Both girls had danced the entire night, and on the ride home, they had chattered on and on about their dance partners—who was the best dancer, who was the wittiest, who they hoped to see again. Vanessa had remained silent. Kathleen hadn’t said much, either. But before Vanessa had opened her bedroom door last night, Kathleen had whispered to her, “We shall visit Daniel tomorrow—if you haven’t changed your mind. Lord Albert expects us.”
“I’ll be ready,” Vanessa had replied. “But you will need to excuse yourself after we arrive there so I can have a few minutes alone with him, or the visit might be pointless.”
“We should discuss strategies.”
Vanessa shook her head. “Not tonight, Mother. I’m tired.”
The warning about visiting the Rathbans tomorrow could have waited until the morning. It had kept her awake much longer than she would have liked. If Daniel would even receive her. If Daniel would even be there. If it would accomplish anything other than her getting rebuffed again. And she was going to have to pretend to like him—bloody hell.
She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, but the twins were already firing off questions.
“Who did you favor last night?” Emily asked.
“Does it matter?” Vanessa replied.
“Certainly it does!” Layla exclaimed.
“We don’t want to encourage the same gentlemen.”
“Em and I have made lists!”
“Did you?” Emily asked her.
If she were more awake, she might have realized sooner that they both were assuming that she no longer wanted the fiancé who had been picked for her. “You forget I’m engaged.”
“No!” they said in unison, though Emily added, “He’s too old. You can’t actually want him.”
Of course she didn’t, but she still had to give a reason why she might. “Not old a’tall, and I found him very handsome.”
“Really?” Layla said. “From my viewpoint, and I was watching, it looked like he snubbed you. Did he?”
Vanessa managed a grin. “A good way to pique my interest by pretending he’s not interested in me. I did find that intriguing.”
“Or he snubbed you because he’s already being lured by a duke’s daughter,” Emily rejoined. “So he won’t waste his time on any other women. We heard one has set her cap for him and that she can be quite cutthroat.”
“Not just her,” Layla put in. “I heard a couple of other debutantes tittering about him last night.”
“I can’t see in him what they do, as conceited and arrogant as he is,” Emily added. “You can do better, Nessa.”
“Or I can give Daniel a chance,” Vanessa countered. “While I already find him attractive, I don’t know him yet. I need to spend some time finding out if he’s of good character. Unlike you, I’m in no hurry to make any decisions on the matter.”
Good grief, more lies, when she’d already been assured there was nothing to like about Daniel—well, in Monty’s opinion. But at least it stopped the twins’ complaints about the match.
After joining her sisters downstairs for breakfast, Vanessa escaped the anticipated morning callers by visiting Snow for the rest of the morning. But almost as soon as she got there, she heard a throat being cleared behind her and turned to see Monty sporting his usual “I’m doing something I ought not to” grin.
She laughed. “Did you follow me out of the house?”
“Of course I did, since it’s difficult to speak with you privately now, and I do so like speaking with you privately. Anything special on your agenda today or can you join me for a ride?”
“Visiting my fiancé after lunch.”
“What the devil for?”
“For the usual reasons, though I suppose you’ll point out they don’t apply yet? So more to the point, he was foxed last night,” she said even though she had no idea if Daniel had been or not. “Which could explain his rudeness. But I need to at least give him another chance while he’s sober.”
“Do make sure, while he’s sober, to find out if he even knows he’s engaged to you,” he suggested dryly. “Just don’t cry over his answer.”
She sighed in exasperation. Monty definitely wasn’t making this ordeal any easier for her with his negative predictions. But how telling, that she thought of it as an ordeal.
