The Duke And His Four Wards

Chapter 7.4 (Part 1)

   Despite her strategies, Maribella was seen as she slipped from the ballroom. Felix, returning from the card-room where he had been idly passing his time until he could, with reasonable excuse, gravitate to the side of his eldest ward, saw the bright chestnut curls dip through the doorway and for an instant had thought that Margaret was deserting him. But his sharp ears had almost immediately caught the husky tone of her laughter from a knot of gentlemen nearby and he realized it must have been Maribella, most like Margaret in colouring, whom he had seen.

   But he had more serious problems in his mind than whether Maribella had torn her flounce. His pursuit of the luscious Miss Fleming, or, rather, the difficulties which now lay in his path to her, were a matter for concern. The odd fact that he actually bothered to dance with his eldest ward had already been noted. As there were more than a few ladies among the ton who could give a fairly accurate description of his preferences in women, the fact that Miss Fleming's endowments brought her very close to his ideal had doubtless not been missed. However, he cared very little for he opinions of others and foresaw no real problem in placating the ton after the deed was done. What was troubling him was the unexpected behaviour of the two principals in the affair, Miss Fleming and himself.

   With respect to his prey, he had miscalculated on two accounts. Firstly, he had imagined it would take s concerted effort to seduce a twenty-five-year-old woman who had lived until recently a very retired life. Instead, from the first, she had responded so freely that he had almost lost his head. He was too experienced not to know that it would take very little of his persuasion to convince her to overthrow the tenets of her class and come to him. It irritated him beyond measure that the knowledge, far from spurring him on to take immediate advantage of her vulnerability, had made him pause and consider, in a most disturbing way, just what he was about. His other mistake had been thinking that, with his intensive knowledge of the ways of the ton, he would have no difficulty in using his position as her guardian to create opportunities to be alone with Margaret. Despite—or was it because of?—her susceptibility towards him, she seemed able to avoid his planned tête-à-têtes with ease and, with the exception of a few occasions associated with some concern over one or other of her sisters, had singularly failed to give him the opportunities he sought. And seducing a woman whose mind was filled with worry over one of her sisters was a take mask he had discovered to be beyond him.

   He had, of course, revised his original concept of what role Margaret was to play in his life. However, he was fast coming to the conclusion that he would have to in some wat settle her sisters' affairs before either he or Margaret would have time to pursue their own destinies. But life, he was fast learning, was not all that simple. In the circumstances, the ton would expect Miss Fleming's betrothal to be announced before that of her sisters. And he was well aware he had no intention of giving his permission for any gentleman to pay his addresses to Miss Fleming. As he had made no move to clarify for her the impression of his intentions he had originally given her, he did not delude himself that she might not accept some man like Chistlebury, simply to remove herself from the temptation of her guardian. Yet if he told her she was not his ward, she would undoubtedly be even more vigilant with respect to himself and, in all probability, even more successful in eluding him.

   There was, of course, a simple solution. But he had a perverse dislike of behaving as society dictated. Consequently, he had formed no immediate intention of informing Margaret of his change of plans. There was a challenge , he felt, in attempting to handle their relationship his way. Daniel has pushed too hard and too fast and, consequently, had fallen at the last fence. He, on the other hand, had no intention of rushing things. Timing was everything in such a delicate matter as seduction.