The Reluctant Debutante: A Sweet, Regency Romance (Ladies of Mayfair Book 4)
Page 14
Alanna giggled at the baron’s insistence. “I apologize profusely, my lord. I meant no offense to the little lady. Now could you please take me home? I need to make my preparations for the evening’s entertainments.”
Alfred followed her as she swept towards his carriage, admiring her air of assurance. She climbed into his carriage without waiting for his assistance. “So, did you accomplish what you had set out to do this afternoon, my lady?” he asked.
Alanna chewed at her lip in indecision. “Yes and no,” she replied slowly, followed by a giggle as she saw the baron’s raised eyebrows at her uncharacteristic wishy-washiness. “You did introduce me to Lady Victoria, and for that I am grateful. I am also even more determined to assist her than ever. Unfortunately, I do not as yet have her full cooperation. It would seem that her circumstances are rather more complicated than I realized, despite your attempts at warning me. And she is burdened by a level of pride that will make it difficult for her to accept my help. She is even more like Bryght than I had thought possible. It is no wonder I thought there might be a match brewing there.”
Alfred made as if to protest her final words but she interrupted and waved them off. “Oh, never fear, I am not attempting to match make for the duke. I have discovered that I like the lady and would like to be of assistance to her if she will have me. The trouble is she seems reluctant to brave the wilds of the ton and enjoy a Season with me. And there is the added complication that she has not been properly provided for. I offered to share my wardrobe with her, but she did not seem to appreciate the offer overmuch. The most that I accomplished is that she has almost agreed to meet with me tomorrow after she has had some time to think on the matter.”
Alfred seemed perplexed. “What do you mean that she almost agreed?”
Alanna sighed. “She would not commit to anything. She said if she was in the park tomorrow and I happen by she would not refuse to speak with me.”
It was now Alfred’s turn to laugh at her expense. “And in that you found that you had some success?” he asked drily, causing Alanna to colour in response.
She answered defensively, “She did not refuse outright. I do believe that after she has had time to mull it over and I have an evening to think of further arguments, she shall see the wisdom of allowing me to help her go about amongst Society. Surely finding a suitable husband and getting a home of her own has to be better than her current circumstances of being an unpaid governess to her relatives.”
“So one would think,” Alfred agreed.
Alanna sighed discontentedly. “She seemed rather sure that she did not like my plan, though, my lord. I am uncertain if I shall be able to convince her. Do you think I should consult the duke? You had mentioned that they are friends of a sort. Do you think he could have any bearing on the topic?”
Alfred gazed at her in some surprise before having to turn his attention back to the horses who, having sensed his distraction through the reins were now tossing their heads fretfully. Regaining control swiftly, he turned his attention back to Alanna’s question. “I do know that he will not take kindly to what he may perceive as our meddling in his affairs. But I would have to say that I think it best that you do consult him.” Alfred paused for a moment in deeper thought before he turned back to her with a grin. “Just make sure you think through your words carefully.”
Alanna grinned at him, momentarily setting aside her worries on the subject. “I shall just tell him it was all his idea. He is the one who told me about her, after all.”
Alfred grinned back at her. “It is very obvious that you are an Alcott of Wychwood. You are so like your brother.”
They passed the rest of the drive back to the duke’s townhouse in companionable silence while Alanna planned out what to say to the duke as well as how best to convince Victoria to accept her help.
Pulling up in front of their fashionable address, the baron jumped down from the phaeton and hurried around to help his passenger alight. Watching his friend’s pretty little sister elegantly descend from the high perch while chatting cheerfully about her plans, Alfred felt an unfamiliar flutter in the region of his stomach. He frowned in response to the unwelcome feelings.
Alanna caught the fleeting look and stopped in midsentence. “What is it my lord? You do not wish to partner me for the quadrille this evening? I thought it would be the best opportunity for us to talk about my plans without drawing undue attention to ourselves.”
Alfred forced himself to grin at her, pushing the uncomfortable thoughts aside. “Of course, I would be happy to partner with you for the dance. Just be sure you mind your steps. It should be disastrous if you were to tread on my toes if you were too wrapped up in your story to pay attention.”
Alanna threw back her head and laughed heartily at his taunt, tapping him lightly on the shoulder with her closed parasol. “You are too droll, my lord. I sincerely thank you for your kind assistance with this project. You are a good friend to this family. Until tonight, farewell.”
Alfred stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching her ascension with a tight smile on his lips at her use of the word friend. Even after the butler closed the door upon her entry, he continued standing there until he realized he was being a simpleton. Shaking his head to rid himself of his uncharacteristic doldrums, he leapt back in the phaeton and set off towards his own home in a bit of a brown study.
Chapter Fifteen
“Thank you, Walter,” Alanna greeted as the butler helped her with her wrap. “Could you please have a footman take a note round to the duke requesting that he stop in to see me?”
“Right away, my lady,” the butler answered, gesturing over an ever-attentive footman who hastened off upon the errand. “Would that be all?”
“Please ensure he is brought to me straight away upon his arrival. I shall be in the morning room working on some correspondence. And perhaps have the kitchens send up some sort of refreshment upon his arrival as well. Thank you, Walter.”
“Very well, my lady.”
Alanna did her best to write some letters but her mind was elsewhere and her heart was not in the project. She got up to pace impatiently as she wondered if the footman had been able to find the duke and whether he would respond to her request for an audience with any degree of haste. When she heard the clatter of an arriving horse pulling up in front of the house she ran to the window and was gratified to see her brother, nattily dressed, climbing swiftly from his favourite mount.
Relieved for the efficiency of her mother’s well-trained staff, Alanna forced herself to settle back on the settee as she awaited the duke’s arrival.
Bryghton refused the butler’s intention of announcing him. “She is expecting me. I shall announce myself.” He dismissed the butler.
Closing the door behind him he strode in and stood before his sister. “Well, brat, what do you have to say for yourself? I am here as summoned. What was so urgent that I must drop everything and appear before you at my earliest convenience?”
Grasping her brother’s hand and pulling him down beside her on the settee, Alanna apologized. “Oh dear, did the footman make it sound terribly dire? I am sorry if I led you to believe there was some sort of emergency. I did not mean to alarm you. You know how I am when I have an idea. It is such a silly bother that we do not live in the same house when we are in Town.”
Sinking down beside her but retaining her hand, Bryghton accepted her apology. “Do not trouble yourself, I did not have any other plans that required my urgent attention. I do believe spending a little time with my sister would be more preferable than whoever might have been my companion at my club, which is where I was heading when the footman found me.”
He waited expectantly for Alanna to tell him what was on her mind, but when she just sat there looking at him rather helplessly, he prodded her gently. “You mentioned you had an idea you wished to discuss with me. Do you care to share it now or are you just going to allow it to continue to revolve in your head for a while longer?”
Bryghton showed no reaction to this sally, merely raising one eyebrow in question. “My lady? How interesting. I did not realize I had a lady. Would you care to elaborate?”
With another tinkle of laughter, this one leaning on the nervous side, Alanna hurried to add more details. “Remember yesterday, when you were trying to distract me from Drake’s ill-thought words about the viscount, you told me about Lady Victoria?”
“I vaguely remember the conversation,” he allowed, his face impassive.
“Well, I was intrigued by your story about this young lady who does not go amongst the ton despite being an earl’s daughter, so I talked Alfred, Lord Lynster, into taking me to meet her.”
Bryghton did not reveal his thoughts about his friend’s defection by so much as a flicker of his eyelid. Alanna was momentarily distracted from her tale and complained, “How do you manage to hide your thoughts so well, brother dearest? It is a most annoying trait, I must tell you. I could be telling you about the weather on our estate for all you appear to care.”
“What made you think I would care whom you and Lord Lynster choose to encounter in your day?” he asked mildly.
Alanna shrugged rather helplessly, abandoning the complaint and returning to the situation at hand. “Never mind about that. I did think you might care a little bit about Lady Victoria, but it does not matter overmuch whether you do or not. I now find that I care about her, and I think I might be in need of your assistance.”
At her brother’s silence she paused, but his inclined head prompted her to continue. “As I was saying, Alfred thought she might be at this little park near her house, as she seemed to be avoiding running into you for some reason that I did not fully understand. As it turns out his guess was correct and we found her and her darling cousins there. Alfred played with the children while I spoke with the lady. I took an instant liking to her and tried to talk her into accompanying me to some balls or some such but she did not jump at the idea. She came very near to refusing to even see me again, but I almost got her to agree to meet me at the park again tomorrow so that I can continue to plead my case after I have come up with some better arguments than those that had occurred to me at the time.”
Alanna paused for breath and looked at her brother with a touch of uncertainty. She continued, her tone almost pleading. “I must admit when I set out to meet her it was with some idea that she might be of some importance to you, and I was moved by curiosity more than anything else. But now I find that I quite like her, and I feel an obligation to help her despite her reluctance to accept any such help from me.”
Bryghton still did not appear to have anything to say, so Alanna continued to explain. “I do not quite understand her situation. It seems that her parents died some time ago and she came under her uncle’s guardianship. She spent many years at boarding school, only coming home for the summers. She said that she had gotten in the habit of spending most of her time in the nursery on her vacations from school, as she loved her cousins. So it seemed quite natural when she left school permanently that she would spend some of her time there. It seems that no arrangements have been made for her to have a Season and when the governess quit she did not want to see the children left in the lurch so she stepped in to fill what she thought was to be a temporary need. But it would appear that her uncle has made no move to replace the governess, expecting her to fill that role.”
Bryghton finally broke his silence, as his sister appeared to have come to the end of her tale. “I still do not see how you think this involves you or how it necessitated an urgent message to me.”
“Well, somehow, I find I am feeling a sense of obligation towards her. There is an injustice being brought upon her and I am moved to try to do something about it. But I hate to admit that I have no idea what I can possibly do to help her if her uncle refuses to allow it. I thought I could take her about Town with me. No one would question her presence at any gathering I went to, as her bearing and manner are completely above reproach. No doubt she does not have anything appropriate to wear, but I offered her full access to my wardrobes. That may not have been the right thing to say, because it was after that that she appeared prepared to give me a set down. I asked you to come because, as much as I would deny saying this, you are smarter than me. And besides that, you know her better than I do. So do you have any ideas?”
Bryghton smiled slightly at his sister’s question. He had all sorts of ideas, but he was unsure how many of them he wished to share with his little sister. “The problem with this, Alanna, is that it really is none of our business. We cannot force the lady to enter Society if she does not wish to.”
As Alanna made to protest, the duke interrupted. “I know it is hard to imagine that any young lady would prefer the life that it appears she is living. But we do not know the full situation. And she does have the right to refuse our offer of assistance. Now all that being said, I fully understand your desire to be of assistance, and I share that desire in this case. Why do we not plan to go together tomorrow and discuss it with her? Perhaps between the two of us we can convince her to give the ton a chance.”
“Really, Bryght, you would come with me?” Alanna asked with some surprise.
“Of course. I would be happy to help you with what I see as a worthy goal. It was kind and generous of you to offer the use of your clothing and it would no doubt be very helpful to her, but you must realize that the poor woman no doubt has her pride. That could be why she began to freeze you out. So when we see her tomorrow you will have to think of a more tactful way of phrasing it when you repeat your offer.”
The duke paused, deep in thought for a moment while his sister waited, watching him expectantly. “The problem with me coming with you is that she has been forbidden from seeing me and it could put her and the children in an awkward position with the earl. Do you want my assistance sufficiently to take that risk?”
Alanna now was undecided. Bryghton waited while she stood before him chewing nervously on her lip as she thought the matter through. “What do you think is best, your grace? I will gladly follow your council in this matter, as I have absolutely no idea what is the right choice to make.”
“I have good news and bad news on the subject. If the earl finds out about her visit with you yesterday he will have no trouble vouchsafing who you are and will assume we were in cahoots when you went to see her. Should he feel inclined to make trouble for her over it, he will do so whether I accompany you or not.”
“I can see why you called it good news and bad news,” Alanna grumbled with a disgruntled wrinkle to her nose. “So what you are telling me is whether you come with me or not, I may have already caused her trouble, so you might as well come with me, is that correct?”
Bryghton gave her a sheepish grin. “In a nutshell, little sister.”
“In that case, I will be happy to have your company for a ride to the park tomorrow afternoon. Will you be prepared to know what to say to her, do you think?”
“Of course. Have you ever known me to be at a loss for words?”
Alanna could not prevent her grin. “I have not, I must admit. Very well, my lord, the duke. I look forward to seeing you at your verbose best on the morrow.”
The duke stood and gave his little sister a mocking bow. “Now, do I have your permission to go about my business for the rest of the day?”
“Yes, your grace,” Alanna answered formally before bounding up from the settee and giving her brother a warm hug.
Before Bryghton could stride from the room, his sister called out to him. “Are you going to any of the ton gatherings this evening, or will you be holed up in your clubs all night?”
“I see no need to attend any of those senseless affairs. Why ever would you think I would set foot in one if I do not need to? I only go when our mother demands it of me,” he said drolly.
/> “But if you are going to help me with Lady Victoria you should start showing your face around now if you do not want it to be remarked upon and have the gossips’ tongues set on fire with the tale.”
The duke paused and looked at his sister with a face of disbelief. “You are not the silliest chit ever, are you? That is a sound piece of advice, however awful it shall be to follow.” He paused for a moment while contemplating with displeasure the prospect of entering the social whirl. “Which invitations have you accepted for this evening? Perhaps I could accompany you somewhere and then leave after showing my face for a little while. No one will think anything is amiss about escorting my sister. In fact, it is no doubt my duty to be keeping an eye on your whereabouts.” This brought another thought to the older brother’s mind. “Now that I think on it, why are you so unoccupied that you must stick your nose into my affairs and that of the lady Victoria?”
After laughing uproariously at the duke’s question, his sister composed herself enough to reply. “Your grace, really, every lady of the ton has developed this skill even more sharply than have I. It is a form of art to be able to plan parties, gad about to the shops, attend all the best parties each evening, and still keep all the various tidbits of gossip straight. Truly, that is the whole purpose of the Season, is it not?”
Bryghton could not suppress the shudder of distaste that shivered up his spine. “Then why do you do it?” he asked dubiously.
With an uninformative shrug Alanna answered, “It is the way of our world, my dear brother. And it is terribly interesting, I must say, especially now that I am not in my first Season. When I made my debut people made more of an effort to shelter me from much of the gossip. Now it would appear that there are no such restraints. I must admit to you that I find many of the tales spread about to be so outlandish as to be out of the realm of possibility to be true. But it is beyond entertaining to hear the stories being bandied about at times. Some people have exceedingly active imaginations.”