“You’re Sir Anthony’s niece?”
“I am.” Emily frowned. “You know my uncle?”
“Very well. He was a close friend of my father’s.”
Glastonbury’s father had been childhood friends with Anthony Benson despite their class differences but they hadn’t cared at all. The duchess had been furious she had to associate with a baronet but Glastonbury, Sir Anthony and the previous duke had found it amusing. None of the men involved had a problem with it, which was why Glastonbury had invited Sir Anthony and his daughter and niece along. He liked to keep up the friendly connections his father had maintained when he was alive.
The duchess was all about connections but not those sorts of connections.
Glastonbury was about to say something else when he realized that he could hear someone shouting. Then there was another voice. Emily’s head perked up. Her eyes widened.
“Oh, no. That’s Uncle Anthony.”
“And that sounds like Huntingdon.”
Glastonbury groaned. His cousin would find a way to ruin the party. And it was no surprise he had gone after Sir Anthony. What surprised Glastonbury was that it had taken him this long.
Emily started to hurry towards the French doors but Glastonbury stopped her with a hand on his wrist. Even with her gloves on he could feel the heat through the cotton. He dropped her hand quickly and indicated the door.
“Let me deal with Huntingdon, Miss Hartley.”
Emily looked like she was about to argue, even though Glastonbury could see the fear in her eyes about going near Huntingdon. The fear turned to relief, and she nodded.
***
Emily was glad the duke was taking the lead. She didn’t know if she would be able to withstand another barrage of abuse from the earl. It sounded like Sir Anthony was holding his own but Sir Anthony, while quiet and calm enough, had a temper that could do more harm than anything else if it was unleashed.
The music had stopped. Everyone who was dancing had stopped. They were all staring at the debacle going on near the doors into the ballroom from the foyer.
Huntingdon and Sir Anthony were almost toe to toe as they shouted at each other, neither seeming to care they were creating a scene. Joyce stood nearby, shaking with her face red. Emily could see tears falling down her cheeks.
Glastonbury let out a small growl and strode over. Emily watched him as she ran over to Joyce and gathered her cousin into her arms. Glastonbury hauled Huntingdon back and put himself between the two men, speaking to Sir Anthony.
“What’s going on?”
Sir Anthony stopped when he saw Glastonbury. His temper suddenly reined itself in somewhat and he bowed.
“Your Grace.”
But Huntingdon didn’t bow. He was still seething, glowering at Sir Anthony.
“Thank goodness you’re here, Glastonbury. You can get rid of these people now.”
But Glastonbury ignored him, focusing on Sir Anthony.
“What happened?”
“The earl was talking to my daughter and started being incredibly rude when he realized she wasn’t of a social standing that he thought was suitable.” Sir Anthony’s growl made Emily shiver and Joyce whimpered. “My daughter got upset, and I requested that he walk away. Then he started threatening me.”
A collective gasp went around the room. Emily watched Huntingdon, who didn’t seem shocked at all. He simply shrugged.
“It wasn’t a threat. Merely a promise. I was telling them to leave since they’re not supposed to be here.”
Glastonbury raised his eyebrows.
“How do you know they’re not supposed to be here?”
“Because they’re not one of us.” Huntingdon shot back. “I was telling them to leave.”
“You were ordering us to leave or you would set your friends on me and my daughter.” Sir Anthony snapped. “That’s considered a threat where I come from.”
Emily was watching Glastonbury. It was difficult not to; he was a very imposing figure. He looked calm enough but Emily could see the anger in his eyes. It was barely contained. He raised a hand at Sir Anthony.
“I’ve got this.” Then he turned to Huntingdon, who looked smug. “Lord Huntingdon, get out.”
Chapter 5
Dealing
with Huntington
H untingdon’s blinked. The smug look disappeared and was replaced by confusion.
“Pardon?”
“I didn’t invite you because I like you—unlike Sir Anthony. I invited you because it was a special request from my mother. She said you would be on your best behavior, but this is the fourth woman you’ve gone up to and insulted. Your conduct tonight has been atrocious.”
The whole room was silent, watching the scandal unfolding. Emily knew some of the women were watching her and Joyce, who was still sobbing in her arms, and felt her face going red. This was embarrassing. But, at least, the host was standing up for them.
Huntingdon was beginning to be flustered. His mouth opened and closed and he stumbled over his words.
“What… I… you’re believing him over me? Are you mad?”
“I’d believe the scullery maid over you.”
There was a snicker. Huntingdon’s face went red. He tried to stand close to Glastonbury in intimidation but Glastonbury was far too tall and Huntingdon was left leaning back staring at him.
“They have no right to be here!” He shouted. “They’re nobodies! Why do I have to be the one that leaves?”
“Because I’m the one who sent out the invitations.” The duke barely raised his voice. “I invited Sir Anthony and his daughter and niece here. My mother was given one invite, and she requested that you were allowed to be a part of the evening. I granted that request and I can take it away as well.” His smile was not very kind. “Which means you get out of here.”
Emily’s heart skipped over a beat, making her feel light-headed. She couldn’t take her eyes off Glastonbury as he towered over the earl who looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. His jaw clenched tightly, and he squared his shoulders.
“No. I won’t.”
Glastonbury didn’t even blink. He signaled for one of the footmen to come over. The young man hurried to them and stood behind Huntingdon, his height and build making him look even bigger.
“Roberts, would you be so good as to escort the Earl of Huntingdon out of here? And give instructions to the coach driver to pass on to my staff that his belongings are to be packed immediately.”
“What?” Huntingdon’s shout almost sounded like a screech. His face was going even redder. “You can’t embarrass me like this!”
“I just did.” Glastonbury took a step back, folding his arms. “If you didn’t want to be embarrassed, you shouldn’t have been so rude. Now, get him out of here.”
Roberts put a hand on Huntingdon’s shoulder and Huntingdon angrily shrugged him off. Seconds later Roberts grabbed him around the waist and half-walked, half-carried the earl out of the room. Huntingdon started acting like a little boy, kicking and yelling, throwing various insults in the direction of his cousin.
Glastonbury ignored him. He ignored the entire room watching this spectacle. He simply turned to Emily and went to her, looking at Joyce.
“How is she?”
Emily could feel Joyce sobbing softly against her shoulder. Glastonbury seemed to see that she was still upset and beckoned them to follow him.
“Come with me.”
***
Glastonbury was embarrassed. His first ball had been a disaster. It was typical for Huntingdon to ruin something like that. If it had been his ball, and he had done that sort of behavior, the dowager duchess would have explained it away and got everyone back to enjoying their evening.
It wouldn’t happen this time. And Glastonbury was furious with how his father’s friend and his family had been treated. What he really wanted to do was swing and punch Huntingdon’s face. He had managed to break the man’s nose some years before and the earl knew better than
to get into a fight with the duke. But that wasn’t something you did in the middle of a ballroom.
Glastonbury didn’t want Emily seeing him as a monster.
He couldn’t stop staring at her as he took them into a quiet room at the back of the building, suggesting that Joyce sat and Sir Anthony and Emily stayed with her until she calmed down. He even managed to get one of the footmen to stay with them and to help with whatever needs they had. Sir Anthony had tried to insist they didn’t need a footman but Glastonbury was insistent.
All the way through this interaction, he couldn’t stop staring at Emily. She sat beside her cousin, who was starting to calm down and dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. Both girls were lovely with their red hair, which seemed to act like beacons, but Glastonbury couldn’t stop looking at Emily. There was something about her that had snagged his attention and Glastonbury had no idea how to divert it away.
This wasn’t right at all. He had agreed to the ball to get his mother to stop harping on about it. He had also expressed that this was not the place for Glastonbury to meet his future bride. One look at Emily had changed all that. Suddenly Glastonbury was beginning to change his mind on not finding a wife.
That scared him more than anything.
Glastonbury managed to get out of the room as fast as he could without making it look like he wanted to escape and went back to the ballroom. He would make the rounds on everyone before he went back to Sir Anthony. He didn’t think either Joyce or Emily wanted to go back into the room after what had happened and Glastonbury couldn’t blame them. The best he could do was do some damage control with the rest of the guests and get things back to normal.
This was turning into an interesting night.
“What do you think you are doing?”
Glastonbury slowed to a stop with a sigh. He recognized that screech.
“Mother.” He managed to plaster a slight smile and turned, watching as the dowager duchess stormed towards him, her face almost as red as her dress. “I wondered when you were going to come looking for me.”
“You sent Huntingdon away?” Duchess hissed. She was barely able to keep her voice down.
“He was being rude to our guests. I don’t know what you do with your parties, Mother, but my guests are not to conduct themselves in that way.”
“You mean Sir Anthony Benson and his daughter?” The duchess snorted. “They weren’t guests. I don’t know why you would even class them as guests.”
“Because Sir Anthony was a good friend of Father’s, or had you forgotten?” From the seething look, the duchess hadn’t forgotten. “I wasn’t going to ignore them, was I?”
His mother scowled. Glastonbury was half-expecting her to growl.
“Now I know why you wanted to oversee the invitations. None of the people here would be the sort I would want you to socialize with.”
“Only because they won’t bow down to you and let you control them.” Glastonbury shot back smoothly. “Doesn’t work in my home, Mother.”
“So you’d pick a worthless nobody over your own family?”
Glastonbury was glad it was his mother that had said that. If a man had said it, they would have been on the ground. He gritted his teeth.
“Huntingdon is a disgrace. His behavior before he arrived here and once he was here has been unacceptable and everyone has witnessed it. I will not stand by and let you allow him to bully people.”
“Then you shouldn’t invite undesirables.” The duchess snapped.
Glastonbury wondered how he had managed to have this woman as his mother. She was a nasty snob, someone more concerned with appearances. Their relationship had been terrible as soon as Glastonbury could remember and yet she fawned over her cousin’s child like he was the child she always wanted. It didn’t hurt as much as Glastonbury expected it to; maybe their relationship was irreparably damaged.
“It’s a pity I had to invite you, then, isn’t it?” He said smoothly. He watched his mother’s eyes widen. “Go back into the ball and leave me alone or I’ll send you home as well.”
He turned and walked away, wishing he could forcibly remove his own mother from the event. But the duchess would make an even bigger fuss than Huntingdon. The two of them were as bad as each other.
***
Emily had never been so relieved to get home. They had barely been there for an hour before they were leaving, much earlier than Emily had expected.
But it was for the best. There was no chance at any of them going back into the ball after being a part of that. Joyce was still incredibly embarrassed about it.
Emily could feel nothing but anger once the embarrassment wore off. How dare Huntingdon say things like that about her family? How dare he thought he had the right to treat them so rudely? If it hadn’t been for the Duke of Glastonbury, they might have been thrown out.
The duke had looked out for them in more ways than one. He had allowed them a room to themselves to calm down with Andrews, one of the footmen. Then he had called a carriage to take them home. The duke had barely left their sides when they left the room. Emily had been aware of a middle-aged woman she now knew to be the duchess glaring at them but had mostly ignored her; Joyce was more important to her.
There hadn’t been much to do when they returned, much to Caroline’s surprise. Joyce had gone up to her room and hidden herself away. Emily had wandered up to her room with a book, undressed into her nightclothes and attempted to read in front of the fire. But the words kept running together as Emily kept thinking about Glastonbury, who seemed to wander into her thoughts at inopportune moments.
Even when she gave up reading and tried to sleep, he was still there, appearing her many of Emily’s dreams. And there had been many dreams with Emily waking up and trying to dream of something else.
It ended up being a very long night.
Chapter 6
Flowers
S o when Emily finally fell asleep, it was nearly dawn. And then, what felt like moments later, the door opened and Joyce came bounding in. For someone who had been in hysterics the night before after being badly embarrassed, she didn’t look like she had been sobbing on Emily’s shoulder. She looked… upbeat.
Emily hated that look right then and there. She groaned and rolled over as Joyce opened the curtains wide, letting the blinding light inside.
“Wake up, Emily! It’s morning!”
“I can see it’s morning. I haven’t slept all night.” Emily pulled the sheets over her head. “I want to go back to sleep.”
“No time.” Joyce jumped and the bed and shook her. “Come and see what’s arrived for us.”
“No.”
“Oh, don’t be lazy.” Joyce bounded off the bed and ran to the door. “Come and have a look.”
She slammed the door behind her. Emily groaned as the slam reverberated around her head. She felt terrible. But she knew Joyce wouldn’t let her go back to sleep; she had to find out what was going on.
Dragging herself out of bed, Emily found her robe and slipped into it, tying the belt tightly around her middle. She would go and find out what Joyce was making a fuss about and then she would go back to bed. Sleep was telling her to stay in bed but Emily knew she wouldn’t be able to rest until she saw what was going on. She loved Joyce but her cousin wanted everyone to share her excitement.
The smell of flowers hit her before she was halfway down the stairs. Emily followed her nose and entered the parlor. Two huge bouquets were in vases on the table, the vases full of huge red roses. Joyce was smelling them and giggling, her mother standing nearby with a smile on her face at her daughter’s excitement.
“My goodness.” Emily approached the table and brushed a finger over the soft petals. “They’re beautiful.”
“Aren’t they just?” Joyce gushed.
Caroline smiled.
“You two certainly made an impression last night.”
“I don’t know how, Aunt Caroline.” Emily stepped back and frowned at the roses. “We were barely the
re long enough to talk to anyone.”
“That’s right.” Now Joyce was looking confused. “The only people we spoke to were Father, the footmen, the Earl of Huntingdon and the Duke of Glastonbury.”
“Oh, no.” Emily started backing away. “The earl isn’t sending us flowers, is he?”
Caroline laughed and held up the card that must have been with the roses.
“Well, you can stop panicking now. They’re from the duke.”
The Duke of Glastonbury had sent them flowers? Emily’s heart picked up. She had never expected a duke to send flowers, especially not a man like Glastonbury. Joyce started squealing, her squeals making Emily’s head hurt.
“We got flowers from a duke!”
“Calm down, Joyce. You’ll go into hysterics again.” Caroline inspected the card which was larger than Emily had thought. “There’s also an invitation attached. He wants the four of us to attend dinner with him tonight to make up for the debacle that happened last night.”
Emily’s mouth dropped open. He was inviting them to dinner? She felt like she was in one of the dreams that had been plaguing her throughout the night and it wouldn’t let her wake up.
Why was she thinking so much about a man she met very briefly? Was it because of his smile? The way he stood up against the Earl of Huntingdon? The way he looked out for them afterwards? Emily had no idea. She had told herself when she was a little girl and saw an older cousin have her heart broken after the man she was infatuated with turned her down that she wouldn’t end up that way within moments of meeting someone.
It looked like she was going the same way.
***
The dinner party went better than Glastonbury expected. He was delighted to see Lady Caroline again–it had been some years since they had last met–and it was refreshing to converse with Sir Anthony in more relaxed atmosphere. Joyce and Emily were certainly in brighter spirits. There was no earl trying to force them out of a social setting and Glastonbury was able to talk with them as he wanted.
He liked Joyce. She was actually a vibrant, happy person. Completely different to the person he had seen the day before. She smiled throughout the evening and could keep up with the conversation. Glastonbury found her happiness infectious.
Regency Romances for the Ages Page 99