A Fine Caprice - A Regency Romance (6 page)

‘I’ve considered them and decided t
hey don’t count. And unless you want me to get Charlotte to supervise you on Friday then I would suggest you accept that you are going to experience an unpleasant day. I’m afraid you must live with the fact and count yourself lucky.
I
have had to promise four days at Tipplehorn to avert my sister’s censure.’

‘Good God! Doing what?’

‘Hosting a damned house party,’ Cass said bitterly, rising to his feet. ‘Frankly, I have little sympathy with you suffering through one night.’ He frowned down at Henry. ‘If you fail
them, I will be very displeased with you.’

‘I will do my duty,’ Henry said with a great deal more dignity than a man so far gone in his cups should be able to muster. ‘I will not let them down.’

Brockley met Cass’ eyes and he gave a slight nod. His lordship was able to leave with a reasonable understanding that Henry Howe would do what he must to ensure that Friday night went as it should. After all, nobody knew better than Henry that a social slip under such circumstances would mean months of pain afterwards.

Henry Howe migh
t be a drunk, but he was nobody’
s fool.

‘I am not lost,’
Caprice
told herself
for the second time in as many minutes
, hoping very much that it was true. It
felt
as if she were lost, had been feeling more and more that way for the past hour
as she had ridden cautiously along dark, windy roads
, worried that
her horse would find a hole
and come up lame
.
The coast of Dorset might be quite charming in daylight and on a sunny day – certainly
Angelique
had written and told her it was – but
on a windy night in early October
it was singularly unplea
sant. Considering the circumstances
she found herself in,
it was more
comforting
to amend ‘lost’
to
‘
temporarily misplaced
’
for
surely she would stumble upon Steadman Hall, her friend’s home
since she had married Viscount Ellington, sooner rather than later.
Caprice
had asked directions when she had left the
Red Lyon
that morning and
again at the
Merry Maiden
where she had taken supper over an hour ago and both
the innkeeper
s
had seemed to know the place well enough
, giving directions with confidence.

Of course, whether she had followed them satisfactorily was another matter.

Reaching a hand down, she patted the neck of
her patient mount soothingly.
‘Nearly there, Ulysses.
You’ll have a stable soon enough and a nosebag to go with it.’

The big black hunter gave a soft snicker, a sound
Caprice
elected to believe was agreement as opposed to disbelief.
He had come a long way and, while she had been careful to rest h
im and see that he was fed well
she was sure
he would
be grateful for a respite
.

She had spent the past four days travelling
to Dorset
in what could only be thought of as a scandalous manner. At least, it would be thought of as scandalous if anybody suspected that she was a female but as she was weari
ng
the garments of a young male
that was hardly likely.
She had taken the clothes of a page who had graduated to footman when he had grown
in years and stature
. Albert had been more than happy to help Miss
Caprice
and had promised not to say a word to anyone. Wh
ile the household had slumbered
she had climbed into her disguise, collected a bag of food and
a greatcoat, an old thing that had once belonged to her father many years ago and the only thing likely to fit her
slight frame.
It was frightfully old fashioned but she had hoped that most people would think it an ancient hand
-
me
-
down.
                                                                                        

After completing her toilette, she
had eyed her reflection
in the mirror
with satisfaction. Her thick, curling dark hair been artfully caught up into a kind of queue at the back of her neck
, folded over
several times
and tucked in close to the nape
. Only close inspection would reveal that there was
rather a lot of it and she had
no intention of letting anybody investigate too closely. Besides, beneath
a hat nobody could tell that it was anything other than youthful disarray
. She looked, she thought with satisfaction, every inch a young lad.
Her story, should anybody inquire, was that she was
the cousin of a scullery maid at Steadman Hall and she was heading there to take
up a posit
ion as stableboy
in Viscount Ellington’s household. It had turned out to be a good choice and nobody had looked to
o
closely at
Caprice
, especially as sh
e stabled her finely bred horse before she sough
t accommodation for
herself. Ulysses was rather an impressive
mount for a lad who was off to tak
e up the humble position of stableboy and, while she had come up with a reasonable reason for their journey together – she was delivering it to the master of the house – it was the kind of lie that might go horribly wrong if anybody questioned her too closely
.

Back in her bedchamber, she had been thrilled with the idea of an adventure. Studying the final results of her transformation she had decided it
was rather nice to be a boy. W
ho would have thou
ght that the time she spent rid
ing about the estate dressed in breeches would have had such a fortunate outcome? She felt entirely at home in a male’s attire, which was certainly a lot less cumbersome than petticoats. The freedom of movement was marvellous and at least she did not need the services of her maid to dress herself.
Collecting up whatever monies she could lay her hands on – the princely sum of two pounds and a variety of pence, she had set out with no more than a small b
andbox
tied to the pommel of the saddle
, confident that Angelique
would provide her with more approp
riate clothes
when she arrived
.

The journey had been an experience
,
of that there was no doubt, especially as it was the first time she had ever travelled alone
. More than that, it had been eye opening for a young lad on his way to
take up
a lowly position was
not given the respect that a young,
well-bred lady was
and she was surprised at the amount of people that were inclined to try and give her a cuff over the ear for even the most innocent of questions. She had quickly learned to mind what she said while keeping a respectful tone to her voice, no matter who she was talking to. It was strange, however, to think that so many people – not the upper classes but all those who worked to make the upper classes lives comfortable – should live such different lives.
Fortunately she had coin enough to make her way, paying for food and accommodation
although, once again, the food was not a choice of a dozen dishes but a thick stew and a hunk of bread and the bed she was given was more often than not a lumpy pallet. Still, she made do and ensured that Ulysses, at least, was well taken care of
.

While traveling in disguise was enlightening
,
by the forth night of her journey she was looking forward to arriving at her destination. As active as she normally was, four days in the saddle had given her aches in places she had not thought it
possible to ache and she yearned for
a nice cup of Indian black tea with surpris
ing intensity. S
he had not asked
for one
at the hostelries she had stayed at, worried they would think such a request peculia
r
from a mere
stableboy or, worse yet, pretentious
.
While she had become rather adept at dodging a clip over the ear, more than one had connected, leaving a throbbing
pain in its
wake.
A
servant’s life could be far from pleasant. She knew that the people in her father’s employ were well looked after, but what must it be like for those who were not? She resol
ved that, upon returning to Tannith Meadow
, she would be
particularly
nice to everybody, especially the stableboy
s
!

All t
he while she had been traveling
she had allowed herself only fleeting thoughts of her parents, who would surely be dreadfully worried about her.
As soon as she reached
Angelique
’s house she would write to them both and apologize profusely for leaving them to the
ghastly outpourings
– and undoubted vitriol -
of her wretched aunt
who would
have had a great deal to say on the subject of
Caprice
’s escape
when it was
discovered
.
She could not imagine what Ainslie had said on the subject, although he would undoubtedly try to convince them that he was exactly the man who would put a stop to such rash behavior when he became her husband. Which would never happen for there was no way that she was returning to Tannith Meadow until Ainslie Hester was gone – never to return – and all question of marriage to him was done with.

It was this
thought
– and that
of her
wretched
aunt
-
that bolstered
Caprice
’s determination
to go ahead with her daring plan
for
no matter how much she regretted causing her
parent’s any distress, she
was determined that she was not going to marry the awful Ainslie
. T
urning back was really not
an option. Although frankly, her absconding in the middle of the night had probably p
ut paid to that particular plan
she thought with some satisfaction
. Aunt Leticia was starchy all the way down to her toes and her niece’s latest bout of foolishness would hopefully have disgusted her to such an extent that she would take herself
and her foul nephew
off directly, washing her hands
in the whole affair.
S
he
certainly
wasn’t going home until they
had
taken themselves
off, so it was to be hoped that
they would absent themselves
immediately.
She
had left her parents a note, trying to explain a little of why she was leaving, although she had not told them where she was going.
That would just be foolish.

Whatever they may think
,
she was not there to listen any more. And
after undertaking such a
n arduous
journey,
Caprice
was determined to vis
it dear
Angelique
for at least
two or three weeks, perhaps more
.
They had been such good friends when
they were growing up, drawn together by the fact that Angelique’s mother being French and
Caprice
’s Italian. It had been a bond and from that bond had grown a sturdy friendship. They were very close in age and, as
Caprice
’s
nearest neighbor
they had seen a great deal of each other. Of course Angelique’s mother had been far more ambit
ious for her daughter than Elizabetta
Lambert, taking the girl up
to London
for her presentation and then, of course, the heady whirl of the Season. Such tactics had paid off and Angelique had made
a very goo
d match of it with the viscount while
Caprice
had stayed home, engaged to steady, reliable
Eric
who had doted on her for years
.
No need for a Season, Lady Lambert had reasoned (with considerable relief) when her daughter had already contracted a stellar match.