An Infamous Army (Alastair-Audley Tetralogy 4)

Waltzing with him, she said abruptly: ‘Are you tired?’

‘Tired! Do I dance as though I were tired?’

‘No, but you’ve been in the saddle nearly all day.’

‘Oh, that’s nothing! In Spain I have been used to ride fifteen or twenty miles to a ball, and be at work again by ten o’clock the next day.’

‘Wellington trains admirable suitors,’ she remarked. ‘How fortunate it is that you dance so well, Charles!’

‘I know. You would not otherwise have accepted me.’

‘Yes, I think perhaps I should. But I should not dance with you so much. I wish you need not leave Brussels just now.’

‘So do I. What will you do while I am away? Flirt with your Belgian admirer?’

She looked up at him. ‘Don’t go!’

He smiled, but shook his head.

‘Apply to the Duke for leave, Charles!’

He looked startled. As his imagination played with the scene her words evoked, his eyes began to dance. ‘Unthinkable!’

‘Why? You might well ask the Duke!’

‘Believe me, I might not!’

She jerked up a shoulder. ‘Perhaps you don’t wish for leave?’

‘I don’t,’ he said frankly. ‘Why, what a fellow I should be if I did!’

‘Don’t I come first with you?’

He glanced down at her. ‘You don’t understand, Bab.’

‘Oh, you mean to talk to me of your duty!’ she said impatiently. ‘Tedious stuff!’

‘Very. Tell me what you will do while I am away.’

‘Flirt with Etienne. You have already said so. Have I your permission?’

‘If you need it. It’s very lucky: I leave Brussels on the 16th, and Lavisse will surely arrive on the 15th for the dinner in honour of the Prince of Orange. I daresay he’ll remain a day or two, and so be at your disposal.’

‘Not jealous, Charles?’

‘How should I be? You wear my ring, not his.’

His guess was correct. The Comte de Lavisse appeared in Brussels four days later to attend the Belgian dinner at the Hôtel d’Angleterre. He lost no time in calling in the Rue Ducale, and on learning that Lady Barbara was out, betook himself to the Park, and very soon came upon her ladyship, in company with Colonel Audley, Lady Worth and her offspring, Sir Peregrine Taverner, and Miss Devenish.

The party seemed to be a merry one, Judith being in spirits and Barbara in a melting mood. It was she who held Lord Temperley’s leading strings, and directed his attention to a bed of flowers. ‘Pretty lady!’ Lord Temperley called her, with weighty approval.

‘Famous!’ she said. She glanced up at Judith, and said with a touch of archness: ‘I count your son one of my admirers, you see!’

‘You are so kind to him I am sure it is no wonder,’ Judith responded, liking her in this humour.

‘Thank you! Charles, set him on your shoulder, and let us take him to see the swans on the water. Lady Worth, you permit?’

‘Yes indeed, but I don’t wish you to be teased by him!’