Lady Allerton's Wager by Nicola Cornick

resist. So, will you take my challenge?’
    Beth paused. ‘I will drive with you. That would be most pleasant.’
    ‘Very proper. You are not always so proper, are you, Lady Allerton?’
    ‘However, I could withdraw my acceptance. Any more of your mockery, my lord—’ Beth looked at him severely ‘—and I shall do so!’
    Marcus inclined his head. ‘Very well! We shall instigate a truce! You are a most determined person, Lady Allerton. It is quite unusual.’
    ‘Unusual, perhaps. Most certainly imprudent.’ Beth spoke wryly. She was thinking of Charlotte and her strictures on her conduct. ‘I think it comes from being an only child, my lord. I was much indulged and given my own way. It bred stubbornness in me, I fear. And then, my late husband…’
    ‘Yes?’ Marcus slanted a look down at her. Beth sensed that his interest had sharpened and she managed to stop her runaway disclosures just in time.
    ‘Well, he was very kind and indulgent too…generous to me…I was most fortunate.’
    ‘You must have been a child bride,’ Marcus observed lightly, after a moment. ‘After all, you arescarce in your dotage now! How long have you been widowed, Lady Allerton?’
    Beth turned her head so that the brim of her bonnet shielded her from his too-perceptive gaze. Something about this man made her feel vulnerable, as though he could read into her words all the things she did not say.
    ‘Sir Francis died two years ago. Yes, I was very young when I married. My parents had been killed in an accident and I…’ Her voice trailed away. She did not want to reveal how lonely she had felt, uncertain if she was making the right decision in marrying hastily. On the one side had been security and on the other…On the other, she had felt as though she was throwing away all her youth and future by marrying a man older than her father. Yet Frank had been a kind husband, as kind to her as to a favourite niece. All she had lacked was excitement.
    ‘I see,’ Marcus said, and Beth had the unnerving suspicion that he did indeed see a great deal.
    ‘My dears!’ Lady Fanshawe had watched them approach and now rose to her feet, wincing slightly. She greeted the Earl as though he was a family friend of long standing, which Beth found slightly unnerving. She watched with resignation as it took Marcus all of a minute to persuade Lady Fanshawe to his plan.
    ‘If you have offered to take Lady Allerton up with you I am all gratitude, my lord,’ Lady Fanshawe trilled, ‘for I am sorely in need of a rest! I was intending to call at Bond Street, but fear I do not have the energy! This picture-viewing is unconscionably tiring!’
    They went out of the Academy, Marcus calling a hackney carriage to convey Lady Fanshawe home before handing Beth up into his curricle. It was a fine, bright day for autumn and the pale sun was warm. It was pleasant to be driving slowly through the fresh air of the Park, although it seemed to Beth that they were obliged to stop every few yards to greet the Earl’s acquaintances. She knew few people in London, so had little to contribute to this social ritual, and after a while she had been introduced to so many new people that her head was spinning.
    At last, when they reached a quieter stretch of road, Marcus turned to her with a rueful smile. ‘Forgive me. To drive at the fashionable hour precludes sensible conversation!’
    ‘You seem to have a vast number of friends in London, my lord,’ Beth said non-committally, thinking of the elegant ladies who had appraised her with curiosity-hard eyes and the sporting gentlemen who had looked her over as though she was a piece of horseflesh.
    Marcus smiled. ‘I certainly know a lot of people, but as for friends—’ he shook his head ‘—I could count them on the fingers of one hand! But I almost forgot, Lady Allerton…’ His gloved hand covered Beth’s and her pulse jumped at the contact. ‘I cannot count you my friend, for we are sworn enemies, are we not? Will