“Mr. Bates,” the countess intoned.
“My lady?” He spun immediately to address her.
“My son has a fondness for you and so as a favor to him, I shall be blunt.”
“Most wise,” he agreed, as if the countess was ever anything but blunt. “I am grateful.”
“You should be because I am about to save you a great deal of time.”
“Always a benefit.”
She waited a moment and he wondered if she wanted him to be more obsequious. Thankfully, she did not. She huffed out a breath and shook her head.
“My son says you are smart, wealthy, and looking to elevate yourself in status. Such is the way of things.”
All correct. He dipped his chin in acknowledgement.
“It won’t work.”
Was that all she had to say? And here he’d thought she had something novel to impart.
“You’re too cheeky. The money and the secrets you supposedly know are enough to worm your way in. So many others have managed such a thing, but this constant cheerfulness is an afront that will not serve you.”
“My cheerfulness, my lady?”
“You act as if you know things, that you think things, that you can do things that we cannot.”
He grinned. “It’s true.”
“That may be, but one does not allow such a thing in our ranks unless—”
“Unless one is born to it?”
She nodded. “Exactly.” She leaned forward. “You do not have the manner to ingratiate yourself. It is too rough, too immodest, too…”
“Cheeky?”
“Exactly. We ladies do not like it.” She rocked back in her chair. “That is my message to you. Do not waste your time in theton. We will not allow it.”
“But you will allow me to walk in Hyde Park with your charges?”
She pursed her lips. “Only because they promised Lady Rebecca. I shall not condone it again. Nor will they accept any such invitations from you.” She arched a brow at Miss Allen. “If they do, then I will consider them no longer my charges.”
Well, that was pretty heavy punishment for merely walking with him. But at least he’d have this one afternoon. He had best make the most of it.
He bowed deeply to the arrogant woman. She probably did think she was helping him or telling him something he didn’t already know. It was more than some women would do. She didn’t realize that he had been bumping up against aristocratic arrogance all his life. And that he already knew how to break into their ranks. After all, she was right. He had the money and the secrets to force his way into the lower echelons at least.
But he hadn’t yet forced himself to hide his God-given charm. And that, he realized with a sigh, was something that would have to happen soon because the lady was right. Thetondid not appreciate a cheeky cit. So he would hide his irreverence—or at least moderate it—because the aristocracy was the only competition left to him. He’d won everything else.
He straightened to his full height. He schooled his expression to sober. And he spoke in a cultured tone that so far had been markedly absent in his speech. It wasn’t easy. He had far better things to practice than his diction, but this was something she would respect.
“My lady, pray let me honor you with an equally blunt response.”
Her raised eyebrows showed that she understood his change in demeanor.
“I am joining your ranks,” he said coolly. “I have set my mind to it, and it shall be done. I might not marry Lady Rebecca, although she is primed for it. Her family needs my money, and she is a sweet, impressionable girl. There are other ladies whose families are in an equally desperate situation, and they would be wise to allow me to manage their family fortunes.” He smiled and let his teeth show in all their wolfish glory. “But rest assured, your Scottish charges are not on my list.” He glanced over at Miss Spalding. “Except in that I enjoy their company.”
Far from being shocked, the lady frowned at him. Then a moment later, she summed up her thoughts with an abrupt grunt-like word.
