‘Someone has to, and it might as well be me.’
‘I hate you.’
‘That is entirely possible, but it does not lessen the truth of what I have said, nor change the fact that I have done so to help you, if you are not beyond helping.’
‘You have no right—’
‘You, Miss Tyneham, have no right to trample upon other people for your own ends, ends which will come to nothing unless you learn to consider others.’
The music scraped to a halt. He bowed, with irony in every muscle. She glared at him, a little frightened, and very angry. He took her hand, placed it upon his arm, and then put his other hand over it, pressing quite hard.
‘We now go to your cousin.’
She was led from the floor to where Sophy sat, her hands folded in her lap, calm but still pale. Her eyes reproached. Susan felt beset by dislike, and very lonely.
Sophy, who had been covertly watching as much of the dance as she could see, and worrying, in part guessing what was going on, was totally confused. Lady Chelmarsh had been so adamant that she did not want Susan coming into contact with Lord Rothley, and she had herself heard of his unpleasant reputation with the ladies; ‘Roving Rothley’ had such a callous ring to it, yet he seemed to turn up with alarming regularity to rescue Susan from her own folly or try to take her in hand as if he were her uncle or elder brother. Surely these were not the actions of a heartless seducer? He most certainly did not appear to be one at this juncture. Susan looked like a child berated for wrongdoing, and more likely to hit him than fall into his arms.
‘I restore your charge to you, ma’am. I think she might possibly listen, and she ought to have things to say, but perhaps not here, and not right now.’ He bowed to Sophy and withdrew.
Susan had said that she did not take advice. She had never done so, and yet, with Lord Rothley’s words ringing in her ears and Sophy’s face before her, she wavered, wavered enough for cracks to appear in her shell of invulnerability.
‘I have done something terrible. I … I would not have said it to her face.’ Her voice was subdued, but if this was meant to show that she had any notion how to go on, it failed.
‘Am I to take that as consolation, Susan? I do not. Lady Jersey could have had you, and us, barred from these rooms. She has made it clear I must speak severely to you, and also explain what you, unlike every other debutante in London, cannot seem to grasp, that you cannot ignore the rules and survive. However, this is not the place to do so, and I am not sufficiently composed to speak without heat.
‘I do not want to go home early and advertise that something is amiss, or ruin Harriet’s innocent pleasure, but you will stay by me for the rest of the evening unless upon the dance floor, and if –ifyou find yourself next to Lady Jersey, you will make it very clear that you are immensely sorry.’
Susan nodded, and Sophy rose, pleased with herself for no longer shaking. She moved with a stately confidence she did not feel, and with her cousin in her wake. From a distance, Lord Rothley’s heart went out to her, and did not return to him.
It was just before the evening drew to a close that Sophy found herself, whether by accident or his design, by Lord Rothley once more.
‘You know you do have my sympathies, Lady Sophy. Had you considered a whip and a chair?’
Sophy relaxed a little. He was, she felt it most strongly, ‘on her side’. She ought not to want him there, but she did.
‘I am sorry, my lord. Was she outrageous?’ Sophy managed a querulous smile.
‘To use her own adjective “absolutely”, but it was sheer bravado. You once told me you did not possess bravado like your cousin. I am sure we are all glad that is so.’
There was a twinkle in his eye. Sophy was disappointed in herself. Mama clearly thought this man dangerous, and yet here she was, wanting to smile at him, and bowled over by the twinkle. Did rakes look in the mirror to check their twinkles, she wondered inconsequentially, and tried to adopt a look of elegant aloofness. Then it hit her. What if he did not want to seduce Susan? What if she herself was to be his ‘victim’? What better way would there be than assisting her in curbing her cousin’s waywardness?
‘I am sorry,’ he said, catching the change in her, but mistaking its cause. ‘It cannot be a subject that affords you hilarity since you are burdened with her.’ He paused. ‘One does not choose one’s relatives.’
‘Every family has its black sheep, a member whom the rest would prefer to forget,’ she responded, and gasped at her own temerity.
‘Indeed.’
The twinkle was extinguished instantly, and she knew she had given offence. She blushed. How could she have been so rude, even if he was a rake, and his family’s ne’er-do-well.
‘Forgive me,’ she stammered.
‘There is nothing to forgive, ma’am, for it is the truth.’ His voice was expressionless. ‘If you will excuse me, I perceive Lady Boscobel trying to attract my attention.’ He bowed and was gone.
Sophy did not look after him. Lady Boscobel was a woman she considered a ‘spider’. She wove a web and waited for juicy tittle-tattle to land in the threads and create a tremor. No doubt she thought a gentleman like Lord Rothley the sort to provide her with just the gossip upon which to feed; would he … No, that was an unworthy thought. Were it not for the soubriquet, he was not a man about whom she had heard rumour, nor was he treated coldly by even sticklers such as Mrs Drummond-Burrell. Perhaps he was that rarity, a rake with discretion. Not, of course, that she was interested in him, or his dangerous past.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Harriet chatted animatedly in the carriageas the ladies returned to Hill Street, in blissful ignorance of what had happened. She had been in demand as a partner, greater demand than Susan, in fact, and her general sweetness of character combined with good looks was making her popular. She was not as striking as Susan, but then Susan had a nasty habit of ‘striking back’ and some gentlemen were quite open in their preference. Susan was disregarding the wavering in her popularity, thus far.
