for instance, if you would be prepared to escort me to just one or two simple affairs—you would have no need to sign anything, of course—I could tell Papa that you did not deem it necessary to put your signature to the document until you find yourself obliged to ask him to furnish you with extra funds—any expense you do incur I can easily reimburse you out of my own pocket.’
‘I trust that I have not yet sunk to the level that would require me to accept money from a lady,’ said Richard firmly, as he rose once more to his feet. ‘I am sorry, Miss Wheatley, but, in my opinion, the whole idea is totally impracticable!’
Her lips trembling, Helena stood up and faced him. ‘I do not believe so, my lord,’ she replied in a toneless voice. ‘But, thank you for hearing me out—I shall not take up any more of your time. Please allow me to see you to the door.’
Taking one look at her set, white face, the earl was filled with remorse. ‘I am sure that, when you have explained to your father, he will understand the situation, my dear,’ he said kindly, finding himself reluctant to leave the girl in such a dismal frame of mind.
‘Then you clearly do not know my uncle!’
Charlotte Daniels, outraged at Markfield’s casual dismissal of her beloved Helena’s suggestion, had thrust herself between the pair and, ignoring her cousin’s exclamation of dismay, proceeded, in no uncertain terms, to berate the astonished earl.
‘How can you be so insensitive!’ she exploded, wagging her finger under his nose. ‘Is it beyond you to see that Helena is out of her mind with worry about her papa? She will not tell you, so I shall!’
‘Lottie, please!’ begged Helena, attempting to pull her cousin aside. ‘His lordship wishes to leave!’
‘Not until I have said my piece!’ countered Lottie obstinately and, turning back to Richard, she informed him that, contrary to what Helena had given him to understand, Mr Wheatley was, in fact, a very sick man and this latest attack had been described by his physician as extremely grave. If there were to be any hope of a recovery for him, he would be required to remain in his bed for at least two weeks, during which time it was vital that he had no excitation of any sort.
‘And, if you imagine that being told that you have left without signing his precious document does not qualify as excitation, ’ she finished scornfully, ‘then I must tell you that you are fair and far out!’
Somewhat taken aback by the unexpected onslaught, Richard’s eyes travelled slowly from the scarlet-faced female in front of him over to Helena’s frozen expression. The rigid set of her shoulders told him how deeply mortified she was by her cousin’s interference.
‘You really should have told me how serious your father’s condition is,’ he said gently.
She gave a little shrug. ‘Would it have made any difference, my lord? It is clear that you had already made up your mind to refuse his offer before you arrived.’
‘That much is true,’ he was obliged to acknowledge, as he stepped towards her and reached out to take her by the hands. ‘Nevertheless, Miss Wheatley, I must point out that being in receipt of such important information might well have caused me to give more serious consideration to your own request—I would not be altogether happy to find that your father’s recovery had suffered any sort of setback as a result of any action of mine.’
At the gentle pressure of his fingers on her wrists, Helena seemed to feel her heart skipping several beats and, colouring faintly, she stammered, ‘It was not my intention to make you feel under any sort of obligation, sir.’
Raising one eyebrow, Richard gave a rueful grin. ‘That may not have been your intention, Miss Wheatley,’ he said softly, ‘but that is exactly how I do feel and—if you believe that it will help your father’s case—you have my promise that I shall do my best to advance your little scheme!’
Chapter Four
‘Good heavens, Rick! Please tell me that you are joking!’
Carefully placing his glass on to the table in front of him, Charles Standish leaned forwards and stared at his cousin in astonishment.
‘You can’t mean to tell us that you’re actually prepared to go ahead with this chit’s bizarre proposition?’
Wincing at the other man’s somewhat discourteous reference to the far from chit-like Miss Wheatley, Richard took a deep breath and began, once again, to explain to his three companions the reason for his unexpected change of heart.
Standish and the earl, along with Sir Peter Braithwaite and the Honourable Geoffrey Fairfax, both ex-army colleagues of Markfield’s, were seated in the smoking room of Brooks’s, currently their preferred choice of venue.
‘Do pay attention, old man!’ groaned Braithwaite, as he signalled to the barman to bring another bottle. ‘Rick has already told you twice that the caper is merely for a couple of weeks and, it does seem to me that, as his friends, it is up to us to rally round him. Putting the word around that he could be about to shackle himself to this Wheatley girl might well stave off the bulk of his creditors while he regroups his resources.’
Then, turning to Richard, he asked sympathetically, ‘What would you have us do, old chap? I take it that you mean to have a stab at getting this Miss Wheatley accepted by the ton? Is the girl really up to it, do you suppose? It can be a pretty gruelling experience, you know—I understand that my cousin had a devilish hard time of it last year—in spite of the fact that Emily Cowper is one of her godmothers.’
Richard sighed. ‘I realise that it is going to be far from easy, but I aim to give it my best shot. Grandmama has asked if I could bring Miss Wheatley to meet her this afternoon…’ He paused for a moment, then continued manfully. ‘However, since I accompanied her ladyship up to town in her barouche, I appear to have a slight problem regarding a decent conveyance. Would it be too much to ask if you could spare me the loan of one of your carriages, Peter?’
‘Take your pick, old friend,’ returned Braithwaite immediately. ‘There is no one I would rather trust with my cattle than yourself. We can cut across to the mews right now, if you are of a mind?’
Not to be outdone, Fairfax, taking out his pocket book, added, ‘If you give me the young lady’s address, I shall get the mater to send an invite to her to attend her next soirée—Cadogan Place, you say? Pretty respectable part of town, at any event.’
‘You really are the best of fellows,’ said Richard, much moved by his friends’ generosity and greatly relieved to know that they were prepared to give him their wholehearted support in this outrageous venture. And if, in addition to salving his guilty conscience to some degree, the undertaking also had the effect of staving off some of his creditors temporarily, then that could be no bad thing. As things stood at the moment, even two weeks’ grace would bring about a brief but welcome respite, given that the estate’s next quarter-day was just around the corner, heralding a much-needed input from its tenant farmers.
The earl’s arrival at the front doorstep of Cadogan Place that afternoon was more than enough to cause Charlotte who, despite Helena’s pleas, had taken up her usual position of ‘look-out’ at the window of the first-floor morning room, to jump up and down in absolute glee the minute her eyes fell upon the spanking pair of matching bays and the shiny maroon equipage to which they were harnessed.
‘Oh, Nell!’
