Just Deserts (7 page)

‘
It would scarce be a wonder if you had missed her in all
this crush,’ Chiddingly commented.

‘
I have not missed her,’ Fitz muttered, in what was for him
a testy manner. ‘She is not here. Nor are her parents. Everyone is
talking of it.’

But at that very moment Lady Rossendale’s major-domo
thumped the floor for attention and announced the arrival of Mr and
Mrs Archibald Winsford—a formal proceeding necessitated by the fact
that the hostess and her son had already left their post by the
door.

The nabob came briskly in, the lady on his arm a neater,
younger and more rounded copy of Lady Rossendale
herself.

The hum of voices in the room was dying away as the
major-domo made his second announcement.

‘
Miss Penelope Winsford and Miss Persephone
Winsford.’

The two Misses Winsford entered and paused on the threshold
to stand framed in the double doorway. A startled hush fell upon
the ballroom and everyone stared.

From the toes of the yellow kid shoes on their feet, the
full-skirted gowns of apple-green taffeta, with their
quarter-length sleeves and sprays of yellow roses fastened low on
the bosom, to the crowning glory of their frizzed gold locks
dressed wide and high under neat chip hats, beribboned and
feathered, and the classic features with the sculptured lips,
Penelope and Persephone Winsford were exactly alike.

Chapter Three

Alone
,
a single Miss
Winsford had been a sufficiently pretty picture. Together they were
a sight to take the breath away.

After the first stunned moment, a kaleidoscope of memories
tumbled through Chiddingly’s mind. Golden hair flying, and a
snarling lip as a whiplash rose and fell through the air; a violent
ride and a thundering team, with a husky voice in passionate rage;
sparkling eyes and lips that trembled on a silvery laugh; and
questioning eyes in an innocent face and a sweet musical
voice.

So it was Penelope, mischievous Penelope, who had not known
him, and yet had known enough to make game of him. And Persephone,
of the wild ride and blazing eyes, who had flung insults in his
face and dared to whip at his hand.

Then Fitz’s laughter and the uproar in the room penetrated
the flood of his chaotic thoughts and he saw the twins engulfed in
the press of persons that surged forward.

‘
And so all is explained,’ Fitz gasped, hardly
able to speak for laughing.
‘Now
I see why—why she
was so much enjoying her mischief. Upon my soul, I cannot blame
her. What a rich jest! How I shall scold her for
this.’

He sobered a little, remembering that he had his peace to
make with Penelope first. But his delight in the masquerade knew no
bounds until he saw that Chiddingly was not similarly
elated.

‘
Now what ails you, Chid? If there is anything in this
revelation to send you up into the boughs, beyond the fact that we
have not a notion which is which, I should like to know
it.’

‘
I am not up in the boughs,’ Chiddingly said, his
tone curt. ‘I am happy to think Miss Penelope Winsford was able to
amuse herself at my expense. And even happier that Miss
Persephone
Winsford is ready to abjure society. I will thus be
spared another encounter.’

‘
Does it look as if she intends to abjure
society?’

‘
She has done so up to now. I dare say she may do so
again.’

‘
Obviously she has done so in order to achieve this
éclat.’

Chiddingly threw him a scornful glance. ‘I shall be much
surprised if we find that to be the case.’

‘
I will lay you a monkey it is.’

‘
Done,’ said Chiddingly promptly.

Fitz grinned. ‘And so, dear boy, you are committed to
another encounter. Try at least for a little conduct,’ he
begged.

But there was no getting near the Winsford twins, besieged
as they were by one group of persons after another. Fitz was in
despair until he conceived the happy notion of enlisting the
services of the nabob himself. It was not such an easy matter to
detach Mrs Winsford from the eager young men who were anxious to
secure an introduction to her daughters, but Fitz at length managed
to make his way to her side. She recognised him after a
moment.

‘
Of course, Lord Fitzwarren, you must forgive me. With so
many new people, I am quite at a loss.’

‘
Never mind it,’ Fitz said reassuringly. ‘Allow me to
present Lord Chiddingly to you. You may forget him again at once,
and so be comfortable.’

A trill of laughter very like that of Penelope escaped her
lips. ‘No, how can you say so? Do not heed him, Lord Chiddingly. I
recall now Pen saying he was a dreadful tease.’

‘
Would you think me very saucy, ma’am,’ Fitz said, smiling,
‘if I were to suggest that, coming from Miss Penelope that is a
case of the pot calling the kettle black?’

‘
Very true, indeed, she is a sad romp.’

‘
Indian manners, ma’am?’

She tutted. ‘You have been talking to my
sister.’

‘
Not at all. It was Miss Penelope who told me of
them.’

‘
Really, I am ashamed of her,’ Mrs Winsford said, annoyed.
‘What a very odd idea she must have given you of the people with
whom we shared our pleasures. If the girls are free-spoken I am
afraid it must be laid at the door of my husband,’ she confessed
frankly. ‘He would encourage them.’

Fitz grabbed the cue. ‘Speaking of your husband, ma’am, we
are anxious to make his acquaintance.’

‘
My
husband
? Oh, I quite
thought—’

‘
No, no. Recollect that we have already had the
felicity of meeting
one
of your daughters.’

Stifling her surprise, Mrs Winsford led them over to where
the nabob stood, chatting easily to a group of older
men.

Archie Winsford was a bluff, hearty man of an outgoing
disposition, who was very pleased to meet anyone at all. His
friendship was not, however, bestowed indiscriminately. One did not
acquire a fortune in business without a deal of shrewd judgement.
But he had a large tolerance, and did not mind a man’s being a fool
provided he did not have to do business with him, nor consider him
in the light of anything other than a passing
acquaintance.

He had an unfortunate trick sometimes of peering under his
brows at people which gave him a quite unfounded look of ferocity.
He directed this stare at the young men when his wife introduced
them, but Fitz dispelled it with his first words.

‘
How do you do, sir? Did you manage to sort out the jumble
of your trunks at Legal Quays the other day?’

The nabob was so much surprised that he burst into
laughter. ‘Now how the deuce do you know anything of that, young
feller?’

‘
I met your daughter there, sir, and she told me of your
troubles.’

‘
Ha! Trouble a-plenty. These officious porters of yours are
not worth a straw. Give me the native wallahs any day. Still, we
got there in the end. So you know my Penelope, eh?’

‘
An entrancing young lady, sir. And may I say that the
picture your daughters present together is quite the most ravishing
I have seen?’

‘
Ha!’ exclaimed the nabob, rubbing his hands in glee. He
glanced at his wife. ‘Did I not say so, my dear? Clarissa wanted me
to force that girl of mine into the picture at the outset. But no,
I said. Give her her head. No sense in a pitched battle. Turn it to
good account, I said. Let her play least in sight as she wishes and
then—boom! And you see I was right.’

Fitz’s eyes were alight with laughter, but before he could
speak Chiddingly intervened, casting him a glance of
triumph.

‘
In fact, Miss Persephone had no wish to come
out?’

‘
Pooh, not she. Hated the idea from the word go. In fact,
she’d a deal rather have stayed—’

‘
Archie!’

The nabob turned to his wife. ‘Yes, m’dear.’ He caught the
unmistakable signal in her eye and recollected himself. ‘Ah, quite
so.’ Then he laughed heartily. ‘Never could keep my tongue between
my teeth about my girls. Why, they are the best little daughters a
man ever had.’

‘
I am sure they must be, sir,’ Fitz said, smiling at his
simple enthusiasm.

Satisfied of his discretion, Mrs Winsford went away. But
the nabob leaned confidentially towards Fitz and
Chiddingly.

‘
You know what females are. You’d think three of
them in the house would drive me to distraction, but not a bit of
it. My girls are the most engaging little rascals. Always were. And
for all they are like in looks they are quite different. Mind you,
I am the only one who can ever tell them apart. Fact.’ His hearty
laugh rang out again. ‘I call them my
little peas,
you
know, but I can tell you at once which is which and before either
has opened her mouth.’

‘
No, can you indeed?’ said Fitz, seizing on this. ‘I own I
should like to witness your skill, for I confess myself to be
completely baffled.’

‘
Ha! Nothing easier, my boy. Come along.’

The nabob marched off and Fitz, pausing only to wink at
Chiddingly and jerk his head for his friend to come along, followed
him closely.

Such was the force of the nabob’s personality that he
shouldered a path through the throng with the greatest of ease, the
crowd parting before him. Before long, Fitz found himself
confronting the Winsford twins who turned together as their father
hailed them on his approach.

‘
Pen! Seph!’

The gentlemen monopolising them fell back and the newcomers
took their places. Fitz noted the baron’s eyes travelling from one
classic face to the other, his expression inscrutable.

‘
Now, then,’ Archie said with authority.

The twins looked at him
in mute question.

‘
Have to prove my mettle, my little peas. Not a word now,
either of you.’

Obediently they stood silent, their faces in repose quite
indistinguishable one from the other. The nabob took hold of Fitz’s
arm and drew him forward a pace.

‘
Take a good look, young feller. You’ve met Penelope. Now
what d’ye say?’

Fitz looked ruefully from one to the other, half hoping for
a sign from Pen. That give-away sparkle in her eyes, perhaps. But
there was nothing in either pair of cool grey orbs to help
him.

‘
Upon my soul, sir, I cannot tell in the least.’

Obviously pleased, Archie Winsford looked around the
interested circle about them. Then he turned to Chiddingly, without
even glancing at his daughters.

‘
You, sir?’

‘
By no means,’ Chiddingly responded, though he too looked to
the eyes, sure that some echo of Persephone’s fury must creep into
them. But both pairs were coolly impersonal and, like Fitz, he had
to acknowledge defeat. ‘No, sir. You will have to tell
us.’

‘
Ha, ha!’ laughed the nabob, plainly enjoying himself. ‘Then
you shall have it without more ado. To the right is Persephone.
Penelope is to the left.’

And at once the classic features on the left broke into the
warm smile that Fitz remembered, and the characteristic laugh
rippled from her.

‘
Well done, Papa!’

There was instant hubbub, and a chorus of
congratulation.

Persephone’s eyes, however, now held a militant sparkle and
she compressed her lips as if she despised this charade. Chiddingly
found himself quite unable to take his own eyes off her and as if
she sensed his scrutiny she met his glance and he thought he
detected a challenge in the grey eyes. Nor was he
mistaken.

No sooner had the nabob left them with a passing adjuration
to his daughters to ‘Take care of these fellows, my dears, grant
them a dance or some such thing,’ than Persephone’s husky voice
addressed the baron directly, the underlying steel
apparent.

‘
I fear I must decline taking care
of you,
sir. I am but a novice in the art of dance, and would
doubtless call down your freely worded criticisms upon my
head.’

‘
They cannot dance with either of us, Seph,’ said Penelope,
intervening in haste. She turned her eyes to Fitzwarren, and he saw
that they had lost a little of their sparkle. ‘You are tardy, Fitz.
I regret that both of us are already engaged for every
dance.’

But Fitzwarren was ready for this. ‘My dear Miss Penelope,
there was no getting near you.’

Persephone’s fine lip curled. ‘It seemed to me that enough
gentlemen managed it.’ She flicked at Chiddingly a glance of
contempt. ‘But of course they had address.’

‘
It may have escaped your notice, ma’am,’ Chiddingly said
through his teeth, ‘but neither of us has in fact requested a
dance.’