“You will answer to my husband, Lord Dalton,” she said, breathing heavily.
“I certainly will not,” Lord Dalton said, “he has too much sense than to get himself killed over one of your arguments. Else, he would have been dead long ago.”
The prince laughed at the head of the table. “Hah! That’s right, eh?”
Lady Montague turned to Lord Home. “My lord, how do you answer this?”
Lord Home looked very surprised to be asked to come to the lady’s rescue. “How do I? My dear lady, I only offered my arm into supper, not my blood at dawn. I do not know what argument you have with this young lady, nor do I wish to.”
Lady Montague rose. “Dalton,” she said, “you will pay for this. You will see that my husband comes to my defense.”
“I put a stop to this right now,” the regent said, seeming to lose his humor over the outburst. “There are to be no duels over somethingIsanctioned.Ipersonally invited Miss Danworth. If there is to be any consequences from this ridiculous argument, I will take steps that everybody involved will find unpleasant. Lady Montague, do stop stirring pots all over my realm—I grow weary of it, madam.”
Lady Montague, though she might have been willing to go toe to toe with nearly anybody, could not carry it off with the prince. Though he had not outlined the unpleasant steps he might take, all within hearing knew it would involve a banishment from society. Of all things, that was the threat Lady Montague could not bear to see realized. She curtsied and swept out of the dining room.
Lord Home looked for a moment as if he might follow her, then shrugged his shoulders and went back to his plate.
As if Lord Home had signaled to everyone what they ought to be doing, the rest of the party went back to their conversations. Though, Daisy was certain, the conversation for the rest of the evening would be solely focused on Lady Montague.
“I am afraid you have made an enemy, Lord Dalton,” Daisy said.
Lord Dalton only waved his hand in a dismissal of the idea. “Lady Montague has too many enemies to count,” he said. “I know Lord Montague, she will rant and rave and he will take a book and find some quiet corner until she runs out of steam. In any case, she will be careful, she has garnered the irritation of the prince and will not take that lightly.”
Daisy hoped Lord Dalton was right, though she was not certain of it. “Might she not, though, rant and rave to Lieutenant Farthmore? Might not he think he ought to challenge you in defense of his cousin?”
“Leave Farthmore to me,” Lord Dalton said, “and eat your dinner. I think you do not eat enough and have thought to speak to Flanagan about it.”
Daisy did put her attention on her dinner. Not because she was particularly hungry, but because she was taken aback by the lord’s words. There was something about him noticing what she ate as being…what? Very personal?
She did not know what it was, though it seemed somehow intimate that he should notice and even more so that he had come to a conclusion about it and decided to mention it.
She stabbed at a piece of beef and refused to think on it further.
Chapter Eleven
Charles sat out on his bench in the moonlight. Despite waving off Miss Danworth’s fears about Lady Montague and her threats, he could not dismiss them completely. He supposed he should not be surprised that the lady was related to Lieutenant Farthmore, distant though the connection might be. Despite its apparent distance, the fellow stayed in her house and had evidently told a very sad story about his treatment in attempting to pay his respects to Miss Danworth.
Charles could make a guess that Farthmore was favored by Lady Montague because they had the same low standards and he no doubt allowed her to ramble on about her enemies, of which there was never a shortage. He further assumed that Lady Montague had been intrigued to hear of Farthmore’s ill-treatment at Miss Danworth’s house, outrage being the woman’s life-giving drink.
He could not imagine whatLordMontague made of Farthmore. Lord Montague was a reasonable man, and not likely to be particularly enthused by his wife’s relation ensconcing himself in the house. But then, if Charles knew that lord at all, he might not even be in town. He might very well be enjoying the quiet of Yorkshire without the racket and din that always accompanied the presence of his dear wife.
If ever there were an advertisement against marriage, poor Lord Montague was it.
He had almost inquired of Lady Montague if she knew of anybody called Dagobert. He had decided against it, lest he put Lieutenant Farthmore on his guard or provoke him into action. After reading Lord Childress’ letters, there was little doubt that Farthmore was somehow involved and he may have shared something of the matter to his hostess. Charles had begun to suspect that it had been Farthmore himself that had broken into the house. Coupled with the idea that it might have been Farthmore who had pulled him down in the sea and then Lady Montague mentioning something about his amphibious operations at Tarragona, he could only think…what did he think? Nothing firm, nothing known as a fact, but a feeling that things were adding up on the side of Farthmore and that he’d not seen the last of the rogue.
Daisy must be protected…
No, he must not think of her asDaisy. He’d heard her called so by Mrs. Jellops so often that he’d begun to think of her using her given name, but it was not right to do so.Miss Danworthhad kept remarkable composure in the face of the dragon-lady. To be sure, she’d been shaken, but she had not fanned herself or called for a vinaigrette. She had remained elegant and unruffled, at least she would have seemed so to an observer. He had noticed her hands shaking in her lap, but she did not allow her nerves to show on her features. She was quite a lady, after all.
That idea somehow led to him reviewing the earlier part of the evening. When they’d danced, why had he insisted on questioning her, again, about whether she was really determined to never marry? It could not matter to him in the least, as he himself would never marry.
And yet, if he ever changed his mind, because after all people did sometimes change minds, would she not be his first choice?
Would she not be his only choice?
He knew that she would.
Ifhe ever changed his mind. Who else was as marvelous as Daisy?
