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Alexandrov grinned his response.
The lad responded very well to being roasted. No doubt he was used to it. Yet he had begun to look a little nervous now, probably at the prospect of apologising to the Regent in person. Dominic suddenly felt ashamed of himself for tricking the lad into believing he must do so. That had never been his intention. Was he seeking revenge for the fact that Alexandrov’s voice disturbed him still? Unworthy, if so. It was not Alexandrov’s fault that Dominic’s mind was playing tricks on him.
The stable gates were closed and manned by soldiers. ‘Let us in,’ Dominic ordered. ‘I am the Duke of Calder and this officer is on the staff of his Majesty the Russian Emperor.’
‘Daren’t do it, sir. Er…your Grace.’
‘Nonsense. Open up at once.’
The soldier stood stiffly to attention. He made no move to obey Dominic. ‘We’ve only just managed to get these gates closed, sir. We opened them for Marshal Blücher’s carriage and were almost crushed by the people flooding in around him. There are still hundreds of them inside the house. You’ll have to go in by the main gate. Sorry, sir.’
‘Fetch your officer.’
It did not take Dominic long to convince the young lieutenant that he ought to be able to open the stable gates just enough to admit two gentlemen. And that, if he was any kind of officer at all, he should be able to ensure that none of the milling crowd could force a way through.
Within minutes, Dominic was leading the way into Carlton House. They arrived in the grand hall just in time to see the Prince Regent and Marshal Blücher emerge from the Regent’s private apartments. The crowd cheered ecstatically. For Blücher, of course. But the Prince had not lost his sense of theatre. In the midst of the huge throng, he invited Blücher to kneel so that he could fasten a medallion on the old man’s shoulder. Dominic fancied that the portrait on the medallion was of the Regent himself. That was very much his way. The Marshal, however, seemed to be overcome by the honour. As he rose, he kissed the Regent’s hand.
‘Wait here,’ Dominic shouted into Alexandrov’s ear. ‘I’ll go and make sure the Regent’s aides know about the Emperor’s change of plans.’
‘But if I am to apologize—’
‘You are not,’ Dominic said firmly, glad to be able to clear his conscience at last. ‘I’ll say all that is necessary on your behalf.’
‘But you cannot—’
Dominic did not wait to listen to the young man’s protests. All he wanted now was to pass his message and then to escape from this infernal circus. Prinny might delight in it all. But for ordinary mortals, the next few weeks were going to be a continuing trial.
Chapter Four
Dominic ushered Alexandrov through the front door into the sudden quiet of the spacious hallway. Withering, the Aikenhead family butler, bowed as he took their hats. ‘Lord Leo has just this minute arrived, your Grace. I believe he is in the library.’
‘Excellent. Thank you, Withering.’ Then, reverting to French, ‘Come and meet my brother, Alexei Ivanovich. Must say I wasn’t expecting him.’
‘Perhaps he could not resist all the London festivities, Duke?’
‘I take leave to doubt that. But you shall judge for yourself. Come.’ Almost as an afterthought, Dominic said, ‘Send in some of the best Madeira, would you, Withering?’
‘It is already done, your Grace. Lord Leo—’
Dominic laughed. ‘I should have known. My brother makes free with my cellar whenever he favours me with his company.’
As Withering flung open the double doors to Dominic’s library, the solitary figure in the room rose from the leather armchair and strode towards them, grinning widely. ‘Dominic! Hadn’t thought to see you tonight, old man. Assumed the Regent would have you running round in circles until dawn.’
‘In other words, you thought you’d have hours yet to make free with my Madeira,’ Dominic retorted, trying not to show just how pleased he was to see his brother.
‘But of course,’ Leo said smoothly, throwing a questioning glance towards Dominic’s companion.
‘Forgive me, Alexandrov,’ Dominic said quickly, reverting to French. ‘That was bad manners on my part. You will allow me to present my brother, Lord Leo Aikenhead? Leo, this is Captain Alexei Ivanovich Alexandrov, one of the aides-de-camp to his Majesty the Emperor Alexander.’
The two men bowed to each other and exchanged courtesies.
‘Surprising that you are both off duty so early,’ Leo said in his accentless French. ‘Or are you?’
‘Yes. Until tomorrow morning. Is that not so, Alexei Ivanovich?’
‘His Imperial Majesty has no further need of me this evening. He dines with the Grand Duchess. However, if he rides out before breakfast, as he usually does, I shall be on duty then.’
‘No hard drinking for you tonight, then, Captain? What a pity. Thought to introduce you to some of Dominic’s better bottles.’
‘I—’
‘I must ask you to forgive my brother, Alexei Ivanovich,’ Dominic said quickly. ‘He is incorrigible. And in spite of his efforts to paint himself as a drunken sot, I can assure you that he is only trying to humbug you. And me.’
The young Russian smiled first at Dominic and then at Leo. ‘Believe me, I have had much worse from my compatriots. But I should perhaps warn you that I very rarely drink.’
Leo’s eyes widened, but he was too polite to make any comment. Dominic, by contrast, was not at all surprised. It was such a pity that they were, so to speak, on opposite sides, for Alexei Ivanovich was a remarkable and admirable young soldier, the kind whom Dominic would have been happy to call his friend. Alexandrov had an inner core of steel. In the space of only a day or so, Dominic had learned that he was not the sort of man who would conform where it did not suit him. And that he was definitely a man who should not be underestimated.
Alex put down her half-empty glass. Her invariable rule was to permit herself no more than one glass of wine, and always with food. On this occasion, she had been very tempted to break her rule for the Duke’s splendid wine. But she did not dare. Not with gentlemen as astute as the Duke and his brother.
The Duke tried again. ‘Will you have a little more wine, Alexei Ivanovich?’
Alex shook her head, smiling across at him. ‘No, Calder, I thank you. Your wine is truly excellent, but I never have more than one glass.’
‘Haven’t even had that,’ Lord Leo interposed, gazing pointedly at her glass. ‘If I were a betting man, I’d be tempted to wager that you don’t really like wine at all. Am I right, sir?’
‘I—’
‘Don’t bother to reply, Alexandrov,’ the Duke said quickly. ‘My brother has a disreputable habit of trying to provoke others, even when they are our guests. I have spent years trying to cure him of it.’ He sighed theatrically. ‘I’m afraid I have failed.’
‘Not true, brother mine. Never provoke my guests. Only yours.’
Alex, astonished, looked from one to the other. The Duke was trying, unsuccessfully, not to laugh at his brother’s wicked comment. Lord Leo had an expression that was…almost angelic. Angel laced with grinning devil. Was this what it was to be brothers, and to be truly close? It seemed more than wonderful. With no sisters, and only one, much younger, half-brother, Alex had never experienced anything like this. What’s more, as a mere female, she had been expected to spend all her time acquiring domestic skills. Even if she had had sisters, she doubted that her stepmother would have permitted anything bordering on frivolity. A girl’s role was to learn what she needed in order to be a good daughter first, and then a good wife to a man chosen by her parents. Duty was everything. Enjoyment, and laughter, had no place at all.
As she stared, wide-eyed, at the Aikenhead brothers, she was visited by a subversive thought. If her own Scottish mother had brought her back here, would her life have been totally different? Would she have been happy to have remained in the role of a girl? Her restlessness had been largely her father’s fault, of course, for he had brought her up in a military environment while he himself was serving in the Hussars. She had absorbed the life through every single pore of her body until she had been living it every minute of every day. She had ridden like a Hussar, eaten like a Hussar, thought like a Hussar. It had become the life she loved and the life she wanted. So, when her father had left the army in favour of a civil post, it had been as if Alex were cast into prison. Particularly so when her father had married again, to a shrewish woman who believed that the role of an unmarried girl was silence and sewing. And to be addressed, formally, as ‘Alexandra’, rather than the familiar Scottish ‘Alex’ that had always seemed so loving.
The butler returned to clear the plates. ‘Lord Jack has just this minute arrived, your Grace,’ he said quietly.
Calder raised an eyebrow. ‘Strange. The wine is in here and Lord Jack is not. You must have seen an apparition, Withering.’
Alex looked down at the table and pursed her lips hard, trying to conceal her amusement. Calder must not suspect that she had misled him about her knowledge of English. Oh, this was becoming so very difficult.
‘Lord Jack,’ Withering said in a lofty tone, ‘was informed that your Grace had a foreign guest at the supper table. He therefore repaired to the library.’
‘And my Madeira,’ laughed Calder, slapping the table with his hand. ‘Not an apparition then. Tell my brother, if you please, that we shall join him shortly.’
The butler bowed and withdrew.
Calder then explained, in French, that his youngest brother had just arrived. ‘I should warn you, Alexei Ivanovich, that Jack is something of a scapegrace. In fact, he’s even worse than brother Leo.’
‘Thank you, Dominic,’ Lord Leo said calmly.
Calder’s mouth quirked at the corner, by just a tiny fraction. He continued, as if his brother had not spoken, ‘Jack will lead you astray, if you give him half a chance. He is about your age, and he thinks that Leo and I are now old and staid, quite beyond redemption. He will try to lure you off to gaming hells, and heaven knows what else.’
Alex hoped fervently that she was not blushing again. ‘I am grateful to you for the warning, Duke. But I do not gamble.’ The brothers’ surprise was evident. Alex decided to give them her usual lie. ‘I’m afraid I cannot afford it. My family may be noble—as you probably know, that is a requirement for officer status in the Russian army—but that does not mean we are rich. I cannot, and will not, wager my next meal against the turn of a card. I apologize now if that is a disappointment to you.’
‘Not to me, Alexei Ivanovich,’ Calder said. ‘The Prince Regent tasked me to take particular care that the Emperor’s officers did not get into trouble through playing for high stakes here in London.’
‘And how, pray, were you supposed to ensure that?’ Lord Leo asked innocently.
‘No idea.’ Calder grinned. ‘Perhaps Prinny thinks I have a magic wand?’
Lord Leo grinned back, shaking his head.
Alex swallowed, feeling a little embarrassed. Was it permissible to criticise the Regent in this way? No Russian officer would ever say any such thing about the Emperor. Never.
‘Forgive me, Alexandrov. I did not mean to embarrass you. Like all monarchs, the Prince Regent sees it as his role to issue commands. It is for others to find ways of carrying them out. Practicalities are for underlings. Among whom I number myself.’
Alex’s eyes widened. A duke? An underling?
She felt a slight draught as the door opened at her back.
‘I’ve finished the Madeira, brother,’ said a new, younger voice. ‘Would you have me start on the brandy now?’
Dominic was glad that both his brothers had arrived to help entertain the young Russian. It gave him an opportunity to watch the lad, to judge his motives. And to rid himself of that strange fancy, from Boulogne. Alexandrov’s remarkable voice still seemed to be able to stir strange feelings, deep in Dominic’s innermost core. He must banish them. He must. Alexandrov was a man, confound it! All that smoke must somehow have addled his brain.
Dominic forced himself to concentrate on his mission. He would have to find some way of testing the lad, even though he was definitely on his guard. He thought carefully before he spoke. On the other hand, his face did sometimes betray his emotions. That was one of Dominic’s mother’s failings, too. It was excusable in a woman, but not in a soldier. Alexandrov had clearly shown his astonishment, for example, at the Aikenhead family banter. He must be a lad with no older brothers.
‘What have you seen of London so far, Captain?’ Leo asked. Leo knew that Dominic’s ability to judge a man was better than his own, and so he willingly drew all the attention on to himself, leaving Dominic to observe. And deduce.
The young Russian seemed to have relaxed a little. He smiled at Leo and sat forward in his chair, picking up his half-full wine glass and turning it round and round in his strong, lean hand. It was a ploy, Dominic was sure. Had there been, somewhere in his past, a drunken episode of which he was ashamed? He struck Dominic as the kind of lad who would take such indiscretions extremely seriously.
‘His Majesty arrived only today, Lord Leo. So far, I have seen the inside of the Pulteney Hotel, the inside of your brother’s carriage, though not for long, since it proceeded at a pace resembling a one-legged snail, and—’
‘Do snails have legs in your country, Captain?’ Jack had adopted that high-handed tone which meant he was bent on mischief. ‘In this country, they seem to have lost their legs, somewhere along the way.’
‘I meant…I meant…’
Good grief, the young man was blushing. Well, well, well. He really was just like the Dowager. Not so manly after all, perhaps? No wonder he was avoiding alcohol, if it was so easy to put him out of countenance. It could be useful to know that.
‘It is…it is a…a family joke, which does not translate well. I meant only that Calder’s carriage was unable to proceed. And so we had to walk to Carlton House,’ Alexandrov continued, more fluently than before. ‘It is very grand inside.’
‘Far too much gilding for my taste,’ Jack muttered.
‘You must excuse my brother,’ Dominic said quickly. ‘His taste tends towards the furnishings of gambling dens and the like. We don’t often let him into polite company. In fact, we’ve been telling the world that he’s not our brother at all, but a changeling.’
Jack gasped and started to rise from his chair.
‘Unfortunately,’ Dominic continued calmly, ‘he looks so much like me that no one will believe us.’
Alexandrov nodded, rather pensively. ‘Perhaps you are both changelings, Duke,’ he said with an air of studied innocence. ‘Perhaps the true heir is Lord Leo, who looks nothing like either of you?’
Jack burst out laughing.
Beside him, Leo was grinning, too. ‘Seems to me that our Russian guest can give as good as he gets. I’d watch your tongue if I were you, Dominic.’
‘I shall clearly have to. I fancy that Captain Alexandrov must spend a lot of time being roasted by his fellow officers and sharpening his wit on them. Is that the way of it, Alexei Ivanovich?’
‘I find it does not do, Duke, to accept jibes meekly. The occasional riposte reminds my comrades that my role is not solely to provide sport for them.’
‘How true,’ Dominic said thoughtfully. He waited a moment more before striking. ‘And what, would you say, is your role, exactly?’
There was a decided pause before the Russian spoke again. ‘I…why, I am a captain in the Mariupol Hussars and have been honoured with the appointment as an aide-de-camp to his Imperial Majesty. You are already aware of that, I think.’
Dominic nodded slowly. ‘Just idle thoughts that came to me.’ He picked up his glass and took a long swallow. ‘It seemed to me that his Imperial Majesty already has a great many young officers in his suite. I simply wondered why you had been added to their number.’
‘Oh, that is easily explained, Duke,’ Alexandrov replied smoothly. He was fully in control now. ‘His Majesty had not seen me for some years, since he did me the honour—’ He reddened slightly and touched the Cross of St George on his breast. ‘His Majesty was gracious enough to wonder about my progress. Court Minister Volkonsky suggested that I might be attached to the staff for the duration of this visit.’
Now that, Dominic thought, was a well-rehearsed line, but he doubted that it was the whole truth. What kind of monarch remembered to check up on the progress of one young officer among so many? Especially one not seen for years? The fact that Alexandrov had a ready tale suggested that he had something to hide.
Dominic leant forward. ‘When did you—?’
The door opened again to admit the butler. Dominic raised his head, frowning. This was just the wrong moment for an interruption.
‘Excuse me, your Grace, but a messenger has this moment arrived. I understand it is a matter of some urgency. Will you see him?’
Dominic rose. Withering had given no indication of who the messenger was. Which meant that the man was possibly from Horse Guards. Or from the Foreign Secretary himself.
‘Thank you, Withering. I will come at once. No doubt it is yet another concern of the Regent’s. Possibly about the colour of his coat.’
The moment the door closed behind the Duke, Lord Jack launched into a stream of questions about Alex’s home and her family. She answered as best she could, trying to betray as little information as possible, but still she found herself saying more about her parents and her home than she had intended.
The two brothers had just begun a lively discussion on the dangerous topic of boxing when the Duke returned. He was looking grave, but his face softened at the sight of his brothers. ‘Arguing again? And in front of our guest, too.’ He shook his head. ‘I thought you had better manners, Jack.’
‘I’ll have you know, Dominic—’
‘Excuse him, if you would, Captain Alexandrov. He has always been an unruly brat and, unfortunately, Leo has never yet learned to keep him under control. He spoils him, you see.’
‘If you weren’t my brother, Dominic, I’d call you out for that!’ Lord Jack had jumped to his feet, fists clenched.
‘After that comment, I’m first in the queue,’ Lord Leo growled.
The Duke grinned. ‘I wouldn’t dare take you on, Leo. Even if I had choice of weapons, you’d best me every time. Jack, on the other hand… Well, Jack is improving with his fists, at least.’ He strolled forward to the table, lifted his wine glass and sipped. ‘And now, if you will allow me, Alexandrov, I will escort you back to the Pulteney.’
‘There is no need, Calder. I can certainly make my own way back.’
The Duke snorted. ‘This, from a pint-sized sabre-carrier who speaks not a word of English? No, my friend, the Regent has charged me to offer all assistance to the Emperor’s suite. I should be failing in my duty if I allowed you to be trampled underfoot.’
It would be most impolite to argue further. Besides, the Duke probably had business to discharge. Business resulting from that urgent message. She must do what she could to find out about that. Major Zass would be expecting her report on the Duke. ‘You are very good, Duke. And I willingly accept your company, if it is not an inconvenience. If you are required at Horse Guards, I could easily take a hackney back to the Pulteney.’
