Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind

by Heidi Ashworth

  “The roses? I’m afraid we weren’t much help in rescuing them from the squire’s clutches,” she explained.

  “Oh, that. No she didn’t scold me” He hated to keep secrets from her, but she was right about Grandmama’s scolding; it was definitely something one hoped to avoid. Besides, he had promised never to divulge her secret. Afraid Ginny would read his hesitation in his eyes, he looked pointedly away.

  Ginny sighed. “You seem rather angry tonight,” she said. “Is there anything wrong?”

  “What?” The truth was so close to his tongue, but he must never tell her. She would be humiliated. He looked around for inspiration and spotted Avery headed in their direction. “Yes! That popinjay tried to steal a march on me!”

  “Anthony, I.. ” But she was stopped short by a shrill voice at his shoulder.

  “Sir Anthony, we are waiting for you!”

  He turned to see Mrs. Barrington and Lucinda staring at him with great expectation. And just when he thought he had rid himself of that very look for the remainder of his life.

  “What is it now!” he barked, causing Ginny to jump under his arm, still draped across her shoulders.

  “Why, to announce your engagement to my daughter, you wretch. She is so determined to have you! Every time I suggest otherwise, and believe me, I have suggested otherwise, she kicks up such a dust”

  Before Anthony could reply, Avery appeared at Ginny’s side and hooked his arm through hers. Mrs. Barrington and Lucinda were arguing, so he never heard what Avery murmured in Ginny’s ear. It must have been most compelling, because she allowed Avery to lead her away without even a backward glance.

  Sir Anthony felt the beginnings of a black rage. First Grandmama meddled in his affairs as if he was some kind of child. Then Ginny treated him as if they had barely met! Now the Barringtons were insisting on that wretched announcement while he watched Ginny walk away from him on the arm of another. It was almost as if she were walking out of his life.

  Suddenly the Barringtons weren’t shouting anymore. That certainly boded ill. Sir Anthony tried to catch up.

  “Mama,” Lucinda was saying, “I have changed my mind. This does seem like the perfect time, after all. Pray wait until I dash to my room and touch up my hair. I will only be a moment.”

  Mrs. Barrington puffed with indignation. Did she see how Lucinda’s gaze followed Ginny and Avery right out of the ballroom? Sir Anthony certainly did, but what did it mean?

  “Yes, do, Lucinda,” Sir Anthony insisted, pushing her away. “Your hair looks like a rat’s nest” He had no time to lose and certainly none for pleasant banter. If she were insulted by his comment, all the better.

  “Oh, thank you, Sir Anthony,” Lucinda gushed over her shoulder as if he had just crowned her the most beautiful girl at the fair. Giggling, she clapped her hands and skipped out of the room.

  “If you will excuse me, Mrs. Barrington.” He didn’t wait for her pardon but flew across the room and out the door taken by Ginny and Avery. He searched the hallway, the drawing room, all three salons named after roses, the music room, the dining room, even the breakfast parlor, but they were nowhere. He felt his heart sink like a stone through water. Ginny was gone!

  What reason could she have for leaving in the middle of a ball? With Avery? Surely she would never elope with him! Dash it! What did Avery say to her to make her walk out like that? Something was wrong. As he made his way out to the stables, he cudgeled his brain to determine what it could be.

  Then he realized. Ginny knew! She had been on the other side of the door when Grandmama told him about the whole sorry mess with Seb and Dobbs. He had even seen her out of the corner of his eye as he stalked off, but he hadn’t recognized her in that wig. In his angry state, it barely registered that anyone was there. And now she was leaving.

  He couldn’t let her leave! He had to tell her it was all right, that it didn’t matter that Grandmama had gotten her way. He loved her! And the announcement of his engagement to Lucinda-what must she think? That he hadn’t the courage to call it off? That he loved his precious code of honor more than her?

  He had to tell her it wasn’t so. He had to tell her right now, even though it was clear she wanted to get away from him. The old Sir Anthony would have bowed to his lady’s wishes. For once, the new Sir Anthony was no longer in any doubt.

  The new Sir Anthony found he had a problem. He arrived at the stable just in time to see a coach bowl down the lane. Running inside, he found the stable boy, the one who had been saddling up his horse in the dead of night for the past two weeks.

  “Whose coach was that?” Sir Anthony demanded.

  “Why, that’d be Lord Avery’s, guv”

  “Was there a lady with him?”

  “Yes, two,” he said with a low whistle. “They were in a right hurry to be gone, that’s for sure!”

  Ginny! And Nan? “Was one of them in a pink gown with a black mask?”

  “Ooooh, that one was a beauty, she was!”

  Sir Anthony thought fast. “What about this one, here?” He indicated a canary-yellow curricle with a pale blue interior. The color combination was loathsome, but the horses were still in their traces and he didn’t have a second to lose. Ginny’s heart was breaking.

  “Oh, that be Jem Feddleswank’s ride. He pulled up just afore Lord Avery’s party came in, which is why I haven’t had a chance to unhitch..

  “It’ll do,” Sir Anthony said, flipping the boy his last sovereign and hopping inside. As he pulled away he shouted, “Tell Feddleswank.. ” What? He can have mine? Since Sir Anthony didn’t have a coach of any kind at Rose Arbor, that would hardly do. “Dash it!” he swore under his breath, pulling away and hoping Feddleswank and his creaking corsets would be otherwise occupied for hours to come.

  Which way to go? London was to the south, but Dunsmere was only a short distance away. He turned north. He had a lot of ground to cover, but the curricle was lighter and faster than the coach and it wasn’t long before he spotted it lumbering up ahead. With Avery at the reins, Sir Anthony knew he would have little trouble gaining on it and forcing it to a halt. It was the work of a moment, and then Sir Anthony was jumping down from the curricle and approaching Avery up on the box.

  “Just what do you think you are about?” Sir Anthony demanded.

  “I think what I am about is none of your business.” It was a brave speech, but Avery’s hands trembled on the reins and the blood had drained from his face.

  “I beg to differ.” Sir Anthony went to the door.

  “She doesn’t love you!” Avery shouted in a near panic. “She won’t marry you, if that’s what you think, so you may as well just take yourself off!”

  “We shall see about that,” Sir Anthony snarled, wrenching open the carriage door.

  “Ooh, look-it is Sir Anthony come to stop us”

  Lucinda! Lucinda? Then where was Ginny?

  “It’s all right,” came her voice from the shadows on the far side of the coach. “He’s not here to stop you. “

  Ginny and Lucinda? Avery was a cur!

  “Oh, but Ginny, don’t you think it is even the teensiest, weensiest bit romantic?” Lucinda replied. “Sir Anthony, I hadn’t thought you truly cared about me so!”

  Taking Ginny firmly by the wrist, he said, “Miss Barrington, you are free to go wherever you wish-the farther away, the better. Ginny, however, is coming with me.”

  He had pulled her half across the coach before he realized she was coming of her own free will.

  “As you will, my sovereign lord,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

  Then he grasped her by the elbows, yanking her out of the carriage and into his arms.

  The kiss was long and deep. Now that he had her, he didn’t want to ever let her go. In point of fact, he held her so tight she began to protest.

  “Anthony, we are in the middle of the road!”

  “Am I to care for the opinion of the Jem Feddleswanks of the world when I hold in my arms the only woman I shall ev
er love?”

  Smiling, she kissed him on the cheek, turned to Lucinda, and said, “I wish you happiness on your upcoming nuptials. Please write and tell me all about it.”

  “Oh, I will! A runaway marriage is ever so romantic, don’t you think? I can’t wait to read about it in all the papers !” Lucinda said with that infernal clap of her hands for what he hoped was the very last time.

  Sir Anthony could see it was all Ginny could do not to laugh. Then she turned to Avery still seated up on the box. “Congratulations! You have won her heart forever. I look forward to calling on the both of you once you get settled” Sir Anthony groaned. It would seem that more of Lucinda’s hand-clapping was in his future.

  Avery reached for Ginny’s hand and kissed it. “Would it be rude of me to say how glad I am it was you he was after and not Lucinda?”

  This time, Ginny did laugh. “No, not at all! Now go and be happy,” she said waving at the both of them until they drove away.

  Sir Anthony had questions. He drew her arm through his, and they began to walk. “What kind of elopement is it, anyway, when another woman tags along? I should have done it quite differently,” Sir Anthony quipped.

  “It was simply a matter of convenience, that is all. They were going and I was merely riding along, only as far as Dunsmere. So,” she asked, smiling up at him, a glint in her eye, “what brings you away from the ball?”

  “Minx! If you must know, I was of a mind to collect myself some illicit rose cuttings.”

  “Rose cuttings! Whatever for?”

  “To buy my way out of an engagement, that’s why. I see now there was no cause as Lucinda is about to run off to points unknown to escape me. I wish I had been aware of her true feelings! She could have simply said she didn’t want to marry me; it would have saved me a deal of trouble.” He pulled her closer as they walked. He was right; she did fit perfectly into his side.

  “She could hardly say so; that would spoil all the fun! It seems she and Lord Avery have been planning this ever since the duel, which, by the way, was another ruse concocted by Lord Avery in order to give Lucinda more of what she wanted. Meanwhile, she only pretended that she was happy about her engagement to you to keep her parents from suspecting the truth”

  “What! She would rather go with that lily-livered gudgeon than with me?” He knew he shouldn’t tease her, but she had the most fetching dimple that appeared whenever she smiled. “So, I am not a lord nor have blond curls or write poetry! Ah, but Ginny,” he said, turning serious, “one look at you and I could turn out a dozen soppy phrases about the luster of your eyes or the fullness of your lips.”

  “No! Please no,” she begged. “Now that I know just who you are, I love you just the way you are”

  He stopped and drew her once again into his arms. Imagine! He could have walked with her to Dunsmere just this way ten days ago and been the happiest of men that much sooner. Yet Grandmama was right, he had to spend time with her before he could learn to love her. If only Ginny could learn to love him half as much!

  The thought of Grandmama reminded him of another of his questions. “My darling girl,” he asked, tilting up her chin so she could not look away, “has no one taught you that eavesdropping is odious?”

  She bit her lip. “So, you did know it was me kneeling at the keyhole like a schoolgirl!”

  “Yes” He gave her nose a flick and once again drawing her arm into his, began to walk. “And no. I saw someone, barely, but with that pink wig-where has it gone, by the way?-I didn’t realize it was you. It wasn’t until you left that I remembered. Still … I don’t know why you didn’t wait for me to explain.”

  “I knew you were angry about what Grandmama did. Whether or not you were angry at me, I wasn’t sure. It did seem that way, you must admit.”

  Sir Anthony considered. He had been angry. He didn’t try to hide it either. He hadn’t realized Ginny would think it directed at her. “All right, I admit it.”

  “I thought if you were so humiliated that Grandmama had manipulated you into … Oh dear! I was about to say `offering for me’ but you haven’t. Can I assume it was part of the plan? Your plan, that is?”

  “Yes! Assume away!” he said with a flourish of his hand.

  “In that case, to continue, I did not want you to feel roped into offering for me. If I left, then you would have a choice, one that was all yours to make. You could either go after me or stay at the ball and become officially betrothed to Lucinda. As it was, I feared you would never put an end to that and I didn’t want to hang about to hear it announced”

  “My poor darling! Of course I had taken steps to end it! The squire and I came to an excellent understanding right after dinner-hence the rose cuttings-but informing Lucinda and her mother was a trickier matter.”

  “Well, you can hardly blame me for wondering, just a bit! After all, a gentleman never cries off from an engagement”

  “Never?!”

  “No, of course not!” She snuggled into his shoulder. “You should know that better than I”

  “Me, who has had so little experience in the betrothal area? How can you be so sure I would know how to go about it? In fact, I’m not so sure I know how to go about anything anymore. I have quite given up on my old self and am determined to be made anew.”

  “No more starched-up, silly old code of honor?”

  He shook his head. “No more code of honor. That is, not if it comes in the way of matters that are more important.”

  “Such as?”

  “You are determined to make this difficult, aren’t you? Well, then, such as love, affection, and true speaking.”

  “Truly?” She smiled mistily up at him.

  “Truly. In the meantime, you must inform me as to how I am to proceed. Though I have been engaged before, however briefly, I have never proposed, and I find Iamataloss”

  “Well ,” Ginny said, cocking her head, “first you ask for my hand in marriage, and then I accept. I believe that is the usual form one follows.”

  “Hmmm, and what about kissing? I suppose I will be expected to bestow only polite and chaste kisses for the duration of our betrothal?”

  Her eyes twinkled. “Oh, yes. I believe there are times when the rules of convention must be strictly adhered to. That is, unless you want your gandmama to toss you out on your ear.”

  “Ah, point well taken. Well, then, if you promise not to throw it at me, I shall adhere to the pages of my code of honor and behave the perfect gentleman. When we become officially engaged, that is.”

  “And in the meantime?” Ginny asked, somewhat taken aback.

  “We do our best to get in our fill before we must return and tell Grandmama the news.”

  Ginny gasped and pulled him to a halt. “We must go back! Grandmama! She will be so worried. We have left the curricle so far behind!”

  He took her hand in his and drew her once again along the moonlit road. “Come, Miss Delacourt, it is a beautiful night for walking and Dunsmere is just around the corner. Have you forgotten the task for which Grandmama sent us off?”

  “No, I haven’t.” She smiled and took his arm. “Finally! We are off to smell the roses!”