Vice

Chapter 11

George Ridge emerged from the Cross Keys Bagnio in midafternoon feeling very much the man-about-town. He turned on his heel, enjoying the swish of his new full-skirted coat of puce brocade. His hand rested importantly on his sword hilt as he looked along Little Russell Street, debating whether to go into the Black Lion Chop-House for his dinner or return to the Gardeners' Arms to see if his posters bad born fruit.

The ordinary table at the Gardener's Arms offered a reasonable meal, and the fellow diners tended to be hard drinkers with a taste for crude conversation and lewd jests. In general it suited George very well, but last night, when the ordinary table had been cleared of dinner and set up for gambling, he'd discovered that his fellow diners were deep gamesters. As the bottles of port circulated and the room grew hotter, George had grown louder and merrier and very incautious, peering with bleary bonhomie at the dice and throwing guineas across the table with an insouciance that later shocked him. He hadn't had the courage as yet to calculate his losses.

His father would have gone berserk if he'd known. But, then, Sir John had been an old prude, except in his taste for young women, and he'd been very careful with his wealth. George had never been to London before his present visit. His father considered it a place for wastrels and idlers, inhabited by loose women and men ready to cut your throat for a groat.

George had enjoyed the loose women this afternoon in the bagnio. Three of them. Three very expensive women. His pockets were a deal lighter now than they had been when he'd left the Gardener's Arms that morning. But it had been worth every guinea. He supposed it was usual for London whores to drink champagne. Cider was all very well for a red-cheeked, wide-hipped country doxy in the barn or behind a haystack, but painted women in lawn shifts, with fresh linen on their beds, obviously had higher expectations.

But as a consequence he found himself guiltily aware that in twenty-four hours he'd probably spent enough to cover the farrier's bill for a twelvemonth. And if he returned to the Gardener's Arms, he would inevitably get drawn into the dicing later. A modest dinner at the Black Lion and a visit to the playhouse would definitely be the prudent course this evening. And since the Theatre Royal was but a couple of steps from the chophouse, he could be sure of arriving before the doors opened at five o'clock so he could get a decent seat in the pit.

He examined the silver lace on his new cocked hat with pride before carefully placing it on his head, ensuring that the pigeon's wings on his pigtail wig were not disarranged. He tapped the hilt of his sword with the heel of his hand and gazed around imperiously, as if about to issue a challenge. A shabby gentleman in a skewed bag wig hastily crossed to the other side of the street as he approached George with his belligerant stance. London was full of aggressive young men-about-town who thought it famous sport to torment vulnerable pedestrians.

George gave him a haughty stare, flicking a speck of snuff from his deep coat cuff. He didn't wear a sword in the country, but he'd realized immediately that in town it was the mark of a gentleman. He had purchased his present weapon from an armorer in Ebury Street, having been assured by that craftsman that it was not a mere decoration- that in the hands of a skilled swordsman, such as His Honor must be, it would be a most deadly weapon, and a powerful protection.

With a little nod of satisfaction George strolled toward the Black Lion. Having experienced the pleasures of London, he was determined that he would spend some weeks of every year in town-in the winter, of course, when the land needed less attention.

Juliana would make him a more than satisfactory consort. She'd grown up in a gentleman's establishment, educated in all the areas necessary for a lady. She knew how to behave in the best society . . . better than he, himself, George was obliged to admit. George was his father's son. The son of a blunt, poorly educated landowner, who was more interested in his crops and his woods, his sport, his dinner and the bottle, than in books or music, or polite conversation. But Juliana was a lady.

But where in the name of Lucifer was she? George's self-satisfaction and pleasure in the day suddenly evaporated. It was all very well making these happy plans, but they were castles in the air without the flesh-and-blood girl to make them real. He had to have her as his wife. He wanted her in his bed. He wanted to see the superiority and contempt chased from her eyes as she acknowledged him as her husband and master.

Juliana, with her eyes that could be as cold and green as the deepest ocean; Juliana, with her full mouth that could curl into a derisive smile that shriveled a man; Juliana, with that swirling forest fire of hair and the long limbs, and the full, proudly upstanding breasts.

He would have that Juliana, obedient and docile in his house and in his bed. Or he would see her burn at the stake.

George turned into the Black Lion and ordered a bottle of burgundy. He would find her, if he had to pay a hundred guineas to do so.

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Juliana was in a very different frame of mind, Quentin thought as the three of them sat at dinner. On the two previous occasions he'd been in her company, she'd been clearly distressed, and this morning, bitterly angry into the bargain. But now her eyes were luminescent jewels, her pale skin had a glow that seemed to come from within. She was bright and bubbly, with ready laughter and a quick wit that showed an informed mind. She threw impish challenges at Tarquin, and occasionally a darting glance that always made the duke smile.

Quentin was neither a prude nor a stranger to women, despite his calling. It didn't take a genius to deduce that Lady Edgecombe had been enjoying some bedsport that afternoon. His brother's indulgent amusement and the unmistakable caress of his eyes when they rested on Juliana clearly indicated that however much at odds they might be in some things, the Duke of Redmayne and his cousin's bride were clearly well matched in the bedchamber.

Quentin supposed he should be disapproving. But he was not a hypocrite. He'd lent his countenance to Tarquin's abominable scheme-reluctantly, it was true, but he was still a part of it. If Juliana took pleasure in the duke's lovemaking, then it could be said that she was not really being coerced in this aspect, at least, of the arrangement.

Juliana wasn't sure whether her feeling of heady enjoyment in this dinner was a residue of the afternoon or had to do with the novel position in which she found herself. The only woman at the table, she was the focus of attention. At Forsett Towers, she'd been relegated to a cramped corner of the table, enjoined to be silent unless spoken to, and had thus endured interminable dinners, passing some of the most tedious hours of her life. At this table, whenever she opened her mouth to speak, both the duke and his brother paid her close and flattering attention.

"What is the play we're to see?" She reached for her wineglass. A footman moved swiftly to catch the cascade of cutlery set in motion by her floating sleeve.

"Garrick as Macbeth," Tarquin replied with a twitch of amusement as she glared in mortification at the errant ruffles.

"There'll be a farce, too, no doubt," Quentin said. "And since Garrick appointed Thomas Arne as the musical director, one can be sure of lively entertainment during the musical interludes."

"I've never been to the play." Juliana held her sleeve clear of the table as she reached for a basket of pastries. "At home the mummers would come at Christmas, and occasionally during the fair, but there was never a real play."

"I trust you'll enjoy the experience." Tarquin was surprised at how enchanting he found her enthusiastic chatter and ready laughter. This was a Juliana he'd only fleetingly glimpsed hitherto. She also had a healthy appetite. Either no one had told her it was considered ladylike to modify one's enthusiasm for the table in public, or she had simply ignored the stricture. Probably the latter, he thought with an inner smile. Her conversation was both amusing and intelligent. Her guardians had clearly not neglected her education, however much they might have endeavored to stifle her personality.

"Have I a smut on my nose, my lord duke?" Juliana inquired, brushing her nose with a fingertip.

"I don't see one."

"You seemed to be looking at me with particular intensity," she said. "I made sure something was amiss with my appearance."

"Not that I can see." He pushed back his chair. "If you've finished, my dear, I suggest we adjourn to the drawing room for tea."

"Oh, yes." Juliana flushed and jumped to her feet, sending her chair skidding across the polished floor. "I should have thought, I beg your pardon. I'll leave you to your port."

"No need," Tarquin said, steadying the chair so she could move easily around it. "Quentin and I are not overly fond of sitting long at the table. Isn't that so, brother?"

"Absolutely," Quentin agreed. "I see no reason why Juliana should sit in solitary state in the drawing room while we sozzle ourselves on port."

"Lucien, of course, would have a different view," Tarquin observed.

Juliana glanced quickly over her shoulder at him, but his expression was as dispassionate as his tone. What difference to the atmosphere would her husband's presence make? A significant one, she reckoned.

But she didn't allow such thoughts to interfere with her pleasure in the evening. She had fallen into this situation, and she might as well enjoy its benefits.

They drove to Covent Garden in the duke's town chaise, Juliana gazing out of the window, intrigued as London moved onto its nightly revels. It was the first time she'd been out in the evening since she had stepped off the coach at the Bell, and when they turned into Covent Garden, she saw it had a very different aspect from the daytime scene. The costermongers and barrow boys had gone, the produce stalls packed up for the day. The center of the Garden was now thronged with ladies accompanied by footmen, soliciting custom, and boys darting through the crowd crying the delights to be enjoyed in the specialized brothels masquerading as coffeehouses and chocolate shops.

Beneath the columns of the Piazza strolled fashionable people, quizzing the scene as they made their way to the Theatre Royal, whose doors stood open. It was now just before six o'clock, and the crowd at the doors was a seething mass of humanity, fighting and squabbling as they pushed their way inside to find a last-minute seat.

Juliana looked askance at the melee and wondered how she was to get through there with her wide hoop. She was bound to tear something in the process. "Doesn't the play begin at six?"

"It does." Tarquin handed her down to the cobbles before the theater.

"But if we have no seats-"

"We do, my dear," Quentin reassured with a smile. "Tarquin's footman arrived at the doors at four o'clock in plenty of time to secure us a box."

So that was how the privileged managed such things. Juliana raised an eyebrow and decided she liked being one of their number. She had the duke and Lord Quentin on either side of her as they approached the massed doorway. How it happened she couldn't tell, but a path materialized through the crowd and she was suddenly inside the theater, her gown in one piece, not even a ruffle torn, both shoes still on her feet, and her hoop behaving itself impeccably. She had a vague impression that her two escorts had touched a shoulder here and there, uttered a few words in low voices, edged an impeding body to one side. However it had been done, they were inside.

The orchestra was playing but could barely be heard above the buzz and chatter as people strolled between the seats, pausing to chat to friends or calling across heads to attract attention in other parts of the pit. Above the racket the cries of the orange sellers were pitched shrill and imperative.

"This way." Juliana was deftly ushered to a box overlooking the stage, where a footman in Redmayne livery stood bowing as they entered. Tarquin didn't release Juliana's elbow until she was seated at the front of the box. "Now, if you don't try to explore, you'll be safe and sound," he said, sitting beside her.

"I shan't go short of entertainment." Juliana leaned over the edge of the box. "If the play is half as absorbing as the crowd, I shall be very well satisfied. Why do they have those iron spikes along the stage?"

"To stop the audience jumping onto the stage." Tarquin smiled at her rapt expression. "You see the rather burly men behind? They're an added deterrent."

Juliana laughed. "I am so glad I came to London." Then she flushed, a shadow dimming the vibrancy of her expression. "Or I would be in different circumstances."

Quentin touched her shoulder in brief sympathy. Tarquin chose to ignore the comment. There was a moment of awkward silence; then the orchestra produced an imperative drumroll. The curtain went up, and David Garrick strode onto the stage to deliver the prologue to the evening's entertainment.

Juliana listened, entranced, as the play began. The audience continued to buzz and hum, carrying on their own gossipy conversations throughout, but Juliana was unaware of anything but the stage. It didn't occur to her as in the least strange that Macbeth should be played in contemporary costume, with Garrick in the title role dressed in the full regalia of a Hanoverian officer.

At the first interval she sat back with a little sigh of contentment. "How magical. It's quite different hearing the words from reading them, even aloud."

"I'm glad it pleases you, mignonne." Tarquin stood up. "If you'll excuse me for a minute, there's someone I must visit." He strolled off, and Juliana returned her attention to the crowd. An argument seemed to be turning nasty in the front row, and a man was threatening to draw his sword. Someone bellowed in jocular fashion and threw a handful of orange peel over the two opponents. There was laughter, and the moment of tension seemed to have dissipated.

Juliana glanced across the pit to the boxes opposite. She saw the duke directly opposite, standing behind the chair of a woman dressed in dark gray, almost black, with a white fichu at the neck and her hair tucked severely under a white cap. She was looking up at Tarquin as he spoke to her.

"Who's the duke talking to?"

Quentin didn't look up from his own perusal of the crowd. "Lady Lydia Melton, I imagine. His betrothed." There was something false in his studied, casual tone, but Juliana was too astonished by this intelligence to give it any thought.

"His betrothed?" She couldn't have kept the dismay from her voice even if she'd tried. "He's to be married?"

"Did he not tell you?" Still, Quentin neither looked at her nor at the object of the discussion.

"No… it seems there's a great deal he didn't tell me." All her pleasure in the evening vanished, and the bitter resentment of the morning returned.

"I daresay he thought his betrothal was irrelevant to you… to everyone," he added softly.

"Yes, irrelevant," she said acidly. "Why should it matter to me?"

"Well, it won't be happening for quite a while," Quentin told her, his voice flat. "The marriage was to have taken place two months ago, but Lydia's grandfather died and the entire family have put on black gloves. They'll be in mourning for the full two years."

"Then why's she at the play?" Juliana demanded tartly. "It seems hardly consistent with deep mourning."

"It is Macbeth," Quentin pointed out. "They'll leave before the farce."

"Seems very hypocritical to me." Juliana squinted across the playhouse, trying to get a better look at Lady Lydia Melton. It was difficult to form an impression in the flickering light of the flambeaux that lit the stage and the pit. "How old is she?"

"Twenty-eight."

"She's on the shelf," Juliana stated.

"I should refrain from passing judgment when you don't know the facts," Quentin said sharply. "Lydia and Tarquin have been betrothed from the cradle, but the death of Tarquin's mother three years ago postponed the marriage. And now Lydia's grandfather's demise has created another put-off."

"Oh. I didn't mean to sound catty." Juliana gave him a chastened smile. "I'm just taken aback."

Quentin's expression softened. "Yes, I can imagine you might be."

Juliana stared hard across the separating space and suddenly noticed that the lady was looking directly at her. It was clear that Juliana herself was under discussion when Tarquin raised a hand in a gesture of acknowledgment and Lady Lydia bowed from the waist. Juliana responded in like manner. "I wonder what they're saying about me."

"I imagine Tarquin is explaining that you're Lucien's bride," Quentin observed. "The Meltons were bound to wonder what he and I were doing in a box at the theater with a strange lady."

"But won't they think it strange that the viscount isn't with us so soon after the wedding?"

"No," Quentin said without elaboration.

The orchestra began another alerting drumroll, and Tarquin disappeared from the Meltons' box. A few minutes later he appeared beside Juliana.

"You didn't tell me you were betrothed," she whispered accusingly as the second act began.

"It's hardly important." he returned. "Hush, now, and listen."

Juliana found it hard to concentrate on the rest of the play. She was wondering when Tarquin would have chosen to tell her about his fiancee. She was wondering what would happen to their arrangements when the new duchess took up residence. Presumably, the mistress and her child would be established in one wing of the house and the duchess and her children in another, and the duke would move between his two families as and when it pleased him.

Perhaps her present charming apartments rightfully belonged to the duke's wife. Surely with that proximity, not to mention the concealed connecting door, they must. So presumably she would have to move out of them when the new duchess took up residence.

Juliana opened and closed her fan with such violence that one of the dainty painted sticks snapped. Startled, both her escorts looked sideways.

The duke placed a restraining hand on hers, still roughly flicking the fan in her lap. She turned and glared at him with such fury, he could almost imagine being scorched by the flames in her eyes. There was one thing about Juliana, he reflected ruefully: One always knew where one stood with her. She was so full of passions of every kind that she was incapable of masking her emotions.

"If you wish to quarrel, let's do so later," he whispered. "Not in the middle of a crowded playhouse. Please, Juliana.

Juliana pointedly turned her eyes back to the stage, her mouth taut, her jaw set, her back as rigid as if a steel poker ran down her spine. Tarquin exchanged a glance with his brother, whose response was far from sympathetic.

The Melton party, as Quentin had predicted, left before the farce. They left so discreedy, Juliana didn't see them go. When she looked toward the box as the torches were lit again to illuminate the pit, she saw it was empty.

Tarquin leaned over the box and hailed an orange seller. She came up with a pert smile and tossed two oranges up to him. He caught them deftly, throwing down a sixpence. She grinned and curtsied, tucking the coin between her ripe breasts bubbling over the neck of her gown, which was kilted to show both calves and ankles. "Want to come and get it back, sir?" she called with a lascivious wink. "No 'ands allowed. An' if ye double it, there's no knowin' where it'll end up."

Tarquin laughingly refused the invitation. He took a small knife out of his waistcoat pocket and began to peel an orange. He broke off a segment and held it to Juliana's lips. "Open wide, my dear."

"I am not in the mood for teasing." She closed her lips firmly. But she took the orange segment in her fingers, rather than open her mouth for him to feed her, and offered a formally polite thank-you.

Tarquin gave her the remainder of the orange without further remark, peeled the other one, and shared it with Quentin, who was coming to the conclusion that Juliana was perhaps not quite the victim he'd believed her to be.

Her delight in the farce was so infectious that all previous tension dissipated. Tarquin and Quentin wouldn't normally have stayed for this low comedy that had the pits in hysterics, but Juliana was so entranced, found the bawdiest comments so hilarious, that they sat back and simply enjoyed her enjoyment.

As the curtain came down, she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes with a fingertip. "I haven't laughed so much since I saw Punch and Judy at the fair in Winchester."

George Ridge had also greatly enjoyed his evening, much preferring the farce to the long-winded, ponderous speeches of the tragedy, although he'd been quite impressed with the sword fights, which had seemed very realistic. And Lady Macbeth had dripped chicken blood, and the ghost of Banquo had been horridly gouged and smothered.

He made his way out of the pit, allowing the tide of humanity to carry him. At the door a crowd of gallants was gathered around a painted bawd and her collection of whores. They were bargaining for the women, with the sharp-eyed madam missing nothing as she auctioned off her girls. George hesitated, fancying a particular bold-eyed wench in a canary-yellow gown. Then the bawd shouted, "Ten guineas to the gentleman in the striped weskit," and shoved the girl forward into the arms of the man so described, who eagerly handed over ten guineas, which the bawd dropped into a leather satchel at her waist.

George decided he'd spent enough money on women for one day. He'd return to the Gardener's Arms and take his supper there, then maybe throw the dice a few times. He would set himself a strict limit so that he'd be in no danger of outrunning the carpenter.

He pushed his way out of the stuffy heat of the theater and drew a deep breath of the fresher air outside. He seemed to be getting accustomed to the stench of London, since it troubled him much less now. He was debating whether to take a sedan chair back to Cheapside, or save the fare and walk on such a fine night, when he saw her.

He stared, unable to believe his eyes, his heart jumping erratically. Juliana was on the other side of the street, facing him. She was talking animatedly to her two escorts, men whose dress made George immediately feel shabby and countrified. It didn't matter that he'd ordered his suit from a tailor on Bond Street. Compared to the two men with Juliana, he could have been wearing a laborer's smock and carrying a pitchfork.

And Juliana. He'd never seen her like this. In fact, if it weren't for her hair and the expression on her face and the voluptuous figure he'd lusted after for weeks, he would have thought his obsession had bested his senses. She was dressed as finely as any of the ladies he'd gawped at going into St. James's Palace or strolling in Hyde Park. Again, there was drat indefinable air of fashion and quality about her clothes and the way she wore them that relegated George Ridge to the farmyard. He recognized that Lady Forsett would eat her heart out if she could see her erstwhile charge tricked out in such style. Such a wide hoop, and the most shockingly low neckline to her lavender silk gown.

He moved backward into the shadows so she wouldn't see him if she chanced to look across the street. Then he stood and continued to stare at the three of them. Who was she with? Had she turned whore? It was the only explanation he could think of-that somehow in the days since she'd arrived in London, alone and friendless, she'd managed to snag a rich and well-connected protector. Or maybe two. She was laughing and talking to her companions with an ease and informality that seemed to imply either long acquaintance or a degree of intimacy.

It was an explanation that made perfect sense to George. He licked his lips involuntarily, imagining how the life of a whore would change the haughty and inexperienced country girl he had known. But how would she respond to the prospect of returning to Hampshire as the wife of Sir George Ridge, when she'd dabbled in the playgrounds of fashionable London?

A chaise drew up on the other side of the street, obscuring them from his view. He darted out of the shadows in time to see one of the men hand Juliana into the carriage. Both men followed her, and the door was closed. George stared at the ducal coronet emblazoned on the panels. He couldn't read the Latin motto or identify the arms, but he knew the carriage belonged to a duke. Juliana, it seemed, was flying high. Perhaps too high for a simple country landowner, however wealthy.

He pushed his way to a hackney that had come to a halt by a group of inebriated men, who were arguing about where they should continue their evening. George shoved roughly through them and into the hackney before they realized what was happening. "Follow the carriage ahead. The black-and-yellow one," George shouted at the jarvey, banging on the roof with his sword hilt.

The hackney started forward with a jolt, and its intended passengers turned and bellowed in startled fury. They made a halfhearted attempt to follow, one of them hanging on to the window straps for a few yards, cursing George for a sneak thief before falling off into the gutter.

George leaned anxiously out of the window, trying to keep the black-and-yellow carriage in sight as they bowled around a corner. The jarvey seemed to be enjoying the chase, took the corner on two wheels, and George was flung back against the cracked, stained leather squabs. He righted himself with a curse and leaned out of the window again.

" 'Ere y'are, guv. Ranelagh Gardens," the jarvey yelled down, coming to a halt before the wrought-iron gates. "Ye want me to go on in after 'em?"

"No, I'll go on foot." George jumped down, paid the jarvey, and hurried into the gardens, paying his half-a-crown entrance fee before making his way to the rotunda, where he guessed he would find them.

For the rest of the evening he dogged Juliana's footsteps, always careful to keep himself out of her line of sight. He watched her eat supper in one of the boxes in the rotunda, listening to the orchestra in the center. She was animated, but he could see no sign of a physical relationship with her two escorts. If she was there as their whore, he would have expected to see wandering fingers, a kiss or two, definitely flirtation; and yet, despite her elegant gown, the trio reminded him of a young girl being taken for a treat by two indulgent uncles.

Greatly puzzled, he followed them back out of the garden just as dawn was breaking. He set another hackney in pursuit of the yellow-and-black chaise, and when the ducal carriage stopped outside a house on Albermarle Street and its three passengers alighted, he instructed the jarvey to drive on past. He fixed the house in his memory as the three disappeared into its lighted hallway. Then he sat back and contemplated the evening's puzzles.

Juliana had entered the house with two men. It could only mean that she had joined the oldest profession in the world. And joined it high up the ladder. But she was still his father's murderess. A whore couldn't expect to duck such a charge, however powerful her protector.

He would find out what he could about the two men; then he would wait his moment. Then he would surprise her.