A smile spread across his face. “Thank you, Lady Delilah.”
“I cannot make any promises, of course. We don’t have much more time, and this Season has been rife with the wrong people taking a fancy to each other.”
Another frown lowered his brow.
“But I do promise to put in a good word for you with Lady Rebecca and ensure you two spend more time together. The rest is up to you, however.”
“Yes.” He nodded fervently. “Yes, of course.”
Delilah stood and made her way toward the door. She needed time to think about all of this, to readjust her plans.
“I’ll see you in the country,” she said. “At Claringdon’s estate.”
“Thank you again, Lady Delilah. You’re a true friend.”
She forced a smile to her lips.Friend. Lovely. “Good day, Your Grace.”
Branville exited the room, and Delilah shut the door behind him and leaned back against it. What in heaven’s name was she to do now? All of her plans had evaporated in the space of a quarter hour. She should be sad. She expected tears to spring to her eyes at any moment. She blinked and blinked again, but there was… nothing. She wasn’t sad. She had to admit that to herself. She wasn’t. She’d coveted Branville as a prize to be won, and the rivalry with Lady Emmaline had brought out her competitive nature, but now that she realized she’d been sparring with the wrong lady the entire time, she felt nothing but a vague sense of dissatisfaction. Delilah wasn’t in love with the Duke of Branville. It was that simple.
Certainly, she’d been hoping tofallin love with him. She’d been expecting to, even. But it hadn’t happened yet, and his announcing that his affections lay with Lady Rebecca did nothing but make Delilah wonder if Rebecca might abandon her pursuit of Thomas and return Branville’s affections instead.
Delilah shook her head. It had been a mad, mad Season. None of the people she and Lucy had attempted to pair off were cooperating. It was obvious they would be forced to come up with an entirely new set of plans. Starting with Branville and Lady Rebecca, perhaps. Delilah wasn’t certain why she’d agreed to help Branville with his pursuit of Rebecca. Perhaps she’d done it because the duke had been nothing but kind to her. Perhaps she’d done it because she felt she owed him a favor after ripping his shirt in front of half theton.
Perhaps she’d done it because deep down she relishedthe idea of giving Rebecca someone to pine for other than Thomas.
A knock on the wood near her ear startled her. She jumped and turned to open the door. Her mother stood on the other side. She was dressed in purple satin, her arms crossed over her chest, a heavily interested look on her face for once.Mon Dieu. Her mother had seen Branville leave.
Delilah opened the door wider, and Mother slinked into the room. “So? Did he offer for you, then?”
Delilah gulped. How had she forgotten about her declaration to her mother when she was promising Branville to help him with Lady Rebecca? If she gave up Branville, she’d be giving up her chance to show her mother once and for all that she wasn’t a complete failure. Her mind raced. Perhaps she could ask Branville if he would pretend to be engaged to her for a sennight or two, to appease her mother. Then she could cry off, or pretend to. She quickly discarded the notion. That seemed like quite a lot to ask of the man. Not to mention, it might ruin his chances with Rebecca.
“Not yet,” she replied to her mother, still desperately sifting through all the thoughts that blurred her reason.
Guilt sliced through her. There was always the elixir. If it worked, her problems might be solved. She didn’t want to marry a man who didn’t love her, of course. And she didn’t necessarily want to marry one whom she didn’t love, but securing an offer from him and actually marrying him were two different things. If she could secure an offer from Branville, a real one, it would afford her precious time to decide what to do next without her mother insisting she marry hideous Clarence Hilton. Yes, it was ludicrous, but Delilah couldn’t give up. Forall she knew, the elixir didn’t even work, but she had to try.
“But youdoexpect an offer?” Mother prodded.
“Yes,” Delilah lied. She lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. “An offer is forthcoming.”
The smug look on her mother’s face faded, and she arched a brow. “Really?”
Delilah nodded. She’d had no idea how good it would feel to see her mother’s smugness drain from her features. “Yes.”
“Good, because your birthday is in a few days, and if there is no offer from Branville, Lord Hilton and I intend to post the first banns for your wedding with Clarence next Sunday.”
Delilah swallowed. “Don’t worry, Mother,” she said, thinking of nothing but the vial of elixir hidden upstairs in her bedchamber. The elixir that now was all that stood between her and an unwanted marriage to a man who made her shudder. “I intend to be betrothed by the time I return from Lucy’s house party on Sunday.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The ride to Lucy and Derek’s country house was long and bumpy, but Delilah couldn’t leave town fast enough. If she had been feeling guilty about using the potion on Branville instead of helping him win Lady Rebecca’s affection, her guilt had faded after her mother’s renewed threat to marry her off to Clarence. Delilah set out for the countryside, more determined than ever to wring an offer out of Branville by the end of the house party, magic potion packed securely in her trunk.
During the long, guilty trip to the estate, she’d decided exactly what she would do. First, she would see if the elixir worked. If so, all her problems would be solved. Hadn’t Madame Rosa said the elixir made the person whose eyes you sprinkled it upon fall madly in love with you? If that were true, then Branville would truly love her. He wouldn’t justthinkhe did. It wasn’t such a bad thing she was doing, was it? After all, she had no indication that Lady Rebecca felt any affection toward Branville. Itwasn’t as if she’d be splitting up a couple in love. Now that would be odious.
Besides, she reasoned, what if the elixir was fake? No doubt it had been a ludicrous notion to believe it would work in the first place. That was one reason why she hadn’t informed Lucy of its existence. Thomas had scoffed at it too. The odds of it working were actually quite low when one stopped and truly considered it. She may have done nothing but waste her money that day when she’d handed over nearly five pounds to Madame Rosa. Likely the woman had been secretly laughing at her the entire time.
If the elixir was fake, Delilah had already determined how she would handle it. She would ask Branville for a favor, to pretend to be engaged to her for, say, a fortnight, so she might inform her mother. Then she would cry off. It might cause a tiny scandal, but better a scandal than a lifetime shackled to Clarence Hilton. She just couldn’t live with her mother’s censure and disappointment. As for Branville, he had to agree. Delilah had something he wanted, didn’t she? She would offer him her services as matchmaker to Rebecca. Only this time, there would be a slight catch. She’d tell him that Rebecca would be there to comfort him after Delilah cruelly cried off. Yes. That would do the trick. It had to. Only it didn’t sound like something Branville was likely to relish doing, which was why the elixir was her first choice.
If the elixir did work, she’d thought of another way to absolve her guilt. She would use it as planned to secure an offer from Branville, then, after she’d had sufficient time to decide what to do next and how to avoid a marriage to Clarence, she would tell Rebecca about both Branville’s affections and the potion. If Rebecca returned Branville’s regard, she could go purchase some of theelixir for herself, and Delilah would help her use it any way she chose. There. That would solve the entire problem.
