The man hurried away, cheeks pinkening slightly. Augusta looked at her sister when she felt her eyes on her. “What is it?”
“I do believe it is you he fears and you are the reason he is so awkward,” Nancy said, grinning at Augusta.
Augusta rolled her eyes, unable to keep the smile from her face. “I suppose that is true. He is not a rake, however, so he needs not fear me.”
“Ah, you only care to protect me from rakes then?” she asked, laughing softly. “Would you mind showing them to me so I can do well to avoid them?”
Augusta knew that her sister was only teasing, still she latched at the opportunity to show her the people she needed to stay away from. She would not protect other ladies she knew nothing about and fail to protect her sister.
“Lord Murdow over there is quite a prolific rake. Much like Lord Colin, he only approaches young debutantes who know nothing about his reputation and he is sure to have fun with,” she described, pointing at one of the men standing by the fireplace. Although he was old enough to be married, he had not done so, instead he continued with his rakish ways all season.
Augusta looked around the room. Men had broken into various groups, discussing topics ranging from business, politics and women. she pinpointed one of the men as he threw his head back and laughed. She knew him quite well.
“That is Lord Thomasin,” she told her sister, discreetly pointing at him. “Lord Thomasin prefers to go after ladies who are not quite fresh out from their governesses. He prefers to have a challenge, which to him, means going after women who have rejected the idea of courtship and are well in their second or third season.”
Nancy listened with rapt attention. Her eyes flickering between the men she spoke of and Augusta. “What would he want to do with me then?”
“That I have no idea about,” she said, shaking her head. Much like his reputation stated, Lord Thomasin had sought after her during her second season. She had already begun to be known by her reputation and he’d wanted to be the one to put an end to it.
“Perhaps he’s changed?” Nancy asked, her face scrunching up despite herself.
Augusta scoffed. “I don’t believe the man is quite capable of change.” She looked around the room. There were ten men in the drawing room, save for her family members and there was not one of them she would wish for Nancy to be wed, although the choice laid not with her but with Nancy.
“You do not have to watch out for the rakes alone. In all the time I have spent standing by the side, refusing to indulge in the activities of the ball, there are some things I have been able to pick up on. And one of them is fortune hunters.”
She singled out a man she had heard about. “That there is Lord Westworth. Although he appears finely dressed, he has no penny to his name and is heavily in debt, waiting for the day his debtors will close down on him, that is if he does not find a wife with whose fortune he can pay off the debt that he owes,” she whispered to a wide-eyed Nancy.
“A man like him cares not what you look like or what you have to offer, save for the worth of your dowry. Marrying him will be a terrible mistake,” she said, looking at the man who constantly looked out the window, his eyes nervous as though he expected to get dragged out at any moment.
They had been busy all morning since the first caller came in, and it was not long before others began to show up one after the other until the room was filled with them.
“What I am trying to say, dear sister, is that some of these men are either rakes or fortune hunters who have gambled away their money or are quite terrible at managing their finances. It will be better to avoid them and make sure that you never have anything to do with a man like that,” she said with a straight face, all traces of humor gone.
“Do stop exaggerating, Augusta. Not of these men are as terrible as you make them out to be. Besides, I believe Nancy can manage to avoid these men all on her own,” Evan’s voice sounded from behind them, causing them to jump a little in their seats.
“Evan, don’t scare me like that,” Nancy said, a sharp tilt to her voice.
“I apologize for that, dear sister,” he said with a grin. “However, that doesn’t change the fact that much of what your sister said should be taken with a grain of salt.
I only hope that you will come to realize that love can change a man. He could meet the love of his life and in an instant, he’s changed forever and doing things he would normally never do,” he said, smiling at her.
Augusta’s eyes flashed at him quickly, fixing him with a glare. Perhaps it was true that she exaggerated, which she did not believe to be so. It would have been quite wonderful to have her brother by her side, instead of him always trying to prove how wrong she was.
She was happy at least, that he was not like their father and that he loved his wife in truth.
She turned away, choosing instead to ignore him. They had visitors and they would fare better together than alone.
The sound of hand smacking flesh reached her ear and she heard Evan groan. The sound a mix between pain and amusement.
The butler came through the door and she heaved a sigh, ready for the next man in her sister’s long line of callers to step in behind him. Whispers reached her ear and she gave into her curiosity, looking at the man who’d just walked in.
Augusta gasped. There in place of the rake she’d been expecting to see, was the Duke of Wenstrall. He stood tall, his presence commanding and eyes fixed only on the place where she sat. He was a man on a mission, one she had tried all night to forget about, as there was simply no way it could ever have been anything other what their deal had been - mere words with no meaning.
Gaze focused on hers, he stepped forward, closing the short distance between them. Her breath caught in her throat as he stared at her intently. She did not know how to act as it had been a while since she’d received callers of her own, a result of her reputation.
“Your Grace, it is a pleasure to have you in our home, although I cannot say it does not shock me to find you here,” Nancy said, taking control of the situation when they all just stood in awkward silence, none knowing how to act.
“Yes, Harris. Although I am pleased to see you, I do have to admit that you are the last person I thought to see in my home,” Evan said.
