‘We carried Toby off to play with us last evening.’ Max Coleridge grinned when Harry raised his brows as they spoke at their club a little later that morning. ‘Northaven was trying to bully him into a game and he was clearly unwilling.’
‘I have warned him of it, but you have my thanks,’ Harry said and beckoned to the waiter to bring them more wine. ‘It would be wrong to try to keep him on a leading string. He would resent it and I won’t do it. However, I would be obliged if you could have a word with him. He might take it better from you.’
‘Already done,’ Max said and grinned. ‘You don’t want to smother the boy, Harry. He has to learn—and we were all young once. Hard as it may be to remember in your case.’
Since there was only a couple of years between them, this brought a shout of laughter from Harry. ‘Take care, Max! I might challenge you to a duel for that!’
‘You would undoubtedly have done so once,’ Max replied carelessly, a spark of mischief in his grey eyes. His hair was a dark brown, thick and with a tendency to curl at the nape of his neck if he allowed it to grow longer than he liked. ‘Getting a bit lazy…grumpy in your old age?’
‘Damn it, I’m not that old yet,’ Harry said ruefully. ‘Though there are times when I feel it.’ He eyed his friend thoughtfully. ‘Honestly—have I become too serious of late? I feel that I may be stale…set in my ways…’
‘Is there a reason for your feeling that, perhaps?’
Harry shook his head. ‘Just a notion that I may be coming down a bit hard on Toby. He hasn’t said anything to you?’
‘Not at all, admires you,’ Max assured him, his gaze narrow and thoughtful. ‘No other reason?’
Harry saw the laughter hidden just below the surface. ‘None at all—what makes you ask?’
‘Just wondered. Lady Sinclair told me she thought it was time you set up your nursery. Wondered if you meant to oblige her?’
‘Damn her—and you.’ Harry scowled. ‘I have no intention of it yet, Max. You seem to have a bee in your bonnet—when am I to wish you happy?’
‘I have been thinking of it…’
‘Really? Who is the young lady?’ Harry stared in astonishment.
‘There is no one as yet, but I think it is time to start looking.’
‘This is sudden, isn’t it?’
Max nodded and sipped his wine. ‘I think perhaps I ought to consider it or the alternative,’ he said and shook his head as Harry arched one eyebrow. ‘No, I shall not explain, Harry. It’s a small problem I have to work out for myself. Anyway, we kept Toby out of trouble for you the other evening, but Northaven ensnared another young idiot. I didn’t know him, but I think perhaps Toby did.’
‘There’s always one,’ Harry agreed. He lapsed into silence, sipping his wine and thinking about what his friend had said about it being time to think of marriage. Max was, after all, two years his junior….
Susannah’s heart raced as she saw the marquis turn and look at her. He immediately began to walk towards her. She had just two dances left on her card that evening and she wondered if he would ask for them both.
‘Miss Hampton,’ a voice spoke at her side. Susannah turned to look, feeling a spurt of annoyance as she saw that it was Lord Pendleton. He had told her he would be there that evening, but she had not seen him earlier. Why did he have to speak to her at just the moment the Marquis of Northaven was about to approach her? Glancing back, she saw that the marquis had turned away and was speaking to another young lady, Mary Hamilton, a girl whom Susannah had come to know as they were often invited to the same affairs. ‘May I hope that you have a dance for me?’
Susannah blushed, because her thoughts were unworthy. ‘Yes, of course, sir. Perhaps you would like the waltz, which is just about to start? I believe it is my last…’ She was not lying because the supper dance was not a waltz and all the others had been taken.
‘I should be delighted,’ Harry said and took her hand. ‘May I say that you look delightful this evening, Miss Hampton? Not every young lady wears white as well as you.’
‘I thank you for the compliment, sir,’ Susannah said. She put her annoyance at his untimely interruption aside, because however annoying it might be to have missed an invitation from the marquis—who was infrequently at these affairs—Lord Pendleton was wonderful at waltzing. ‘But I think there are many young ladies here this evening who look just as pretty.’
‘Perhaps. Yes, I agree there are many pretty girls, but only a handful are beautiful. Miss Royston is beautiful. You are beautiful—and Miss Hamilton is beautiful. The others are pretty.’
Susannah frowned at him. ‘I suppose you mean to compliment me, sir…’
‘No. I mean to be truthful,’ Harry told her. ‘You will discover that I am usually honest in my observations, Miss Hampton.’ He looked at her for a moment, as if considering something he wished to say, but nothing was forthcoming.
‘Oh…’ Susannah was thoughtful. She hardly knew how to answer him. She had thought he was paying her an exquisite compliment, but now he had made it seem almost a reprimand. He was such an odd man! She was not even sure that he liked her, though of course he was always polite. Lord Pendleton had some of the most exquisite manners, far more so than any gentleman she had met in the country; he was one of the most respected gentlemen in the drawing rooms of London, beloved of the hostesses. However, that did not particularly recommend him in her eyes. He seemed a little severe and she had not forgiven him for scolding her the first time they met. ‘Of course I do not know you well, sir.’
‘No, we are not well acquainted as yet,’ Harry agreed. ‘I shall hope that we may become so as the Season goes on, Miss Hampton.’
Susannah smiled at him uncertainly. She was not sure whether he was just being polite or whether he meant it—and even if he did, she was not sure that she truly wished to know him well. He was a little older than most of her admirers, and serious—though he had a habit of lingering in her mind and her dreams.
Their dance ended and Lord Pendleton left her with Amelia, but it was only a matter of some minutes before her next partner claimed her. Swept up in the excitement of the evening, Susannah forgot her disappointment at missing the chance to dance with the Marquis of Northaven. He did not approach her again and left the room long before the supper dance. In the meantime, another gentleman asked for a dance and she was obliged to give her last one to him.
Lord Pendleton did not ask her for another dance that evening, though she saw him dance with several other young ladies, including Mary Hamilton and Amelia.
It was as she was leaving the ballroom to refresh herself before supper that she happened to overhear two young ladies talking. They were whispering and giggling, and she could not help but hear what Mary was saying to her friend.
‘Mama says that I should encourage Pendleton if I get the chance, but I heard that he has an expensive mistress. Mama says that gentlemen often have them, but I am not sure I approve.’
Her friend giggled and whispered something. Miss Hamilton laughed harshly. ‘Well, I suppose he has fortune enough to pay for both a wife and a mistress if he cared for them, but I shall expect him to buy me more lavish presents than he gives her—if I encourage him, of course. I prefer Northaven, but Mama will not hear of it. She says he is a rogue and…’
Susannah hurried up the stairs, not wanting to hear more of their nonsense. She had been wondering why Lord Pendleton was always to be seen at these affairs, but if he were thinking of making Mary Hamilton an offer, he would naturally make certain of every chance to fix his interest with her.
Susannah