Debutantes Don’t Date

by Kristina O’Grady

  Grace wanted to know she would see these two wonderful people again, but she had learned the hard way to never take anything like that for granted. Against her better judgement she counted the two of them as her dearest friends and to her sudden panic realised she couldn’t bear to see them go without at least a proper goodbye.

  She flung herself at Victoria, who recovered quickly and returned her hug. “Come back and stay with us when you’re ready.” She kissed her on the check and added for her ears only, “Don’t go disappearing on us now, you hear?”

  Grace turned to Jasper but before she could hug him too, he bowed stiffly to her. The kiss he gave her hand, however, heated her all the way to her toes, awakening a yearning deep within her core. She clutched his fingers, but he dropped her hand and climbed quickly into the carriage without a backward glance or a word.

  Grace flinched as the carriage door shut behind him. She quickly called out, “Drive safe!” as the carriage jerked into motion. She could see Victoria waving through the window but not Jasper. It was as though he wasn’t there at all. She stood immobilised on the front steps as she watched them drive away, rapidly blinking to keep her tears from falling. She turned to her grandpapa with a watery smile when he gently squeezed her shoulder.

  “Come, my girl, I want to show you the portraits of your father and uncle.”

  She could see the love and understanding in his eyes. She remembered he once stood on these steps too and watched his loved ones ride away.

  She took his arm and went inside to learn about her family history.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jasper understood why Grace wanted to stay, but they were getting married soon. He’d hoped she’d want to spend time with him. He denied it was jealousy churning in his gut when she told him she was staying behind. How could he be jealous of an old man? Her grandfather, no less? The thought disgusted him.

  He’d spent the last night at Lancaster Manor pacing the floor of his room. When she’d told him she was staying, he wanted to hit something or wrap his hands around her pretty little neck. What was it about her? Why did he want her so much? When she was near, he became tense with need and frustration. Just thinking about her made him hard. It happened at the most inopportune times, like when his valet was trying to dress him. Jasper must remember to reassure the poor fellow that it wasn’t him that caused Jasper’s desire. It was Grace.

  She wasn’t what she seemed. She was hiding something, he could tell. But what? He didn’t trust her.

  He reached the bed and sat down. He thought back to the night of the ball, to when they met. He was the one to approach her. She could, of course, have staged the encounter by causing the scene under the table, but how would she know he would come? Or was she after just any man? She was the one who led the way to the alcove…but he followed her. Why? He felt the rise in his blood and grinned. Something pulled him to her from the start. From the moment he laid eyes on her bare leg as she struggled from underneath the table, he had to have her. How could he not rescue her? How could he not follow her anywhere she led?

  In his room at Lancaster Manor, he relived the fateful kiss. He could almost feel her against him again and although she’d never been in this room he swore he could smell her scent. He closed his eyes and imagined her here with him, the way she was at the ball; wild and uninhibited. She certainly didn’t behave as a demure young miss when she approached him that night in the alcove. He could once again feel her hands grasp his lapels.

  His manhood strained against his breeches at the memory of her lips pressing into his. His fantasy took things to where they would have ended if Mrs Barrett hadn’t walked in.

  Her skin glowed in the firelight as he imagined her here. He slowly lowered her gown over her lusty breasts, down to her waist. His fingers itched to come in contact with her skin and his lips twitched with unleashed desire. He was as hard as rock and hot as sin. He reached down to release himself from the confines of his fall. His member sprang forth and twitched as it brushed against his hand. He didn’t want that. He wanted Grace to ease his desire not his own hand.

  He opened his eyes and blinked at his surroundings. This was ridiculous. At this rate, he’d never get any sleep. What he needed was time away from her.

  He shed the rest of his clothes and climbed beneath the sheets naked. The coolness of them helped with the swelling and he relaxed enough to doze.

  The sun had yet to make an appearance when he knocked upon his sister’s door next morning. He waited to the count of ten before knocking again. His hand was raised for the third time when the door swung open to reveal his sister who was sleepy and none too pleased to see him.

  “What, pray tell, is it that I need to enjoy the pleasure of your presence so early in the morning, brother?”

  “We are leaving at first light.” At Victoria’s quizzical stare he added an explanation: “We should be able to make it to London by nightfall.”

  “Very well,” she said shutting the door in his face.

  They almost made it. They were thanking Lord Lancaster for his hospitality when she called from the top of the staircase.

  “Wait!” Her voice was filled with panic and Jasper couldn’t help but look at her.

  “Don’t go.” Despite his best intentions, his heart leapt in joy at her words. She wouldn’t be staying after all. But when all she said was goodbye, the joy he’d felt moments before shattered to a million pieces. It was all he could do to bow stiffly. But when he took her hand, his kiss contained all his longing for her.

  The carriage ride back to London was silent. Victoria made a valiant effort to engage him in conversation, but after several attempts she gave up and watched the scenery through the window instead.

  “I need you to find something out for me, Neal.” Within ten minutes of arriving home, Jasper walked into Neal’s study without even knocking.

  Neal looked up from the paper he was reading. “Grace Lancaster?”

  “How did you know?” Jasper said as he slumped into a chair.

  “What else would it be about? You seem to be able to run your business endeavours by yourself and you’ve never asked me for a favour of this kind before. She arrived out of thin air with a dodgy story about memory loss and a boat fire. Of course you want me to look into her.” Neal lowered the paper, steepled his hands together and rested his chin on them.

  “I need to know her past and what she wants before the wedding. I need to know what I am marrying.”

  “You are still marrying her, then?” Neal asked the question with no sign of shock in his voice, as though he already knew the answer.

  “I have to.” For more reasons than one, but he wasn’t about to tell Neal that.

  “It’s not only the scandal we’re talking about, is it?”

  So much for keeping it to himself. “I just have to marry her. I’d prefer not to discuss the why.”

  “It’s your decision. I’ll tell you what I already know.”

  “You’ve already looked into her?” Jasper shouldn’t have been surprised. Neal tended to ‘look into’ everything.

  “She is to marry my wife’s brother, of course I’ve found out all I can about her. Unfortunately, it’s not much.”

  “Meaning?”

  “For a start there was no fire on any ship around the time she arrived and, to make matters worse, there weren’t ships from America that came in then either.”

  Dread settled in the pit of Jasper’s stomach. “What are you saying?”

  “Well, for one thing she’s not who she says she is. And for another, I think my wife knows.”

  “Victoria?”

  “She’s the only wife I have, the last time I checked.” Neal raised his head and stared at Jasper. God, he was unnerving.

  Jasper ran his hand through his hair. He would never have thought his sister would do this to him. Had they arranged the whole thing before the ball?

  “I could contact some old friends at the Bureau, see what they can find out…or
I could get it out of Victoria.”

  Jasper didn’t like the sound of either of those. He supposed Victoria would be the best bet, but he didn’t like the gleam in Neal’s eyes. And if the Bureau was involved there might be no way to keep the damages minimal. Jasper peeled himself from the chair. “Thanks, Neal, I’ll let you know.” He showed himself out of the room and stood in the hallway for a moment while he weighed his options.

  Before he could come to any conclusions, Victoria found him.

  “Come into my drawing room, Jasper, I have something I need to discuss with you.”

  Jasper closed the door behind him, sat in one of Victoria’s uncomfortable floral chairs and waited while Victoria poured tea.

  She stirred the sugar into her tea and then her milk. She took a sip and then another before placing her hands gently in her lap. She smiled at him. The ritual took ten minutes.

  “Aren’t you going to say something?”

  “No. Aren’t you?” She smiled again at him.

  “You’re the one who invited me in here and poured tea.” He ran his hand through his hair again. “All I want is a brandy.”

  “You’ll have to see Neal about that, I don’t have anything stronger than sherry. You can have that if you prefer.”

  “No thank you.” He hated sherry, the sickly sweetness stuck to his tongue.

  Victoria smiled again.

  He couldn’t handle it any longer. “Who is she?”

  “Who is who, Jasper?”

  “Grace. Who is she really?”

  “She’s who she says she is. She’s Grace Lancaster from America.” She looked him in the eye and he knew she wasn’t lying.

  “Why is she here?”

  “She’s not, she’s at her grandfather’s, as you well know.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Why is she here? She didn’t come on any boat, she never had a chaperone at that ball and she has no maid. Her speech is like none I have heard before and she doesn’t fit in. She doesn’t show any etiquette whatsoever. Her behaviour is shocking, her story doesn’t make sense and now I’m wondering what I’ve got myself into! Is she after my money? My title? Victoria, please, I know you know, just tell me.” Jasper stood and started pacing the room. He seemed to do a lot of pacing lately.

  “Jasper, sit down. It’s all easily explained.” Victoria once again clasped her hands in her lap. “I made up the story about the boat and the fire. But think for a moment if you will on how her father left this country. He didn’t have a penny to his name when he boarded the ship. Do you think he made a fortune in America? More than likely not. He got married. He had a family. He died. His remaining daughter travelled here with nothing, but didn’t want to appear as though she had nothing. She came to the ball in hopes to meet her grandfather, but by the time she arrived, he had already left. She tried to stay out of the way, but then she tripped and fell under the table. Imagine her mortification, Jasper. Imagine yourself in her shoes for a moment. She didn’t know anyone, how she even got through the doors without anyone questioning her is beyond me, but she did. She asked me not to tell the truth about her situation so I said the first thing that came to mind. I didn’t wish to embarrass the poor girl further.

  “But you rescued her. You saved her from certain humiliation. No wonder she behaved as she did in the alcove. No wonder she panicked in the library when we questioned her. But she is a good woman, Jasper. She comes from good bloodlines and other than her grandfather, she has no one, except us.

  “But the question is, Jasper, what do you want? The girl can easily be sent away if you like. Lord Lancaster seems quite taken with her. I’m sure now she has a place to go, she would agree to call off the wedding. You could still marry Lady Anne if you desire to do so.”

  Jasper finally stopped pacing and sat back in the chair with his head in his hands. The thought of not seeing Grace again left him breathless. He could too easily picture her in his bed on their wedding night and every night thereafter.

  “It’s up to you, Jasper; your fate is for you to decide.” Victoria patted him on the shoulder and left the room. It was some time later before he made his way to his own residence.

  Chapter Twelve

  He tried to cure his infatuation of Grace at Mme Demetri’s, but when it came to the time to do the deed, he found he didn’t want anyone but Grace. So for the first week after he returned to London without Grace, Jasper spent as much time as he could keeping busy. He met with the minister again regarding the ceremony and called in at the jeweller’s about the rings. He closed two deals with the bank, ensuring a major investor joined the company. But since then he couldn’t find anything else to do and had been spending most of his days at his club enjoying its fine brandy…and scotch whiskey and pretty much anything else the butler cared to bring him.

  He wasn’t surprised to see Philip walk through the door. He admitted to himself if it was Philip who’d disappeared for six days, he too would look for his friend here. It wasn’t that great a hiding spot after all, everyone knew where it was and it wasn’t as though he was keeping a low profile in here either, sitting in plain view of the entrance.

  “Thought I’d find you here,” his friend said as he approached his table. “Your sister is getting worried about you. She sent over a footman this morning, wondering if I’d seen you around. I didn’t tell her where I’d thought you’d be but I did say you were fine.” Philip reached over and poured whiskey into his own glass. “You are fine, aren’t you?” Philip sank into the chair opposite his and stuck his feet on the ottoman between them.

  Jasper always loved the comfort of White’s. The leather armchairs and ottomans, not to mention the whiskey. He gazed into his glass before raising it to his lips. Ah yes, the whiskey.

  “Pull yourself together, man.” Philip reached over and took the glass from Jasper’s hand. “She’ll come back. The wedding is in a few weeks, she has to return for that.”

  “What if she doesn’t? What do I do then, eh Phil?” His eyes hurt and he could hear the slur in his own voice and knew he was spending too much time in his club, but without Grace around what was the point to doing anything else?

  Philip put his drink down without even taking a sip. “Come on, I’ll take you home and get you a coffee. You don’t suppose your cook has any of those apricot tarts I love, do you?”

  Jasper allowed himself to be led out the door and into his friend’s carriage. Philip was right, it was time to pull himself together. Just as soon as his belly settled down.

  “Ah, Philip?” He opened his mouth to say he needed Philip to stop the carriage, but instead of words a week’s worth of fine liquor came out all over Philip’s velvet interior.

  Grace sat by the fire and talked to Grandpapa. He told her about her ‘father’ as he was growing up and she talked about her life back home. She tried not to make any references to technology or modern life, but she constantly slipped up.

  “When I first moved to my own apartment, Dad…”

  “What? You lived alone?” Grandpapa interrupted.

  “Oh, um, yes. Lots of American women live by themselves,” she recovered quickly. “Anyway, Dad brought over pizza and…”

  “Pizza? I’m not familiar with that term.”

  “Oh, it’s a food the Italians make.”

  “Italians? Bah, I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Umm, hasn’t it been invented yet?” Oops, she shouldn’t have said that.

  “What’s that?”

  “I said, I didn’t intend that.” Grace grimaced at her attempt to smooth over her slip.

  “You’re making no sense, girl!” He grumped and shifted in his chair. “Would you fancy a game of chess instead?”

  Grace breathed a sigh of relief; she’d never played the game before so hopefully Grandpapa would be too busy explaining the rules to question her any further.

  She found it exhausting monitoring her speech, but at least the evenings were entertaining. She always looked forward to
them. They were invited to a different home almost every night for dinner. Her social calendar had never been so busy. She enjoyed visiting his neighbours and finding out who her grandfather really was.

  It was clear to her all the elderly ladies in the district absolutely loved Carl Lancaster; but none more so than Mrs Williamson. That little old lady would fight tooth and nail to sit next to him at every dinner party. Grace learned from her first hostess that Mrs Williamson was a widow of twelve years and had spent eleven years and ten months of that time trying to get her grandfather’s attention.

  “He doesn’t notice though. He smiles and flirts with all the ladies, but he just hasn’t been the same since he lost his boys and doesn’t really put his heart into winning a lady friend. Since you’ve been here though, he seems almost like his old self again.” The elderly lady smiled at Grace with real caring. “I’m glad you’ve come, dear. You’re just what he needs.”

  It was with a sad heart that Grace watched a maid pack her bags. She knew she needed to go back to London. Talking with Grandpapa everyday about her home had reaffirmed the fact that she needed family in her life. But she also knew she didn’t fit in around here. She was bored out of her mind. She was used to working twelve to sixteen hours a day, and sitting in front of a fire playing chess every day was beginning to annoy her.

  She knew if she was ever going to find her way back to 2014 again, the answer lay in London. And if she couldn’t find her way home, she had better smooth things over with Jasper. He hadn’t been pleased with her when he left.

  But the very thought of leaving her newfound Grandpapa behind in the country filled her with pain equivalent to when her family was killed. It was only after receiving a promise from him to come to London before the wedding that she was able to climb into his carriage and wave goodbye only three weeks after having met the only grandfather she’d ever know again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was with a combination of joy and trepidation that Grace returned to the Harrison townhouse. She hoped she would still be welcome at their residence.