Gerard rolled his eyes. His mother was not a good actress.
“Mother. Just stop.”
“What?”
Amelia looked up and tried to look innocent. But Gerard was not fooled; he knew his mother too well.
“Stop trying to find another wife for me. I’ve only just lost Allegra.”
“She died last Easter, Gerard!” Amelia pointed out. “And you came out of mourning three months ago.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m immediately looking for a wife.”
And Gerard didn’t want to look for one. Not right now. Unless it was involving Elizabeth. Gerard could just not stop thinking about her. Even tonight he had been scanning the room, wondering if she would be there. But he didn’t see Elizabeth’s face in amongst the other guests. Would she cross paths with him again?
Gerard was certainly hoping that she would.
“Look, I loved Allegra, too.” Amelia pressed. “But I’m sure she wouldn’t want you to go around moping the rest of your life.”
“I’m moping, did you say?”
“You are. And you seem to forget at times that you have three beautiful children who need a mother in their lives.”
Gerard groaned. That again. He hadn’t forgotten about his children, even with his own grieving to do. He kept himself at arm’s length from them at times, but he never forgot that he was a father. Hermia, Isabel, and Rosamund were never put aside, no matter what his mother thought.
“I’m not about to replace Allegra with someone else, Mother.” Gerard cast a look across the room at Annalise, who was talking to her godmother, the Duchess of Landish. “Especially not with Miss Holmes.”
“Why not? She’s perfectly charming with the right connections in Society.”
Gerard was sure that Amelia hadn’t spoken to her at length. He had, and he hadn’t been impressed. Annalise may have been pretty with everything going for her, but she was just a shell. There was nothing going on in her head. And it was clear after being in her presence for a moment. Gerard wanted someone with a bit of substance to them, someone who would do more than sit there prettily, smile and nod. Or talk about something that wasn’t fashion or gossip.
She was nothing compared to Elizabeth.
He had to stop himself. He hadn’t spoken to Elizabeth about anything more than her attack. But Gerard knew how good she felt in his arms, and he wanted that again.
He needed to stop thinking about something that was likely not going to happen again. Gerard had considered using Evans’ contacts to find her, but then decided against it. There had to be a reason why she had run, and Gerard found himself wanting to respect that. But the longer he thought about it, the longer he realized that he wanted more.
That woman had only been in his presence two minutes and she had caught his attention with an intensity that Gerard wasn’t used to.
“I’m four-and-thirty years old, Mother.” Gerard gave Amelia a stern look. “I’m far too old for you to manipulate into a marriage. Again.”
“What do you mean again?” Amelia blinked. “I didn’t manipulate you last time.”
“You arranged a marriage between Allegra and myself to happen on my eighteenth birthday. Allegra was sixteen.” Gerard grunted. “You were lucky I was already in love with her, otherwise I wouldn’t have been present at my own wedding.”
Amelia snorted and waved a hand.
“Don’t be so dramatic, Gerard.”
“I mean it. You were just lucky. And I’m not about to go looking for another wife to make everyone happy that I’m back on the marriage market.” Just saying it made Gerard shudder. “I’m a father first and a man second, that’s it.”
Unless there was a certain golden-haired woman involved. One with beautiful grey eyes. Stop it. Now is not the time.
Amelia peered up at her son. She shook her head.
“You have your priorities messed up, darling. Just like your father.”
“Glad to know I’ve got something right.” Gerard grunted.
“Well, maybe you can do something else right.” Amelia nodded to the far corner of the room where Hermia was sitting. “You can tell your daughter to put a smile on her face. She can’t sit out of the way scowling at everyone.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Tell her to stop being a little brat. That’s what you can do.”
Gerard frowned. He objected to his eldest daughter being called a brat. Even if she was acting like one. Hermia’s behaviour had not improved over recent months. Amelia was not the only one frustrated with her granddaughter; Gerard didn’t know what to do at times. Hermia just seemed to be a force of her own. The other governesses who had been very briefly employed by them had known that very quickly.
Sighing, Gerard detached himself from his mother and made his way across the room. Several of the guests got in the way and attempted to talk to him, but Gerard simply smiled and stepped around them. He wasn’t interested in conversing with the other guests. An ideal evening for him would be staying at home curled up by the fire watching his children play. It was something they had enjoyed as a whole when Allegra was alive.
Gerard wanted that back. He didn’t want to be here. And from the expression on his daughter’s face, Hermia clearly didn’t want to be here, either.
“Hermia?”
Hermia didn’t look around as her father stood over her. She simply stared out of the window into the street. It was dark outside, long after ten at night. Gerard sighed and sat beside her.
“You don’t need to look like someone’s died. You can put a smile on your face, you know.”
“I hate these things, Father,” Hermia declared. “I don’t want to be here.”
“I know you don’t. Neither do I.” Gerard patted her arm. “But your grandmother said you were invited as well, and it’s not easy to turn an invitation from another member of the ton down.”
“I wish there was an easy way.” Hermia sipped her water before looking at him. “Why do you keep coming to these gatherings, Father? You’re a duke. You don’t need to accept all the invitations, if any at all. You can come and go as you please.”
Gerard sighed.
“It’s part of the title. I have to show my face. Like at that fete yesterday. I didn’t want to go, but per my title, I had to be there. And it was for Uncle Alexander as well.”
That did make Hermia soften a little. She adored her uncle, would always be hanging off him whenever he visited. The two of them had a special bond and were very much alike. Gerard knew Hermia had been eagerly awaiting his arrival from Vittoria for some weeks now. Knowing that he was delayed due to his wounds didn’t help her current mood.
“When is he coming home?” Hermia asked. “It’s been three weeks since we won. And we were told he would be home soon.”
“I know. But he will be. It shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Good.” Hermia swallowed. “I miss him.”
“I miss him, too.” Gerard took his daughter’s hand. This was probably the closest they had had to a decent conversation that didn’t involve shouting for a while. “So does your grandmother, who is asking if you can put a smile on your face tonight.”
Hermia snorted.
“Why? I don’t like anyone here. They’re so pretentious.” She wrinkled her nose. “Pretending to be something they’re not. I hate it when people do that.”
“That’s what life is in Society, I’m afraid. We have to be something we’re not comfortable with.”
But secretly, Gerard couldn’t agree more with his daughter’s sentiment. People had to be something they weren’t, and it was painful to see when they weren’t very good at it. Everyone wanted to climb up the social ladder, and everything was watched with such close scrutiny it was close to impossible to breathe on it without someone commenting on that. Gerard didn’t like it. Neither did Allegra, but she was an artist at making it appear that she enjoyed it. She kept up appearances so well Gerard was even fooled.
He wished
she was here now. That bright smile, those grey eyes and perfectly pinned blonde hair …
No. That wasn’t her. Allegra was dark-haired and blue-eyed. And she was tall and curvy, not petite and slim.
Gerard really needed to get things in his head straightened. He was beginning to mix up his wife with the mysterious Elizabeth. That really did feel like an insult to her memory.
Then Gerard caught a glimpse of Annalise Holmes. She was now talking to Amelia, both women laughing over something. Gerard groaned. Then he turned to Hermia. Perhaps there was something Hermia could do that would be enjoyable.
“There is something you can do for me, darling. I think you’ll find it amusing.”
“What?”
“Your grandmother is trying to find another woman for me to take as my wife.” Gerard paused. “For you to have as a mother.”
That had Hermia sitting up.
“She wants to replace Mother?”
“She would never replace your mother. It just doesn’t look good on Society if I’m a widow with three daughters. People will talk about how a man shouldn’t be the one to raise his children; that is down to the wife or the governess.”
Hermia pursed her lips.
“I know she can’t.” Gerard nodded at his mother. “Tonight, it appears that she’s attempting to push me towards the Earl of Taunton’s daughter, Miss Holmes.”
“What?” Hermia gasped. “She’s only twenty! And stupid.”
Gerard couldn’t agree more on that. He squeezed his daughter’s hand.
“Would you mind staying close to me and being your usual bratty self? If a woman her age can’t handle your behaviour in a controlled place like this, she’s certainly not going to be able to handle you and your sisters when we’re away from watching eyes.”
Hermia’s eyes widened. Then realization dawned, and she giggled.
“You are a sneaky man, Father.”
“I know.” Gerard stood, tugging her to her feet. “Come on. Your company will make me feel better.”
It was a little unfair setting his young daughter on Annalise Holmes, but Gerard was feeling petty tonight. If his mother wasn’t going to take a hint, maybe he could drive the potential wife away.
Naughty, yes. But this was going to be fun.
#
“I can’t believe you told Father about what we did!” Flora cried.
Beth winced and looked around them. Thankfully, it was just Belle, her mother’s personal maid, and Sebastian, one of the footmen, who were close by. At this time of the day, the park was not as crowded as it normally was, but there were still people around. Hopefully, none of them would hear Flora shrieking at Beth.
Why didn’t she wait until they were a little less out in the open before she gave in to Flora’s consistent pestering over Beth’s demeanour? This could have been less embarrassing.
Flora was staring at her like Beth had gone mad. Beth pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose, trying to maintain her composure. She was already starting to feel a pressure in her head, and they had barely entered the park.
“I didn’t tell him about your escapades the second time around, Flora.”
“Escapades?” Flora snorted. “Is that what you’re calling them now? I seem to recall that you left me to my own devices!”
“You ran off from me. What was I supposed to do?”
“Come and find me.” Flora was speaking like she was talking to a slow child. “Make sure I got home safely. Not tell Sebastian and Marcus to come to Vauxhall Gardens and hover over me.”
Beth sighed. There was no way she would have gone into that crowd. After that kiss with the gentleman, she didn’t particularly care to be around anyone else. She was not very good at lying.
“Besides, I told him about what happened to me, not with you. I simply said you wanted to go out, and I went. That’s it.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better, Beth.” Flora kicked a loose pebble, sending it skittering across the ground and into the grass. “You told him where we went! Now I have to have Sebastian following me around instead of Rosanna, and you’ve got Belle, who will do anything our mother says without question.”
“Well, what do you expect? If I hadn’t told him what we did that day, one of the servants would have told them eventually. In any case, regarding Sebastian,” Beth glanced back at the footman and the maid with a sly grin, “Sebastian only volunteered because he wanted to get close to Belle. He’s always hovering around her.”
“Don’t be silly.”
“Take a look at them if you don’t believe me.”
Flora turned back, still walking and almost tripping on her skirt. Indeed, Sebastian and Belle were walking a short distance behind them, just out of earshot but close enough that anyone passing by knew that they were chaperoning the sisters. But they weren’t focused on Flora and Beth. Sebastian seemed more interested in Belle. Belle was looking a little flushed and trying to be composed, but Beth had noticed she was walking a little closer to Sebastian.
She couldn’t blame her. Sebastian was a very good-looking young man. And clearly besotted with Belle.
Flora giggled and turned around, shaking her head with a smile.
“You are such a romantic, Elizabeth Campbell.” The smile faded. “I’m still unhappy about what you said. Father was not happy that I went out. The dressing down I got from him was incredibly uncomfortable.”
“At least he didn’t know what you did with the Marquess,” Beth pointed out. “He would have been more than unhappy with that.”
“You’re not going to tell him about that, are you?”
“Of course not.”
Beth had only confessed to the earlier part of their escapade because her own adventures were on her mind. Flora’s second sneaking out was not hers to talk about; that had to be up to Flora. And it was something Flora was not going to confess to.
“That’s good.” Flora sniffed and swished her skirts. “You might just be able to redeem yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
But Flora strode on ahead. Beth sighed and hurried after her. Her sister had always been headstrong and frustrating, but it was more frequent over recent years. It was like she was putting on a facade for everything, that she didn’t care about anything.
Except Beth knew that Flora did care. She wanted to be accepted back and not seen as a wanton, fallen woman. The man who had promised her the world and then vanished on her had hurt her more than Flora cared to admit. She had worn her heart on her sleeve for him. Being outspoken and doing outlandish things was just her way of preventing herself from being hurt again.
It didn’t prevent her from getting into further trouble, though.
They reached the large pond in the middle of the park. Normally, on a nice warm day, they would walk once around the pond and back to the house. Going at times when they knew the park wasn’t going to be as crowded was perfect for both of them; Beth hated crowds, and Flora hated people openly staring at her. It had been some time since her indiscretion, but it wasn’t something that anyone would forget easily. Even if the woman wasn’t at fault, they carried the stigma of scandal longer.
What A Wicked Duke Demands (Historical Regency Romance) Page 8
