An Innocent Miss by Elizabeth Bailey

Author:Elizabeth Bailey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

November, 1811

After a restless night, Friday found the Viscount no nearer an acceptance of his own decision than he had been the day before. Having left Serena, he had put himself through an all too lengthy sojourn at White's, where he had imbibed freely of an excellent claret while animadverting with some degree of acidity on the general recalcitrance and waywardness of the female heart.

Lord Buckworth, who was upon the point of leaving for Brighton, had delayed his departure long enough to advise his friend to go home and put his head in a bucket. Wyndham having bitterly stated his preference for a noose, Buckworth had laughed at him and bid him instead accompany him to the coast.

'No, I thank you,' had growled the Viscount. 'I am in no humour to endure Prinny's excesses. Besides, she need not think that I will leave her to fall like a ripe plum into the hands of that blackguard!'

'Well said!' applauded Buckworth, a teasing glint in his eye. 'I am tempted to remain to pull you out of whatever undoubted scrape you are bound to throw yourself into, but I shall refrain. If a man can't win himself a doting wife without the assistance of his friends, he had better not have one at all!'

Wyndham had toasted this sentiment, tipping the remainder of the contents of his glass down his throat. But with his friend's departure the resurgence of bravado proved brief. If Serena would not marry him in this extreme, she must be wholly set against him. He had as well abandon the game and turn his thoughts otherwhere.

But the obstinate pull of his emotions would not let him. In the long night hours, he kept seeing Serena's face. As she had been in those early days last season, which was in stark contrast to the wan features lately imprinted upon his memory. She might say what she pleased, but she could not deny that she was deeply unhappy. And somewhere in the distant reaches of his mind lurked the conviction that she still cared for him.

It might have been that which sent him riding in the direction of Hay Hill after a vigorous half-hour of early exercise in the Park. Dismounting by the back garden gate, Wyndham called to one of the boys at work within the grounds of the Lacey house, and flicked him a coin to hold his horse. Trading on his close relationship to the family, he then walked up to the house and entered by the conservatory.

About to go through into the hall, he heard Serena's voice close at hand. Checking, he listened for its source, and had just decided that she must be in the room adjacent when he was alerted by the deeper tones of a man. For an instant, he thought it must be Hailcombe, and he strode forward a couple of paces towards an aperture. He knew this connected the conservatory with a summer saloon beyond, where the Laceys generally received visitors in warmer weather in order to enjoy the greenery.

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