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“Much later,” her mother confirmed, posture straight. “If you meant to speak with him, I fear you have made the trip for nothing, sir.”
Vaughn smiled at Imogene. “A trip is never wasted when a gentleman finds himself surrounded by beauty.”
Imogene felt her mother’s gaze on her. “And poor Imogene often finds herself surrounded by callers. I fear she has little time to herself.”
It was a pointed hint. A gentleman would beg her pardon, excuse himself immediately. Vaughn merely crossed his long legs at the ankles.
“But dear lady, how could you be so cruel as to deprive us of our source of inspiration, of light? Even the farmer welcomes the bees hovering about his flowers.”
If anything, her mother’s back was even stiffer. This was getting ridiculous, and it was getting Imogene no closer to her goal of discovering the source of her father’s antipathy for the fellow. She racked her brain for a way to converse privately with him.
“Do you enjoy music, Mr. Everard?” she tried.
She was certain of his answer. What poet wouldn’t enjoy the strains of a well-played song?
“I take pleasure in the sound of a pianoforte or a violin played with precision,” he allowed. There was the slightest crease between his brows, as if he wasn’t sure of her direction. She had to make this work. She very much doubted she’d get another chance to see him again otherwise.
Lord, help him to follow my lead!
“Then you must come hear my latest composition,” Imogene told him. She stood, forcing him to his feet while her mother went so far as to frown at her. “I’m not quite certain I’m happy with it, and I’d very much like your thoughts.”
“Delighted,” he replied.
“If you’ll just excuse us a moment, Mother,” Imogene said, heading for the door.
She heard the whisper of silk as her mother rose. “No need, my dear. I find myself quite curious about this new song, as well.”
Imogene puffed out a sigh, but she kept going.
Vaughn caught up with her easily, pacing her down the corridor and stairway for the music room. With her mother right behind, there was no time for any but the most commonplace of topics, and she thought by the stiffness of his responses that he was as frustrated by the whole affair as she was.
The music room was just off the main entry, a small, north-facing room with misty gray walls and fanciful white curls festooning the coffered ceiling. She went straight to her piano and seated herself on the bench. “Would you be so kind as to turn the pages for me, Mr. Everard?”
He stood behind her. If she had leaned back, she would have rested against him. She kept her spine straight, her gaze on the sheet music in front of her.
“It starts slowly, like this.” She began playing the piece. She already knew it by heart, she’d written it after all, so she didn’t have to keep her eyes on the music. Still, she looked up only long enough to be certain her mother had taken a seat on one of the gilded chairs near the fire.
“You see how it drifts along here?” She nodded toward the music.
Vaughn bent closer, putting his face on a level with hers. She could feel the heat of him so close, his breath as it brushed against her curls. “Encouraging and lilting, much like the beginnings of a courtship,” he said.
Oh, but her cheeks would give everything away if he continued to speak to her like that. “My father seems quite vexed with you,” Imogene whispered, trying to focus on her goal while her fingers kept moving. “Do you know why that might be?”
“I have never knowingly done anything to offend him,” he murmured back. His long-fingered hand reached past her, almost as if he meant to embrace her, then she realized he was following the notes more closely than she was and was preparing to turn the page for her. “Why would he take me in dislike?”
She wished she knew. Vaughn Everard seemed the perfect fellow: clever, talented, handsome, charming. How could anyone take him in dislike? Certainly dislike was the furthest thing from her mind. “There’s some problem.”
“Can you arrange a meeting?”
This section of the music was allegro, and she launched herself into the complicated runs. “He’s so busy. I can’t be sure of catching him.”
His whisper caressed her cheek. “But won’t you try, for me?”
Her mother rose from her seat, wandered closer, eyes narrowing. Vaughn straightened.
“And now the crescendo,” Imogene proclaimed, throwing herself into the music. Her mind moved faster than her fingers. Vaughn Everard seemed so right, the very man she’d been searching for since she’d made her debut last Season. Only the perfect husband would do for the Marquess of Widmore’s daughter. She had a family name to uphold, after all. But was she mistaken in Mr. Everard’s character?
If her father knew Vaughn Everard was a scoundrel, as his refusal to see the poet implied, Imogene would be wrong to help him, to welcome him any further into their lives.
Lord, help me know the truth! Show me Your will in this!
She finished the piece with a flourish, and Vaughn Everard joined her mother in applause. But his head was cocked, his dark gaze on her as if he hadn’t truly seen her before. It made her want to preen and disappear at the same time.
“So, what do you think, Mr. Everard?” she challenged.
He bowed, as if she’d done something magnificent like beat Napoleon single-handedly. “I found the piece intriguing and its execution intoxicating. You are a gifted musician, Lady Imogene.”
She was coloring again. This time, her mother’s smile was genuine. “Yes, she is. Not many recognize that, Mr. Everard.”
“I suspect it’s because Mr. Everard has talents of his own that he’s quick to recognize them in others,” Imogene said.
His mouth quirked, but he did not manage a smile. “My talents pale before the work of a true artist. To show my gratitude for your gift, may I take you driving tomorrow?”
Imogene couldn’t help glancing at her mother. She knew how she wanted to answer. She’d have sacrificed her music for a month for a bit more time to study the poet. But she was fairly certain her mother was going to find an excuse to refuse.
“Well, Imogene,” her mother said, “don’t keep Mr. Everard waiting. I believe your afternoon is free tomorrow.”
Imogene knew her mouth was hanging open and hastily shut it. With a grin, she turned to Vaughn. “I’d be delighted to join you, Mr. Everard. Say three?”
“I shall count the moments until then,” he said. He took her hand and bowed over it, then did the same for her mother before striding from the room. Her mother’s sigh at his retreating back matched Imogene’s.
Imogene blinked. “Do you approve of him, Mother? I thought you disliked the Everards.”
Her mother patted her shoulder. “I find them presumptuous in the extreme. But I have not known you to be so willing to share your compositions, and I’ve never seen a gentleman caller more attuned to you, more appreciative of your abilities. For that, Mr. Everard deserves at least one other opportunity to impress me.”
Chapter Four
Imogene barely had time to congratulate herself on gaining another opportunity to become better acquainted with Vaughn Everard before she and her mother were besieged by callers. Elisa and Mrs. Mayweather stopped by to compare impressions from the ball the previous night; Kitty and the elderly cousin who was sponsoring her arrived to chat. Various gentlemen Imogene had met this Season and last paid their respects and angled to take her driving or walking. She put them off with encouraging excuses. At the moment, she had enough on her hands trying to determine why Mr. Everard and her father were on the outs.
Her mother had already retired to her room to change for dinner, and Imogene had just opened her book in the withdrawing room when Jenkins brought her one last caller. She managed a smile as Lord Gregory Wentworth bowed over her hand.
“Lady Imogene, radiant.”
She wasn’t entirely sure he meant the compliment for her or whether it was a compliment at all. She rather thought any radiance had seeped away over the long afternoon. But he flipped up his navy coattails, took the chair nearest her and leaned back as if well satisfied with his ability to flatter.
Because of his good looks and future earldom, any number of young ladies had set their caps at him, but Imogene had never been sure why. Lord Wentworth, she feared, was rather lacking when it came to charm and intelligence—fatal flaws in a suitor. Unfortunately, her opinion had not prevented him from calling with determined frequency.
“And how did I earn the honor of your presence today, my lord?” she asked now.
“Hoping for a word with your father,” he drawled, “but of course couldn’t leave without greeting you.”
“How kind.” She ought to find something useful to say, but she truly didn’t want to encourage him.
He tipped up his chin. “Have mutual friends, you know. Everard. Good chap.”
Imogene tried not to frown, but she found it hard to imagine the two men having anything in common. “Oh?” she said. “How are you acquainted?”
He preened as if he knew the heights to which he’d risen. “Known his family for years. Uncle had the estate near ours in Cumberland.”
So there was actually a connection between them? Why, she could use that to her advantage. Thank You, Lord, for providing this opportunity!
“How fortunate,” she said, smiling at him with considerably more warmth. “And what do you think of Mr. Everard?”
He shrugged. “Bit wild, but loyal. Clever. Your father wouldn’t think so highly of him if it weren’t true.”
Imogene cocked her head. “My father thinks highly of him?”
Lord Wentworth blinked, paling. “Doesn’t he? Good friends with the fellow’s uncle, you know. Why dislike the nephew?”
Imogene leaned closer. “So my father favors him?”
“Are you saying he doesn’t?”
They gazed at each other a moment, and Imogene was certain her face must mirror his for confusion.
Her mother joined them just then, and he climbed to his feet and bowed to her. Imogene spent the next few minutes in conversation about the weather and the latest offerings at the Theatre Royal and other such nonsense, all the while stifling an urge to reach across the space and throttle Lord Wentworth with his pretentiously tied cravat.
What did he mean making up stories about Vaughn Everard? They couldn’t be friends; surely Mr. Everard would disdain the man’s pomp, his belittling clipped sentences. In fact, it sounded as if Lord Wentworth knew less about the poet than Imogene did. Otherwise he’d know there was some difficulty between Mr. Everard and her father.
The topic must have remained on his mind as well, for he brought it up again when he took his leave a short time later.
“Hope I didn’t give impression I follow Everard,” he said with a bow over her hand. “Opinions would be swayed by your father’s, whatever they are.”
“So I’ve heard,” Imogene said brightly. “A great many people are swayed by my father.”
He looked at her askance, as if begging her to explain. It was a shame she couldn’t put the fellow out of his misery and clarify her father’s opinions on the matter, but the marquess’s attitude toward Vaughn Everard was growing more mysterious by the moment.
* * *
“You seemed a bit cool to our guest,” her mother said after the footman had seen him out and she and Imogene had repaired to the dining room. Her smile was gentle as she sat across from her daughter, the seat at the head of the table conspicuously empty. “Has he done something to offend you, dearest?”
Imogene could think of any number of annoyances but none that rose to the level of offense. She pushed her peas about on her gold-rimmed china plate. “No, Mother. I just find him a bit tiresome.”
“Unlike your Mr. Everard.”
Imogene fought a smile. “Very unlike him.”
“And why do you think you find him so interesting?” her mother persisted, reaching for her crystal goblet.
A reason suggested itself, but she shoved it away. It was far too soon to claim her heart was engaged, and she still had doubts that Mr. Everard would meet her criteria for a husband.
“Outside this business with Father, I’m not sure I know,” she replied, abandoning her peas and gazing at her mother. “When I brought up the matter of his interest in Father last night, he asked me about the third of March. Do you remember anything significant about that date?”
A slight frown marred her mother’s face in the light of the silver candelabra on the table. “March third? I believe that’s the night we arrived in London. What is the importance to Mr. Everard?”
Imogene motioned to Jenkins to come take her plate. “It appears to be the day his uncle died,” she said, thinking about their aborted conversation at the dance. He’d asked her where her father had been. Then she hadn’t been sure. But if March third was the night they arrived in London, she knew what her father had been doing, and his actions only deepened the mystery.
Her mother offered her a sad smile, nodding to the footman to remove her plate, as well. “Ah, significant indeed. I understand Mr. Everard and his uncle were close.”
“Very,” Imogene assured her. “He seems genuinely hurt by Lord Everard’s passing. I suspect Mr. Everard has great sensitivity.”
Her mother’s lips quirked as the footmen began bringing in the second course. “So it would seem. But the other gentlemen this Season are not so very lacking. I’m sure a number of young ladies find Lord Wentworth, for instance, quite presentable.”
“And I rather suspect he agrees.” She sat straighter, coloring. “Oh, Mother, forgive me! That sounded waspish. I don’t know what’s gotten into me today.”
Her mother’s look was assessing. “I fear it isn’t just today. I want the best for you, Imogene, but do you think perhaps you have set your sights too high?”
Imogene raised her chin. “I am the Marquess of Widmore’s daughter. I thought I was supposed to set my sights high!”
Her mother patted the damask cloth beside her as if she longed to pat Imogene’s hand. “I did not mean to suggest you marry the ragman, dearest. However, you seem to have high expectations of your suitors, so high that I fear no man, not even Mr. Everard, can live up to them.”
Imogene shook her head. “I would think that intelligence and charm are not too much to ask.”
Her mother smiled. “I would agree. Lord Eustace has those, yet you refused him out of hand last Season.”
Imogene remembered the enthusiastic man who had offered his heartfelt proposal on bended knee. “Lord Eustace is no more than a friend, Mother, and unfortunately addicted to whist.”
“David Willoughby, then,” her mother insisted, lifting a spoonful of the strawberry ice they had been served. “Handsome, charming, the heir to a barony. He looked crushed when you refused him.”
“He hasn’t darkened the door of a church since he reached his majority,” Imogene informed her, digging into her own ice. “I won’t have a man so lacking in devotion.”
“And Sir George Lawrence? He certainly attends services and supports any number of charitable causes.”
Imogene shuddered, swallowing the cool treat. “He also picks his teeth. With his nails. After he’s eaten enough for a regiment. He’ll die of gout before he’s thirty. I have no wish to be a widow.”
Her mother sighed. “You see? No one is perfect.”
Vaughn Everard’s face came to mind, brightened by that genuine smile she’d seen at the ball last night. His poetry proclaimed him a man of intelligence and creativity. His actions spoke of a devotion to family, of determined perseverance. But she thought she was only seeing the edges of his character.
She dropped her gaze to her lap and was surprised to find the fingers of her free hand pleating the silk of her skirt. “I know no one’s perfect, Mother. But none of those gentlemen you mentioned stirred my heart. Surely I am allowed to feel something tender for the man I’ll marry.”
“I would like that for you, dearest,” her mother murmured, “but not every bride can claim a love match, despite what the novels tell you. There are many other good reasons to wed—security, position, children.”
Saving her family from penury. Oh, but she mustn’t say that aloud. She wasn’t sure she could pull it off, and telling her mother she had a plan to prevent them from losing the marquessate and all its attendant income would only get her hopes up.
“I understand, Mother,” she said. “Please know that I will do my duty. The man I accept will be a credit to the name of Devary and the House of Widmore, I promise. I will settle for nothing less.”
* * *
