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‘It is to my lasting regret that he seems to have brought his reprehensible dealings to my door.’
Corinna’s face registered her astonishment at the news. ‘So how does Mr Flambard’s business become yours, Ferdy?’
‘He’s actually Lord Flambard, a remote earldom in the wilds of Cornwall, and was rushed into exile some ten years ago and only now been pardoned by the Prince. Hurrying home, he turned up on my doorstep needing lodging until his estates are restored to him.’
‘Ferdy! Such murder and mayhem come to your door! We cannot leave you for a couple of weeks without your getting into the most awful pickle.’ She had drawn her chair up beside him and taken his hand. ‘And to cap it all, what’s this news about you becoming betrothed? Why so precipitate? We haven’t even met the young lady.’
Ferdy’s head drooped. ‘You were out of Town, Rav and Eliza were deep in the mysteries of connubial bliss at Purfoy paradise.’ He looked up with some of his old self-deprecating charm. ‘At nearly thirty I suddenly felt old and alone. I thought it time to assume my grown-up role and marry.’
Alick looked at his friend. ‘If you felt so low-spirited, why didn’t you come to us?’
Corinna’s eyes were shrewd. ‘Marriage is an excellent idea, but why Miss Payton? And why didn’t you wait to introduce her to us?’
‘I chose Hester Payton because she will make me an estimable wife. But I fear you would not approve because my impulse was not compelled by passion.’
Alick poured him another glass of brandy. ‘But why, Ferdy? Why not look for love in a marriage? It’s been the joy of our lives.’ He glanced across at Corinna and raised his glass to her, his brown eyes sparkling with their secret understanding.
‘You know how I like my life as it is. I value serenity of mind over theatrical emotion. I eschew the grand passions that gripped you, Alick, and knocked old Purfoy completely off his hinges. I don’t wish to be storm-lashed and brought to the edge of reason.’ He had sprung to his feet and was pacing in agitation. ‘Remember poor old Rav! I’ve never seen a man so undone as when he realised he loved Eliza and might lose her to that beef-witted American cousin of yours, Alick.’
They all gazed into the fire, absorbed in their different memories. Then Corinna said quietly, ‘All you say is true, Ferdy, and, heaven knows, you’re not alone in thinking romantic love unnecessary in marriage. Our parents and grandparents thought it a recent indulgence of the young, and all the fault of these modern novels giving young women fanciful notions that could only end in smoke.’
‘Amen to that,’ said Ferdy with a mirthless laugh.
‘But, my dear Ferdy, this means you deny yourself the very springs of happiness that your friends wish for you.’
‘Ah, but I’m happy enough as I am.’
Corinna was not to be deterred. ‘I’m sorry, Ferdy, but you don’t look very happy at all.’
Ferdinand Shilton met her eyes with a wry smile. ‘I fear the vengeful Count is just the prelude to a whole symphony of troubles.’
Alick cast him a quizzical glance. ‘What now, old friend, more trouble? You really can’t be left alone for an instant.’
‘A foundling was left on my doorstep with a note from his mother, asking me to look after him as I was the “richest and kindest” person she could think of. She said she’d be back for him but no mention of when.’
Alick let out a hoot of laughter. ‘Ferdy! Of all of us band of brothers, you are the least likely to have his misdemeanours come home to roost.’
Corinna leapt to her feet. ‘Alick! It’s not funny. This is a poor child’s life we are talking of. And his unfortunate mother. Imagine what straits she must be in to abandon her baby.’
‘This is my concern. He’s around ten months old and his name is Billy. I don’t think he’s mine, although I have no idea what I was doing eighteen months ago. But, dash it, he’s blond and looks like me and all my servants think he’s mine. He’s charmed everyone.’
Alick chuckled, unmoved by his wife’s exhortation to be serious. ‘Well, along with the angelic curls, charm is another trait he shares with his papa.’
His friend bridled. ‘I’m not his papa, but I feel responsible for him until his mother returns.’
Corinna cast her husband a quelling look. ‘Most babies are fair-headed and charming and they can’t all be laid at Ferdy’s door.’ She then turned her attention to the nub of the matter. ‘What does Miss Payton think about this baby in your household?’
‘She is most concerned with how it looks to others and thinks I should put Billy in the Foundling Hospital as soon as possible.’
Corinna demurred. ‘I don’t like the sound of that, Ferdy.’
‘Well, neither do I, and the young woman who found him is adamant he will not go.’
Corinna’s antennae were immediately alert. ‘Oh? And who, pray, is this young woman?’
‘Just an acquaintance. A Miss Madeleine Rose who lives with her cousins in Grosvenor Street. She was passing with her maid when she spotted Billy, sitting in an apple crate, as happy as a cherub on a cloud.’
Alick’s guffaw showed he was still disinclined to be serious. ‘In an apple crate? Oh, my friend, you could not make this up!’
