Miss Delacourt Has Her Day (9 page)

“I don’t understand!” He wanted to take her and turn her into his arms, but the rigidity of her stance said, “Touch me not” “That is, you didn’t agree to that, did you? You do still wish to marry me?”

Turning to face him, she cried, “Of course! You know I do! It’s only that everyone and everything seems against us, and I have to wonder if perhaps there is a reason. Perhaps they are all right. What if Lady Derby should do her worst? Perhaps people will cut me dead in the street and refuse all our invitations. What if our sons won’t be allowed to attend Oxford or Harrow, and our daughters remain unwed, all because you married the vicar’s daughter, no better than a guttersnipe!” Then she burst into gusty tears.

Anthony thought perhaps even Grandmama could not object when he pulled Ginny against his shoulder and wrapped her up in his arms. If Grandmama dared to try, she could very well go to the devil. What’s more, she ought to go for making Ginny cry. His mother could go along, sooner rather than later. It would be a pity if she missed the wedding, but if it meant Ginny would be more comfortable, so be it. While he was at it, his uncle, the duke, should be added to the list of those consigned to hellfire. As things were, he hadn’t the heart to tell Ginny what the duke had said in the course of their most recent conversation earlier that morning. Better for Anthony to share it all with her at a later date, though never was sounding better with each sob.

“Anthony?” Ginny asked when she was all cried out. “I do not think it is true that a duchess never weeps”

He laughed in spite of the knot of woe that bound up his chest. “Of course they do, my darling, and you shall make a splendid one someday,” he soothed, drawing the green ribbon from the pocket of his coat and tying it into her hair. “There, now, you see? You are the very picture of a proper duchess!”

Ginny laughed. No doubt she was thinking her still-bare feet and shapeless dress were sadly at odds with his words, yet he most heartily meant every one.

Mother, I would have a word with you!” Anthony bellowed through Lady Crenshaw’s chamber door. He preferred that she had come down to the parlor when he first requested her presence, but her abigail had inferred that Lady Crenshaw was not at home, upon which he had charged up the stairs to rap on her door. She failed to open it, but he felt sure he heard a whimper of dismay on the other side. “I know you are in there. If you do not open this door, I shall set fire to it!”

The door swung open as if it had been lent wings. “Anthony, how dare you? I am your mother!”

“And I am the next Duke of Marcross, or have you forgotten?” he barked, hating to invoke his title but allowing anger to win out over integrity.

“Of course not!” she said, all the while avoiding his gaze. “It’s only that I am persuaded you were once possessed of some manners. I do not know what that girl has done to you, Tony, but I do not like it.”

“I do not see as how I should be a slave to manners when you, Mother, are not” It was Ginny who had helped him learn that manners were for mankind, not the other way around. “Now, do we stay in the hall, or shall we retire to somewhere more private?” Without waiting for her reply, he took her firmly by the elbow, steered her into the sitting area of her chamber, and closed the door with a loud snick.

He was dismayed when she wrested free of him and disposed herself on a small sofa, arranging her skirts around her in the artifice he despised.

“Mother, tell me it wasn’t you who taught Ginny to do that,” he begged. “You will be the ruin of her. Perhaps I should cry off.”

“But of course you should, Anthony! Have I not been saying so all week? As if I could ruin her. Why, there is nothing left to ruin!” she exclaimed, spreading her hands wide. “Your grandmother has seen to that. She could have been passable, even unexceptionable if handled right. As it is, she will ruin you if she has not done so already. You are too good for her.”

“It is she who is too good for me, madam!” In fact, Ginny had saved him. It had taken only five minutes in her company for him to realize how utterly bored he had been, how futile his existence. The days he had spent quarantined with her at the Barringtons’ had been the most fruitful of his life, and he had willingly given up all he had held dear in order to ensure she would continue to be his guide throughout his life. None of it would have happened without Grandmama.

“That’s another thing. I understand you insulted my grandmother in her own home!”

Lady Crenshaw dabbed at her eyes with a scrap of fabric fringed with a quantity of lace. “As she insulted me!”

“Yes, but she did not have her broom, er, carriage called out for the express purpose”

“Anthony, you know I did not! I went to Wembley House to speak to your Miss Delacourt, a young woman clearly possessed of great intelligence. I felt if she knew how all of Society is up in arms about this mesalliance of yours, she would see the wisdom in bowing out of your life.”

“Mother, do tell me you did not prey on her lack of experience with the ton in order to twist matters in her own mind? You know that my marriage to her, to anyone else, or, lacking a willing bride, failure to marry at all whatsoever, would be nothing but a seven-days’ wonder. You have her thinking that I would be far better off marrying someone such as Lady Derby.”

Tilting her head, Lady Crenshaw worried her lip with her teeth and gave him a narrow look. “Did she say so? Has she agreed to cry off?”

Anthony, appalled that he had come from such loins, slammed his hand against the nearest wall. “No, she has not! Should she ever feel the need to do so, I can see to whom I should credit the blame!”

“You find fault with me now, Anthony, but you will soon come around to my way of thinking. You will be thanking me in days hence-see if you will not!”

“Mother, would you truly rather see me wed to Rebecca? Does your standing in Society take such precedence over my happiness? True, I thought my heart broken when she made her preference for a title so cruelly clear, but my sorrow was but a day compared to a lifetime of grief I would be forced to endure should Ginny not be by my side.” Anger spent, he sank into a chair and put his head into his hands. “It would be a grief beyond bearing, one from which I could not hope to recover.” Straightening, he looked his mother in the eye. “Is it for that I should thank you?”

Lady Crenshaw sniffed. He would be sure to tell Ginny that as more proof that duchesses do cry but thought he ought to test the waters a bit. “Mother, are you softening toward my case, or are you sickening with a cold?”

To his surprise, she sprang to her feet and rushed to his side. “Oh, my poor darling! I hadn’t realized-truly I hadn’t! You know how much your happiness means to me. Why, I have always done everything in my power to make smooth the road of life for you. I merely saw the girl as an unnecessary bump ahead for you, but if you must have her, I will learn to love her.”

Anthony raised an eyebrow. “Truly, Mother? I own, I’m a bit taken aback. Two minutes ago Ginny was quite beneath my touch, and now you are at aux anges to welcome her into the family with open arms! As much as I dislike myself for it, I feel a frisson of doubt”

“Truly, my boy!” she vowed, sealing her words with a kiss to each of his cheeks. “Now that this bit of unpleasantness is over, I am anxious to ask you what your uncle had to say about things. I confess I was so distraught with regard to the hobble Lady Derby witnessed at the Hadleys’ that I had him informed of it before first light. I assume he insisted on your presence bright and early? Was he terribly beside himself over the whole affair?”

“`Beside himself’ hardly does it justice, madam” Anthony sighed. He would much rather be sharing news of his difficulties with Ginny, but after learning the whole of his mother’s behavior this morning, he was more determined than ever to keep the truth from his intended. “Let’s just say he was a good sight louder than a man in his sickly condition had a right to be”

“Well!” his mother said in a conspiratorial manner. “You know your uncle. He always must be shouting about something. It’s no wonder his heart has very nearly given out, just like your papa’s.”

The giving-out of hearts was not a subject Anthony found comfortable at the moment. Standing, he began to pace the confines of the narrow room decorated in every version of yellow. Everywhere he looked were shades of canary, champagne, saffron, citron, and lemon. Even his mother’s morning gown was a pale, buttery gold. It was no wonder his stomach was growling; the room was a veritable tea tray!

“Are you hungry, my dear? I shall ring for Cook. No doubt your uncle offered you nothing at all whatsoever, and after summoning you to his side so early! And as for that grandmother of yours..

“I would thank you to leave her out of this!” he retorted. He would do better to leave at once before he crossed the line with his mother, but he was too hungry to care. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t hurt to mend fences a bit while he waited for sustenance.

“It would seem my uncle will condone my marriage to Miss Delacourt only if I perform three tasks to his satisfaction.”

“That sounds simple enough. What are you to do?”

He flicked a speck of dust from the sleeve of his dark blue coat while attempting to suppress his impatience at his mother’s machinations. For all her words of encouragement, she no doubt hoped they would be tasks beyond his scope and powers, as indeed they were. “He would have me triumph at a bout of boxing.”

“Oh, well, that shouldn’t be difficult. You were always a dab hand at boxing.”

“You flatter me, Mother, and, as you well know, I can hardly fight just anyone. It would look as if I were fighting over Ginny’s honor, and that will never do. That leaves only my instructor, Gentleman John Jackson himself, the most renowned pugilist in England. What chance have I in besting him?”

Anthony thought he saw his mother bite back a smile but could not be sure.

“Next, I must race a carriage and four at nineteen miles per hour or more.”

“Never say so! None but the old Duke of Queensbury has ever even attempted a race at such speed.”

“Do try not to be so full of glee,” Anthony drawled. “Of course, Old Q had the blunt to have a specialized carriage made, one that was equal to the task. He ran the nineteen-mile course in rather less than an hour, in point of fact. I could never hope to do as much”

“And the third task?” she asked.

“I am to land a hot-air balloon on a specified target without aid of instructor or expert.”

His mother, who had deigned to sip some of her hot choco late, began to splutter with laughter and attempted to cover it with a bout of coughing.

“I do believe you are sickening with something, after all.”

“Oh, Tony, you must own, it is above all things droll! Don’t assume I am laughing at your plight. I said I would learn to love your new wife, and so I shall. I can’t say the same for your uncle, however. So, when do you begin to accomplish the impossible?”

“I don’t. I will marry whom I wish, when I wish. There is nothing my uncle can do to me, please him or not.”

Lady Crenshaw was aghast. “But, Anthony, won’t you even try? Your uncle can hardly disown you-you are the rightful heir, and the estate and title are all entailed-but he can most certainly make life a terror for you. I know he has done so for me!”

It was true. As long as the duke lived, as his heir, Anthony was beholden to him. If the duke summoned him to his side a hundred times a day, Anthony would be hard pressed to deny him. The fact that he was newly wed would doubtless only prompt his uncle to make even larger forays into Anthony’s time, time better spent with Ginny. Perhaps his mother was right. It might not hurt to try if it bought him favor in his uncle’s eyes.

The decision made, Anthony and his mother, in perfect harmony with each other, made merry over the baked eggs and ham cakes. On a full stomach, the problem of his uncle and the threat of Lady Derby and all she might do seemed a faint menace. Anthony turned his thoughts to preparing for his round of boxing with Jackson and to when he might again see his beloved.

“Is Almack’s not open for dancing tonight?” he asked.

“But of course! That would be splendid! Has your Miss Delacourt procured a voucher as of yet?”

“We have only been in town but a few days, ma mere. I am persuaded that Grandmama could acquire one, but since you are bosom bows with Lady Sefton, and she one of the patronesses of those hallowed halls, I thought perhaps it would be expeditious if you paid a call on her this afternoon”

Lady Crenshaw paled a bit, a circumstance that surprised Anthony not one whit, as it was at Lady Sefton’s rout that Lady Derby had opened her budget with regard to Ginny and her unseemly behavior. “Well, yes, I shall see what I can do. You must own, Anthony, it shall be a bit of a struggle. I wouldn’t be surprised if they revoked your voucher after your uncouth ways at the Hadleys’”

“Hmm,” Anthony murmured. “I am thinking perhaps an elopement might be in order.” He lifted a well-manicured hand and regarded his nails. “Who needs Lady Sefton when you can have a Scottish blacksmith sanctify your vows in a trice?”

“Oh, very well!” Lady Crenshaw said with an exasperated air. “I shall have her voucher here for you this evening, but you must promise to bring Miss Delacourt to dinner with you before the dancing.”