He sighed. “Very well. Yes, I was with Lady Prudence last night.”
“All night.”
“Yes. All night.”
There was an odd muffled sort of noise from his father. “Well, lad, you’ve got good taste. I’ll give you that.”
Lady Jocelyn forgot herself enough to lean forward and thwack her own head on the breakfast table. Twice.
“Mother?”
“I don’t know whether to throw you out of the house forever, box your ears or tell you to immediately go and make sure you marry her.” She rubbed her forehead. “And I think I have a headache.”
“Well stop banging it into the table then, woman.” Sir Rodney leaned over and grabbed her hand. “It’s not the end of the world.”
“It might be the end of the Chillendales if word of this gets out.” Lady Jocelyn turned to Reid. “Howcouldyou? You know how small a place Little Chillendale is. One hint of gossip and it spreads like wildfire. What would happen if anyone found out about you and Lady Eldridge, I shudder to imagine.”
“They’d probably think he was smarter than he looks.”
“You arenothelping solve this problem, Rodney.” Lady Jocelyn speared her husband with a look sharper than ten daggers.
“Look, both of you. Here’s the crux of the matter. I am going to wed Lady Prudence Eldridge. She is definitely the one for me. So there shouldn’t be any panic at all.”
That announcement brought a moment of blessed silence into the room. Which of course couldn’t last.
“You met her when?” The eyebrow rose.
“I told you, Mama.”
“So that means you’ve known her for—let me see—forty-eight hours?” The other eyebrow joined the first.
Reid nodded. “Yes.”
To his surprise, his father stood, walked to his wife and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I knew I was going to marry you five minutes after you tripped curtseying to me at the Hunt ball. That was the first time we met.”
His mother melted. “Oh, Rodney, damn you. I had such a good temper going there for a minute.” She reached up and covered his hand. “Very well. I confess. It took me a lot longer. We were halfway through the second dance before I was sure.”
Reid grinned. “Right. So we can move on now, can we? I don’t need to remind you about glass houses and throwing stones or anything?”
“Reid. Do shut up.” Lady Jocelyn rose. “Let me think.” She tapped her lips with one finger as she paced. “Where is Lady Prudence now? I would suggest you get her over here as soon as possible and thus we can all be seen as a family unit. It will go a long way to quash any murmurs about the suddenness of your engagement.”
“Er, about that…”
“Oh Lord.” Sir Rodney returned to his chair. “Haven’t asked her yet, have you?”
Reid shook his head. “No. Last night…well, we were otherwise occupied.” He turned away on the pretext of refilling his teacup to conceal the fact that some rather heated blushes were creeping over his cheeks. There were things one didn’t discuss with one’s parents. How he spent the night with a woman was one of them.
The two elders exchanged glances. “Joss, we’ve raised a nodcock.”
“It would seem so. And I had such high hopes too.” Lady Jocelyn shook her head sadly.
Reid stood, placed his hands firmly on his hips and stared at his parents. “If you two have quite finished with your amusing repartee…” he gritted his teeth, “I have every intention of asking Lady Prudence for her hand in marriage this very day. She is, at present, in rooms at the Inn, along with Brent. She’s his cousin, as you know. Therefore, if you, Mama, would find Grandmother Chillendale’s ring for me, and you, Father, would ask for the carriage to be brought round, I will take myself off to the Inn, take care of private matters and return with my fiancée.”
With that, he spun on his heel and walked firmly toward the door reaching for the handle and pulling it sharply toward him.
Bunbury staggered, fell in and caught himself just before landing face-first in front of Reid.
“Do come in, Bunbury. I’m sure my parents will fill in any of the bits you might have missed. It is a thick door, after all.”
With that Parthian shot, Reid stalked out.
