Mary Balogh - A Masked Deception

They stopped for lunch on a delightful grassy slope that overlooked the city of London. Brampton's cook had packed them a meal of chicken pieces, lobster patties, bread rolls, cheese, eggs, salad, jellies, and cakes-and bottles of wine.

Devin was the first to rise from the blanket on which they all sat.

"Lady Brampton, would you care to walk?" he asked, bowing in her direction and extending his arm.

Margaret felt embarrassed, knowing that he was aware of her adventure of the night before, but her usual calm demeanor came to her aid. She rose to her feet and took his arm. They walked slowly up the slope away from the panoramic view.

"Is your headache better, ma'am?" he began.

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Northcott, but I believe you know that was a piece of deception," she replied calmly.

He gave her a sidelong glance and coughed delicately. "Quite so, ma'am," he agreed. "Afraid I forced the story out of Miss Wells."

"That is quite all right, sir," Margaret said, "but I would beg of you not to breathe a word of the matter to my husband." She kept her face pointing forward, feeling the color rising to her cheeks.

"Wouldn't dream of doing any such thing, ma'am," he replied, eyebrows raised, "and wouldn't be so indelicate as to raise the matter now. But felt you should know one thing." Devin coughed again.

Margaret looked inquiringly into his face. "Yes?" she prompted.

"Bram ain't usually into this sort of thing," Devin said, reddening himself. "Females, I mean. Not since his marriage, that is."

"Pray do not trouble yourself, sir," Margaret cut in hastily. "I do not pry into Richard's private life."

"No, but that's the point, ma'am," Devin said earnestly. "Ain't been anything to pry into."

"Until now?"

"Until now, ma'am. And I b'lieve he's drawn to you now just because it's you, if you know what I mean, though he don't know it himself."

They continued their walk in silence for a while as Margaret digested what he had been saying to her. She could hear the approaching voices of Charlotte and her husband.

"Thank you, Mr. Northcott," she said, smiling up at him.

"M' pleasure, ma'am," he replied seriously.

"You two look like a staid old couple," Charlotte called gaily. They looked back to see her approaching with Lord Brampton.

"Come, Mr. Northcott," Charlotte said, taking the arm that Margaret was relinquishing, "let us see if we can spot St. Paul's Cathedral from the top of this rise." And they moved ahead at a brisk pace.

Margaret took Brampton's proffered arm.

"Are you feeling more the thing, my dear?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you, Richard," she replied with a placid smile.

They walked together in companionable silence, viewed the city with the others, and started on their way back to the carriage and the horses. Margaret noticed the way Charlotte clung to Devin Northcott's arm and the animated way in which she talked to him. She noticed the warmth of his smile as he listened to and replied to her sister.

Was Charlotte spending too much time with Devin Northcott? Margaret wondered. Only a few weeks before, she had had great dreams of introducing her sister to the ton, of ensuring that she met a large number of eligible young men. Margaret hoped that her sister would make a sound love match within the next year or two. She did not wish to see her sister suffer the years of pain and loneliness that she had suffered. And Charlotte had been quite a hit. A number of young men came to call on her and take her driving in the park; Charlotte never lacked for partners at a ball.

But somehow Mr. Northcott had come to be her accepted regular escort. And Margaret wondered if she and Richard were responsible for that. It was very convenient to have Richard's closest friend as a partner for her sister. But was it a good thing for Charlotte? Devin Northcott must be almost of an age with Richard, certainly well over a decade older than Charlotte.

Margaret came to the conclusion that she had been so preoccupied with her own affairs in the last few weeks that she had been neglecting her duties as chaperone to her sister. She must redouble her efforts to see that Charlotte met more eligible young men from her own age group.

As the earl, Margaret, and Charlotte entered the house on Grosvenor Square late in the afternoon, Chalmer met them in the hallway with the news that the Dowager Countess of Brampton and Lady Rosalind Crowthers were awaiting their return in the drawing room.

"Mama?" Brampton asked, his eyebrows raised in some surprise. "What the devil does she want at this hour?"

Chalmer tactfully ignored the question, but climbed the stairs ahead of his master and mistress to open the door to the drawing room on the first floor. Charlotte retreated to her own room.

"And Rosalind too," Brampton commented to his wife. "Something's up."

The dowager was sitting stiffly on a sofa when they entered the room. Rosalind was hovering over her, vinaigrette in hand.

"Richard, dear," his mother said faintly, "where ever have you been? Good day, Margaret, my love."

"Had I known you were planning to pay us a visit, Mama," Brampton said dryly, "I should have been sure to be here."

"Richard, if you just knew what poor, dear Mama has to suffer, you would not talk with such a note of levity," Rosalind scolded.

"Have you had tea brought up?" Margaret asked soothingly. "I shall ring immediately."

"No, no, my love, I should choke on it," the dowager replied tragically. "Richard, dear, it's poor Charles."

Brampton paled noticeably. "Charles?" he said. Margaret moved swiftly to his side and put a steadying hand on his arm. His other hand covered it.

"I begged you, Richard dear, not to buy him his commision. He was ever a delicate boy. But no one ever listened to me or cared for my delicate sensibilities. Well, perhaps now you will be sorry that you did not pay heed to your mother."

"Mama," Brampton said harshly, unconsciously squeezing Margaret's fingers in a painful grip, "what has happened to Charles?"

"And why the Duke of Wellington has not finished with Boney's men once and for all instead of chasing them all over Spain, I shall never know," his mother continued, sniffing against a lace handkerchief.

"Marna!"

"Poor dear Charles has been wounded and is being sent home to die, I would not doubt," the dowager announced.

Margaret felt her husband take a deep and ragged breath.

"Sit down, my lord," she said, trying to draw him across to the nearest chair.

He shook off her arm and faced his mother wild-eyed. "To die?" he queried.

"Well, the poor boy says a bone in his arm has been shattered by a ball, but that he is in no danger. But I have heard about these field surgeons, Richard dear, and I know what butchers they are. I would not doubt that the wound will turn putrid and they will have to cut off the arm and he will die. And he has had the fever, poor boy, so that he is too weak to follow the army about Spain. So they are sending him home to die." The dowager collapsed, weeping into her handkerchief.

"Pray, do not take on so, Mama," Rosalind soothed while Brampton straightened up, looking visibly relieved.

"You have a letter from Charles, Mama?" he asked, holding out a hand.

She felt inside her reticule and drew out a crumpled sheet of paper. She handed it to her son and he perused it quickly.

"It is all right, my dear," he said, turning to Margaret, who still stood at his shoulder. "He is being given invalid leave, but only because the army is constantly traveling and his wound does not allow him to be of any use to his regiment. He is in no danger."

Margaret smiled at him and touched his arm again shyly. "I am glad, Richard," she said. "I shall look forward to meeting my brother-in-law."

"Dear Charles hopes to be at home within the week," his mother added. "Come, Rosalind, I have a great many preparations to make. I must make sure that the bed is ready for my poor boy."

Handkerchief, vinaigrette, and reticule were swept together and the ladies took their leave. Margaret was left wondering how her sister would react to a regimental uniform.

Captain Charles Adair arrived home four days later. He refused to take to the bed his mother had so painstakingly prepared for him. He did allow himself to be examined by the physician she had lined up for the occasion, but only to set her mind at rest. Then he summoned his older brother, and the two sallied forth to White's Club.

On the following evening, the Earl and Countess of Brampton gave a dinner in honor of Captain Adair's safe return home. Margaret spent longer than usual in her dressing room getting ready for the evening. She knew that Richard had not married her for love, and she knew that she was not an attractive woman. But she wanted to make a favorable impression on her brother-in-law. She did not want him to feel that his brother had married a dowd.

She wore a dress of pale-blue lace over a white silk underdress. She had Kitty dress her braids higher than usual on her head. Her only ornaments were a pearl necklace that Richard had given her as a wedding gift, and her wedding rings.

Margaret was one of the last to enter the drawing room. Her mother-in-law was there already, holding court to Devin Northcott and another, elderly gentleman. Her two sisters-in-law who were in town were also present with their husbands. There were several other close acquaintances, talking in groups. But Margaret's attention was caught by the three central figures before the fireplace. Richard was looking his usual magnificent and immaculate self, dressed in black, the color relieved only by his snowy-white shirt and flowing neckcloth. Charlotte was looking vivid in a rose-pink dress, her auburn hair dressed in a froth of curls, her cheeks flushed with color.

And Charles-it must be he!-was quite a breathtaking man. He was slightly taller than his brother, though slighter in build, and somewhat sallow of complexion since his bouts of fever in Spain. His hair was fairer and more wavy than his brother's. He bore himself with military straightness and wore full-dress regimentals, his right arm carried in a sling. His face, Margaret noticed as she met his eyes across the room, was open and friendly. She wanted more than ever to be liked by him.

Brampton crossed the room to take her hand and lead her forward. "My dear," he said, "come and meet your brother-in-law, Charles. Charles, my wife."

Charles was feeling a shock of surprise. The countess was unlike anything he had imagined. When he had received news of the marriage, in Spain, he had amused himself trying to picture Dick's bride. Would he have married an acclaimed beauty, someone he would be proud to show off at all the social functions of the ton? Or would he have married an uninteresting girl who would give him an heir? He doubted that Dick would have married for love. As Charles remembered him, he had always had need of many women, one at a time, it was true, but none retaining his attention for more than a few months. Charles could not remember having met Miss Margaret Wells, but her name made her sound as if she fell into the second category of bride.

He was quite unprepared for this fragile little creature who stepped into the room with quiet self-assurance. She was not pretty in any obvious sense of the word, but Charles immediately categorized her as beautiful. Her beauty lay perhaps in the quiet way she bore herself, not using any of the lures he was used to seeing in other women; yet her whole being seemed to shine from her quiet gray eyes, so large and so full of pride in and love of Dick.

Charles looked curiously across at his brother as he made the introductions. By God, he loves her too, Charles decided with amusement. I wonder if he knows it!

"I am enchanted to meet you at last, ma'am," he said, smiling down at this little sister-in-law whom he immediately liked, and with his left hand he raised her hand to his lips.

"Oh, please call me Margaret," she replied. "And I am so happy to meet you too, sir. I never had a brother, you see."

"Then I shall have to make up for lost time, Margaret," he said, laughing. "And it must be Charles, please."

She smiled happily up at him and accepted the left arm he offered to her to lead her into the dining room. She did not notice her husband's eyes fixed, intrigued, on her face before he crossed the room to escort his mother in to dinner.