Wife Errant by Joan Smith Page A

smile that had been charming ladies into forgiveness for a decade. “Mrs. Marchant, pray do not scold Tess. The fault is entirely mine.”
    The dame’s angry scowl softened to girlish delight. “Lord Revel! Do come in for a glass of wine. My manners are gone begging. I’m sure there is some perfectly innocent explanation for this.”
    They were ushered into the saloon. “Revel called and took me to the Lower Rooms,”Tess explained.
    “So Crimshaw told me, dear, but the Lower Rooms close at eleven o’clock,”she said, casting a steely glance at her daughter. “It has just rung twelve.”
    “The evening was so fine we felt like a spin. I do hope you were not too worried, Mrs. Marchant,”Revel said in a drawling voice, as though a midnight spin in winter were a common occurrence.
    “Of course, but where did you go at such an hour?”
    “A few miles out past the Lower Commons. We hardly left town,”he assured her. Any other mother would have combed his hair with a footstool. He began to appreciate the size of the job he had undertaken in trying to bring this hussy to a sense of her duties.
    “Get Revel a glass of wine, Tess. Where are your manners?”
    Tess poured three glasses of wine and passed them. Mrs. Marchant’s mind was not deep, but it was quick. She soon latched on to the idea that Tess had caught Revel’s interest. It took her a moment to assimilate such an unlikely thing, but what else could it mean? Lady Revel or someone had told Revel it was time to settle down. He had chosen a wife who would be content to stay at Revel Hall while he trotted off to London and Brighton, and had settled on Tess. Mrs. Marchant could hardly believe her daughter’s great fortune.
    She looked to Tess in wonderment. It was then that she noticed Tess’s mussed hair, and the unaccustomed rosiness of her lips. If she didn’t know better, she would think the girl had been kissing. Surely it was marriage Revel had in mind? If it was not, he would soon learn a gentleman did not dally with a Marchant without paying the price.
    It was her role as chaperone to let him know Tess was not a plaything. “I was worried,”she confided to Revel, with that air of the lady who is accustomed to admiration. “Tess is such an innocent babe! She would let herself be imposed on by a gentleman. Since it is you, dear Revel, naturally I forgive you this time,” she said playfully. "One knows your attentions are honorable.”
    He read the lady’s mind to a T. “I promise you Tess was in no way compromised. I regret if I caused you a moment’s fear.”
    “In future, it will be best if you can bring Tess straight home from any little outing. You cannot imagine my palpitations when I came home and found her gone. I have been sitting here for hours, worrying my fingers to the bone.”
    Tess and Revel exchanged a laughing look at this blatant lie. “You are too kind, Mrs. Marchant. I shall bear your wishes in mind, if Tess and I ever go out again.”
    Tess bit back a small smile. Revel was performing marvelously. He knew her wish to worry Mama, and was not putting himself forward as a serious suitor. He finished his wine, rose, and took his leave.
    Mrs. Marchant’s smiles left with him. It was an angry, calculating face that turned to confront Tess. “Widgeon!”she exclaimed angrily. “I had some hope the family had ordered him to settle down, but it is no such thing. He is merely bored to flinders, and has settled on you to pass the time. You’ll never get that one to the altar, miss, so don’t cast your reputation to the wind for his sake.”
    “We only went for a little drive, Mama.”
    “It is twelve o’clock, Tess.”
    “But you said twelve o’clock is early.”
    “It is not early for a young girl. I find it exceedingly odd a little drive should put such a color in your lips. I was not born yesterday, Tess. I am shocked at your behavior. If Revel were serious, he would have taken Dulcie to the Lower Rooms with you. You should