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as ardent a spirit as Brougham himself, perhaps more
so. The government should count itself lucky you are a
woman. You would make mice feet of poor Parliament
in a day were you to be elected to its august member-
ship.
A reluctant chuckle escaped Harriet. I should
certainly try, she admitted, but even though I
cannot, I feel that someone should. And I can think of
no one better than you. After all, you never seem to
have the least regard for anyone s sensibilities, and
Whoa, there, my girl. The marquess held up an
admonishing hand. How can you say such a thing
after our perfectly unexceptionable waltz the other
evening? Why I was a model of decorum and
gentlemanly behavior.
Which I never would have guessed existed in you
had I been left to form my impressions of your
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character after our first few encounters.
Lord Chalfont shrugged and grinned. I had to
discover more about you. You were so confoundedly
prim and proper that the only thing to do was to throw
you off your guard which, I might add, was impossible
to do.
Precisely what I am talking about. Just proceed the
same way in Parliament as you did with me and you
should do very nicely, Harriet retorted.
If I am not called out first.
You were the one who implied that your life was
lacking in challenge and adventure.
Adrian raised one well-shaped hand in a gesture of
defeat. Touché. You have made your point, my fiery
friend. I shall endeavor to see what I can do to throw
myself into the political fray. In the meantime, I have
kept you here long enough. Your family will begin to
wonder where you are.
I very much doubt it. Papa, as usual, is buried in
the library. Charlie is mounting guard duty, but he
lives in the barracks anyway. And Elizabeth and Aunt
Almeria are closeted with the dressmaker. Besides,
they are quite accustomed to my frequent comings and
goings and pay them no heed.
Yes. I should think that where you are concerned,
expecting the unexpected is a very useful maxim, the
marquess replied in a teasing tone. But for all his
bantering air, he was reflecting quite seriously on how
lonely her existence must be. An intelligent, energetic
woman in a society that preferred decorative, passive
ones not that she was not decorative with the tendrils
of flame-colored hair escaping from the severe coil she
had wound at the nape of her neck to cluster around
the animated face with its enormous dark blue eyes.
Adrian himself had often felt isolated and set apart
from his fellows by his refusal to follow blindly the
accepted views of his class, but at least in the army,
with danger and privation breaking down many of the
artificial barriers that existed among men in the
fashionable world, he had been able to discover like-
thinking men and enjoy their companionship.
Lady Harriet, he suspected, had never known such
companionship, even with her brother. Charlie was
well enough in his own way Lord Chalfont had dealt
with his type of officer often enough eager, lively,
courageous to a fault, and likely to have more bottom
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than sense. In short, Charlie was a man who preferred
action to thought. Harriet was worth twice her brother
for it was obvious even to the most casual observer
that it was her serious reflections on things that led
her to action rather than the other way around.
Oddly enough, Adrian found himself wishing that he
could provide such companionship for Harriet. They
were two of a kind, after all, but friendships like that
simply did not exist in the world they inhabited. They
might exist between brother and sister or cousins
perhaps, but never between a man and a woman who
were unrelated but happened to be of a like mind. As
Alicia s image flashed before him. Lord Chalfont
thought grimly that certainly such friendships did not
often exist even between husband and wife. A delicate
cough brought him back to the scene at hand. I beg
your pardon, I
Was woolgathering again. I seem to have this
soporific effect on you, my lord. Harriet s tone was
apologetic, but her eyes were dancing.
Not at all. Quite the opposite. In fact you cause me
to reflect a great deal on things, which in my case,
tends to inhibit conversation. I am rather slow-witted,
you know, and must think carefully before I reply.
What a bouncer! Harriet laughed. And what
momentous considerations have caused such a
thoughtful state? I wonder. Harriet, who had posed
the question half in jest, was surprised to observe a
grave, almost uneasy look cloud the marquess
customarily mocking expression. Whatever had he
been thinking of? she wondered. It was most unlike
the glib Lord Chalfont to be at a loss for words, much
less hemming and hawing awkwardly as he was doing
at the moment.
Well, he paused and fixed her with a glance that
was half rueful, half questioning, as though he were at
a loss as how to proceed. Then, he seemed to decide
something and plunged quickly ahead before he could
change his mind. You see, I was thinking that you
must be rather lonely what with being so unlike the
other vapid young ladies one finds frequenting the ton,
and that you must find yourself wishing you had
someone who shared your views, someone you would
enjoy talking to. I find that I am often in the same
position myself.
You! The idea of the dashing Marquess of
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Kidderham suffering from lack of companionship
appeared ludicrous in the extreme. Why, if the
reactions of the inhabitants of the Temple of Venus
were anything to go by, he was more likely to be
afflicted with an excess of company rather than too
little. How can that be? Why wom er, people, fall all
over themselves to be with you.
Adrian grinned at her slip. That is not the same
thing as true friendship. Lady Harriet, and well you
know it. But this discussion has gone far enough. I feel
myself getting on dangerous ground. For all that you
think your family pays little attention to your
whereabouts, I am sure they will start to notice if you
are gone too long, not to mention your long-suffering
maid who, I observe, is hovering near the front door
ready to rush in and protect you at a moment s
notice. With a flourish the marquess closed the door
to the schoolroom behind them and, offering her his
arm, escorted her to the waiting hackney, then saw
them off as they clattered toward Bond Street and
Madame Celeste s.
Chapter 16
Determinedly avoiding the disapproving eye of the
ever-watchful Rose, Harriet leaned back in the carriage
and tried to collect her disordered thoughts. From
Rose s pained expression, Harriet could clearly see
what her maid thought of the licentious Marquess of
Kidderham, but she herself was not so sure.
How could a man who was truly as debauched as
his patronage of the Temple of Venus would seem to
indicate, be so disgusted at the thought of leading the
comfortable and uneventful existence of a wealthy man
of fashion? It did not fit somehow. And the last bit of
their conversation gave her even more pause. How
could a man who was apparently satisfied with the
companionship of Mrs. Lovington s ladies understand
so well how alone and isolated Harriet often felt; and,
furthermore, why would he care that she felt that way?
It was all certainly most confusing, and not only to
Harriet. The marquess, too, had seemed oddly ill at
ease with his own observations and had hurriedly
ended their conversation as though somehow he had
revealed too much of himself to her.
However, there had been sympathy in his eyes and a
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warmth of understanding in his voice that had drawn
her strangely to him. She, who preferred the quiet life
of the country and her own intellectual pursuits,
should have had little or nothing in common with a
man who haunted the dens of iniquity no matter how
fashionable the dens were in the metropolis, yet she
felt closer to him than to most of the people she had
yet encountered in London. How very odd.
Enough of such useless speculation, my girl, Harriet
scolded herself. You have more important things to
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