“Yes, but she obviously could not hold the Willoughbys of much account. After all, they do not have an unmarried wealthy son for Millicent.”
“Then why their company?”
“I don’t know, but likely there is a reason—at least one that makes sense to Aunt Serena’s brand of logic. Helmsdon concerns me more. He was quick to pursue private conversation. I had hoped he would dangle after Millicent awhile longer. That would have given me room and time to maneuver and plan my strategy.”
“Jane, you talk as if this were one of Wellington’s campaigns!”
Jane sighed and hooked her arm in Elsbeth’s as they turned to walk to their new rooms. "The worst of it is, I have no experience in this type of battle, whereas Aunt Serena and Cousin Millicent are hardened, experienced field marshals."
"What you need is another hardened, experienced field marshal to offer advice.”
Jane laughed. "I’ll agree to that, but the country is not the place to find such veterans!”
“Ah, do not be so hasty. There is one near to hand. One who might just find it an amusing exercise.”
“Who? Surely you don’t mean Lord Royce!”
“Why not?”
“Elsbeth, do not be ridiculous, I pray you, please!”
“I am not ridiculous. Who better than a man to warn against another man’s stratagems? Who better than a man who has successfully avoided the parson’s trap set for him by ambitious mamas? Think, Jane. I know you thought to use him as an unknowing diversion. Wouldn’t it be better to use him as a knowing one? He is bored. He said so himself. This is just the stuff to appeal to his jaded fancy.”
Jane’s brow furrowed, and she bit her lip as she thought over her aunt’s words. Bizarrely, they did make sense.
Abruptly she shook her head and removed her arm from Elsbeth’s. "No, it won’t answer. Remember, he has a guest visiting him now to assuage his boredom. He would not care to become involved in what he could only deem scheming feminine nonsense.”
“You don’t know that. But wait. Keep an open mind. Let’s see if he and his guest come to dinner. Time enough to evaluate our chances.”
Her niece nodded reluctantly, then smiled. It was a warm smile that made Jane’s ice-green eyes look like springtime.
Lady Elsbeth wished it were always spring and summer for Jane. That would be her campaign.
“Speaking of dinner, I had best turn myself over to Mrs. O'Rourke, or she will be prophesying a late appearance on my account!”
Lady Elsbeth looked down at the ornate gold-worked watch pinned to her bodice. "Oh dear me, yes. I hadn’t realized the time had grown so short! I had better move smartly if I wish to be ready before our guests.” Grabbing her skirts, she lifted them slightly to hurry down the long hall.
Her hand on the latch to her room, Jane watched her aunt, a loving smile softening her features. Too often, Lady Elsbeth adopted matronly airs. It was good to see she could at times give way to youthful impetuousness.
Millicent Hedgeworth had never been givento early, or even timely appearances. She was a woman who loved making late grand entrances to garner attention. It was with surprise thenthat Jane found her dressed and seated (or rather, ornamentally draped) upon a settee in the parlor. The twilight sun streaming in the floor-to-ceiling window caught red-gold highlights in her brunette hair, creating a halo around her head. Her face was in soft, flattering shadow. She was dressed in a rose silk gown trimmed with pearls, lace, and knots of pale pink and moss-green ribbons. The low décolletage revealed more than it covered of her creamy white breasts. A patterned silk shawl of black, green and rose was draped negligently on one shoulder, but fell in a pool of shimmering color across her other arm. It was a pose to send a painter into raptures. Not being a painter, Jane was more amused than moved.
It occurred to her that in some ways she and her cousin were really alike, for she also dressed for effect. After nodding to Millicent, Jane took a seat near the fireplace in a straight-backed Elizabethan chair of massive regal proportions. It was a chair to match her regal, aloof manner. Her gown was similarly chosen. It was of deep forest-green with only the glint of silver embroidery relieving its austere design. In her more shadowed portion of the room, Jane appeared remote and inviolate.
The silence stretched between the women. Jane sat relaxed, a wax statue of a queen on her throne. Millicent’s pose grew cramped, and she began to fidget.
“So, cousin, how many are we to expect to your country entertainments?” Millicent asked, running the fringe of her shawl through her fingers.
“The table was set for eighteen. Besides your party and Lady Elsbeth and myself, we expect the Culpeppers, the Ponsbys, Reverend Chitterdean—Mrs. Chitterdean is laid low with a cold she caught from their maid—and I believe Lord Royce and his guest. At least they have not written their regrets, and I doubt Lord Royce to be a man to overlook his manners in that way.”
Millicent chuckled deep in her throat. "La, cousin, but you are naïve. The Earl of Royce is not a man to worry about social niceties!”
Jane smiled faintly. "Perhaps.”
Millicent frowned at Jane’s complacency but was forestalled in questioning her further by the arrival of Lady Elsbeth and Lady Serena on the arms of a broadly-smiling Mr. Raymond Burry.
Mr. Burry stopped on the threshold, his smile turning smug. "I see I am a fortunate man to be the only gentleman available to entertain four lovelies.” He inhaled deeply, his waistcoat straining at its buttons, then exhaled. "That heaven should contain such bliss.”
Jane and Elsbeth exchanged glances. What made Mr. Burry even more amusing was that Serena’s and Millicent’s demeanor made it obvious they took such fulsome compliments as their due!
