The Unlikely Lady

by Valerie Bowman

  “I do not for one moment believe you’d do anything with the intent to cause trouble at Cassandra’s wedding, but we all know that if you’re up to something—”

  “Up to something?” Lucy faked outrage with the best of them.

  “Yes. Up to something. Are you up to something?” Upton asked.

  Jane had to swallow her laughter. “Now is probably not the best time to mention my new chaperone.”

  “New chaperone?” Garrett put a hand on his hip.

  Lucy looked at her cousin out of the corners of her eyes. “Never mind that. Suffice it to say, I do intend to help Janie here with her little problem, but that has nothing to do with Cass and Julian and will not cause them a bit of trouble.”

  Upton’s dark brows shot up. “Jane’s little problem?”

  Jane shaded a hand across the top of her bonnet in an effort to look as if she were watching Daphne’s progress in retrieving the arrows. Jane wasn’t about to explain anything to Upton, of all people.

  “Yes, it’s Jane’s turn, after all,” Lucy responded.

  “Turn at what?” The expression on Upton’s face could only be called skeptical.

  “Why, our pact of course.” Lucy shrugged as if it were common knowledge. “We made one last summer, Jane, Cass, and I.”

  Upton scrubbed a hand across his cheek. “I don’t think I want to hear this.”

  “It’s nothing scandalous.” Lucy flicked the curl off her forehead. “We merely agreed to help one another, using our particular skills.”

  “And those are?” Upton prodded.

  “First, I helped Cass rid herself of the Duke of Claringdon,” Lucy said.

  Upton’s eyes widened. “You mean your husband?”

  Lucy pursed her lips. “He just so happened to be perfect for me, but I hardly knew that at the time we made our pact.”

  “Then we helped Cass in pursuit of Julian,” Jane added, smiling sweetly at Upton.

  Garrett’s mouth twisted grotesquely as if he’d just swallowed an eel. He turned to Lucy. “Don’t tell me you’re turning your talents toward finding Miss Lowndes here a mate.”

  “Don’t be a nitwit, Upton.” Jane crossed her arms over her chest. “And please don’t say ‘mate’ like that. It sounds so … barbaric.”

  “Of course not,” Lucy interjected before Upton could reply. “We merely intend to ensure Jane’s mother leaves her alone to be a spinster. Just as Jane wishes.”

  “Oh, really?” Upton replied, giving Jane a sardonic look. “How exactly do you intend to accomplish that?”

  Lucy didn’t take a breath. “Jane’s been suffering at her mother’s insistence that she marry and we’ve a plan to put an end to it. It’s quite simple, really. Nothing that will cause trouble at the wedding.”

  “Lucy.” The note of warning was back in Upton’s voice. “What are you planning to do?”

  Lucy waved her hand in the air. “Nothing that requires your assistance, dear cousin. You needn’t warn me this time. I’ve everything perfectly under control.”

  Upton studied Jane. She merely shrugged. She’d been patiently waiting her turn for Lucy’s, er, expertise, and she wasn’t about to allow Upton’s cautiousness to upend her Mrs. Bunbury plot. Lucy always managed to think of some way to get what she wanted, and this time, Jane intended to be the happy recipient of that skill.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head, Garrett,” Lucy replied, patting her cousin’s arm. “Besides, after I help Jane here, I may turn my attentions to you.”

  “Me?” The whites of Upton’s eyes showed.

  Lucy tossed the recalcitrant curl off her forehead with one finger. “Yes. You.”

  Upton squinted one eye, pressing his fingertip to his forehead as if he had a megrim. “How could you possibly help me?”

  Lucy’s grin was wide and unrepentant. “Why, you’re obviously in need of a wife.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “In need of a wife. Absolutely ludicrous,” Garrett mumbled to himself minutes later after the three ladies had excused themselves and returned to the house. The last thing he needed was his troublemaking cousin trying to matchmake for him. Why, Lucy had already spent the last few years convinced he was in love with Cassandra. Lucy had been entirely wrong about that, of course, but it had taken no small bit of discussion to convince her.

  Garrett grabbed up the bow and arrow and took aim at the bull’s-eye. He released the bow, letting the arrow zing its way to the target. It hit right off center. Damn. Not quite as perfect as Miss Lowndes’s arrows, but he’d never give her the satisfaction of knowing it.

  Miss Lowndes. What was she up to? Lucy was meddlesome. That was her nature. Apparently, Miss Lowndes was encouraging her meddling. Garrett had nearly asked them to explain whatever Miss Lowndes meant by that comment about her new chaperone. Could he survive another mad house party with Lucy up to her old tricks? He sighed. Something told him he was about to.

  He plucked another arrow from the quiver and sent it zinging behind the last one. He grinned. Aha! That hit even closer than Miss Lowndes’s best shot.

  “Well done.”

  Garrett swiveled toward the sound of clapping to see Derek Hunt, the Duke of Claringdon, striding toward him.

  “Claringdon, good to see you.”

  At well over six feet tall, Claringdon was taller than Garrett though not by much. He was big, dark, and strong, a former army lieutenant general before being granted his dukedom for his decisiveness in the Battle of Waterloo. But for all of Claringdon’s recommendations, the thing that mattered most to Garrett was that the duke made his cousin Lucy happy.

  “How have you been, Upton?” Claringdon asked as he moved to stand a few paces away from Garrett.

  “I’ve been well.” Garrett pulled a third arrow from the quiver.

  “Why do I question that?” Claringdon’s deep voice held a note of skepticism.

  Garrett gave him a half-grin. Claringdon was wise. The man could obviously tell that Garrett wanted to broach a certain subject with him. An image of Harold Langford flashed across Garrett’s mind. His death. His screams. Garrett’s chest tightened in that familiar way it always did. Guilt, his constant companion. “I wanted to speak with you about the bill that Swifdon is proposing.”

  Claringdon arched a brow. “The one for the soldiers who fought in the wars?”

  “Yes.”

  “What of it?”

  Garrett took a deep breath. “I intend to help him rally for it, of course, as best I can. But I want it to do more.”

  Claringdon squinted against the afternoon sun. “More?”

  “That’s right.” Swifdon’s interest in passing a bill for the veterans had given Garrett a new purpose. He’d spent the last years since he’d returned from war being the perfect caricature of a Society male, a future earl. He’d gone drinking, gambled, flirted with ladies, even taken a few of the widows to bed. All in an effort to forget. Not that any of it had worked. In addition to sleepless nights plagued by awful dreams and memories, he’d been unable to fill the void in his soul. A generous bank draft made out to Harold’s widow each fortnight had done little to staunch the tidal wave of guilt that followed him wherever he went. Now, with this bill, Garrett finally had a chance to do something. He was not yet a member of Parliament himself, but he had two close friends who were, Claringdon and Swifdon.

  “What did you have in mind?” Claringdon asked.

  “I want to expand it. Make it so that not only the soldiers are taken care of, but their families, as well.”

  The edges of Claringdon’s mouth drew up in a frown. “You know it’s going to be a fight for the soldiers alone.”

  “I know.” Garrett nodded. “But I think it’s important.”

  “I don’t disagree with you,” Claringdon said with a firm nod. “We’ll speak to Swifdon.”

  “Thank you,” Garrett replied. “Care to try your luck with the bow?”

  Claringdon stepped forward. “Don’t mind if I do. I actually
came here to see Lucy. She told me that she and Daphne were shooting.”

  “They just left. They had Miss Lowndes with them.”

  Claringdon took the bow and pulled back. “Jane?”

  “Yes.”

  Claringdon shook his head. “I do hope those two think things through a bit more before they get themselves into trouble.”

  “Trouble?”

  “Yes. Didn’t Lucy tell you? She’s hired a new chaperone for Jane. A Mrs. Bunbury.”

  “Bunbury?” Garrett cursed under his breath. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard that name.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “How is the beautiful bride?” Jane asked an hour later, as she and Lucy entered Cass’s bedchamber in the large manor house. Cass’s room was as lovely as she was, all pink and white and cheery. There was a gorgeous four-poster bed in the center of the room, a delicate whitewashed bookshelf that took up an entire wall and made Jane nearly salivate, and watercolors of flowers on the wall that Cass had painted herself.

  Cass stood from her writing desk to greet her friends, her honey-blond hair cascading over her shoulders. She was still wearing her dressing gown. “The bride? I’m nervous,” she responded with a tremulous smile. “And I have a horrible red spot on my nose that had better be gone before the wedding or I don’t know what I shall do.”

  “A red spot? Let me see.” Lucy hurried over to Cass and examined her nose. “It’s not that bad, truly.”

  “Not that bad? It looks as if I have a third eye.” Cass touched her fingertip to the offending spot.

  “No doubt it’s caused by nerves,” Jane said. “Try not to worry so much, Cass.” Poor Cass. The girl was as anxious as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. She always had been, and the wedding was only making it worse. Of course, Jane couldn’t sympathize, having never been engaged to be married and having the entire ton about to descend upon her home for the wedding. Jane could only imagine the courage it took Cass to face all of this. Especially with her overbearing mother in the way, but the outcome, the wedding itself, was certain to be beautiful.

  “That’s right.” Lucy twisted a black curl around one of her fingers. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. Everything shall be splendid. I’ve been helping your mother with all the planning and—”

  “You’ve been helping Mother?” Cass’s hand fell away from her face and her cornflower-blue eyes widened.

  “Yes, dear,” Lucy replied. “Don’t you know? She’s quite forgiven me, now that you’re to be a countess.”

  Jane laughed. “I suppose that would do it.”

  Cass’s mother had held a grudge against Lucy for her part in dissuading the Duke of Claringdon’s pursuit of Cass last summer. Lucy had done so at Cass’s behest, of course, because Cass had always been in love with Julian, but that hadn’t mattered to Cass’s status-hungry parents. They’d disliked Lucy immensely for months, until Julian returned and unexpectedly became an earl, that is. Julian’s older brother, Donald, had been killed last autumn while working for the War Office in France.

  “I’ve been practically forced to hide from Mother,” Cass said. “I’ve never seen her so prone to hug me. She does so at every opportunity.”

  Jane laughed again. “Ah, she’s about to claim a countess as a daughter.”

  Cass sighed. “Yes, and it makes me absolutely heartsick that it’s at poor Donald’s expense. The only good thing about it is that since Julian is an earl, he’s able to use his position in Parliament to promote the bill for the veterans.”

  Lucy laid a hand on Cass’s. “I know it’s been difficult for Julian and Daphne since Donald died.”

  Cass’s eyes briefly filled with tears but she shook them away. “I promised Julian we’d be joyful this week and I intend to be joyful. I am joyful, but still, being so happy under such tragic circumstances is difficult. Mother is so utterly callous about the reason for Julian’s elevation.”

  “She’s happy that her darling daughter is getting married. Perhaps you should look at it that way.” Jane adjusted her spectacles upon her nose.

  Cass raised a skeptical brow. “Darling?”

  Jane shrugged.

  Lucy cleared her throat. “Regardless, I’ve been helping your mother with the planning and we’ve everything arranged, including all the festivities leading up to the wedding.”

  Cass’s nose reddened and she pressed her handkerchief to it. “The wedding,” she echoed. “Oh, I just cannot believe that I’m about to marry Julian next week. After so many years and then the last six months of waiting and— Will one of you pinch me, please? I’m so frightened that this is merely a dream.”

  Jane rubbed Cass’s shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. She was delighted for her friend. Cass was as beautiful inside as she was out and Jane was happy that Cass had found the love of her life. Apparently that did exist … for some people. “No need for pinching. It’s all quite real, I assure you, and no one deserves happiness more than you and Julian.”

  Cass bowed her head slightly.

  Lucy quickly hugged Cass. “Of course it’s real, dear. It’s real and it’s wonderful.”

  “The size of this wedding has my nerves in knots,” Cass continued. “There will be dozens of guests!”

  “An earl is getting married, dear,” Lucy replied with a warm smile.

  “Yes, but I had no idea it would be so large. Normally these things are small, quiet affairs. You married a duke and didn’t have half so many in attendance, Lucy. It’s no wonder I have a red spot on my nose. The wonder is that I don’t have several.”

  “When a war hero earl marries his true love, who just happens to be the daughter of another earl, the entire ton wants to celebrate it,” Jane added.

  Cass bit her lip. “I don’t want to be a spectacle.”

  “Be a spectacle, darling.” Lucy flourished her hand in the air. “And have the time of your life while you’re at it.”

  “Well said,” Jane agreed with a nod.

  Lucy hurried over to Cass’s wardrobe. “Now, I’ve got your costume for the masquerade and—”

  Jane’s head snapped up. “Masquerade?”

  Lucy turned her face and blinked at her. “Yes. Masquerade. Two nights hence. I thought I told you. Oh, Janie, please say you’ve remembered to bring a costume for the masquerade?”

  “No, I have not remembered to bring a costume for a masquerade. I’ve never even been to a masquerade. Why in the world would you think I owned a costume for one? And why are we having a masquerade at a house party where everyone knows everyone?”

  Cass and Lucy laughed and shook their heads simultaneously.

  “Everyone does not know everyone. Many guests haven’t even arrived yet,” Lucy said. “Don’t worry about your costume. I’ve a gown you may wear and we’ll see to making you a domino. I think Mother has one. I’ll send one of the servants over to Upbridge Hall for it.”

  Jane sighed. Drat all the luck that Lucy’s and Cass’s parents were neighbors, making it easy to send to Upbridge Hall for a domino mask. Growing up as neighbors, Cass and Lucy had become friends despite their differences. Lucy was a tomboy with a sharp tongue and matching manners and Cass was the soul of demure, ladylike perfection.

  Jane fell somewhere in between. She’d never been much for demure ladylikeness, but she also couldn’t quite be bothered to not follow Society’s rules. She was too busy reading. She loved her friends fiercely, mostly because they did the lion’s share of the talking while she was left to blissfully read. Oh, she could offer a pithy comment now and again, but usually was quite happy to allow Lucy and Cass to sort out everything and tell her the relevant facts.

  Too bad the latest relevant fact happened to be a masquerade ball. Jane sighed again. She would be a good sport for Cass’s wedding festivities, but really, a masquerade?

  “Don’t worry. It’s certain to be fun, Janie.” Cass patted her hand.

  “Of course it will.” Jane replaced her thoughts with a bright smile for Cass’s sak
e. If Cass wanted a masquerade during her wedding celebration, Jane would procure a domino and be there.

  “Tell me,” Cass asked. “Have any other guests arrived since I’ve last been downstairs?”

  “Upton’s here,” Jane announced, trying—though not particularly hard—to keep the disdain from her voice.

  Cass clasped her hands together. “I’m so glad. Having the three of you with me makes me feel ever so much better.”

  “Why must you include Upton in ‘the three of us’?” Jane scrunched up her nose.

  Lucy gave Jane a warning look. “You promised to be civil,” she whispered.

  “Very well,” Jane whispered back.

  “You know Garrett is one of my dearest friends.” Cass made her way to the looking glass to examine her nose again. She poked at the red spot.

  Jane crossed to the window and pulled back the curtain to view the sweeping landscape behind the manor house. Upton was still on the lawn, practicing his archery. Jane eyed his form. She’d like to challenge him to a round, show him just how superior ladies were. “A wonder he came, considering his feelings for you.”

  Cass turned abruptly toward Jane. “Whatever do you mean?”

  Jane pushed up her spectacles. “I mean Upton wanted to marry you, himself.”

  “Yes, but—” Lucy began.

  Jane turned to see her friends exchange a glance.

  Lucy nodded toward Cass. “You should have been there, Cass. I told Garrett that after I help Janie with Mrs. Bunbury, I’ll help him find a wife.”

  “You did?” Cass smothered a laugh with her hand.

  “She did, indeed.” Jane turned back to the window.

  “What did Garrett say to that?” Cass wanted to know.

  “He gave me some more dire warnings of what would happen if I caused any trouble at your wedding and then spouted some nonsense about how he doesn’t need a wife. The man is going to be an earl one day. Of course he needs a wife. The sooner, the better if you ask me.”

  Jane snorted. “Very best of luck finding someone who could stand him long enough to marry him, but we’re focused on Cass, this week, not Upton.”