Rogue in Red Velvet (29 page)

To slake himself on her and then disappear back to London, more likely. Leave her pregnant and stranded. “I wanted to make sure you understood precisely what you were doing.”

Mrs. Stobart handed her a dish of tea.

She refreshed herself with a sip. It was not particularly good tea, or perhaps her indulgence and Helena’s excellent housekeeping had made her more discerning. “Jasper Dankworth must be fifteen years older than you.”

Louisa beamed. “I prefer my men mature. He is
exactly
the right age for me. And so handsome, I can hardly stop looking at him.”

Connie despaired. Maybe she could get Miss Stobart alone at the ball. Or somewhere else. “Do you plan to remain in London much longer?”

“Oh until the end of the season, at least. I’m enjoying myself prodigiously. Then I will marry my dear Jasper and we will go into the country. Do you have similar plans?”

“Something similar.” Going back to the life she knew. Immuring herself in the country.

“I had no idea you knew such exalted people when I met you at the Downhollands’,” Mrs. Stobart remarked. She picked up one of the small cakes from the spread on the small table at her elbow. From her ample collection of chins, Connie wasn’t sure she needed it.

“The Vernons are leaders of society,” Mrs. Stobart declared pompously.

“So they are.”

Louisa shuddered. “Doesn’t Lord Winterton frighten you sometimes? I’ve never seen anyone so haughty.”

Julius spent time romping on the floor with his daughter and then, after she’d suffered a minor injury, cradled her in his arms with such tenderness she’d held her breath. And he hadn’t been afraid of her seeing him so vulnerable. To her, that denoted real strength. “He is very kind, too. He adores his little girl.”

“So gossip says,” Mrs. Stobart said. “Of course, our dear Jasper will be a baron one day. We are assured the re-creation of the title will go ahead.”

“And Lord Winterton will be a duke.” Connie refrained from mentioning that there were variations without the ranks, some title holders rich, some moderately well off, and some plain misters as wealthy as any duke.

“Your suitor is a baron,” Mrs. Stobart went on. “And he’ll be an earl. I’m so glad you have found your admirers, instead of repining over Mr. Dankworth. Indeed, you were most gracious. I quite thought you’d cut us when we arrived in London.”

Too close for comfort when Mrs. Stobart had cut her. Not the cut direct but she had pretended not to notice Connie’s presence a time or three. Now, with Connie’s reputation restored, she behaved with all graciousness. “Indeed not. My hosts introduced me to everyone they considered essential but I was already acquainted with you.”
So you weren’t important enough.
See how she liked that.

Mrs. Stobart wasn’t stupid. She understood well enough. Despite her expression remaining the same, she gave a sharp breath. “Of course, with dear Jasper being the Downholland heir, we have excellent expectations. Otherwise, I would not have allowed my precious daughter to spend time with him. While I regret the way Jasper broke your relationship, he is a man violently in love. You do not seem too upset about it yourself, so we can say that no harm came of the situation.” Her eyes gleamed.

At that moment, a discreet knock on the door indicated the presence of the footman, who entered and handed Mrs. Stobart a visiting card. She reddened and glanced up. “I’d be delighted to see them.”

Had Alex followed her? Connie thought she had run fast enough but perhaps she had moved too slowly.

It wasn’t Alex. Helena entered first, letting Julius take his time entering the room. “We’ve finished our errands, my dear, so we thought we’d bring the carriage around instead of putting you to the trouble of sending for it.” Her perfunctory kiss on the cheek left Connie with the soft scent of lavender.

“Come and sit here my dear.”

Her expression perfecty serene, Helena sat next to Mrs. Stobart.

Julius took his seat in a wide-armed chair, flicking the skirts of his pale blue coat into place before he sat down. He crossed his legs at the knee in the approved mode and accepted the dish of tea that would be past its best by now. But he made no comment, merely put the tea on a nearby table after a sip.

They spoke of nothing more noteworthy than society and the ball on Friday but subtle innuendo and the presence of two of the leaders of society here gave the Stobart presence more approval than they’d obtained all season. They might be received at the large occasions, but so far, the intimate gatherings Helena had taken Connie to had been unavailable to them. Connie didn’t doubt that they had brought the crested carriage with liveried footmen and left them outside to wait. Society could take note.

Connie remained apprehensive that Alex would arrive but he did not and for that, she had to be grateful. He must have informed Julius that she’d left him so precipitately.

They didn’t speak of him until they were in the carriage on the short journey back to Brook Street, a street Mrs. Stobart had heard was their private address with incredulity. She had heard, her great friend had said, that it was a street for musicians and artists and wealthy tradesmen.

“And politicians and earls,” Julius had added smoothly. “I liked the house, so I took it. It has come into fashion recently.” The gentle reminder that the Vernons set fashion, instead of following it, didn’t fall on deaf ears.

Once in the carriage, Helena chuckled. “Brook Street is for the inferior sort, is it? She has a provincial turn of mind, does she not?”

“She can’t help it.” Connie subsided back into the comfortable squabs with a sigh. “Yes she can. But her daughter is so young. Too young for Jasper Dankworth.”

“I made a point of leaving invitations for the ball, at the behest of Lady Downholland and I will ensure Dankworth gains admittance.” While he kept his perfect poise, Julius dropped the superior manner. “I’ve told Alex to stay away from you. It’s clear he distressed you in some way. He gave his word he would not visit unless invited.”

Connie twisted her hands in her lap. “He did something I asked him not to do.” Neither Julius or Helena had asked but she explained anyway. “He took the matter into his own hands. He did it without consulting me, or telling me what he planned and I specifically made him promise not to do that.”

“Then I fear you have to be angry with me, also. Because I knew,” Julius said.

Connie lost her temper all over again. “But it’s
my
life,
my
fate. Don’t you think I have some right to know what’s happening?”

Helena put her hand over Connie’s.

Connie shook it off. “Stop the carriage.”

“So you can walk off? Connie, you’ll find yourself abducted again. You really must control yourself.” Julius met her gaze.

She flinched at the hard expression in his eyes.

“You must not run off like this. You will not see Alex again until you wish it.”

She hadn’t realized how the news would make her feel until tears misted her eyes.

Helena pressed a handkerchief into her hands.

“I don’t know what I want any more. I want my life and I want Alex. Can’t I have both?” Connie mopped her streaming eyes. “I’m so sorry. I don’t behave like a watering pot, truly I don’t.”

“Women in love often behave out of character.” Julius exchanged a sparkling glance with his sister.

The realization hit Connie with a jolt the like of which she hadn’t experienced before. A bolt of lightning from a clear sky. “I’m in love?” She bit her lip, the sting of pain forcing her concentration. “What do I do now?”

It made sense. When she saw something she wanted to share, she immediately thought of Alex. The thrill she experienced in his arms was like nothing she’d ever known before, or imagined. It would hurt so much to separate, that she didn’t know if she would survive the experience. If she didn’t make a stand now, he might protect her into screaming frustration.

“You wait on events.” Julius chuckled. “I believe my cousin is as deeply in love with you. I’ve never seen him behave in this way before. He’s never cared about anyone enough to worry like this. After you left him in the park he was frantic but only because he feared for you. We sent for the carriage.”

The coachman drew up outside the house in Brook Street with scarcely a disturbance. The disturbance inside Connie was enough to make her stomach churn and her limbs weak. She was in love?

She was in love.

Chapter 18

Alex stayed away.

Just as she expected, Connie missed him, more than she’d imagined. There were only two days and most of another day until the ball at Kirkburton House on Friday night, but she yearned to see him, to touch him. To kiss him. She wasn’t even sure he’d come to the ball.

The day before the ball she received a visit from the Downhollands. Lord Downholland greeted her with a jutting chin and Lady Downholland with her usual, friendly demeanor.

“We wished to consult you on a matter,” Lord Downholland began, “and to that end, we’ve requested that Lord Winterton attends you.”

As if on cue, the door opened on a tap and Julius entered. The relative plainness of his clothes told Connie he’d been on business in the City.

He greeted them and they made small talk while the maid brought in a tray of tea and settled it at a table at Connie’s elbow. Strange how many of the rituals of her life remained the same. Tea in the afternoon, for instance. True, the china and even the tea might be finer but the process was comfortingly the same. She made the tea and poured it out, Julius helping to offer it and the tiny cakes to their guests, dispensing with the need for a maid.

She liked the Downhollands enormously and disliked the expression of gravity that she discerned on both their countenances. It became clear when his lordship put down his empty dish and began to speak and, as usual, he spoke as if he were addressing a public meeting.

“As you know, Connie, my wife and I are childless and we have few relatives. It is fortunate that the estate does not have an entail associated with it, so I may leave the holdings where I will. I am most anxious that whoever inherits the property takes good care of it.”

He cleared his throat and glanced at Julius. “Lord Ripley visited me yesterday and presented me with a number of notes that Jasper Dankworth signed over to him.” He’d said he would. It was doing the deed without consulting her that had upset her, not his intention, so she’d let his actions pass.

“I have also received reports from other areas that claim a similar lack of regard for personal debts. I can no longer ignore the evidence and truthfully, that is the reason we are paying this visit today.” He swallowed and took a deep breath. “I have taken steps to remove Jasper Dankworth as my heir and to withdraw my petition for him to inherit the title when I am gone. I am regretful but if I bestow the estate and title on him, he will fritter away the first and bring the second into disrepute. Better the title dies with me.” He harrumphed and tugged the edges of his good country coat.

Connie smoothed hands suddenly gone clammy down the silk of her gown. “Are you enquiring for other relatives, perhaps more distant?”

His lordship shook his head regretfully. “I no longer have an interest in seeking out someone I do not know to inherit the estate I have worked so hard for. But there is a female who has proved her worth over the years, one who will treasure the heritage. You.”

She heard her gasp at if from a distance but her head was swimming too distractingly for her to take much heed of it. She absently noticed that her fingers were shaking. She had expected the Downhollands to remove Jasper from the will but not to hand that fortune over to her. “I am but your godchild, sir, not a blood relative. I hope I never presumed on that relationship, even though you’ve always treated me with kindness.”

“I know you didn’t. But you have proved yourself constant over the years. You suffered a marriage that proved less than successful with dignity.”

Connie felt Julius’s perceptive gaze but didn’t look in his direction. She hadn’t discussed her first marriage and he was probably wondering.

“We can imagine nobody better to administer our estate and become our heir. We only stopped to inform you of our intentions and obtain your approval before we leave to finalize the business with my man of affairs. Although I may leave the estate where I wish, I do not wish to burden you with something you do not want.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Connie murmured, stunned by the information, her mind dizzyingly spinning around the concept. She hadn’t thought the Downhollands would take this step. Maybe insist that Jasper reform, even rusticate him but not cut him off so finally. “Of course, I’m deeply honored but—”

Julius said, “I suggest you leave Lady Downholland here, my lord, while you take care of business. It might help Connie to discuss the matter with her.”

“Excellent idea.” Lord Downholland got to his feet. “I’ll collect you on my way back from the solicitor’s office, my lady.”

Lady Downholland agreed, smiling. Everyone was smiling except Connie. That made her an heiress. One with responsibilities.

* * * *

The next day, as Connie, still amazed by her change in fortune, was getting ready to leave for the ball, a nosegay arrived for her. It was a mixture of lilacs and lavender, with sprigs of tiny white blossoms and ferns, all wrapped in foil and put into a gold holder studded with amethysts. There was even room at the base of the container for a small vial of water, enough to keep the blossoms fresh for the evening.