“It wasn’t an insult,” Marshall hurried to assure her. “Why, I’ve always enjoyed the company of mature ladies. They’re far more interesting than girls fresh out of the schoolroom.”
“And yet I’ve seen you in Miss Jennie Gibson’s company of late as well as a few of the other debutantes.”
Annoyance flashed through Marshall’s eyes before he inclined his head. “It was apleasurevisiting with you today, Miss Duveen, but if you’ll excuse me, I’ve promised to take Miss Constance Kip riding in the park this afternoon.”
“Yet another debutante,” Adelaide couldn’t resist pointing out, which had the annoyance in Marshall’s eyes increasing. He turned on his heel without another word and headed across the room, stopping to speak with Jennie Gibson and Edith Sherman, who’d made a point of calling at Adelaide’s house every day since the Patriarch Ball, then sauntered through the door.
“I have no idea why Ward McAllister felt inclined to include the likes of Marshall Wilson in the Season this year,” Phyllis grumbled. “No matter his extreme wealth, Marshall’s boorish nature wouldn’t be tolerated by most people if Ward hadn’t taken him under his wing. Marshall lacks basic manners anddidn’t bother to bid me good day, a slight if there ever was one. Quite honestly, if you’d not already put him in his place, I’d have delivered him quite a dressing-down.”
After giving Adelaide’s arm a squeeze, Phyllis hurried to join her sister, Petunia, who was keeping an eagle eye on Charles as he conversed with Camilla. Given the smile on Aunt Petunia’s face, it wasn’t much of a stretch to assume that she was convinced Charles was speaking with Camilla about taking him on in a matchmaking endeavor, even though there was no possibility of that since Camilla was determined to avoid the matchmaking industry forever.
It came as no surprise when Phyllis bent her head close to Aunt Petunia’s and immediately began whispering up a storm, undoubtedly about Marshall Wilson.
Smiling as she wondered how badly her mother and aunt were disparaging Marshall’s character, Adelaide squared her shoulders and drew in a breath, bracing herself for more hand kissing, most likely by Dudley Paulding next, who’d been sneaking peeks at her through his monocle for the past thirty minutes.
Before she could take more than a step forward, though, her attention was captured by the sight of a monster of a black cat by the name of El Cid, named after a Castilian knight in medieval Spain she’d read about in a fascinating history book, meandering across the room. His appearance, amusingly enough, caused more than a few guests to sidle out of his way as he lumbered over the Aubusson carpet, not stopping until he reached Camilla. He immediately stood on his hind legs, gave Camilla’s skirt a swat, then released a roar that resounded around the room, which drew everyone’s attention. After shooting Adelaide a resigned look, done so because El Cid had made it clear from the moment he’d caught sight of Camilla that he was enamored with her, Camilla scooped the cat into her arms, where it promptly began nuzzling her neck.
“Don’t think this means I’m keeping him,” Camilla mouthed to Adelaide before she returned her attention to Charles, who sent Adelaide a wink.
Swallowing a laugh, Adelaide took a moment to consider the room at large, finding herself still taken aback that Camilla’s plan had been a rousing success, if one discounted the handful of society ladies who’d never cared for her anyways, such as Suzette. Those ladies were not clamoring to pay calls on her, but be that as it may, society in general seemed eager to spend time in her company. The fact that there was barely standing room in the receiving parlor today lent credence to that idea, suggesting Adelaide had now been elevated to the lofty status of being considered in high demand.
It was a curious circumstance to be sure, and one that had left her with the distinct impression that being in demand was far more work than she’d ever imagined, and ... she was beginning to get the sneaking suspicion she wasn’t meant to live her life as a member of the esteemed fashionable set.
Being besieged with callers, as well as having a schedule packed with society events, left her with little time to indulge in activities she actually enjoyed, such as reading, attending to her many cats, making plans for her new bookstore, or convincing Gideon she would be an asset to the accounting firm.
Nevertheless, since her mother was elated by her emergence into the highest echelons of the upper crust, it was obvious she was going to have to make the best of the situation. If nothing else, Gideon was still insisting on accompanying her to every evening event she attended, his insistence rather odd because other gentlemen were now stepping forward with offers to escort her, ones she’d been refusing because, in all honesty, she preferred spending her time with Gideon.
There was a part of her that knew she should discourage his singular attention because Camilla’s plan had already achieved astounding success, which meant there was no reason for himto continue lavishing his time on her. However, the single time she’d broached the topic with him, he’d shrugged and told her that society was fickle, and he didn’t want to take the chance they’d conclude he’d lost interest in her.
She hadn’t put up an argument to that because she relished the time in his company and hadn’t wanted to give him a reason to limit how often he accompanied her, even though she realized she was being a complete idiot for not suggesting he get on with his regularly scheduled life instead of escorting her to the opera, theater, or the many balls society held during the winter Season.
She knew spending so much time with him was setting herself up for a hefty dose of disappointment at some point, because even though society seemed keen to embrace her status as an original, she was still simply Adelaide and he was still Gideon—a far too handsome, charismatic, and captivating gentleman for someone like her.
“Would you look at that,” Jennie Gibson exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention as she nodded toward the doorway. “Mr. Abbott has arrived, and it appears he’s brought some adorable friends with him today.”
Adelaide’s gaze darted to the doorway, her pulse ratcheting up a notch when she caught sight of Gideon. The rate of her pulse increased a second later when Moe loped into the room behind him, Harvey peeking his head out of his custom saddlebag. It wasn’t much of a surprise when the sight of Moe and Harvey drew more than a few oohs and aahs from the ladies in attendance.
Her knees, curiously enough, took that moment to go a little weak, undoubtedly done so because she knew Gideon had deliberately chosen a strategic moment to introduce Harvey to society, which would hopefully persuade all the society ladies who would find the sight of him riding on Moe oh so adorable to consider taking in a cat of their own.
Her gaze returned to Gideon, and in that moment, an undeniable truth struck from out of the blue, one that left her feeling as if the ground underneath her feet had shifted.
As that truth settled, perspiration suddenly beaded her forehead because . . . she’d obviously done the unthinkable and gone and allowed herself to fall ever so slightly, or perhaps more so, in love with the man.
Before she could do more than call herself every sort of ninny for allowing such a circumstance to transpire, especially when she’d lectured herself over and over again during the past few months about Gideon being the last gentleman on earth she could hold in deep affection, he glanced around the room, caught her eye, and after telling Moe to sit and stay, began strolling her way.
“You brought Harvey,” she said in an annoyingly breathless voice, one she didn’t seem to have any control over, and one that left Gideon frowning as he took hold of her hand and kissed it.
“Are you coming down with a cold?” he asked.
She waved that aside. “I fear I’m merely losing my voice since I’ve been conversing with people almost nonstop this week.”
“Perhaps you should take a break from doing that.”
“I would be more than happy to do exactly that, although Camilla seems to think I need a good month of being thought of as in high demand before she’ll be completely convinced we’re out of the woods. Besides that, my mother is in her element.” She nodded to Phyllis, who’d abandoned her sister to hurry up to Moe, giving the dog a pat before she retrieved Harvey from the saddlebag. She then snuggled Harvey close for a moment before handing him off to Jennie Gibson, who gave Harvey a kiss on the nose and refused to hand him over to Edith Sherman, who’d been holding out her hands.
“Phyllis is definitely relishing having a receiving room full of people,” Gideon said.
“She’s turned downright smug because even my sisters, who were immediately considered fashionable when they made their debuts, never filled up the house quite like this.”
