Good Lord, he was not becoming infatuated with Miss Claudia Martin, was he? There could be nothing more disastrous. But of course he was not. She had been kind to Lizzie, that was all—and it was impossible not to love her a little as a result. He loved the Smarts for the same reason.
“What happened to the dog?” he asked.
“A home happened—temporarily, at least,” she said, “and loving care from all quarters. And your mention of him has given me an idea. May I bring him to visit Lizzie?”
But Lizzie was stirring even as he raised his eyebrows, and he leaned over her and kissed her forehead. She smiled and reached up one hand to touch and pat his face.
“Papa,” she said, sounding sleepy and contented.
“It is time to go home, sweetheart,” he said.
“Oh, so soon?” she asked, but she did not look unhappy.
“Miss Martin will come and visit you again if you wish,” he said. “She will bring her little dog with her.”
“A dog?” she said, instantly more alert. “There was one on the street one day a few years ago. Do you remember, Papa? He barked and I was frightened, but then his owner brought him close and I patted him and he panted all over me. But Mother said I might not have one of my own. My stories always have a dog in them.”
“Do they? Then we must certainly have this one visit you,” he said. “Shall we invite Miss Martin to come too?”
She laughed, and it seemed to him that there was some unaccustomed color in her cheeks.
“Willyou come, Miss Martin?” she asked. “And will you bring your dog?Please?I would like it of all things.”
“Very well, then,” Miss Martin said. “He is a very affectionate little thing. He will probably lick your face all over.”
Lizzie laughed with delight.
But this afternoon was rapidly coming to an end, Joseph thought. They must not be late back. Both he and Miss Martin had the evening visit to Vauxhall to prepare for—and he had a dinner to attend first.
He was sorry the outing was over. He wasalwayssorry when his times with Lizzie were at an end. But today had been particularly pleasurable. They felt almost like a family.
But the strange, unbidden thought brought a frown to his face. Lizzie would always be his beloved child, but she would never be part of hisfamily. And as for Miss Martin, well…
“Time to go,” he said, getting to his feet.
10
Lady Balderston had invited Joseph to dinner, and it wasquickly obvious to him that there were no other guests, that he and the Balderstons and their daughter were to dineen famille. And if that fact were not statement enough of his new status as Miss Hunt’s almost betrothed, then Lady Balderston’s words not long after they sat down were.
“It was extremely obliging of Viscountess Ravensberg to invite Portia to Alvesley Park for the Redfields’ anniversary celebrations this summer,” she remarked as servants removed the soup plates from the table and brought on the next course.
Ah. It was to be a preeminently family gathering for the fortieth wedding anniversary of the earl and countess. Miss Hunt was already family, then?
“I had not yet informed Lord Attingsborough of the invitation, Mama,” she said. “But yes, it is true. Lady Sutton was obliging enough to invite me to call upon Lady Ravensberg with her this afternoon, and while we were there she informed her cousin that I had no plans for the summer other than to go home with Mama and Papa. And so Lady Ravensberg invited me to go to Alvesley. It was all very gratifying.”
“Indeed so,” Joseph said, smiling at both ladies. “I will be going there too.”
“But of course,” Miss Hunt said. “I am well aware that I would not have been invited otherwise. There would have been no point, would there?”
And there was no point in delaying his marriage proposal any longer, Joseph thought. It was obviously merely a formality anyway. The Balderstons and Miss Hunt herself clearly thought so. So did his sister—who nevertheless ought not to have taken matters into her own hands this afternoon.
It was just that he would have liked a little time for courtship.
Balderston was already attacking his roast duck and giving it his full attention. Joseph glanced at him, but now was not the time for plain speaking. He would make an appointment at some other time to speak formally with his future father-in-law. Then he would make an official offer to Miss Hunt, and all would be done. The course of the rest of his life—and hers—would be mapped out.
There was very little time for courtship, then, but there was still some. For the rest of the dinner and the journey to Vauxhall, where they were to meet Lauren and Kit and their party, Joseph focused his attention upon his future bride, deliberately noting again how beautiful she was, how elegant, how refined, how perfect in every way.
He was going to make himself fall in love with her as far as he could, he decided as his carriage proceeded on its way to Vauxhall. He had no desire to enter into a loveless marriage just because his father expected it of him and because circumstances demanded it of him.
