Captain Ingram's Inheritance by Carola Dunn Page A

along, her mood as militant as her step.
     Constantia was furious.
     

Chapter 6
     
     Frank was half sitting, half leaning against the stone balustrade of the terrace when Lady Constantia came storming out of the house. He’d never have guessed she was capable of such wrath. She had forgotten her bonnet. Lightning flashed in her blue eyes and her face was a thundercloud.
     Grinning, he glanced up at the sky and held out his hand, palm up, as if checking for rain.
     “Don’t laugh at me, you wretch! How could you let me spout away about eligibility like the veriest ninnyhammer when all the time you and Fanny are...”
     He raised a finger to his lips. “Please! It’s a secret. I couldn’t tell you because I’d agreed with Fanny not to tell anyone. Roworth let the cat out of the bag, I take it?”
     “Yes.” She came to stand nearby, beside a great stone urn, angrily nipping sprigs off the trailing lobelia. “If she trusted Felix, you could have trusted me.”
     “I do trust you. You know that. But it wasn’t quite that way.” He explained how Felix had interviewed Taggle first, before allowing him to see Fanny, lest he bore a threat rather than a promise.
     “So you are wealthy?” The storm had passed as quickly as it had arisen. She plucked a geranium head and thoughtfully denuded it of scarlet petals, one by one. “And related to a duke?”
     “So we’ve been given to understand.”
     “The Duke of Oxshott, Felix said. Now where have I heard...Oh, I know. Oh dear.”
     “Fanny said she’d heard a story about him recently, from which he emerged as an arrogant, cross-grained blusterer.”
     “I fear so, and worse, easily bested by Mr Rothschild.” She related Felix’s story. “You are closely related?”
     “Grandchildren of the late duke,” Frank confirmed. “Nephew and niece of the villain of your tale.”
     “Closely related to a duke! But why are you keeping it secret?”
     “Is not our new-found uncle’s character reason enough?” he teased.
     “No. Dukes are permitted to be...eccentric. You should disclose the connexion. Mama and Papa will change their tune altogether when they hear.”
     “Precisely,” he said dryly, and saw comprehension flicker in her eyes. He had no desire to distress her by dwelling on her parents’ shortcomings. “More to the point, we don’t want to start bragging until the lawyer has confirmed Taggle’s report.”
     Constantia laughed. “Very wise. When will you be able to brag?”
     “Mr Mackintyre should be here within the week.”
     “So you do not have to rush off to London. Good.”
     “As my nurse, would you have allowed me to go?”
     “Certainly not--as if you would take the slightest notice of my orders if they did not suit you!” Her face darkened. Dropping the remains of the geranium, she clasped her hands tightly before her. “But perhaps Fanny will wish to leave Westwood. Oh, I do hope I was right to intervene.”
     Placing his hand reassuringly over hers, he at once realized that her usual chaperon was absent. Suppose he were to kiss those sweet, tender lips, now drooping, just to comfort her?
     He had the status of a gentleman now, he hastily reminded himself, as well as the character of a gentleman. With a quick squeeze, he let his hand fall to the sun-warmed stone of the balustrade and said, “Your only concern was for their happiness and I fail to see how you could have made matters worse than they already were. What happened?”
     She described her interviews with Felix and Fanny, her lovely face brightening as she did so.
     When she told how Fanny had flown down the stairs, Frank said with a smile, “I wager they’ll be smelling of April and May next time we see them.”
     “If not,” Constantia declared, “if they somehow still misunderstand each other, I shall continue to interfere until they come to their senses!”
     Though heartened by his encouragement, she was left in a horrid uncertainty