Page 36 of The Chaperone
Obeying Lady Sophy’s command with regard to Lord Pinkney was not as simple as it might appear. Confronting him directly was out of the question, since Pinkney might, with every good reason, question his right to do so. His approach had to be tangential. He observed Miss Tyneham, both working upon Captain Lord Edward Wittenham, and then upon Lord Pinkney, who, like himself, saw her tricks for what they were.
‘Are you attempting to make me jealous, Miss Tyneham?’ murmured Lord Pinkney, when she released Lord Edward from her toils for the evening, a few nights later.
‘Might I not, my lord?’ she twinkled up at him.
‘Not with someone as boringly worthy as Wittenham. Bore you in a week. You, madam, need someone far more adventurous.’
‘Any suggestions, my lord?’
Lord Pinkney’s eyes widened a fraction. He was unsure whether she was simply the innocent acting the courtesan, or possessed the soul of one in a body that had lineage. He drew a bow at a venture.
‘Many, Miss Tyneham, but none that would be suitable for Lady Swaffham’s ballroom.’
She looked puzzled, then belatedly arch. She knew that what he had said was too daring, but not what the suggestions might include. He read her face like a book. So the little Tyneham was not as experienced as she pretended. She was very pretty. Teaching her would be … enjoyable.
‘I meant, wicked Lord Pinkney, whether you had any other gentlemen in mind.’
‘Depends how gentlemanly you want them to be, Miss Tyneham. I, for instance, am a lord, but many will assure you that I am not a gentleman. Does that scare you?’
‘No,’ she lied.
‘Are you sure?’
‘No.’ She giggled.
He smiled, and it was an anticipatory smile. Lord Rothley saw it, and his hand clenched. He took a glass of champagne from a servant bearing a salver, and made his way nonchalantly so that he passed the pair of them, and as he did so he tripped slightly and sent part of the contents over the skirt of her gown.
‘Miss Tyneham, my profound apologies. Your cousin will know if anything should be applied. I am terribly sorry. She was with Lady Castlereagh a minute ago.’
Susan looked exasperated, and excused herself to Lord Pinkney.
‘That was very careless of you, Rothley,’ remarked Pinkney, casually.
‘Yes, was it not. Remarkable how careless one can be upon occasion. Mind you, having a care is something everyone seems to forget occasionally, even yourself.’
‘Indeed?’
‘Yes, it would be the act of a careless man to think Miss Tyneham was er, unprotected.’
‘Though not necessarily by Tyneham.’
‘Correct.’
‘One wonders why another man – you, for instance – might choose to champion the young lady. Not self-interest?’
‘Not directly. You might say I aim, er, higher. For the rest, well, one would have to continue wondering.’
Lord Rothley thought a blatant lie too obvious. He patently did not want Susan Tyneham for himself. If he was to be effective he had to give another reason, and hints at interest in her cousin, whilst containing an element of risk, would be credible. Pinkney raised an eyebrow.
‘Need our purposes be mutually exclusive, Rothley?’
‘Alas, I think they might.’
‘How novel, to have a rival, whilst for a different woman.’
‘But just as … dangerous.’
‘That, my lord, we shall see.’
