“Which are?” When she didn’t answer, he growled, “I’ve a mind to call him out for the insult he just dealt you. You can’t marry a corpse!”
She was alarmed that he would suggest a duel and appear utterly serious about it. The man was jealous. Maybe he had deeper feelings for her than she realized. Or maybe her interest in a match with Rathban had aroused his ridiculous male competitive instincts. In either case, she felt compelled to say, “It will bring my father back,” but that was all she was going to admit.
“To walk you down the aisle?”
She jumped on that excuse, lying, “Yes,” when she knew very well that Rathban would insist on the wedding taking place before he relinquished his grudge.
“And marriage to a decent chap won’t do?”
“No, and stop trying to figure out why. At least Daniel isn’t ugly,” she added.
“Just in spirit.”
“It still may not come to pass,” she said, hoping the subject could be dropped. “You saw how thoroughly he dismissed me with a bloody flick of his hand.”
“You bore him.”
She gasped, even sputtered, “How—?”
“Oh, settle down,” he cut in. “I warned you he was a rake of the worst sort, while you’re too typical, dressed and coiffed like every other young debutante here. You have to stand out from the pack if you want him to notice you. Sweetheart, your beauty already makes you a beacon to most men, but it’s not enough to attract Daniel Rathban, who is jaded beyond redemption.” Then he relented, giving her a half smile. “If you haven’t noticed, the cur has left the room. So enjoy yourself, Nessi. This is your first ball, after all.”
She intended to—if she could now, when none of what he’d just said reassured her. If anything, it brought on more worries. Monty was himself a professed rake, and he certainly didn’t ignore her. Jaded? Did that imply nothing could pique Daniel’s interest anymore?
• • •
ACROSS THE ROOM, KATHLEEN braced herself when she saw Lord Albert bearing down on her and quickly moved toward the terrace, hoping to prevent a scene. He looked angry enough not to care if he caused one. But he did follow her and, thankfully, it was too early in the evening for anyone else to be out there.
“Didn’t you explain to your gel what would be necessary?” he demanded immediately.
She blushed. “You saw her, she’s utterly dazzling—I thought that would be enough.”
“It’s obviously not enough, but I did warn you this would be difficult. He’s thirty, for God’s sake, and still refusing to marry, which is why he won’t attend these affairs on his own and only showed up tonight because his mother asked him to.” Albert suddenly looked exasperated. “He even swore to me that if he couldn’t have who he picked, then he would die a bachelor. He proved that by continuing to shun my choices for him, and they were all nice gels from good families. And I have no idea if he’s still adamant about it because he and I have been at odds for too many years to have simple conversations about anything, much less personal matters. Whenever I bring up marriage or duty, he just disappears for a few weeks.”
Incredible, Kathleen thought, that he didn’t even know if this marriage between their children was possible. And she was afraid that Vanessa would balk if she knew what she might have to do to win Daniel Rathban. Why couldn’t this just be a normal courtship, albeit with Vanessa doing the courting?
Annoyed that the entire matter was being placed on her family, she reminded him, “You hold the purse strings. Are you worried he will hate you if you force the matter?”
“I already tried cutting him off. He found other rakehells to live with and embarrassed me further with his multiple mistresses, his drunken binges and brawls, the immoral clubs he frequents when he’s not living here.”
“Then promise him he doesn’t need to change a’tall after the marriage. I doubt my daughter will mind if she rarely sees him.”
His brows snapped together. “I need heirs from this union or there is no point.”
“One heir may be all my girl will want to deliver,” she warned.
“She’ll bloody well do as she’s told!”
“You haven’t asked for a coward, Lord Albert, you asked for my heir. She’s amenable to this arrangement but only to get her father home. She has a mind of her own and the courage to stand up for herself. She ended up leaving the country with her father and has been with him these past six years. I believe I told you that’s why she didn’t have her come-out last year. And William raised her differently than I would have.”
“But she was charming, even in the face of Daniel’s insulting manner.”
“Because she wants this match as much as you do—for her father’s sake. Why don’t I bring her here tomorrow so she and Daniel can get further acquainted apart from the crowd? You may not need to force the issue. Vanessa is determined.”
“I begin to wonder who is the lamb being brought to the slaughter. Fine. I will tell Margaret to expect you. I fear this marriage still must be Daniel’s idea or it won’t happen a’tall. And apparently it’s going to take a little longer than I’d hoped. I will feign an illness so my wife can insist that Daniel escort her while she’s in town. He’s fond of her so won’t refuse. So keep me apprised of your gel’s agenda for the Season and I will obtain invitations for my wife if she doesn’t already have them.” After issuing that command, he turned and walked back into his mansion.
Kathleen stared after the man who had sundered her family. He was old-school and not the least bit sophisticated. But this arrangement with him made her feel like she was in bed with the devil. And if anyone was at odds with a child, it was she. So how was she going to have such an embarrassing, unmotherly talk with Vanessa about what might need to be done to win Daniel Rathban? But now that Vanessa had met the “boy” and seen that he was older than she’d expected, did she still want the marriage?
Kathleen suddenly felt like crying. The unpleasant conversation she’d just had with Rathban could be moot. Vanessa could have already decided not to go through with this arranged match. And she realized she was afraid to ask!
Chapter Thirty-two
VANESSA HAD HOPED TO sleep late but should have known her sisters wouldn’t cooperate. They both barged in and woke her when they pounced on her bed the next morning. They were as excited as they’d been last night about all the charming young noblemen they’d danced with at the Rathban ball. Vanessa felt exhausted just looking at them.
Both girls had danced the entire night, and on the ride home, they had chattered on and on about their dance partners—who was the best dancer, who was the wittiest, who they hoped to see again. Vanessa had remained silent. Kathleen hadn’t said much, either. But before Vanessa had opened her bedroom door last night, Kathleen had whispered to her, “We shall visit Daniel tomorrow—if you haven’t changed your mind. Lord Albert expects us.”
“I’ll be ready,” Vanessa had replied. “But you will need to excuse yourself after we arrive there so I can have a few minutes alone with him, or the visit might be pointless.”
“We should discuss strategies.”
Vanessa shook her head. “Not tonight, Mother. I’m tired.”
The warning about visiting the Rathbans tomorrow could have waited until the morning. It had kept her awake much longer than she would have liked. If Daniel would even receive her. If Daniel would even be there. If it would accomplish anything other than her getting rebuffed again. And she was going to have to pretend to like him—bloody hell.
She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, but the twins were already firing off questions.
“Who did you favor last night?” Emily asked.
“Does it matter?” Vanessa replied.
“Certainly it does!” Layla exclaimed.
“We don’t want to encourage the same gentlemen.”
“Em and I have made lists!”
“Did you?” Emily asked her.
If she were more awake, she might have realized sooner
that they both were assuming that she no longer wanted the fiancé who had been picked for her. “You forget I’m engaged.”
“No!” they said in unison, though Emily added, “He’s too old. You can’t actually want him.”
Of course she didn’t, but she still had to give a reason why she might. “Not old a’tall, and I found him very handsome.”
“Really?” Layla said. “From my viewpoint, and I was watching, it looked like he snubbed you. Did he?”
Vanessa managed a grin. “A good way to pique my interest by pretending he’s not interested in me. I did find that intriguing.”
“Or he snubbed you because he’s already being lured by a duke’s daughter,” Emily rejoined. “So he won’t waste his time on any other women. We heard one has set her cap for him and that she can be quite cutthroat.”
“Not just her,” Layla put in. “I heard a couple of other debutantes tittering about him last night.”
“I can’t see in him what they do, as conceited and arrogant as he is,” Emily added. “You can do better, Nessa.”
“Or I can give Daniel a chance,” Vanessa countered. “While I already find him attractive, I don’t know him yet. I need to spend some time finding out if he’s of good character. Unlike you, I’m in no hurry to make any decisions on the matter.”
Good grief, more lies, when she’d already been assured there was nothing to like about Daniel—well, in Monty’s opinion. But at least it stopped the twins’ complaints about the match.
After joining her sisters downstairs for breakfast, Vanessa escaped the anticipated morning callers by visiting Snow for the rest of the morning. But almost as soon as she got there, she heard a throat being cleared behind her and turned to see Monty sporting his usual “I’m doing something I ought not to” grin.
She laughed. “Did you follow me out of the house?”
“Of course I did, since it’s difficult to speak with you privately now, and I do so like speaking with you privately. Anything special on your agenda today or can you join me for a ride?”
“Visiting my fiancé after lunch.”
“What the devil for?”
“For the usual reasons, though I suppose you’ll point out they don’t apply yet? So more to the point, he was foxed last night,” she said even though she had no idea if Daniel had been or not. “Which could explain his rudeness. But I need to at least give him another chance while he’s sober.”
“Do make sure, while he’s sober, to find out if he even knows he’s engaged to you,” he suggested dryly. “Just don’t cry over his answer.”
She sighed in exasperation. Monty definitely wasn’t making this ordeal any easier for her with his negative predictions. But how telling, that she thought of it as an ordeal.
She changed the subject, mentioning, “You and Charley have been conspicuously absent from some of our meals.”
“We decided not to be as much of a nuisance while in London. Besides, you and your sisters will be waxing ecstatically over your conquests whether we’re there or not, so I thought it better if Charley’s hopes did not get so thoroughly dashed.”
She grinned. “You just didn’t want to be bored to tears yourself.”
“Well, there is that—if it’s only your sisters waxing. Did you?”
“Wax ecstatically? No, I restrained m’self.”
“Good,” he said with a satisfied smirk. “As for me waxing, I at least managed to escape notice last night, a definite boon, but then it was an unusual mix of people for a ball. At least Charley had a grand time last night, though now he’s in love with two more women.”
She chuckled. “Perhaps you should explain to your ward the difference between attraction and love?”
He feigned surprise. “You think I know?”
She tsked. “And perhaps you shouldn’t encourage Emily, either. I don’t doubt she has your name on her list of possibilities.”
He frowned. “That won’t do.”
His reaction made her smile, as if she’d just heard delightful music, so she teased, “I thought you rakes were in the habit of spreading yourselves around.”
He laughed. “Never heard it put that way, but I suppose we do—but not with innocents, at least, those of us with integrity refrain.”
“I’m an innocent,” she reminded him, then blushed furiously at having said it.
“But you, sweetheart, will always be to me the bold wench who threatened to shoot two men off their horses and charged her horse into another to prevent an abduction! You are quite the exception. But I should mention we were discussing more’n kissing.”
But her mind was suddenly back in that meadow they had raced across, and tumbling with him on the ground. Laughter and passion was a heady mix, and too often she remembered that delightful day and wished she could have more like it. But these were not the thoughts she should be having when she would be seeing the Rathban scion later today!
Silence wouldn’t do just then, might even tempt him to the same memory, so she broached a neutral topic, asking, “You mentioned it was a boon that you weren’t recognized, but if you don’t want it known that you’re back in London, should you even have attended last night?”
“I’m not a well-known figure at such affairs,” he replied. “But my name possibly is, which is why I snuck in to avoid being announced.”
“Does your friend know you’re back?” she asked.
“You mean George? Absolutely. I went straightaway for a visit the day we arrived. He thought it rather amusing that we are having a go at hiding in plain sight.”
“Which could go awry?”
“It could, but in the meantime I shall continue to enjoy your company.”
She blushed only slightly, more from the sensual look he cast at her than the words. Clearing her throat, she got back to that neutral topic, asking, “So what was unusual about the people invited last night?”
“None of the gossipy grand dames were present. You didn’t notice the lack of older women? It’s rare that most of the young debutantes arrive with brothers or fathers, rather than their female relatives. I wonder if the elder Rathban arranged the guest list specifically with his son in mind.”
“Quite possibly. He may not have wanted Daniel distracted by any ex-mistresses.”
Monty laughed. “You may be exactly right.” And then he gave her a thoughtful look before adding, “You know, it may be that Albert Rathban will take what he can get for his son at this point, engagement or no, which is why he invited so many suitable debutantes last night. If any of those other young ladies caught Daniel’s eye last night, his father will likely let that run its course. It’s no secret he laments his son’s unmarried state.”
As if she hadn’t thought of that? “Are you trying to make me feel desperate?”
“Absolutely not!” he rejoined. “Just prepared for disappointment.”
Joining her family at luncheon, she heard all about the callers she’d deliberately missed. Kathleen said nothing about her absence, but Layla remarked, “You were missed.”
“And asked for,” Emily put in curtly. “I’ve removed Lord Danton from my list, since he appears to be more interested in you.”
“Don’t do that,” Vanessa said. “I don’t even recall dancing with Danton last night, so I wouldn’t add him to my list if I had one, but you already know why I don’t have one.”
Emily merely allowed, “If you’re not interested in receiving callers, far be it for us to insist, but I’m not interested in your leftovers.”
“Emily!” Kathleen said sharply.
There it was again, that underlying anger in Emily that she seemed less able to control. But Vanessa decided not to put her sister on the spot by demanding why, not with their mother in the room.
Vanessa rolled her eyes instead, then glanced at Kathleen. “You might want to mention, Mother, that it’s far too soon to be fighting over prospective suitors—or making firm decisions about them, for that matter. One ball does not a Season make
.”
“Indeed,” Kathleen agreed with a pointed look at Emily.
But Emily had already backed down from the sharp rebuke, eyes directed on her plate now. And Vanessa escaped to her room soon after, though she was determined now to try to catch Emily alone later today, or at least come up with an excuse to tear her away from Layla.
But she had more pressing matters just now, deciding what to wear for what amounted to a very important second meeting with the Rathban scion. One of her prettiest day dresses that screamed “innocent” or her bolder riding habit that wouldn’t? She decided on the dark blue habit that was more sophisticated, even if she would be riding in a carriage with her mother.
It was such a short trip to the Rathbans, more’s the pity, and nervousness washed over her in a wave when the carriage stopped.
As they alighted from the carriage, she said to her mother, “Go immediately to visit Lady Margaret. I’ll wait in the parlor.”
“And how does that put you in the same room with Daniel?”
“I’m going to ask their butler to fetch him.”
“Highly inappropriate.”
“I’m not going to leave it to chance that he will wander downstairs and give me a few minutes to talk privately with him. If other people are watching us, that might affect his behavior. That might have been why he was so rude last night.”
Kathleen nodded, but stressed, “You have my permission to return to the carriage if he is rude again. Some things can’t be countenanced.”
Kathleen moved up to knock on the door. Vanessa mounted the steps with leaden feet. Far too much depended on this second meeting. She had no idea what she was going to say to Daniel, but whatever it was, she needed to consider it carefully.
Chapter Thirty-three
“GOD, ANOTHER TWIT OF a debutante?”
Vanessa braced herself when Daniel stopped in the parlor doorway to say that. Had she really expected there would be no more insults from him after last night? But she had to allow she might have surprised him by being in the parlor after asking the butler to fetch him for her and declining to give the servant her name or the reason why she was visiting.
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