THE ABDUCTED HEIRESS Jasmine Cresswell ALL HER EFFORTS GONE TO WASTE For six long years, Georgiana, a young and lovely heiress, had kept up a grotesque and difficult masquerade. She had disguised her beauty and intelligence behind a mask of homeliness and stupidity. Her reason? To avoid marriage to the odious Freddie, a ne'er-do-well young lord with a taste for life and women that could never include someone as ugly and silly as she pretended to be.... Or so Georgiana thought! CHAPTER ONE L E , fourth baroness of Thayne, adjusted the folds of her satin demi- ADY LIZABETH train and seated herself on a low chair placed conveniently close to the fireside. The large salon was elegantly furnished and newly draped, but still cold in the draughty corners. She took several delicate sips from her wine glass and covertly examined the unprepossessing countenance of her only son. Her eye caught Frederick's vacant gaze as he peered with difficulty over the high points of his collar, and she stifled a sigh. At the same time she managed to convey the impression that she continued to devote the full powers of her concentration to the convolutions of Lord Thayne's agitated conversation. Lady Elizabeth's carefully polite expression successfully concealed intense irritation that was directed in almost equal proportions at her husband and her son. With increased determination Lady Elizabeth fixed the smile on to her lips and wondered, not for the first time, how she had ever managed to marry such an excessively unintelligent man. Comfortably assured that he commanded his family's full attention, Lord Thayne was well occupied in outpouring a detailed catalogue of his latest grievances. His wife knew better than to interrupt before the real source of his irritation had emerged and her patience was finally rewarded. "Elizabeth, it's that demmed niece of ours. I told you we should have had her presented when she was eighteen." Lord Thayne sputtered slightly with rage. "I actually heard a couple of fellows talking about her in the club when I was in town yesterday. Dashed impudent upstarts were wondering what had happened to old Richard Thayne's daughter." Lady Elizabeth remained silent,. her expression preoccupied, and Lord Thayne rambled on. "That's the trouble, you know. Richard had a lot of friends and there are too many people who remember he left behind a young daughter. And what's more," he concluded gloomily, "they remember the ridiculous terms of Richard's will." He paused to help himself to a substantial swallow of the wine a footman had poured into his glass and then stared moodily into its depths. "Nobody remarked on the girl's absence from town for a couple of seasons, but there are too many cursed gossips with long memories and nothing better to do than rake over old scandals. Now people are beginning to make calculations and to remind themselves that I have a niece who's an heiress, who's pushing twenty-two years old, and has never been seen in town." Angrily he turned to his son. "I won't have it any longer. This is my final word. You're to marry the girl and that'll end the matter." Frederick Thayne, not noted for his brains but well-endowed with an obstinacy fostered by years of parental overindulgence, banged down his glass on a marble table and stamped his foot with a petulance singularly reminiscent of the nursery. "I won't. I tell you I wouldn't marry that fish-faced cousin of mine if she was the last female left in town. Mamma, speak to Papa for me. Tell him that I cannot be expected to subject myself to matrimony with that dowdy . . . that half-wit!" Lady Elizabeth placed a soothing hand upon her son's arm, gently forcing him back down into his seat upon the sofa. Quietly she turned again to face her husband. "Tell me, Thayne, have we only club gossip, to contend With, or are there other, more serious matters?" Lord Thayne shifted uncomfortably and thrust his glass out to the silent footman. He avoided his wife's gaze as he spoke. "Viscount Benham is back in town from Vienna. As the other trustee of my brother's will he naturally found several matters to discuss with me. He took it upon himself to comment at length on the fact that my niece's income has been routinely overspent without any apparent benefit accruing to my niece. Benham was... insulting ... in his insinuations to say the least." Lady Elizabeth spoke softly. "You explained to him, of course, about the volatile state of Georgiana's nerves? About her childish disposition? About the need for rest and quiet?" "I expounded on them all at considerable length, I can assure you. Hinted that we were only waiting for her ... maturity ... to increase before announcing her engagement to Freddie. Can't say Benham was delighted at the match, but he seemed to accept my word that a season in town would have been too much for the girl." Lord Thayne tossed the remainder of his wine down his throat and turned belligerently to his son. "Benham's coming down on a visit next week and he expects to find you here, dancing attendance on your cousin. Once he arrives, I shall tell him that your betrothal will be announced at a family dinner party next month. That should take his mind off financial matters that need not concern him.. And you make sure that you act the love-sick suitor, my boy, while he's with us. Once he's gone and you're safely married to Georgiana, as far as I'm concerned you need never speak to her again. Put her in a little house on the estate and take off for London. But you're marrying her, do you hear? And that's my last word on the subject." Recognising the fatal stubbornness of the weak-minded, Lady Elizabeth allowed her cool voice to override Freddie's petulant protest. "Well, Thayne, I shall take pleasure in making Viscount Benham's stay enjoyable for him." She glanced significantly towards the silent footmen. Lady Elizabeth was too astute to make the common mistake of ignoring the presence of family servants. "Perhaps we could discuss our arrangements for Viscount Benham's visit during dinner? And, Frederick," she turned to her son, "you might like to leave us after we have eaten so that your father and I may consider what had best be done about dear Georgiana. It seems to me that there are many matters to be taken into account here, and we must not let your father's excellent judgment be overtaken by any dubious need for haste." She managed to produce a patient smile for Lord Thayne. "Perhaps, my love, you might care to discuss some alternative plans with me and I will do my best to advise you. Of course, I realise that I cannot bring to bear such wide experience as you, with your great understanding of the world, but I will try to see if there is any little idea that I might contribute." Lord Thayne puffed out his chest and looked suddenly happier. He made a somewhat half-hearted disclaimer in response to his wife's praise and followed her with docile steps to the dining-room table. The family party was in the process of seating itself around this vast expanse of polished wood when Freddie remarked somewhat testily, "We've forgotten to send for Georgie." Lady Elizabeth permitted a brief exclamation of annoyance to escape her well- bred lips. She spoke to the butler. "Please see that Miss Thayne is told that we are ready to dine." "Very good m'lady. I believe Miss Thayne was last seen in the library." The butler moved quietly to the doors and spoke briefly to the footman stationed in the massive hall. Lady Elizabeth's carefully controlled expression finally registered a modicum of impatience. "You may commence serving, Johnson. Miss Thayne will no doubt be with us very shortly." Serving of the first course was, in fact, well advanced when the footman opened the dining room doors and the depressingly ungainly Miss Thayne attempted to make an inconspicuous entry to the dinner table. Johnson, the butler, pulled out her chair in silent sympathy as she murmured a vague apology for her late appearance. Lord Thayne, Lady Elizabeth and Frederick acknowledged her presence with barely adequate courtesy, and continued their conversation exactly as if no interruption had occurred. Georgiana Thayne seemed to suffer no particular pangs at her exclusion from the desultory exchange of family news which constituted the staple ingredient in the talk around the table. She selected a variety of food from the platters offered to her and ate her way through the contents of her plate in stolid silence. She had quietly refused all offers of creams, jellies and sweetmeats and was sipping her wine with a notable lack of enthusiasm, when her .uncle suddenly directed a slightly drunken glance in her direction. "Well Georgiana," he remarked with hearty joviality, "we have just been making some exciting plans for your future." Lady Elizabeth cast an anguished look in her husband's direction, but Lord Thayne was by now far too mellowed by wine to pay heed to silent wifely admonitions. Georgiana's expression remained characteristically bovine, but her long and surprisingly elegant fingers tightened slightly around the stem of her wineglass. "Yes, Uncle William?" Georgiana's voice was high and unnaturally child-like for a girl who was clearly past the first bloom of youthfulness. Lord Thayne, flushed with the confidence endowed by a full bottle of wine and several brandies, allowed neither his wife nor his son to speak. "Yes, Georgiana," he repeated, "we have decided that Frederick can wait no longer for the pleasure of making you his bride. The betrothal will be announced next month." Forgetful of his audience he added, "That ought to stave Benham off for a while." Frederick could contain his displeasure no longer. "Oh I say, sir, we agreed nothing. Mamma ..." In vain he looked towards Lady Elizabeth who seemed determined for the moment to take no part in the conversation. Georgiana appeared momentarily white-cheeked, but no doubt felt overpowered by the excitement of her uncle's announcement, for she clapped her hands together with girlish enthusiasm and turned her smiles upon her cousin. "Oh, Frederick, how exciting! We shall soon be married and I shall come with you to London and be with you all the time. How happy we shall be together!" Frederick, rendered less articulate than usual by the visions set in train by his cousin's remarks, stuttered over his dessert and glowered silently at his father. Georgiana, the picture of childish delight, puffed out her round cheeks and continued to pour forth trivialities expressing her delight at the sudden change in her immediate prospects. Lord Thayne glared at his son and patted Georgiana's arm approvingly. "You've always been a good girl, Georgie," he said. "Not your fault you've no brains and no looks. Always said your father should never have married a bluestocking. But there, he would marry a woman with too much education and you're the result. Your mamma's brains all got used up in book-learning and there was nothing left for you." Georgiana nodded her head in sad agreement, but did venture a small protest. "Mamma was very beautiful, too," she said quietly, her voice suddenly lower and less childish. Lady Elizabeth looked up sharply from her dissection of a hothouse peach, but Georgiana's face revealed only the expected emotions of uncomplicated pleasure, and Lady Elizabeth contented herself with remarking, "You will enjoy coming with me to choose some lengths of silk for your new clothes. I expect we shall be entertaining many members of the family over the next several weeks." Georgiana's hands moved restlessly among the pieces of table silver by her plate. "Will my godfather be coming to see us?" she enquired of the table at large. There was a small silence and Georgiana rushed into it. "I have my new horse to show him, and I know he will be interested in Queenie's latest litter of puppies. You will remember that he gave me Queenie before he left for Vienna." Lady Elizabeth answered repressively, "Viscount Benham will be honouring us with a visit some time next week." As if conscious of having spoken too much, Georgiana retreated into her former silence and made no further effort to participate in the talk around the table. It was therefore with a feeling of surprise that she realised some minutes later that the meal was finally drawing to a close, and that her aunt was addressing her in tones of determined patience. Georgiana spoke contritely. "I'm sorry, Aunt Elizabeth. I'm afraid I was not attending." Lady Elizabeth sighed and repeated her remarks. "I said, Georgiana, that you and I will not withdraw as we usually do, since I am sure Frederick has much that he would like to discuss with you. You may proceed into the small salon and your uncle and I will join you both very shortly." Georgiana nodded meekly and Lady Elizabeth reflected silently and somewhat scornfully that she need worry about no improprieties where her niece and Frederick were concerned. Although Frederick was her own son, she was unable to quell the thought that his bride-to-be was just about all he deserved in looks and in intellect. Lady Elizabeth allowed herself to wonder why the malignant fates invariably bestowed huge fortunes on females such as Georgiana and left capable women such as herself at the mercy of the first man who cared to offer for them. Looking at Georgiana's simpering expression and unattractive features, Lady Elizabeth could not prevent herself visualising the probable appearance of her grandchildren, and she shuddered. Frederick rose to his feet and with ill grace assisted Georgiana to rise from her chair, draping lace shawls around her shapeless figure with evident distaste. He was not himself blessed with perfect discrimination and colour sense, but even he realised that Georgiana's outfit was appallingly ill-chosen. The dress was white as became a young unmarried woman, but her shawls and trimmings each seemed to be in a different inappropriate shade of pink. Georgiana's hair, he noticed for the first time, was a remarkable yellow-gold, but since her eyelashes were fair, her face curiously paunchy, and her skin unattractively red across the high cheekbones, Freddie could be forgiven for thinking that his cousin could not have looked less attractive even if she had tried. Apparently unaware of her cousin's train of thought, Georgiana prattled happily and inanely as they left the dining room and proceeded into the salon, her childish treble floating back to Lord Thayne and Lady Elizabeth who remained seated at the table. Once in the salon, however, she seemed overcome by nervousness and fell uneasily silent. Freddie, thinking longingly of London and the raven-haired ballerina who currently enjoyed his patronage, wondered if any marriage settlement could make life with Georgiana worthwhile. Georgiana took a deep breath and turned unexpectedly swiftly to face her betrothed. "Do you really want to marry me, Frederick?" Her cousin was too startled to think up any acceptable reply, and certainly too startled to notice the subtle change in Georgiana's voice and manner. He mumbled a few platitudinous phrases of which "honour" "happy" and "settlements" were the only audible words.