Derrick blinked at him. “Lady Hadley’s house party?”
“Don’t look so shocked, Derrick. You received an invitation, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I received an invitation. What shocks me, Huntington, isyoudid.”
“Oh? I don’t see why it should.” Finn didn’t mention he’d been so shocked himself he’d accidentally dropped the paper into the fire. He’d burnt his fingers retrieving it, but it was worth a singeing, because he’d seen at once the invitation could only mean one thing.
Miss Somerset was keeping secrets from her family.
“Lady Hadley,” Derrick said. “That is, the Marchioness of Hadley, sister-in-law to Lady Carlisle, who also happens to be Miss Somerset’s sister?ThatLady Hadley?”
“Do you know of another Lady Hadley?”
“No, but why the devil would Lady Hadley inviteyou, Miss Somerset’s former betrothed, to her house party?”
Several mounted gentlemen were approaching them from the east end of the Serpentine, so Finn drew his horse closer to Derrick’s and kept his voice low. “Because Miss Somerset and Iarebetrothed—at least, as far as Lady Hadley knows, we are.”
Finn paused to let that sink in.
Derrick gaped at him for a moment, but then he burst into an unexpected shout of laughter so loud the riders ambling by turned to stare at him.
Finn waited with ill-concealed impatience until Derrick’s burst of hilarity subsided. “You find it amusing Miss Somerset hasn’t yet told her family she jilted me?”
Derrick was wiping his eyes on his coat. “No, but Idofind it amusing a lady you chose for her steadiness has turned out to be about as predictable as a hurricane.” Lord Derrick laughed at Finn’s sour expression. “Oh, come now, Huntington. You must admit the irony is irresistible.”
Finn didn’t find it the least irresistible. He found Miss Somerset’s actions to be imprudent and deceitful, both of which were damn unsettling qualities in a wife. “It’s been a week, Derrick. What can she hope to accomplish by keeping the truth from her grandmother? It’s bad enough she’s jilted a marquess, but she’s made the situation worse by hiding it. What if Lady Chase finds out before Miss Somerset tells her? She’ll be furious.”
Derrick gave him a curious look. “You almost sound as if you’re worried for her.”
Finn didn’t answer, but his jaw twitched with annoyance.
“If Miss Somerset’s family believes she’s still betrothed to you, then Wrexley must think so too,” Lord Derrick went on. “If her own family doesn’t know she’s jilted you, then how can he know it?”
“She hasn’t told her grandmother, but it may be she’s confided in her sister and Lady Honora. If she has, then Lady Honora will have told her cousin of it. In any case, we already know a small thing like a betrothal to another man won’t stop Wrexley.”
“You must write at once to Miss Somerset’s brother-in-law, Captain West, to warn him about Wrexley.”
“I can’t do that, Derrick. I don’t know Captain West, and when he discovers Miss Somerset’s jilted me, he won’t trust what I have to say about her other suitor. In any case, all we have against Wrexley is gossip.”
Finn didn’t expect an argument, since Lord Derrick was perhaps the only gentleman in London who never engaged in gossip, but to his surprise, his friend hesitated, then shook his head. “Unless you tell Captain West about Miss Hughes. That’s not gossip.”
“No,” Finn said, his tone flat. “Not unless there’s no other way.”
Even after Wrexley’s perfidy, Finn had still wanted to marry Diana, but she’d refused him. She’d claimed to be too ashamed, and insisted only the most spotless of ladies deserved to become his marchioness. But Finn knew the truth. Diana was wise enough to know a marriage to Wrexley would only lead to further heartbreak, but even after Wrexley ruined her and destroyed all her happiness, she’d loved him still.
She wouldn’t marry Finn, but she’d begged him to help her leave London, and he’d done as she asked. Diana Hughes was now safely married to a former Oxford classmate of Finn’s. She lived up north near Newcastle, far beyond the reach of theton’svicious gossip, but she had two much younger sisters, both of whom were still unmarried, and who would remain so if that scandal should ever come to light.
“Very well. To Hampshire, then. To Lady Hadley’s house party, to woo back your former betrothed.”
Finn scowled at the wordwoo. He couldn’t think of anything more tedious than a second courtship, especially for a lady who’d jilted him once. “I doubt she’ll be happy to find me there, but I don’t see any other way.”
Derrick nodded, and by mutual consent they guided their horses around the west end of the Serpentine and continued east toward Finn’s house in Grosvenor Square, a heavy silence between them as they each fell into their own thoughts.
“You’ll need to go gently with her, Huntington,” Derrick said, once they’d turned onto King’s Road. “Your fortune and title won’t be enough to coax Miss Somerset back. She’s already shown she won’t be swayed by them.” Derrick paused to consider this, then. “Unusual lady, isn’t she?”
“Unusual?” Finn snorted. “To say the least, yes. What sort of lady jilts a marquess? I haven’t the faintest idea how to proceed with her.”
“You know, you never said why she jilted you, Huntington.”
