Lady Malmsby laughed.
Ann scrambled to get off of Bella. “Sorry, sorry!” she said. “But I am so happy to see you!”
“As I am to see you,” Bella said as she stood up. “Let’s try that again in a proper society scandalizing hug.”
“Shall I pour tea, your grace?” the maid asked while the women exchanged hugs.
Ann pulled back from Bella. “Gwinnie will join us,” Ann told the maid. “We should wait for her.”
“Very good, miss,” said the maid. She pushed the cart to the side.
Bella watched Ann as she turned toward her again. Despite the debacle of her courtship with Mr. Nowlton, Ann, Ann’s cousin Helena, and she had become friends during their time at Villa de Fiori in Sicily. During the war with Napoleon, Sicily had been under British protection. Lord William Bentinck, the garrison commander of the British troops, had created a small British society with parties, balls, and dinners among the British residents and the Sicilians. It had also been a place plagued with intrigue, owing to its location in the Mediterranean.
It had been a sad time for Bella, with her husband so recently deceased, a death caused by intrigue. However, she’d enjoyed spending time with Ann and her cousin Helena, working together to catalog Lady Travis’s art collection. Ann and Helena were the first female friends Bella had had since she married Harry. Spy work did not lend itself to close friendships, she caustically acknowledged to herself.
“I am so glad you have come to stay with Grandmother,” Ann said. “I’m staying here as well with my stepmother, Ursula, until after the ball.”
“Will Mrs. Hallowell also be joining us for tea?” Lady Malmsby asked.
“I don’t think so. She had another crying spell this morning and claims to be tired and in need of a nap.”
Ann turned to Bella. “My stepmother had a gentleman friend she was most enchanted with, then she discovered he met her because Uncle Candelstone wished him to meet her and squire her about.”
“Why?”
Lady Malmsby laughed, “Because Ann is my granddaughter and he hoped, through Ursula and Colonel Brantley’s relationship, he would get an invitation to my country house. Which he did. Ursula learned this and has been depressed since then, though Colonel Brantley swears he now loves her.”
The door to the parlor opened again. A giantess with gloriously rich, dark red hair and a solid, voluptuous figure entered.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting!” she said. “You should have gone on without me.”
“Nonsense,” said Lady Malmsby. She looked toward Bella. “Bella, this is another of my granddaughters, Lady Guinevere Nowlton. Gwinnie, this is Lady Isabella Blessingame. She will stay with us for a few days as her estate agent scours London for a suitable lodging to rent.”
“Welcome,” Lady Guinevere responded in a surprisingly deep, resonating voice.
Bella liked her instantly.
“In our family of talents, Gwinnie is our musician,” Lady Malmsby said, as she pulled the covering from the tea service. “Milk and sugar?” she asked Bella.
“Just milk, please,” Bella said. She watched, bemused, as Lady Guinevere pulled up one of the room’s upholstered chairs to join their group without calling for a servant to do the task.
“What instrument do you play?” Bella asked Lady Guinevere.
“Most any stringed instrument,” Lady Guinevere said breezily, as she flopped into the chair she’d dragged forward. “Though my instrument of choice is the violin. I also play the pianoforte. Do you play?” she asked her.
Bella laughed. “Sadly, no. That was a portion of a lady’s education that I missed.”
“Well, I shan’t hold it against you. I ask most everyone I meet, as I am always searching for volunteers for concerts,” Lady Guinevere said as she accepted a cup of tea from her grandmother.
“I think you mean conscripts,” said Lady Malmsby dryly.
Lady Guinevere smiled, but otherwise compressed her lips as she mischievously looked up and away, her eyes laughing. She looked back. “What can I say? I love music and I get enjoyment from playing. And—” looking with a mock glare at her grandmother, “I’m quite disgruntled that they will not let me play at Ann’s betrothal ball,” she confessed to Bella.
“You can’t be the hired help at your cousin’s ball!” Lady Malmsby mildly protested.
Lady Guinevere gave an unladylikeharrumph. “Yes, then I should like you by my side when I am introduced about, to give me the aside information—”
“Gossip,” Lady Malmsby clarified for Bella with an arched look.
