’

      The footman began pouring the tea into thin china cups and, while he did so, Sophie was able to look about her for the first time. The room was dominantly pale green and cream, light and restful to the eye and furnished in the French style; it seemed the war with France did not inhibit people from wanting beautiful things no matter where they came from. There was no fire, but the hearth contained a huge bowl of cream roses whose scent filled the room. A Turner hung over the mantelpiece and a cabinet displayed porcelain figurines, which she recognised as Italian and very valuable. The windows were deep and long and looked out into a narrow garden with clipped lawns and beds of those same cream roses; a blackbird flew down to worry a pair of thrushes, squawking its annoyance until they left what he considered his domain. She wished she was out there, walking in the fresh air and not sitting on this elegant sofa being watched by the master of the house, who stood facing them with his back to the fireplace, a picture of studied elegance.

      She risked a glance at him, but his expression was bland. He would be difficult to get to know, she decided, a self-contained man who did not let his feelings show. Was that because he belonged to the English aristocracy or was there a deeper reason? As Lord Ubiquitous who could make a small child laugh, she had been drawn towards him; as the Duke of Belfont, she found him top lofty and unsympathetic. It was almost as if he were two people. But wasn’t everyone like that? Did she not have two sides to her? The sad, lost child, in spite of her twenty-one years, and the independent, prickly woman of the world vied with each other according to the situation in which she found herself.

      She looked up as a newcomer entered who could only have been Lady Harriet Harley. Dressed becomingly in amber silk, she was slightly older than the Duke; her features, though like her brother’s, were softer, more rounded, and her eyes were not the steely blue of his, but a soft aquamarine. Her hair was a shade darker and piled up on her head and fastened with two jewelled combs. She came forward, smiling.

      ‘Harriet, may I present Lady Myers and Miss Langford,’ James said, vastly relieved to see her. ‘Ladies, my sister, Lady Harley.’

      Sophie rose along with Lady Myers to greet the newcomer, but before she could curtsy, she found both her hands grasped and Lady Harley holding her at arm’s length to look at her. ‘Oh, my dear, how pleased I am to make your acquaintance. If I had known you were arriving today, I would have been at home to greet you. But never mind, I am here now and you shall tell me all about yourself. I see Collins has brought in the tea.’ She turned to the footman who was standing by the tea urn, a cup in his hand. ‘You can leave that, Collins, I will see to it.’ Then to Sophie, ‘Come and sit by me and we shall get to know each other.’ She drew the girl to another of the three sofas that furnished the room, leaving Lady Myers to sink back into her original seat opposite them. ‘When did you arrive in London? Where are you staying?’ She stopped suddenly and looked up at her brother. ‘Oh, do sit down, James, you look so forbidding hovering there.’

      He folded his long form into a winged back chair on the other side of the hearth and waited. Harriet could take over now; he need say no more, which was a great relief. He was a man of the world, used to dealing with all sorts of people and situations, known to be cool in a crisis, not easily shaken, but this child-woman had set him at a stand. He had no idea what to do with her.

      ‘Lady Myers, you will forgive me, I know,’ Harriet said. ‘But I want to hear all about Sophia from her own lips.’ To Sophie she added, ‘You do not mind me calling you Sophia, do you?’

      ‘Mama and Papa called me Sophie,’ she said with a smile, which made James, watching her, realise she was not plain after all, nor overweening, simply shy. No, definitely not shy, he corrected himself, reserved perhaps, a private sort of person and proud with it. ‘I was Sophia only when they were displeased with me.’

      ‘And we are certainly not displeased with you, are we?’ She appealed to her brother, who nodded agreement, his mouth twitching slightly. ‘So Sophie it shall be.’ She rose and busied herself with the teacups and handing round a plate of little cakes before resuming her seat. ‘Now, my dear, do begin. Tell us first about your mama and papa. You see, we never knew them. I remember Papa had an older brother called Robert. That would be your grandfather, would it not?’

      ‘I believe so. But I can tell you very little about him. I believe he disapproved of Papa and so Mama did not correspond with him.’

      ‘Oh, how sad it is when families fall out,’ Harriet said. ‘It leads to so much conflict and it is not right to visit that on the next generation.’

      ‘Just what I hoped you would say,’ Lady Myers put in suddenly. ‘It wasn’t Sophie’s fault. Lord Langford was a—’

      ‘Lady Myers, please,’ Sophie begged her, hating to hear anyone condemn her father, however justified that might be. She had loved him once and her mother had never ceased to be held in thrall by him even when their fortunes were at their lowest.

      ‘Very well, I will say no more. Lady Harley may draw her own conclusions. I have told his Grace and will not repeat it.’

      Harriet looked at her brother, who shrugged his elegant shoulders and smiled. ‘It seems Miss Langford had already appealed to the present Lord Langford and been rejected.’

      ‘Oh, how mortifying. Sophie, why did you not come to us first? My goodness, how anyone could turn away a relation in need is beyond me. Never mind, СКАЧАТЬ