“And I indulged you. I will not be so indulgent again,” he warned. “Do not do this—not ever again, Grandmother. I promise you, you shall regret it if you try.”
She shook her head. “After all I’ve done for you,” she said, “raising you since you were a child. You can’t admit that perhaps I might know best when it comes to matters of the heart?”
“An engagement is much more than a matter of the heart. I must find the ideal Duchess of Harbeck. That is myduty. And I fear that duty may be something you understand very little about, Grandmother. Kindly stay out of my affairs from now on.”
He turned and went into the house, leaving his grandmother to watch him go.
He saw her next at dinner that night, and she seemed much chastened. Allan was glad of it. Maybe his words had had the desired impact, and she would think twice before meddling in his affairs again.
She cleared her throat. “An invitation arrived,” she said.
“What? When?”
“About an hour ago.”
“You should have told me straightaway.”
“Don’t be so cross about everything, Allan. You know perfectly well that I’ve only ever meant to help you. I’m sorry Ioverstepped with Miss Catherine, but surely, we can move on from that now. You’re not going to remain angry with me.”
No, he wasn’t. He did know that she cared for him, and though his irritation with her wasn’t exactly behind him, he was ready to accept that she knew she had gone wrong. “All right,” he said. “What’s this invitation, then?”
“The Duke and Duchess of Loxburgh are having a party, and we’re to attend.”
Allan frowned. “They didn’t have a party last season.”
“I suppose they’ve decided to establish a new tradition. Such a thing is hardly unusual.”
“Perhaps. Or maybe they’re only doing this because of Lady Edwina and their desire to see her married.”
His grandmother laughed. “A whole party to find a husband for the unattainable spinster. One can hardly say that the young lady doesn’t know how to draw attention to herself!”
“As she should,” Allan said. “Or rather—she should if what she wants is to find herself a husband, but we all know that she wants nothing of the kind, so I can’t imagine what she thinks she’s doing.”
“You know as well as I that Lady Edwina was considered a diamond in her debut season,” Allan’s grandmother said. “Shehad no need to go to these lengths to get attention. If attention was what she wanted, she had it at the time. No, you mark my words, these are the machinations of her family. They haven’t given up on finding her a suitable match. You can hardly blame them after the sister did so well for herself. That marriage to His Grace, the Duke of Loxburgh, was quite the coup for the Duchess.”
“Oh, I daresay Seth was as happy with his lot as his bride was,” Allan observed. “But it’s a rare marriage in which both parties consider themselves equally advantaged. If it was always that way, the season wouldn’t be the game of chess that it is.”
“You have that right,” his grandmother agreed. “Even if you’ve understood nothing else I’ve tried to tell you?—”
“Grandmother, enough.”
She held up a hand in surrender. “The point is that you clearly do understand one thing—the season is a game. Finding the perfect match is a game. You must be willing to play that game. Perhaps at this house party, you will finally claim your prize.”
“Perhaps,” Allan said quietly, though he didn’t share her confidence. “I don’t know that there will be any ladies there apart from those I’ve already met, and if I’m not to meet anybody new…”
“Your duchess may well be someone you’ve already met,” his grandmother said. “Perhaps someone you haven’t taken aproper look at just yet—but once you do, you will realize she’s the right one for you.”
“It seems unlikely to me.”
“Lady Edwina will be there, of course.”
Allan hummed noncommittally. He hadn’t told his grandmother that he and Lady Edwina had agreed not to see one another again. He wouldn’t tell her now, either, though the truth was that he questioned how Lady Edwina would respond to the sight of him if he showed his face at this party. She wouldn’t wish to socialize with him, to be sure, but perhaps she would like it best if he refrained from attending at all.
Well, and what of that? She could decline to see him, but she couldn’t have him removed from society at large. Seth was one of his best friends, and Allan had every right to attend a party. It was the kind of thing he would have done without a second thought before all this business with Lady Edwina, and he could think of no reason why that ought to stop now.
He nodded to his grandmother. “Very well,” he said. “You and I will attend this party—when is it to be held?”
“In two weeks’ time.”
