“You will not be sorry,” he said. “You will be mine, and I will take good care of you, Elizabeth.MayI have the privilege of calling you that?”
“Of course.” She smiled at him. “And I shall take care of you…Geoffrey.”
“I believe,” he said, “we ought to return to South Audley Street without further ado to seek your mother’s blessing. Will she give it, do you believe?”
“I do,” she said. “She thinks well of you.”
“And Riverdale?” he asked. “Will he give his blessing?”
She was not sure Alex would be delighted. He had a romantic soul. He had almost found himself having to renounce that a year ago when circumstances seemed to be compelling him to seek a wealthy bride at the cost of love. Fortunately—veryfortunately—he had found both wealth and love with Wren.
Well, she too had had her chance at love and it had not served her well. Alex knew that. He would be pleased, she believed, that this time she would be assured of being treated well and would know security and contentment.
“Of course he will,” she said. “He will trust the wisdom of my choice.”
“Then I am the happiest of men,” he said, seizing the first opportunity to change direction in order to take her home. “Even if I cannot have the first waltz with you this evening.”
It was the closest she could ever remember his coming to making a joke. It endeared him to her.
But she hated the way her heart ached a little bit when she thought of the man with whom she would share that dance.
•••
Colin had just driven into the park and joined the circuit, Miss Dunmore beside him, when he saw Codaire’s curricle drive away in the opposite direction. Elizabeth was with him, and Colin regretted missing paying his respects to her. However, if she was at tonight’s ball he would waltz with her and find out if he had seriously discomposed her by drawing out those confidences yesterday about the loss of her children. He had certainly discomposed himself. He had had bizarre dreams and even a few nightmares last night.
He drew himself back to the present in order to give his attention to his companion. They had come where they would see and be seen while they nodded and chatted with friends and acquaintances, and he was perhaps taking one step closer to making his choice. Perhaps it was just as well. Perhaps he needed a nudge in the right direction. The only trouble was—whatwasthe right direction?
“Oh look,” Miss Dunmore said, pointing to the road Codaire had just taken. “It looks like a fairy coach.”
And Colin knew himself trapped. His mother was out driving in the park for the second day in a row, and she was about to join the crowd. It was going to be impossible to avoid her. He could hardly spring his horses when other vehicles and people on horseback were close packed about them. And there would be no hiding in the crowd. It soon became clear to him and to a few dozen other people that the white carriage was making its deliberate way toward his curricle. Despite its size and the presence of four outriders accompanying it—or perhaps because of those facts—everyone gave way before it. It would have been quite extraordinary if it were not for the fact that this sort of thing happened all the time with his mother.
And so he came face to face with her for the first time in eight years. One slender white-gloved hand rested upon the window, which had been lowered. Her head and face were covered with a fine white lace veil. She was alone in the carriage.
“My dearest,” she said in the sweet little-girl voice he remembered so well. “What a delightful surprise to find you here in the park on the very day when I came to take the air. You may present your young lady to me.”
It was, of course, not a surprise at all. She had planned this. But how had she known? Foolish question. His mother always knew everything, though some mistake must have been made to bring her out yesterday.
“Miss Dunmore,” he said with the greatest reluctance, “Lady Hodges, my mother.”
Miss Dunmore was blushing and saucer-eyed—and looking lovelier than ever—as she acknowledged the introduction.
“Very pretty,” his mother said, her eyes fixed upon the girl through the veil. “Exquisitely lovely, in fact. And the daughter of Sir Randolph Dunmore, whose lineage is quite impeccable as is that of his wife. You must bring Miss Dunmore to see me, dearest. Come for tea one day soon. It is gratifying to discover that you have an unerring eye for beauty, but it is only what I would expect of my son, of course.”
Good God. Oh good God. He could think of not a blessed thing to say. And of course the crowds were packed closely enough around them that any number of people would have overheard every word—and would gladly share with those who had not. This would keep drawing room conversations lively for the next day or two.
“I will not keep you longer, my dears,” she said when neither he nor Miss Dunmore spoke. “Young couples must be left to each other’s company.” She tapped her hand against the outside of her carriage, and it moved off, a path again opening like magic before it, with a little help from the outriders.
Colin closed his eyes briefly. His mother had come to this very public venue, then, to place her stamp of approval upon his courtship of Miss Dunmore. To force his hand. To raise expectations in her bosom and that of her mama when the incident was reported to her. His mother had always been expert at manipulating people in whom she had a certain interest, and she was doing it now, after having been seemingly content to live without him for eight years. She had decided to step into his affairs before he could step into hers.
“How beautiful she is,” Miss Dunmore said, sounding awe-struck as the carriage disappeared from sight. “But I do not understand how she can possibly be yourmother. She must have been awfully young when she had you.” She did not know, it seemed, about his four older siblings, three of them considerably older.
My dearest.
…your young lady.
It is gratifying to discover that you have an unerring eye for beauty.
And the voice. Oh, the youthful, honeyed voice.
