“That’s ridiculous,” she responded as they strode around to the front entrance. “Are you fond of whiskey, Mr. Spencer?”
“Fond is a rather bland way to describe the emotions I have for it.” He laughed. As did those of the other gentlemen in earshot.
“Passion would be more apt.” Tabetha giggled. “Why, on one particular summer morning, Bethany and I rose early to go riding and found all of these bounders passed out on the front lawn. In their clothes. I swear we could smell the liquor on their breath all the way from the stables.”
“I don’t remember any such thing,” Lord Chaswick protested, looking back, although not very vehemently.
“Well, you wouldn’t.” Bethany shook her head.
“It must have been Lord Lucas,” Chaswick persisted.
“You only say that because he is away at war and is not here to defend himself,” Bethany answered without missing a beat.
“Any word on when your brother’s regiment returns?” The Marquess fellow spoke up, garnering the duke’s attention.
“He was back for a few weeks, before the holidays. His men suffered an ambush. Arthur Gilcrest was one of the casualties.”
The members of the group all made the appropriate sympathetic comments, but as she had no idea whom they were talking about, Charley only half-listened.
The group fell silent, seeming to observe a few steps of somber moments until Bethany changed the subject. She gestured meaningfully toward the couple that had managed to gain a lead on the rest. “What do you say, Chase, will my brother make his offer official this spring?”
“Mum’s the word from me. Would you be interested in making a wager, Lady Bethany?”
Charley sent the baron a sharp glance. Were they discussing Lord Westerley offering forLady Felicity?
“Ladies do not wager.” Bethany dropped her gaze to the ground, looking almost sad. But in the very next instant, Charley thought she must have imagined the moment when the girl lifted her chin and smiled brightly. “Will you gentlemen be joining us for tea?”
“Westerley insists it’s our duty. If you’ve any of that whiskey on you this afternoon, Miss Jackson, I’d be most appreciative for a drop or two in my cup of tea later on. We gentlemen will require all the fortitude we can muster.”
“He’s already taken his sweet time about it,” Tabetha added. And then she met Charley’s eyes in a friendly manner. “He and Felicity are practically betrothed. We’re hopeful that he’ll make it official this year.”
But Charley hardly paid attention, her gaze pinned to the back of the finely dressed gentleman walking ahead who was also their host. If Lady Felicity was expecting an offer, how was it honorable for him to court Charley? Was this all just a game to him? Was everything a game to these people?
She dismissed the pinch of disappointment she felt upon realizing the earl wasn’t at all the man he’d portrayed himself to be.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be so very difficult to resist Lord Westerley’s charm after all.
Chapter 6
TELL THAT TO YOUR SISTERS
“Felicity is looking particularly lovely; would you not agree?” Bethany sidled up next to Jules as several of the guests milled out of the drawing room after tea. Most of them would retire to their chambers to freshen up or take short naps before the evening’s festivities, but he doubted Miss Jackson would do any such thing.
“What do you think of Miss Jackson?” he asked without any preamble.
“Charley?” His sister lowered her brows thoughtfully. “Very different. Not at all as I’d expected she would be.”
“Which was?”
“Silly. Grasping. Somewhat desperate.”
Her glance shifted toward the window, and he followed her gaze. Sure enough, the young American woman was walking outside. She was too industrious to do something so lazy as rest for a few hours during the day. For an instant, Jules imagined other activities that could be undertaken on a lazy afternoon in one’s bedchamber. With her fiery red hair splayed about his pillow.
An inappropriate shot of lust had him bringing himself up short. Where the devil had that thought come from? He straightened his shoulders.
“No, not the grasping sort,” he agreed.
“Initially, I felt sorry for her. She seemed terribly out of place. From what I was able to garner, her grandparents disapprove of her. They didn’t want her to attend the house party as she hadn’t completed the etiquette lessons they’d arranged. I think they are sorely mistaken if they think to turn her into an English Miss before the Season rolls around.”
