An Unlikely Suitor Read online

  ‘Oh, please say you will come!’ Frances had turned quite pink as she added her heartfelt pleas and received a quelling look from her mother for her pains. Lavender did not dare look at Barney again. Part of her wanted him to accept and the other half was ready to sink with embarrassment.

  ‘For my part, I should be delighted, ma’am,’ Mr Oliver said quickly, ‘and I am sure that Barney will be able to drag himself away from business if he tries hard enough!’

  ‘That’s settled then,’ Anne Covingham said briskly, but with a warm smile. ‘We shall look forward to seeing you at Riding Park on Friday night. I will send someone over with cards for you.’

  Farewells were said and the gentlemen went off in the direction of Lacey’s booksellers. Frances positively bounced over to Lavender’s side. ‘Oh Lavender, you lucky creature to know Mr Hammond already! Is he not the most charming man! And so prodigiously attractive…’

  Lavender raised her eyebrows. She had thought that it was James Oliver who had been commanding most of Frances’s attention and found that she felt more than a little jealous of her new friend’s interest in Barney Hammond. For surely Barney was prodigiously attractive but she did not wish everyone to think so. Frances was rattling on.

  ‘And Mr Oliver! I declare we are so fortunate to meet not one but two delightful gentlemen!’

  ‘Here, on the other hand, is an encounter less enjoyable,’ Caroline said dryly. She put a hand on Lavender’s arm. ‘Don’t look now, my love, but I see your cousin Julia is in town!’

  Lavender turned to peer out of the window. A smart travelling coach had pulled up in the yard and was disgorging its occupants. The gentleman was quite elderly, greying and distinguished, but hanging on his arm was a younger woman whom Lavender recognised with a sinking heart.

  ‘Oh no, Caro, I fear you are right! It is cousin Julia!’

  The vision was dressed in vivid blue, in a robe trailing acres of lace and surely more suitable for the boudoir than the town. A matching blue hat framed a face of pink and white perfection with huge blue eyes. Ringlets of guinea gold blew in the breeze.

  The perfection was marred somewhat by a heavy frown, and even from inside the parlour, Lavender could hear her cousin’s hectoring voice as she harangued a servant.

  ‘What do you mean, the private parlour is occupied? Tell them to go elsewhere! We are far more important—’

  ‘Who is that?’ Frances Covingham whispered in Lavender’s ear, staring hard. ‘Why, she looks like a demi-rep!’

  Anne Covingham, catching the edge of this whisper, shot her daughter a furious look. ‘Frances, come away from the window—’

  ‘I fear it is too late for escape,’ Caroline said sepulchrally. ‘They are coming this way—’

  There was a step in the passage and the door swung open. Julia’s china blue eyes swept over them all and she let out a little shriek.

  ‘Lud! Caroline? Lavender! Lewis…’

  Caroline had already stepped forward, with a mixture of resignation and courtesy, to greet the new arrivals.

  ‘Julia! How do you do? This is a…surprise…’

  ‘She is a distant cousin of ours,’ Lavender whispered to Frances. ‘Mrs Chessford—’

  ‘Oh, I have heard of her!’ Frances’s eyes were bright with amusement. ‘Mama calls her a bird of paradise masquerading as—’

  ‘Delighted to meet you, Mrs Chessford,’ Anne Covingham said hastily, stepping forward, hand outstretched. ‘We have all heard such a great deal about you! I believe that you were hoping for a private parlour? By great good chance we were just leaving…’

  The others all gathered their purchases together hurriedly. Lavender thought that Julia looked quite torn, on the one hand thanking Lady Anne graciously for her kindness and on the other evidently annoyed to be denied such august company.

  ‘I shall call on you at Riding Park to express my obligation,’ she gushed, grasping Lord Freddie warmly by the hand. ‘It is so delightful to have some acquaintance in the locality!’

  Lavender thought she saw Anne Covingham blench. She shepherded them all out to the carriages in short order and soon they were rattling back to Riding Park.

  ‘The worst of it,’ Caroline said gloomily, speaking for them all, ‘is that Julia will call at the Park and will be impossibly difficult to shake off! I should not say it, but she is like a nasty rash—all over one and inducing unpleasant humours!’ And they all collapsed into laughter.

  Chapter Four

  ‘This is all very dull,’ Julia Chessford whispered in Lavender’s ear. ‘I had expected far better! This is just country neighbours of the Covinghams and not a coronet amongst them!’

  They were sitting in the ballroom at Riding Park, watching a few couples circle the floor in a stately minuet. Up on the wooden minstrels’ gallery a string quartet was playing and around the room the buzz of conversation was rising as the guests arrived and the servants circulated with a very fine champagne.

  Lavender gave her cousin a look of comprehensive dislike. She had just been thinking the occasion very pleasant, and felt that Julia was more than fortunate to have been invited in the first place.

  After the encounter at the inn, Julia had positively forced herself on their notice. She had taken advantage by calling every day, had proclaimed a fulsome fondness for Caroline and Lavender which the latter found quite nauseous, and had contrived to invite herself to the ball without so much as an ‘if you please.’

  Julia had grown up at Hewly as Admiral Brabant’s ward and Lavender had known from the start that she was a sly, devious girl who would wheedle her way into company simply for what she could gain. Julia had been secretly betrothed to Lewis when they had both been in their green days, but she had thrown Lewis over for his elder brother Andrew, only to elope with Andrew’s best friend instead. They had not heard from her again until her husband was dead and his fortune frittered away, then Julia had come to Hewly to try to extract money from her guardian and had used the excuse of the Admiral’s last illness to foist herself on them once again. For a time Lavender had feared that Lewis would succumb to Julia’s charm again, and had been relieved as well as delighted when Lewis’s choice had rested on Caroline instead. Julia had left Hewly under a cloud when her attempts to blackmail the Admiral had been exposed, and for the best part of a year they had not heard from her. And now here she was again, like a bad penny…

  ‘I am amazed at Lady Anne permitting her daughter to associate with tradesmen,’ Julia continued, a sneer in her voice as she nodded across the ballroom at Frances Covingham, who was dancing the cotillion with Barney Hammond. Lavender felt the twin irritations of a stab of jealousy and a rush of dislike for Julia, and shifted uncomfortably on her rout chair. Barney had not asked her to dance yet—if he was going to ask at all—and it did not help that he appeared very popular with Lady Anne’s female guests. Lavender thought that Barney looked very striking in his evening clothes. More than that, he moved with an unconscious confidence and easy grace that made him look quite at home.

  ‘I suppose he dresses like a gentleman,’ Julia said, echoing Lavender’s thoughts, ‘but that is only to be expected when one’s father is a draper! Extraordinary! Northampton merchants in the Covinghams’ ballroom! It takes more than a fortune to wash away the smell of the shop!’

  ‘Well, of course, you would know that, Julia!’ Lavender said, pricked into retaliation by Julia’s niggling. She knew it was childish, but since Julia’s own father had been in trade she thought her snobbery the outside of enough.

  Julia, however, had a hide as thick as an elephant. ‘Well, I suppose the Covingham chit may be hanging out for a fortune and Hammond could probably buy up everyone in the room! But what is that to the purpose when he has no breeding? The Covinghams may not be high in the instep but surely they would never permit their daughter to marry into trade!’

  ‘I think you are jumping to extraordinary conclusions, Julia,’ Lavender said coldly. ‘Miss Covingham has danced but once w
ith Mr Hammond and looks in no danger of eloping! Besides, she has danced twice with Mr Oliver and even you must admit he is a very eligible parti!’

  ‘Yes.’ Julia’s blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘I confess I could develop a tendre there myself, for Mr Oliver is very good-looking and has all the connections that Mr Hammond lacks! He is a sad flirt, however, and faithless as the day is long!’

  Lavender’s lips twitched. Once again she felt the pot was calling the kettle black, for Julia’s lack of fidelity was breathtaking.

  Julia was still watching Frances and Barney Hammond as they danced the cotillion.

  ‘Of course, the inclination to bolt does run in the Covingham family! Harriet Covingham threatened to run off with John Farley and now the on dit is that she is about to run away with her latest lover—’

  Lavender sighed and fidgeted, wishing that either some gentleman would take pity on her and ask her to dance, or Caroline would return from her coze with Anne Covingham and rescue her. It was particularly galling that she had had no offers to dance, for she had thought she was quite in looks this evening. Frances had helped her choose her most flattering gown, a lavender silk of simple but stylish design, and she had arranged her hair in an elegant Grecian knot. She had felt reasonably happy with her appearance until Julia had arrived, tiny and stunningly beautiful in soft rose pink, her hair a mass of golden curls. Julia had allowed her blue gaze to linger on Lavender with a certain degree of pity and her cousin had felt her warm glow of confidence shrivel a little. And now the gentlemen did not ask her to dance…

  ‘Would you care to dance, Lavender?’

  Julia smirked as Lewis Brabant bowed in front of his sister. ‘Lud, dancing with your own brother now, Lavender! How slow!’

  Lewis gave his cousin a look of disdain. ‘Your servant, Julia. I see that Lord Leverstoke has taken refuge in the card room! I am surprised you could not persuade him to dance with you!’

  Julia flushed a little. She was evidently sensitive about her elderly beau, whom Lavender had heard was still married to someone else. Lewis gave Lavender his arm and turned smartly away.

  ‘We do not have to dance,’ he said with a smile, as they drew away from Julia, ‘but Caro suggested I bring you over to her anyway. It is a pity that Lady Anne’s manners are so good that she felt obliged to invite Julia tonight! Our cousin is clearly as much of an encroaching mushroom as ever!’

  Lavender giggled. ‘You are ungallant, Lewis!’ she chided. ‘Lord Leverstoke seems to dote on her!’

  Lewis shrugged his broad shoulders. ‘Leverstoke always had poor judgement! And he has no money either, so I do not anticipate Julia wasting her time on him for long! Someone younger and richer would be more to her taste!’

  Lavender’s glance slid away to Barney Hammond, who had finished his dance with Frances and was being introduced to another blushing débutante by Anne Covingham. The sight made Lavender feel sadly out of sorts. Turning her shoulder, she took a seat by Caroline, and Lewis strolled off to fetch them some more champagne.

  Her sister-in-law welcomed her warmly. ‘We thought we should rescue you, my love, for you looked as glum as a wet Tuesday! Who does Julia have her knife into this time?’

  Lavender smiled and felt a little better. ‘I fear she was being cruel about poor Mr Hammond! Of all the hypocrites, when her own father made his fortune from trade!’

  ‘I can see you feel very strongly about it!’ Caroline observed, raising her brows. Lavender realised that she had probably given away more than she intended. She blushed and tried to moderate her tone.

  ‘Well, it is all so unfair, Caro! Mr Hammond has a pleasing address, and just because his father is a draper…’

  ‘Yes,’ Caroline smoothed the skirts of her amber gown, ‘it is unfair. I should know, for I spent many years being slighted as an upper servant!’ She smiled at Lavender. ‘That is why the Covinghams are such particular friends, for they never made me feel in any way inferior. But it is a sad fact that most of society is not so generous! I deplore the gradations of snobbery but I see them all around me!’

  Lavender slumped a little. She did not know why she felt the difficulty of Barney Hammond’s position so keenly, but Julia’s words had made her burn with fury. And it was not even as though Barney had pushed himself on their notice as Julia herself had done. Lavender told herself that she hated Julia’s conceit, but at the back of her mind was a little voice that asked her if she was any better. She remembered her encounter with Barney that first night in the wood, and how she had thought his conversation impertinent. Had that not been because she was so sure of their relative positions as draper’s son and admiral’s daughter? And yet there was nothing so clear-cut about her feelings for him now…

  Lavender squeezed her fan so tightly that two of the struts splintered. She pushed it into her bag, feeling even more annoyed.

  ‘Of course,’ Caroline continued, as Lewis came back to them with the refreshments, ‘there is another reason that Julia dislikes Mr Hammond!’

  Lewis handed her a glass of champagne and looked enquiring. ‘Pray divulge it, my dear,’ he said with a grin, sitting down beside them, ‘for both Lavender and I are now on the edge of our chairs!’

  ‘Well…’ Caroline said. She sat forward a little, her eyes sparkling. ‘I do believe that our cousin took Mr Hammond in dislike after he…’ she paused, ‘after he rejected her advances!’

  Lewis raised his eyebrows quizzically. Lavender drew a sharp breath.

  ‘Oh Caro, no! Say she did not make a set at him!’

  Caroline shrugged. ‘Why not? She would scarce be the first lady to try!’

  ‘Do you have any evidence for this theory, my love,’ Lewis said lazily, ‘or is it just scurrilous gossip on your part?’

  Caroline looked hurt. ‘Now Lewis…You know I do not gossip!’ She bent a little closer to them. ‘No, we were in Hammond’s shop one day, and Mr Barnabas Hammond was dealing with Julia’s requests for ribbons and bows, when suddenly I heard her remark that he was a fine figure of a man and a good advertisement for his father’s tailoring!’ Caroline’s eyes twinkled. ‘Well, I knew I was not supposed to be party to the conversation, but at that I leant closer!’

  ‘I am sure you did…’ Lewis murmured dryly.

  Lavender patted her sister-in-law’s hand. ‘Take no notice of him! I want to hear what happened—’

  ‘I am sure you do!’ Lewis said ironically. Both girls glared at him.

  ‘If you wish to spoil the story, pray stand further off, my dear!’ Caroline said severely to her husband. She turned back to Lavender. ‘Well, then Julia said that she had a particular commission for him, and would he care to come out to Hewly to consult with her privately! I do not think that that could be misconstrued!’

  Lavender stared at her, her eyes huge. ‘Caro! And Mr Hammond—’

  Caroline started to laugh. ‘I will never forget this bit! Barnabas Hammond said that he was grateful for her attention, but he was sorry, his father always dealt with the older ladies! I do not believe Julia ever forgave him! After that she always made me run the errands to the drapers!’

  Lavender gave a snort of laughter. Even Lewis was hastily trying to repress a guffaw. There was something exquisitely pleasurable about Julia, who had made all their lives miserable with her high-handed ways and niggling remarks, receiving the set down that she so richly deserved.

  ‘Oh dear, how dreadful!’ she said, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. ‘And truly, we should not laugh, but…’ Her shoulders shook as she tried to get her mirth under control.

  ‘Well,’ Lewis said, ‘I shall look on Hammond with even more kindness in future! I always thought him a man of great good sense, and here we have the proof!’

  A half hour later, Lavender had just resigned herself to the fact that she would be sitting amongst the chaperones all evening, when James Oliver approached to ask her to partner him in the set of country dances that was just forming. After that, Lavender was besie
ged with partners, as though the company had only been waiting for one gentleman to approach her before they all rushed in. She was a good dancer and acquitted herself well, and found the social dialogue required on such occasions quite undemanding. One could not really strike up a proper conversation, for the steps of the dance were forever separating the partners, but Lavender reflected that this was perhaps all to the good. She had heard quite enough about Mr Henshaw’s pack of gun dogs and she was not terribly interested in Mr Salton’s new curricle. She remembered that her chaperone during the London Season had told her that a lady should always appear to find a gentleman’s conversation fascinating, but Lavender thought this so much nonsense. She had quickly seen that a gentleman was treated as though he was even more charming if he had the good fortune to be an Earl or a Duke.

  Mr Salton was still holding forth about the brilliance of his team when Lavender saw Barney Hammond approaching them across the ballroom. It had not escaped her notice that he had danced twice already with Miss Covingham and that the irrepressible Frances had been very reluctant to lose his company.

  Barney bowed very formally to her, but there was a smile in his eyes.

  ‘Miss Brabant, I have been hoping against hope that you would still be free to grant me the supper dance? I would be honoured.’

  Lavender was about to agree, when Mr Salton cleared his throat meaningfully. ‘Don’t think that would be quite the thing, old chap. After all, there is an order of precedence at these events, don’t you know, and for you to lead in Miss Brabant…’ He let the sentence hang with just the faintest implication of a sneer.

  Lavender saw Barney flush as the insult struck home, saw the flash of pure fury in his eyes before he fought down his anger and gave the younger man a bland smile.

  ‘Thank you for your advice, old fellow.’ There was more than a little sarcasm in his own voice now. ‘I was, however, addressing Miss Brabant…’

  He turned back to Lavender and for a second she saw the hint of uncertainty in his face, before he squared his shoulders as though preparing to receive a set down. That brief moment when she saw his vulnerability gave her the strangest feeling inside.