She squared her shoulders. “To remedywhat, exactly?”
“I am not certain yet. But I will discover it. I always do.”
“This is a habit of yours, interfering in families?”
A quick shake of her head. “It is a calling.”
“The heavens have sent you here? That seems a little presumptuous.”
The still-unnamed arrival was not the least put off by the criticism. “And yet, all the world has not begun calling me ‘Princess Pompous.’”
Odette shrugged, hiding both her annoyance and her amusement. “It’s a calling.”
“Hmm.”
With that cryptic response, Odette’s back was up once more. “Perhaps before we continue this very enlightening conversation, we ought to know each other’s names.”
“I am Mrs. Northrop, and I am here to salvage your Season.”
An unexpected answer, but then nothing about this encounter had been the least predictable. “You are a chaperone? Or a social tutor?”
“I am a matchmaker.” She spoke the four words as if she knew perfectly well Odette would object to them and didn’t care in the least. “Your parents wish to see you wed.”
“The law does not allow me to be forced into a marriage,” Odette said firmly. She’d made absolutely certain of that before embarking on her Season.
“I never force anyone into anything,” Mrs. Northrop said, calm and unruffled as ever.
“Coerce, then?” Odette had worried a great deal about that possibility. Father was of a tentative nature. Yet he had been firm in pushing her older sister toward the match he and Mother had preferred. They would likely do so again if Odette wasn’t very careful.
“Coercion is for the desperate.”
“And you have never been desperate?” Odette asked.
Mrs. Northrop neither nodded nor shook her head. She kept perfectly still, watching. The smile in her eyes proved anything but comforting.
“Well then.” Odette assumed her most resolute tone and posture. “Do as you please. I, however, intend to choose my own future, and neither you, nor my parents, nor the spiteful tabbies of thetonwill pry that privilege from me.”
She left the would-be matchmaker in the drawing room, not bothering with the pleasantries usually exchanged in a farewell. One step into the corridor, Mrs. Northrop’s voice caught up with her.
“I will see you this evening for the Farrs’ ball.” She was clearly not to be easily dissuaded.
Odette maintained her calm until she reached her bedchamber. Heart pounding, she locked the door. She droppedonto the chair at her dressing table, fighting down an overwhelming wave of worry.
She’d worked so hard this Season making absolutely certain all went according to plan. Everything depended upon it. Her future. Her happiness. Every hope and dream she had. Everything.
And this matchmaker was going to ruin it all.
Chapter Two
Jack Hewitt stood among his group of friends, pretending he wasn’t taking desperate note of every guest to arrive at the Farrs’ ball. He worked to hide his dread of seeing one particular guest and his eagerness to see another. Maintaining an aura of utter neutrality was crucial.
The Summerfields stepped inside the ballroom in that moment. Jack didn’t let his gaze more than flicker in the direction of the doorway. Mother, however, reached his side in the next moment, wide-eyed and anxious.
“Miss Summerfield is here,” she whispered earnestly. “Go ask her to stand up with you.”
“I can’t,” Jack said. “I’ve promised the next set to Miss Garrett and the one after that to Miss Carlton.”
Her jaw set. “You knew Miss Summerfield was coming this evening.”
