Adam grinned. Mrs. Malcolm reminded him of his feisty sister Radiance, putting him in his place.
“Good day,” he said to her straight back. For answer, she began to play.
Time to visit with the Beasleys,he reminded himself and sprinted toward the drawing room, knowing he’d lingered too long with the governess.
Not good form,he muttered to himself.
In short order, he was seated opposite the two Beasley females, mother and daughter, drinking tea, eating biscuits, and enjoying the conversation, mostly because it had to do with Bath and his mother’s youthful mischief.
“I was happy for Caroline making a love match, despite the small scandal that ensued,” Lady Beasley said of the now Countess Diamond. “Unfortunately, she and your father made all our parents watch us far too closely.”
Adam had heard about his parents’ elopement. It took the pressure off the next generation of Diamonds to behave appropriately all the time since their parents had raced off to Gretna Green. Even his older sister Purity, whom they all considered the most proper primster, had eventually relaxed and fallen in love with a rakish baron.
“My parents are as much in love as ever. Mother says she will come visit you this fall if you wish,” he told Lady Beasley.
“I would like that very much. I shall write to her directly. And I hope your father will come as well. They haven’t been here together for years, and it would be such fun. The earl is rather a dash-fire man, as I recall.”
Adam coughed, having no opinion upon his father’s dash-fire. If it suited Geoffrey Diamond, then he would come. If not, he wouldn’t — that was, unless his wife wanted him to, in which case, Adam knew his father would do whatever his mother asked.
For his own part, Adam was ready to fall in love and take a wife. His parents and his older sisters had set fine examples, showing him only the best of happy companionship. While having had his fair share of females around him, thanks to four sisters who all had acquaintances of the fair sex, as well as friends at university who introduced him to their sisters, none had made him yearn to ask for their hand. Nor had the bevy of young ladies from London’s highest echelon, who were always happy to keep company with him because one day he would be the Earl Diamond.
That fact, although something for which he was immensely grateful, was the main reason he was temporarily residing in Bath. Too many females saw him as a title to be won. Sometimes, rather than deal with the fastidiously polite games of the sexes, he visited one of London’s exclusive high fliers. Those females were beautiful, clean, doused in the most expensive perfume, and extraordinarily talented. From them, he’d learned a lot about pleasing women and hoped to apply his lessons to a wife someday soon.
Lady Susanne might be a potential mate. Seated beside her mother, her posture erect, her movements graceful, she nodded and smiled. She’d poured his tea and handed him the saucer.She’d reached out not too far, merely far enough to offer him the platter of biscuits. Obviously, she had trained to be the perfect hostess.
He hadn’t thought too much about what it took to be the wife of a nobleman since all the women of his acquaintance had received similar training, but he imagined if he was with a female who wasn’t born and bred to the lifestyle, he would find her lacking.
“Will you be attending the assembly tomorrow evening?” Lady Beasley asked.
Her daughter’s gaze fixed upon Adam; her head tilted becomingly as they both awaited his response.
“I shall indeed,” he said, although he’d been looking forward to finding the mysterious lady from the street, and now he knew he wouldn’t see her there. “I have purchased a subscription for the Season and am looking forward to my first ball in Bath.”
“Your first, is it?” Lady Susanne said. “How fun! If you allow, then we shall introduce you to many nice people we know.”
“But none so nice nor so lovely as my Susanne,” Lady Beasley added.
This was familiar territory, a mother promoting her daughter to him. However, Adam didn’t mind in this case. After all, the family was known to his mother. They had welcomed him into their home. And Lady Susanne was, in fact, pretty and pleasant.
She was also offering to present him to others, an unusual offer. Most of the young ladies he met at assemblies became instantly proprietary. While they would chat with other females when alone, the moment he appeared, they pretended none of the others existed.
Lady Susanne even had the grace to blush at her mother’s boast.
“There are plenty of attractive ladies in Bath,” she went so far as to say. “My mother is biased for me and my sisters, and I love her dearly for that.”
He was touched. The Beasleys truly were quality people, as his mother had indicated.
After a few more minutes of idle chatter, he took his leave with the understanding he would see Lady Susanne and her chaperone at the ball. Once in the front hall again, he cocked an ear to listen but could no longer hear Mrs. Malcolm’s talented fingers.
A pity!
The day had flown by, and Alice stood dressed in a new burgundy-colored ballgown, purchased for her by Lady Beasley. As her employer had hoped, the dressmaker produced a suitable article, already made, which had needed the barest of attention to make it fit. Last year’s fashion, the woman had explained. It hadn’t been picked up by its intended owner and was then passed over as out of style for the current Season by the new crop of young ladies who wanted only the latest.
Alice intended to give it back to Lady Beasley afterward. While she knew her employer wouldn’t deduct the cost from her wages, she couldn’t accept it as a gift.Wherever would she wear it again?Perhaps in a couple years, Lady Susanne might wish to wear it if the style came back around.
In any case, Alice was happy the color wasn’t an insipid pastel since she was not a debutante by any stretch of the imagination. The only issue was the bodice, but there hadn’t been time to let it out by adding a panel of fabric under each of her arms.
Examining herself in the oval handheld looking glass in her third-floor chamber, she thought she spilled over a little too generously. Unfortunately, with nowhere for her breasts to go, they were pushed up and nearly out.
