Aurelia leant closer. ‘I said,I think I may be with child,’ she repeated, as though Phoebe might be hard of hearing.
Phoebe inhaled silently, feeling every polite response forsake her. Her thoughts whirled, while every hushed whisper and innuendo she’d ever overheard at Knightswood – courtesy of the butcher’s boy, the domestic staff, and the gamekeeper – spun to the forefront of her mind.
She’s fast… He’s always been frisky… Needs the herd to sow his oats… Her flank is thickening.
She dropped her gaze to Aurelia’s tiny waist, and frowned.
‘You don’t look…’ she began.
‘It’s early yet,’ Aurelia whispered. ‘But I am a littlelate…And as you are a widowed woman of the world, I wondered if you knowhowto know…for sure?’
Phoebe swallowed, feeling wholly inadequate to the moment, before it struck her. Aurelia had done the thing married people do – the thingshe’dpossibly wanted to do with the viscount!She closed her eyes and forced his golden silhouette from her mind. Now was not the time.
‘From my experience of such things,’ she whispered, in what she hoped was a convincing, maternal tone. ‘Beinglatefor anything, has no bearing on … one’s flank thickening.’
Then she added a smile for reassurance, and waited for Aurelia’s relief.
To her great surprise, Aurelia only stared with narrowing eyes, before tipping her head back and laughing as though she might never stop.
‘Oh, that’s good! Very good! I needed that.’ She sighed, wiping her eyes.
Briefly, Phoebe wondered if she wasn’t a little touched in the head, and considered her with new sympathy.
‘I trust your betrothed has been understanding?’ she tried again. ‘Perhaps family could be informed? Arrangements brought forward?’
At this Aurelia stared.
‘My betrothed?’ she repeated, before collecting herself. ‘Oh yes, my betrothed… He is,most blissfully,unaware, and as we are not contracted to marry until I reach my twenty-first birthday, long may it continue! After all, there’s little point in not enjoying some freedom while we can, is there?’
A million conflicted thoughts flew through Phoebe’s head. She was all for freedom, but if Aurelia and her betrothed had done the thingshe’dpossibly wanted to do with the viscount, there seemed few good reasons to exclude him now.
‘I just thought that someone asworldlyas yourself,’ she continued, ‘might be able to assist me with–– oh Captain Elliot! How delightful to see you!’
Phoebe stared at Aurelia’s adept change in tone, as three young officers in regimentals approached.
‘I do declare this Assembly is a positive squeeze, and yet no gathering is of any interest without you, of course.’
The officers approached them with varying levels of interest as Aurelia morphed into the very epitome of a society debutante. Phoebe shifted uncomfortably – she wasn’t used to being the object of curiosity, disguise or not.
‘You are ever the gracious flatterer, Lady Aurelia.’ Captain Elliot smiled, bending low over her hand before turning to Phoebe.
Phoebe stiffened, taking in the captain’s perfectly coiffured hair, strong jaw and fine chestnut eyes, which were brimming with mirth. He was immaculately dressed in crisp white pantaloons and spotless boots, while his regimental coat was decorated with a clutch of gleaming medals that belied his ready charm. Yet all of this paled next to Phoebe’s growing certainty that, somehow, they had already met… Before she realised.
CaptainElliotwas none other than Captain Damerel, the viscount’s amiable brother!
‘Mrs Mary Smith,’ she murmured as she curtsied, feeling the least like Mrs Mary Smith she’d felt all evening.
‘Enchanted to meet you, Mrs Smith!’ he returned, his eyes dancing. ‘Any friend of Lady Aurelia is a friend of mine!’
Phoebe blinked.
‘These soldiers are such incorrigible flirts, don’t you think? One can’t believe a word they say.’
Could Aurelia have been suggesting herlittlespot of botherwasn’t down to her betrothed?
Phoebe began to feel a little warm beneath her wig, as her head filled with myriad new possibilities.
‘Why don’t you join us for a game of whist, Captain?’ Aurelia cajoled. ‘It is so hot in the Assembly Room.’
