Caroline felt her face grow hot.
Lady Lutton tilted her head. “But, now that I think of it, I’m not surprised he would change his ways and pursue you.”
Caroline was suddenly dying to question Lady Lutton further. Why was she not surprised? Why would Phineas pursue Caroline? But instead she folded the letter and sealed it. The less she knew about Phineas, the better.
“You will d-deliver the letter?”
Lady Lutton hesitated. “Are you sure you want me to, Caroline? It’s just as your brother’s friend and as an earl, he is a very appropriate match for you. And I am sure once he reads this letter, he will irrevocably leave you alone.”
“I w-w-want that.”
Lady Lutton looked sad. “Yes, I will deliver it. But I must admit I think you two would be a wonderful pair. You would be the making of him.”
Caroline looked away from her first friend and toward the window out onto the back garden where she had played as a child.
“He is already made. As am I.”
He ith already made. Ath am I.
Fifteen
Phineas wanted to spend the rest of his day thinking about his beautiful Caro. Instead, he was very busy with other concerns. Lady Starling had him in her talons and the quicker he fulfilled his obligation to her, the quicker she’d release him.
He planned an informal dinner party and sent out invitations. For the ladies, besides Lady Starling, he would have Lady Anne Cavendish, one of the many sisters of the Duke of Middlewich, as well as her elderly chaperone Lady Fitzhugh, whom Phineas had known since childhood. He would ask Lady Lutton, too. He wasn’t privy to the details of her financial circumstances, but he suspected she could always do with a good dinner.
Then, for the men, there would be himself, William Dagenham, and Sir Matthew Elliot. Phineas’coup de maîtrewas that at the last minute, he would impose on Edmund, get him to make up the numbers. Knowing his friend was in need, Edmund would not refuse Phineas.
Then he would have put Edmund in Horatia’s path. The Goliath of Sudbury could handle Lady Starling as he saw fit. Of paramount importance now was that Edmund never know what a scoundrel Phineas had been with his sister. Phineas wanted there to be good feelings between him and his future brother-in-law, after all. Not like how things stood between Andrew Finch, the Duke of Abingdon, and George Danforth.
Dashwood was in a dither about being given such short notice for a dinner party.
Phineas shooed him away. “It doesn’t matter what I wear, Dashwood. Let me get this seating arrangement as it needs to be.”
Yes, Phineas’ clothes didn’t matter. He only wanted to impress one woman, and she would be conspicuously absent from this dinner party.
He discussed the menu with his cook, Mrs. Cull. He arranged for extra footmen to serve. He made the usual orders to the wine merchant and the florist, the same ones he had made for his dinner parties in the past.
Not that he could afford it. His visit to Burchester in October had yielded no improvement in his income. During his time there, William Dagenham had glanced through the ledgers with Albion Chambers looking over his shoulder, and in a rather deadly fashion, William had refused a loan from Phineas.
“You’re in almost as bad shape as I am, Phin. I’ll just have to hope my horses win all their races from now on. Then I can makeyoua loan.”
Yes, although Phineas had successfully rid himself of his little bit of belly roundness in anticipation of Caro coming to London, he had not fixed his financial situation. And now he wanted to marry her and to keep her well-fed and well-clothed. He wanted her to have all the comfortable luxuries of Sudbury Manor as well as a few emeralds.
Good God, he was going to have to find money quickly.
But first, he must appease Lady Starling.
At four in the afternoon on the day of the dinner, he nipped into the club and pretended to stumble upon Edmund and William playing cards.
“Ah, Edmund, good. I’ve run into a bit of trouble with my dinner party and wonder if you could be my extra man tonight? I know you don’t like to leave your sister in the evening, but I wouldn’t impose on you unless I was desperate.”
Edmund discarded. “Who are your guests besides William here?”
“Oh, Lady Lutton, Lady Anne Cavendish, Sir Matthew Elliot, some others.”
Edmund looked at Phineas suspiciously. “If I come, I count four men and two women. And you know I can’t bear Lady Anne Cavendish. She riles me and picks at me to no end.”
Phineas should have thought of that. And hewouldhave thought of it if he hadn’t been still so intoxicated by his encounter with Caro. Damn. It would be unfathomably rude to withdraw Lady Anne’s invitation now.
