Lady of Charade Read online

  “Understandable,” he acknowledged, wishing for once that his reputation was not what it was. Perhaps he must make an effort to be more discreet in the future.

  He held out an arm to her.

  “I will return you to your companions.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Redmond.”

  “I hope to see you again very soon,” he said once they reached the side of the dance floor and they neared the stately looking woman, who he seemed to recall was a relative of hers. He surprised himself with the realization that he completely meant his words—he was already attempting to determine how to arrange another experience with her.

  “And I you, Mr. Redmond.”

  No sooner had David turned away from the lovely Miss Jones when he felt a tap on the shoulder, and he cringed as he turned around, wondering who it might be.

  “David!” Thankfully, it was his brother, and David greeted him with a wide, genuine grin. He loved his brother, truly he did—it was the comparisons their parents continually made between the pair of them that always drew his ire.

  “Franklin,” he greeted him, holding out a hand and they clasped arms. “It is wonderful to see you, though I am even happier that you are accompanied by the much more beautiful Andrea.”

  His sister-in-law blushed prettily, but David knew she enjoyed the compliments—most women did.

  “How are you keeping, brother?” Franklin asked, and David smiled.

  “As well as ever. And you?”

  “Very well indeed. In fact,” he leaned into David conspiratorially, “We must tell you of something. Our family will be growing very soon.”

  If they weren’t in a room full of people, David would have crushed his brother in an embrace, so happy he was to hear the news. While their marriage had been arranged by their parents, David knew that Franklin and his wife had truly come to love one another, and he was pleased to hear of their blessing.

  Although… he couldn’t deny that such news caused a strange stirring within him, a longing. But surely not for children. He knew he would like to have them someday, but that day would be quite far away.

  Now his parents approached and David sighed inwardly. He loved them, but he knew what was to come.

  “Ah, my family, all together!” his mother exclaimed as she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “You look well, David.” She lowered her voice. “Has Franklin told you his news?”

  “He has, Mother,” David said with a nod. “I am so pleased for the two of them, truly I am.”

  She clasped her hands at her breast. “Ah, children, there is no greater blessing in life, as I well know from the two of you.”

  “And time for an heir, I must say,” David’s father added, to which David nearly rolled his eyes. Truly, did his father have to ruin every moment with a discussion of what they each must do come the future?

  “Now, listen, Son,” he said, his attention upon David now as he clasped one of his large, meaty hands on his shoulder. “We must have a discussion soon, the two of us. It is time we truly considered what the next few years hold for you. I know you’ve had your fun, but that must surely be coming to an end.”

  David groaned inwardly.

  “I believe this moment is about Franklin and Andrea, Father, not about my own prospects.”

  “Family is family, David. We are all one and the same. Come for dinner soon?”

  David nodded mutely. He would, though he did not look forward to the coming discussion.

  After waving a footman over to collect drinks for the family, Lord Brentwood held his glass up. “A toast. To the next generation of Brentwood children.”

  David held up his drink and toasted with them, in celebration of his brother, but with a great deal of perplexing anxiety over his own role in all of this.

  Chapter Three

  “Sarah Jones, was that David Redmond you were dancing with just now?”

  Sarah smiled in greeting as Elizabeth approached, nodding at her words.

  “It was,” she said. Sarah had, in fact, been shocked by Mr. Redmond. She had heard of his reputation, of course, had known that he was a man who enjoyed a rather wide variety of women, as had been apparent by his approach toward her. It seemed she must resemble a… friend of his. The thought had her stomach roiling with a strange sense of jealousy, which was ridiculous—she hardly knew the man. They had danced once together, and a cotillion at that, a set in which they had barely spoken.

  While she could tell he hadn’t exactly been seeking her out for the dance, she was rather unknown here and didn’t receive much opportunity to take to the dance floor. She had studied the steps of the cotillion for some time, and appreciated the chance to put her newly acquired skills into practice.

  What had surprised her the most was just how much she had enjoyed her time with him. Perhaps it was the charming smile he continually wore or the way his green eyes crinkled in the corners when he looked at her. He was a man who seemed to know how to enjoy life, that was for certain.

  She kept trying to remind herself of who he was, what she knew of him—and she had a feeling Elizabeth had approached to tell her the exact same thing.

  “He is… charming,” Sarah continued cautiously, and Elizabeth nodded.

  “That, he certainly is,” said Elizabeth, taking a sip of the drink in her hand, and Sarah wondered if she was indulging in the brandy she secretly enjoyed. Sarah herself preferred lemonade or something of the sort, for she had seen far too often how the effects of alcohol could addle the brain.

  “You will be careful, will you not?” Elizabeth continued. “While he is certainly an entertaining man to converse with or to dance with… he is not the sort of man to whom one should form any attachment. He has no inclination to wed, nor commit himself to any one woman.”

  “Of course,” Sarah said, waving a hand in the air. “It was but a dance. I have recently learned the cotillion, you see, and when the opportunity presented itself, I decided to put my new steps to the test.”

  Elizabeth nodded, though Sarah could see the apparent concern remaining in her eyes. For some reason, Sarah had declined to mention the fact that Mr. Redmond had initially mistaken her for someone else—someone with whom he seemed far more intimately familiar.

  “Of which you did an admirable job,” Elizabeth praised her, and Sarah smiled, though she shrugged.

  “You are being kind,” she said, “At the very least, I know I did not make a mess of it, which counts for something, I suppose.”

  “You danced admirably,” Phoebe said from behind her, joining the conversation. “Of course, when one is accompanied by a man so experienced as David Redmond, it is helpful.”

  She laughed, and Sarah had no response for she had no idea, in truth, of how a man’s experience might affect her own on the dance floor or… as relations of another sort entered her mind, she blushed in spite of herself—where in the world had that thought come from? It must simply be all this talk of Mr. Redmond and his reputation.

  “He is a verifiable rake, but a charming one at that,” Phoebe said with a smile of affection, showing her opinion of the man, who had long been a friend of her husband’s. “Regardless, Sarah, I know you are an intelligent enough woman to be aware to keep from allowing him to charm you.”

  “Elizabeth has already lectured me regarding Mr. Redmond,” Sarah said, surprised at the slight bit of annoyance that filled her at the continued warnings. Did they really believe her to be so naive? So she was a bit attracted to the man. What woman wouldn’t be, with his slightly-too-long sandy hair that curled at the ends, his vivid green eyes, and dimples that stretched within his cheeks every time he smiled, which seemed to be rather often? It didn’t mean she was going to profess her love to him or plan to marry him one day.

  “Besides who he may be, I have other concerns at the moment,” she said. “I have been here in England nearly two years now, and I feel as though I am no closer in my quest than I was when I first arrived. Why would I be summoned here by some mysteriou
s letter writer, only for such a person to never contact me upon my arrival? I have attempted to find relatives, but the surname of “Jones,” if that even was my mother’s true surname, is quite common, and anyone I have found does not seem to be any relation. Of course, my father’s name remains a mystery, for I was never told anything about him, besides how my mother saw him and what they felt for one another. Every gentleman who appears near his assumed age that even somewhat resembles me seems to have already been married at the time I would have been born.”

  Phoebe and Elizabeth looked at one another for a moment, causing Sarah to feel like an innocent child.

  “I know,” she said, holding her palms up to them. “I am well aware that men have affairs outside of their marriage beds. But when my mother spoke of him, she did so with love in her voice. She only left because the man’s father threatened to cut off his inheritance should he continue his association with her, and she had no wish to put a rift between him and his family.”

  Both of her friends still seemed unconvinced, but they hadn’t been present when Sarah’s mother had told them of her past relationship. Sarah was more sure than anything that her mother had not been a secondary thought to her father, but rather his love.

  “I simply do not know what to do next,” she said morosely. “What if he is dead? How would I ever know? I am beginning to think it is time I return to America.”

  “Oh, please do not say such a thing,” said Elizabeth. “Whether or not you find your father, is this not home for you now?”

  “I must say that I have never had friends such as you at home, but London is… well, it is not where my heart belongs, which is somewhere I can feel the sun on my face, hear the wind through the tree leaves, forage in the woods for supplies, or capture clean drops of water if it might be time for rain. Here, within all of the buildings and crowds, I so often feel… suffocated.”

  Sarah shocked herself at the agitation that arose within her when she spoke the words aloud, and Phoebe placed a gentle hand on her arm.

  “Perhaps we simply need to find you a gentleman with a lovely country home,” she said with a smile, to which Sarah laughed.

  “Perhaps,” she said, though in her heart she doubted such a man truly existed—for she would have found him by now, would she not have? A man who would own a country home would never be interested in the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman and a healer, and Sarah didn’t have it within her to lie about her true origins.

  As her gaze flitted around the room at the men filling it, most dressed far more extravagantly that she ever would, far too pleased with themselves and their own deportment, her eyes landed on David Redmond. He now had a woman on his arm, her hair black as night and intricately styled atop a beautiful silk dress of the latest fashion. As he leaned in toward her with a smile, she laughed at something he said, throwing her head back as her hand hooked around his in a possessive gesture.

  Seeing him with her only affirmed the words Elizabeth and Phoebe had shared with her. Sarah was aware that she could be far too gullible and naive, and this only proved what she needed to remember—to stay away from a man like David Redmond and re-focus on what she came here to do, which was find her father.

  And then, she could return home.

  *

  One week later

  David was surprised when he heard a knock at the door as he prepared to leave for the evening, with the help of his one servant, who was both valet and butler. Hampton had been with their family for years, and when David took rooms of his own, his father had suggested the man accompany him. David often wondered whether his father used him as a spy of sorts to determine David’s current actions, but he didn’t overly care. His father already disapproved—what did it matter that he had more in which to be disappointed?

  Although David did have to be careful, for it was, of course, his father who had arranged for him to lodge at his Albany chambers within St. James. David couldn’t ask for a better location, for he could easily walk to White’s and various establishments along Piccadilly and St. James Street—though some of the seedier establishments he frequented at times required a carriage ride out of the area.

  Hampton returned to his bedchamber within moments with the news that the Duke of Clarence had arrived. David nodded before continuing out to his sitting room, fastening the buttons of his shirt himself as he did so, greeting his friend wearing only his linen shirt and breeches.

  Clarence, of course, was immaculately dressed in evening wear, though David wondered if he had done so simply for this visit. He wouldn’t put it past the man.

  “Clarence,” he greeted him, signaling to Hampton to bring both of them a brandy. “How do you fare this evening?”

  “Quite well, Redmond, and thank you for the drink. I must say, you are always well stocked.”

  “It’s required, in order to keep friends like you content,” David said with a laugh. “What brings you here this evening?”

  “I do not mean to keep you,” Clarence said, and then sighed in a manner that was not at all ducal. “I am actually here on the bidding of my wife.”

  “Your wife?” David was wary now as he took a seat across from the Duke in one of the birch wood chairs, which his mother had selected for him for their molded seat rails and out-swept front legs. “If I were a betting man—which, I most assuredly am—I would hazard a guess that this has to do with me and the lovely Miss Sarah Jones.”

  Clarence laughed.

  “You know of my wife’s nature of protectiveness, then?”

  “I am aware that following my dance—one innocent cotillion, mind you—with the woman, she was instantly surrounded by her frequent companions, both of whom sent warning glances my way.”

  “Elizabeth worries for Sarah,” Clarence said, one hand splayed wide in front of him. “That is all.”

  “She seems rather intriguing,” David said, not wanting to admit how much she had entered his thoughts following their one dance together. She had not seemed at all like any of the other women within the room, and, in fact, none of the others had overly interested him. “She certainly does not seem to be from England.”

  “I do not believe she is,” Clarence confirmed, and David found his interest piqued. “Her mother relocated shortly before her birth. It seems she returned here with a relative, Lady Alexander, as she is looking to find more of her family.”

  “Interesting,” David murmured, suddenly far more intrigued than he had any right to be. “Who is her family?”

  “That, she is still attempting to determine. It seems her parents were estranged.”

  “Yet she remains part of the world of the nobility.”

  “By virtue of Lady Alexander, it seems,” Clarence acknowledged.

  “I am surprised that you are not more involved with the woman’s situation, Clarence,” David said. “This seems to be one that you would be attempting to control.”

  “You sound like my wife. Elizabeth tells me that while I am welcome to help Miss Jones in her search for family, what she does not require at the moment is a husband and that I am to keep myself out of any situation involving her and a potential match.” Clarence then chuckled. “With the exception of warning you off, it seems.”

  “Very well,” David said, “Consider me warned.”

  “My task is complete,” Clarence said with a smile. “Now, where are you off to tonight?”

  “The Red Lion,” David said with a grin, knowing Clarence’s thoughts on the club—he disdained it, feeling its patrons were far too unruly. “I’ve had my fill of society functions for a time. They can be rather ghastly, night after night. Tonight I’m after some fun.”

  Clarence lifted his drink. “Well, my best to you, Redmond. One other thing before I take my leave.”

  “Yes?”

  “I have heard some… rumblings, I suppose you could say, regarding a certain Lady Houghton.”

  “Ah… yes?” David swallowed. She had been a mistake, that one. He attempted to stay away
from married women, but he was well aware of just how awful her husband was to her, and she had come to him for comfort a couple of months back. He had been slightly in his cups that night and had provided her what she sought, though he sorely regretted it the next morning and had been worried there may be repercussions. He had hoped she kept the specifics of their relations to herself but…

  “Houghton seems to have an inkling of what occurred between the two of you. He is a powerful man, Redmond, and not a particularly forgiving one. Be sure to watch your back. I’ll watch it for you as I can, but perhaps keep in your right mind when you’re within one of your establishments.”

  “Consider me warned, Clarence—doubly,” David said, beginning to feel like a naughty child who required chastising. “I’ll keep an eye out, as well as be sure to not enter too far into my cups—that’s a promise.”

  “Very good. Well, I am off to Elizabeth’s parents for dinner. For which, I am glad for the liquid fortitude.”

  David laughed.

  “Good evening, Clarence.”

  “And to you, Redmond.”

  Chapter Four

  Sarah sat up with a start, every sense on the alert.

  She gasped when she heard a loud banging on her door—it must have been what had initially awakened her. She had no idea what time it was, but from the pitch black darkness she could see through the thin slice of the window in her room, she knew that it must still be the middle of the night. She rose, lifting her wrapper from the nearby chair and tightening it around herself as she padded over to the door in bare feet.

  She hesitated when she reached the door, one hand on the handle, the other on the knob above it, ready to unlock it—but should she? She hurried back across the room, picked up her revolver, and returned to the door. Sarah had no wish to turn away anyone who may be in need, but then, she had enough experience to know to be careful.

  Sarah undid the lock and opened the door a crack, lifting her revolver as she looked out, seeing no one within her line of sight. What was going on? She was about to close the door when she heard a groan from somewhere nearby, and she looked down to find the voice belonged to a body piled at her feet.