“Does Mr. Quick ever get angry and raise his voice to you?”
“Certainly not,” Loretta said, appalled Lady Adelewould ask such a question and as casually as if she were talking about the weather on a sunny day.
“You would tell me the truth about him, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, of course,” Loretta argued, not appreciating the way the conversation was going. If there was one person who didn’t need defending for any presumed wrongs, it was Paxton. “I would tell you or anyone for that matter the truth about anything asked. If Paxton has a fault, it’s that he finds it difficult to take his time and be serious-minded. Even when there is a concern of great importance that should be treated with critical attention, he sometimes handles the matter too carelessly.”
“Good,” she said, seeming satisfied with Loretta’s answer. “I don’t see that as a problem, Miss Quick. There is always someone around here who can handle a serious situation for us.”
“Then you are well cared for,” Loretta said, thinking she’d prefer to handle her own difficulties and settle them herself.
Wanting to change the subject, Loretta asked, “I’m wondering why you’re considering an arranged marriage and not attending the Season when it’s hardly more than a month away.”
“I’ve heard it can be quite alarming.”
“The Season?” Loretta frowned. “In what way?”
“Minerva says that all the young ladies are on constant display for all the gentlemen to look at and talk about, and if they so wish, they can dally with our tender affections at no cost to their reputations at all and possible dire consequences to our own.”
Loretta had never heard the Season described in such an unflattering light. “I would never want to contradict your cousin,” Loretta said, glancing over to the womanwho sat straight and stiff on the pianoforte stool, and played with excellent skill. “But while some gentlemen might be so boorish and crass, not all are, I’m sure.”
“Too,” Lady Adele continued as if Loretta hadn’t spoken, “it’s the gentlemen who have to ask for our hands. All we have to do is look beautiful, flutter around like a butterfly, and wait for them to do it! And what if no gentleman does?” she asked, a horrified expression on her face. “Minerva said many young ladies who haven’t been asked to make a match by the end of their first Season are completely devastated and never get over the rejection. Why go through that if you have a brother such as mine who knows all the gentlemen so well and can pick the best one for me?”
Loretta wondered if Mrs. Philbert’s opinion had been formed from personal experience about how her own first Season had been, or if perhaps she’d had an arranged marriage, too, and was only spouting rumors she’d heard years ago concerning the famed marriage mart. In any case, as far as Loretta was concerned, Lady Adele’s cousin had a jaded view of the Season that needed a counter. Most young ladies she knew looked forward to it.
“But you are lovely, intelligent, and the daughter of a duke,” Loretta said, speaking softly, not wanting her words overheard by Lady Adele’s cousin. “There would be many fine and worthy gentlemen who would seek your hand. What Mrs. Philbert spoke of simply wouldn’t happen to you—unless you wanted it to. I’d venture to say that most young ladies wouldn’t be bothered at all to be left on the shelf a year or two if it meant the right match was made in the end.”
“Do you truly believe that?” she asked emphatically.
“I told you I would always tell you the truth. I believe the number of devastated ladies would be very few. I attended some of the Season before my—well, I talked withladies who couldn’t wait for the parties and balls to begin so they could be courted by the handsome gentlemen. They were eager for each new Season to begin, because they enjoyed the company, the attention, the dancing, the rides in the park, and the tea and card parties in the afternoons.”
Lady Adele’s expression turned quizzical. “But you had an arranged marriage, did you not?”
“At my uncle’s wishes, yes. An engagement, though, I’m sure you’ve heard it didn’t end in a marriage.”
“Yes, of course.” She placed one hand over Loretta’s briefly as concern suddenly etched her face. “I hope it’s not too difficult for you to talk about?”
“Not at all. It’s well past, and I seldom think about it.”
Lady Adele turned toward her cousin. “Please change to a different melody now, Minerva, that one has become tiresome.” She waited until Mrs. Philbert changed to another score and said, “Yes, that’s a lovely one. I remember it well. And you play it so gracefully.”
Facing Loretta again, she continued, “But it is easier, an arranged marriage, isn’t it? To let someone you trust pick the best person for you? Then you don’t have to go through meeting all the gentlemen who want nothing more than to measure you against all the other young ladies. Is she prettier, is her dowry as plump, does she have all her teeth?”
Loretta and Lady Adele laughed at her last comment.
“It’s true, is it not?” Lady Adele asked when their laughter subsided. “They look us over as if we were an expensive race horse they wanted to purchase.”
Loretta blinked a couple of times over that statement. “That’s an interesting way of thinking about it, I guess. Keep in mind, if you attended the Season you would be looking them over, too, and making your own judgmentsabout each one of the gentlemen. Some you will enjoy more than others. Some will make you laugh, some may bore you to tears. One or two may even make you angry. But then, there might be one who will make you breathless just to look at him. Make you feel as if a stallion is racing in your chest every time he looks at you. You’ll lie awake at night thinking about him, wondering when you will see him again, if you’ll see him again.”
Abruptly, Loretta stopped. She realized she was telling Lady Adele the way she felt about Hawk.
“Oh, my.” Lady Adele seemed to study on what Loretta said as she pulled at a ribbon on the neckline of her gown. “What a dreadful thing to happen. I mean, who would want to stay awake all night thinking about anything? Do you really think it’s possible for someone to make you feel that way?”
For some reason Lady Adele didn’t seem to comprehend what Loretta was trying to say about how a man could make a young lady feel. Loretta hadn’t understood, either, until she met the duke.
“I do,” she said and knew that if Lady Adele had to ask, it meant she hadn’t felt that way about Paxton, and Loretta didn’t know yet how Paxton felt about Lady Adele.
“I’ve had a little opportunity to be in the company of gentlemen,” Lady Adele commented. “We usually have a Christmas ball each year here at Hawksthorn, and I’ve been allowed to attend. Not for the entire evening, of course, just briefly, because I’ve not curtsied before the queen, but I will when we go to London next month. I’ve seen a few gentlemen whom I think would make fine husbands. Some handsome, some not, and some Hawk said absolutely not.” Lady Adele laughed again, clasped her hands under her chin thoughtfully, and said, “I think I would absolutely adore marrying the Duke of Rathburne,but Hawk won’t let me consider him. He’s such a rake. And of course Hawk would know all about them because he is a rake himself.”
