Free Mesalliance by Stella Riley Page A

Diana.’
    ‘I think I
might be said to be tolerably aware of that fact.’
    ‘Oh. So will
you?’
    ‘Will I
what?’
    Nell resisted a
temptation to stamp her foot.
    ‘Think about
marrying Diana. I know she’s not especially well-connected but her
birth is respectable enough – even for Lucilla. And she has to be
the most ravishingly beautiful girl you’ve ever seen. Also,
although I really oughtn’t to say this … she’d head over ears in
love with you.’
    ‘Dear me!’
drawled Rockliffe. ‘Is she indeed? I really had no idea.’
    ‘Perhaps not.
But now I’ve told you … well, you must know that you could do a lot
worse.’
    A faintly
crooked smile touched his mouth but he refrained from saying that
he doubted it. Instead, he said mildly, ‘Correct me if I’m mistaken
… but what you are really saying is that the match would please you .’
    ‘Yes. I think
it would be perfect.’
    ‘That is
honest, at least. But you will, I am sure, appreciate my
difficulty.’
    ‘What
difficulty?’
    ‘Simply that –
while you are determined to choose your own husband – I am equally
set on choosing my own wife.’
    It was, as he
very well knew, unanswerable … and, to her credit, Nell did not
even try.
    ‘I suppose,’
she sighed, ‘that I should have expected that. Shall I apologise
again?’
    ‘No.’ He tucked
her hand through his arm and let her to the door. ‘Just try to be a
little more civil to Harry. And who knows? Once you have become
used to the idea, you may even find him less … er … obnoxious than
you first thought.’
    *
    ‘And that,’
confided Nell later to her dearest friend, ‘made me darkly
suspicious, I can tell you. It would suit Rock admirably to have me
safely betrothed – and to someone as eligible as Harry.’
    ‘But I thought
he’d promised not to force you?’ objected Diana.
    ‘He did – and
he won’t. But he’s quite capable of arranging matters so I’ll think I’ve pleased myself, when all the time I’ll really be
doing exactly what he always intended that I should. You simply
wouldn’t believe how sneaky he can be.’
    Diana looked
across the grass to where Rockliffe formed one of a group with
Althea, Andrew, Lizzie and his lordship, in the shade of a large
beech tree. She said inconsequently, ‘Do you know, I’m sure poor
Lizzie gets more freckled every time I see her.’ And then, ‘Lord
Harry is extremely attractive, though … at least, I suspect that
Thea finds him so.’
    ‘Oh?’ Nell
sniffed disparagingly. ‘Then she’d better be warned – for he’s also
odiously interfering.’
    ‘I doubt she’d
mind that. Not, of course, that she has the smallest hope of
gaining his affections. She’s too much of a mouse, poor dear.’ She
paused and then added wistfully, ‘I suppose … I suppose your
brother hasn’t said anything about me ?’
    ‘No – no.’ Nell
took the tactful rather than the truthful path and had the grace to
blush a little. ‘No – not a word. But you mustn’t give up hope.
It’s just that Rock isn’t … well, one can never tell what he’s
truly thinking. But you know I’ll do what I can.’
    ‘Dearest!’
Diana clasped her friend’s hand. ‘I know you will. And you can’t
imagine what a comfort it is to me.’
    Nell smiled
weakly. And then, in order to extricate herself from the
awkwardness of the moment, said, ‘I see Mr Garfield has attached
himself to your cousin again. What do you suppose he finds
to say to her?’
    ‘Who knows?’
shrugged Diana. ‘He’s probably boring on about his stupid house or
telling her exactly what he paid for some thing or other. After
all, he’s hardly likely to consider marrying her, is he? And I
can’t see him giving her a slip on the shoulder either. She’s not
nearly pretty enough.’
    Nell’s eyes
widened a little at the vulgarity of the expression but she saw no
reason to quarrel with its meaning. In this she was wrong for Mr
Garfield was, at that very moment, working his