Chapter Eighteen

 

The earl grinned. “You do not think I am such a selfish lout that having plunged you into this affair without so much as a by-you-leave, I would then keep all the rest of the excitement to myself, do you? I am not so poor a fellow as that.” Alistair congratulated himself at her gasp of delighted surprise. He had gauged her character to a nicety, then. His suspicion that she had a secret longing for adventure was entirely correct.

Lady Sarah looked more pleased to be included in it than if he had told her that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Her eyes shone, and her entire posture was one of eager anticipation. Alistair could hardly keep from laughing; she looked so much like a hound that had just found a fresh scent. How very dull her life must have been, stuck here in the country with nothing but her books for amusement and her grandmother and the vicar for company.

“Now admire the roses,” the earl admonished her. “It must seem as though we have nothing more enlivening to discuss than the different varieties you have managed to cultivate here at Cranleigh.” Sarah’s gratified smile revealed that he had not been wrong in that assumption either. Of course, Rosalind would have been far too busy cultivating her own beauty to care about a garden, and he knew Sarah’s mother had died many years ago, so, with the exception of Lady Willoughby, that left only one possible keeper of the garden.

For her part, Sarah was wondering just how one person, and a gentleman at that, could be quite so perceptive. She supposed, however, that his professions, both as a spy and as a rake, demanded such acute powers of observation. Still, she could not help but feel flattered by the close attention he was paying her.

“We must find out exactly what it is that Rosalind has told the chevalier, and somehow we must convince her to refrain from giving him any more information until we can ... er ... discourage his presence here in England,” Lord Farringdon continued thinking aloud.

“But how ever will you do that? It is not, of course, that I doubt your powers of persuasion, but...”

Alistair did not miss the twinkle in Sarah’s eyes or the tiny smile that hovered at the corners of her mouth. The little minx! She was teasing him. But even as he noticed it, her expression became more thoughtful. “Why do you not persuade her to give the chevalier more information, only make it the wrong information? That way, she will not be in danger from the chevalier and England will not be either.”

The earl regarded his companion with dawning respect. There had never been much doubt that Sarah was intelligent but this was positively clever, and he wished that he had thought of it himself. “An excellent suggestion. You seem to have a veritable knack for this.” When he saw how much pleasure this simple response brought her, he was more than happy that it was she who had come up with such a brilliant scheme.

How unappreciated Lady Sarah must have been all her life to be so thrilled with the few crumbs of recognition as he gave her from time to time. Considering that her brother was a blockhead who could not see beyond his own nose and was totally unwilling to acknowledge the existence or importance of anyone besides himself, Alistair decided it was completely understandable.

“Now that you have come up with the solution to our problems, I suppose you are also ready with the suggestions for executing it,” he teased.

“Well yes, as a matter of fact,” Sarah admitted with an answering smile, “I have.”

For a moment the earl’s handsome countenance contorted into a rueful grimace. “I can see that I have been relegated to functioning as the merest accessory in all of this.” His tone was plaintive, but his eyes gleamed with amusement.

“Not at all. In fact, you are the key, for only you hold enough influence with Rosalind to be able to persuade her to do something.”

“You are too kind.” There was no mistaking the ironic note in his voice, and Sarah took foolish delight in it. Then he was no longer Rosalind’s devoted admirer, despite the sympathy he had expressed for her earlier.

“What makes you think that I, or anyone else for that matter, has any power to control the fair marchioness?”

“Oh, it is not just Rosalind; from what I hear, you can prevail upon any woman to do anything you wish.” Sarah laughed at the earl’s expression of mock horror. “And I draw this conclusion from what I have seen as well,” she hastened to add. “Why, even Lady Edgecumbe is practically eating out of your hand. They all toady to you in the most remarkable way.”

“Which you simply cannot understand,” he finished for her.

Sarah chuckled, then added offhandedly, “But then, that sort of thing does not interest me.”

“And what, pray tell is that sort of thing?” Piqued by the superior tone in her voice, the earl was not about to let her off easily. All his life he had chased after beautiful women and, accustomed to charming all of those he pursued, he was not going to let this snip of a girl dismiss him so lightly.

A faint flush tinged Sarah’s cheeks, as looking just the tiniest bit self-conscious, she stammered, “Oh ... you know ... society...”

Alistair knew perfectly well what she meant, but he schooled his features into a look of innocent perplexity.

Sarah tried again. “Well, men, I mean women and... oh, call it flirtation.” By now she was most uncomfortable, and what was worse, she suspected the earl of maneuvering her into this awkward situation and then secretly laughing at her.

“What? You have never flirted with anyone? Never sighed over a handsome face?”

Unable to speak, Sarah shook her head vigorously.

“Never even wanted to?” he pursued incredulously.

Again she shook her head, though not with quite so much assurance this time. All her life Sarah had scorned lying and deception, but now she was beginning to realize that sometimes it was not such a simple thing to adhere to exacting principles, for while it was not precisely a lie, it was also not entirely true that she had never sighed over a handsome face. The images of the earl and Rosalind were far too intrusive in her thoughts for her to ignore.

She had never allowed herself to wonder what the constant presence of that image might signify, and she certainly was not about to now, but given its frequent reappearance in her consciousness, she did have her doubts as to the complete sincerity of her answer. It was definitely time to change the subject.

She drew a deep breath before suggesting, “Somehow, in addition to helping Rosalind pass along incorrect information, we must discover what she has already given the chevalier so that you can pass it along to your superiors and they can change their plans accordingly.”

“Whew!” Alistair whistled in admiration. “You are a deep one, are you not? You take to this espionage thing like a duck to water. Are you sure you have never done it before?”

Sarah could not decide whether to be pleased at his admiration for her cleverness or insulted that he could even think she would engage in such nefarious activity. As a result, she wound up looking adorably confused.

It was a most uncharacteristic look, one the earl found oddly attractive. Even more gratifying was the knowledge that it was he who had disconcerted this terrifyingly self-assured young lady. “As you appear to have it all thought out, may I know what the next step in this affair is to be?” Try as he would, Alistair could not hide the edge in his voice. After all, he had been at this game for years, and here was a green girl who had been plunged into it all only a scant twelve hours ago, calmly dictating strategy to him as though she were Colonel Sir George Murray himself.

His pique was not lost on Sarah, who took no little satisfaction from it. She had not the least desire to have the arrogant earl think he could manipulate her as easily as he did the rest of the fair sex. To give the man his due, he appeared to be rather clever and certainly articulate, but he was not the demigod the rest of the female population appeared to consider him. Smiling graciously, she replied. “Why, yes. From now on it is all up to you to get Rosalind to confide in you, which is something only you can do, and I would not dream of suggesting how to go about it. You have your ways, I am sure.” Sarah exulted to herself as she saw his lips tighten. She had provoked him after all, and she had meant to. She was not ordinarily a contrary person, but there was just something about Lord Farringdon that impelled her to compete with him, even if it were only verbally. The man was so sure of himself, she could not help taking it as a challenge.

Alistair grinned. “Yes, as you say, I do have my ways, and since I have been doing my utmost to avoid an intimate tête-à-tête with the marchioness from the moment I arrived, it should be simplicity itself to accomplish this next task.” He noted the dangerous sparkle in his companion’s eyes with smug satisfaction. There, that should pay her back for the tone of gracious condescension with which she had referred to his many flirtations. “Now, don’t poker up at me. Lady Sarah, you asked for it. If you continue to treat me as though I were an arrant coxcomb, why then, I shall act like one. I am not at all stupid, you know.”

Sarah had the grace to blush. She really had been rather hard on him, but she was still feeling discomfited from his earlier probing about her feelings toward the relationships men and women had with each other.

The earl took pity on her. “And much of the time, I freely admit, I am a coxcomb. It is just that I am not accustomed to dealing with people who are competent as well as clever, and I find the whole experience unnerving, though delightful, but unnerving nevertheless. You must forgive me for trying to reestablish my self-respect, which you are so very hard on. Shall we cry friends then?”

The man looked so penitent that Sarah could not help laughing and taking the proffered hand. There was no doubt about it. Lord Farringdon could disarm the devil himself. “Friends. I hope you do not discover anything too alarming when you talk to Rosalind.”

He was suddenly grave. “I hope I do not either. She is a vain creature, but she has never had much guidance. Her father and her brother were entirely bent on their own pleasures, and all she could do was go along with them or be left to her own devices. I am not excusing her behavior, but she has been shown only one way to act, and that is selfishly.

“The reputation of the Tredingtons is such that she could not hope to capture a man wise enough to guide her or strong enough to stand up to her. The end result has been that she has grown only more headstrong as she has grown older. Without the help of her family, she has had to rely upon herself to get what she wanted. Though her goals may not have been admirable, her determination has been. Now she stands a chance of losing much of what she has fought for, and I am sure that she is not about to give it up. I must see that she does not destroy herself in the process.”

Sarah regarded him soberly. At least now she was convinced that Rosalind was nothing to the earl. He saw all too clearly what she was. In fact, he saw her more clearly and more objectively than Sarah had heretofore been able to, and she was just the tiniest bit humbled by this. Nor could she help but feel a begrudging admiration for his chivalrous impulses. Apart from his obvious concern that Rosalind was passing along vital information to the enemy, he was genuinely solicitous of her welfare in a purely disinterested manner.

Lord Farringdon certainly did have surprising depths to his character, Sarah concluded. There was no doubt he was a most complex person, who was beginning to exert a rather dangerous fascination on her. It was definitely time to change the subject, change the company, and regain some of her equilibrium. “I have every confidence you will be able to help, not only your country, but Rosalind as well. Now you must forgive me, but I did promise to show Lady Edgecumbe around the village.” Lord, she sounded like the starchiest of bluestockings, but she could not think of anything else to say. With a fleeting smile and a brief nod of her head, Sarah made her escape and went in search of her assigned companion, leaving Alistair to his own reflections.