“Thank you, but no. Not today.”
“Will you leave the books on the table? Thank you for being my pack horse today. Jamie, Joe Ingleton will be in Oxford next week. I had thought to go myself this time, but perhaps you and Georgie would like to go? A change of scene might do her good.”
“We could all go,” Jamie said.
His father laughed. “A third might bede tropon such a journey. Besides, one of us needs to be here to manage the duke’s correspondence until he returns. I know he prefers notto deal with estate business when he is in town, but if anything should come up, he will want to know at once.”
“Of course,” Jamie said. “I will ask Georgie.”
Her immediate response was not promising. “Oh, no, I can’t leave Hester on her own with all to do by herself.”
But Jamie had anticipated that, and had chosen to raise the issue when they were eating dinner with Hester. As he had hoped, she immediately voiced her support.
“Oh, Georgie, you must go. It will do you so much good to have a change of scene. The countryside is quite at its best in April, is it not? Travel is miserable in winter and summer alike, either too cold or too hot and dusty, and autumn is invariably wet. But spring — all the trees in their new greenery, blossom in the orchards and the wild flowers coming out on all the verges! So beautiful!”
“You will be able to see your friends again,” Jamie said.
“And meet your new tenants,” Hester said. “A retired housekeeper and head gardener for an earl, I think you said. I imagine they will have some fine tales to tell.”
Georgie laughed. “Perhaps, although I should hope they are more discreet about their former employers than to spill the gossip to all and sundry. I confess, I should like to see my friends again, if you are sure I will not be in your way, Jamie.”
“You could never be in the way,” he said as a bubble of pure happiness rose up inside him. A week or ten days, perhaps, of Georgie’s company and no possibility for separate bedrooms, either. Surely that would change things? Surely she would give him some sign of a thaw?
***
Lance was rather surprised to find himself so much in demand. He had always assumed that his betrothal to thedaughter of a marquess would give him his entrée into the upper echelons of society, but Lily’s patronage had been just as effective. It helped that his reputation as a painter preceded him, and many a starchy peeress unbent when hearing his name.
“Chamberlain? The Chamberlain who painted the Princess Amelia?” they would say.
When he modestly answered that yes, he had indeed been granted that honour, there would be a tiny smile, and sometimes he would be told of a card party or a ball or a Venetian breakfast and promised an invitation. Sometimes, he would even be introduced to Lady Jane or Susan or Caroline, a blushing miss of seventeen or eighteen, and expected to dance, which was not a great hardship. Still, it was unexpected to find himself welcomed quite so warmly into society. It would make it easier if he decided to find a replacement for Patience.
However friendly society might be, there was one face he was always especially happy to see, and somehow their paths crossed almost every evening.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Lily said to him when they met at a particularly grand ball.
“Tonight in particular or the season in general?”
“Both, I suppose. You are very much in demand, you know. Everyone is asking about you.”
“It is a mystery to me why that should be, except that perhaps they are kind to me in deference to you,” he said.
She shook her head. “It is nothing to do with me, I assure you. I hope you realise you are almost the perfect catch for most of the young ladies here. Oh, do not look so astonished. You must have realised it, especially since you were once betrothed to Lady Patience Torbuck.”
That made him frown. “I am not sure why, for she never cared two straws for me, and her parents definitely looked down their aristocratic noses at me.”
“More fool them. Lance, anyone with several daughters to dispose of would be happy to entertain your suit. Not only are you personable in yourself, you have perfect manners, you dance well and you are never at a loss for conversation. Added to which, you are independently wealthy and likely to become even more so as the years pass by, so you can see why you are so eligible. Any sensible father would be delighted to hand his daughter over to you.”
“You forgot to mention my handsome face and well-formed body.”
She burst out laughing. “Arrogant man! Come, are you going to dance with me, or do you want to beg for compliments all evening like a girl just out of the schoolroom?”
He bowed and offered her his arm, but although he enjoyed the dance very much, he was sharply aware that he should not devote too much attention towards Lily. However charming she was, and it was impossible to deny that she wasverycharming, she was a married woman and a duchess, and any dalliance was absolutely out of the question. If she were free… but she was not free, and that was all there was to it.
So he turned his eyes instead on the Merrington sisters, who were also charming and amiable and very friendly towards him, but he felt on safer ground with them than with Lily.
He saw nothing of the Marquess or Marchioness of Pentavon, and he hardly expected to see Patience, who must surely be confined to Gloucestershire in disgrace, but he bumped into Lord Daniel Torbuck, who was propping up a pillar at a ball.
“Chamberlain! Is this not the most tedious waste of time imaginable?”
