Which left Georgiana to entertain the spotty schoolgirl, who’d wandered across the room to the only remaining sofa and dropped on to it sulkily.
Once Georgiana had made sure all the others had cups of tea and as many biscuits as they wanted, she took refreshments over to Miss Durant. The girl took her cup of tea with a polite enough smile, but when Georgiana made as if to sit next to her, the smile vanished and was replaced by a scowl.
‘If you’re planning to start talking about frills and furbelows, don’t bother,’ she growled. ‘And I don’t want to hear another word about paint or plaster or curtains or upholstery either.’
‘I didn’t have any topic in mind when I came to sit here,’ said Georgiana, promptly deciding that such frank speech deserved a frank answer. ‘It is just that, before much longer, there are bound to be some gentlemen callers and I’d rather not give them a chance to think they can sit down next to me.’
Miss Durant’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘Don’t you want to have admirers, then? Isn’t that why you’ve come to London? To find a husband?’
‘It is why I’ve come to London,’ she conceded with a sigh. ‘Yes.’
‘But you don’t like the way they will squash you on sofas if they think they can get away with it,’ said Miss Durant, demonstrating a quick understanding.
‘Good heavens, do they do that to you, too? But you’re only...’
‘Fifteen, yes, but that doesn’t stop them. In fact, it positively encourages some of them, because they think I’m too young and ignorant to see what they’re about.’
‘Good heavens,’ said Georgiana again, too stunned to think of anything more original. ‘That’s...that’s...disgraceful. Are all men such...?’
‘Bounders,’ said Miss Durant resentfully. ‘Yes, they are. All of them except my brother, that is. Gregory is a regular trump.’ She half-turned to Georgiana, her face coming alight. ‘He even married her,’ she said, nodding her head in Lady Havelock’s direction, ‘to save me from the perfectly ghastly man my stepmother was going to marry. And now I live under his roof all those scabby fortune-hunters will think twice about trying anything with me. Gregory would shoot them dead,’ she finished with relish.
‘Would he?’
‘Oh, yes. He’s already fought two duels and is a crack shot.’
‘That’s all very well, but...’
‘I suppose you’re going to say I shouldn’t be talking about duels and fortune hunters wanting you to elope, and stepfathers wanting to...’ She clammed up.
‘No. That wasn’t what I was going to say at all,’ said Georgiana indignantly. ‘I was actually just wondering why your brother hasn’t taught you to defend yourself, that’s all.’
‘Defend myself? What do you mean? Shoot a pistol?’ Her eyes lit up.
‘Oh, ah, yes, I did mean that, but—’ She darted a guilty glance in Stepmama’s direction. Oh, dear. She hoped this rather bloodthirsty girl wasn’t going to go home and tell Lord Havelock that Miss Georgiana Wickford had suggested she take up shooting pistols as a hobby. Stepmama would be livid.
Miss Durant followed the direction of her guilty glance and cocked her head to one side. ‘She’s the kind of woman who lives by a set of silly rules and regulations, and thinks girls shouldn’t step one foot outside them, isn’t she?’
‘Yes, but how did you...?’
‘Oh, I’ve had dozens of stepmothers just like her,’ said the girl scornfully. ‘Not a one of them could break me, though.’
Georgiana could instantly see Edmund’s hand in this meeting. Only last night he’d said she ought to mix with girls with whom she had something in common. Not only did Julia have an aversion to importunate suitors, but she also had experience of overbearing stepmothers.
What was more, even though part of what she’d just said was clearly an exaggeration, it certainly confirmed a suspicion that was slowly forming in Georgiana’s mind. ‘You are...what they call...a hellion, aren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ said Miss Durant with pride.
‘I...I think I envy you,’ said Georgiana, faintly.
Miss Durant’s upper lip curled in scorn.
‘No, truly,’ said Georgiana, with feeling. ‘I have only ever succeeded in being a bit of a hoyden.’ She’d crumbled under the pressure to behave the way Stepmama decreed. Not because of the beatings, but because of the more subtle pressure exerted by Sukey’s distress and Papa’s disappointment. Yet Julia was proudly defiant. Here was a girl who would say exactly what she thought, and behave exactly as she pleased, no matter what.
For a moment, her heart lifted. For Edmund was sending her the message that he believed it was perfectly acceptable to be her true self.
Or... Her heart plummeted. Was the message one of censure? Was he telling her that he was disappointed in her for not sticking to her guns, the way Miss Durant had clearly done, no matter how many stepmothers had attempted to ‘improve’ her?
While she was wondering exactly what message Edmund had been trying to convey, through Miss Durant, the girl in question was laughing at her.
‘You?’ She scanned the stupid mass of curls clustering round Georgiana’s face, the frills and flounces abounding on her fashionable gown and the dainty slippers on her feet.
‘Yes, me,’ protested Georgiana hotly. ‘I might be dressed up like a Christmas goose, fattened for market, but that is only because she is determined to get me off her hands.’
‘I’ve had stepmothers like that, too,’ said Miss Durant with a twist to her lips. ‘Trying to make you into a lady. Strapping you into corsets and swathing you in muslin so flimsy you can hardly go for a decent walk let alone—’
‘Climb a tree,’ Georgiana finished for her.
They sighed, in unison.
‘Do you hate London as much as I do?’ Miss Durant asked.
‘Probably more. At least nobody is trying to make you get married.’
‘No, I shall be spared that for a few years yet,’ Miss Durant agreed. ‘But in the meantime, what is a girl supposed to do? I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad if I could get out for a decent ride, but ladies aren’t allowed to go out without a groom—’
‘Or have a really good gallop.’
‘No. I say, though, does that mean you ride?’
‘Well, I would if I could, only...’
Something must have shown on her face as she silently mourned the loss of Whitesocks, because Miss Durant’s own puckered in concern.
‘What is it? Did they make you leave your favourite hack behind?’
‘Worse. He had to be sold. We are—oh, dear, I’m not supposed to admit this...’
‘Under the hatches?’
‘Oh, no. It’s not as bad as that. It’s just that Stepmama wants people to believe...that is—’ She broke off, aghast at how close she’d come to confiding their financial circumstances to a virtual stranger.
‘Well, never mind that,’ said Miss Durant brusquely. ‘What concerns me is—’ Now it was her turn to break off mid-sentence. And her eyes darted about rapidly, just as though she was scanning several options. ‘Yes, I have it. The perfect solution to both our difficulties. You see she—’ she jerked her head in Lady Havelock’s direction ‘—is always saying I cannot go out riding without a suitable escort. And she cannot ride herself, even if she wasn’t in a condition I’m not supposed to mention—though I cannot think why, since it’s common knowledge she’s breeding.’ She paused to draw breath. ‘And you don’t have a horse in Town, so this will really make me look good, too.’
‘What will?’
‘Why, you will be my suitable escort, of course. I can come round for you first thing, with my spare hack, and a groom, of course.’ She pulled a face. ‘Cannot shake the fellow off, but I suppose it’s probably for the best, the way London beaus carry on if they catch a
female on their own.’
‘Even in a drawing room,’ Georgiana agreed bitterly.
‘Exactly. Groom welcome, then. Pistols optional.’
‘I haven’t got a pistol any longer.’ Georgiana sighed, shaking her head. ‘Have you?’
Miss Durant grinned. ‘No, but I’m going to ask Gregory to buy me one. And to teach me to shoot it. And, oh, I say, we could practise together!’
‘I should love that,’ said Georgiana wistfully. ‘Only—’ She darted another guilty glance at her stepmother.
Miss Durant wrinkled her nose. ‘I cannot think why some females are so stupid about that sort of thing. Why shouldn’t we learn to shoot? It’s not as if we are planning to turn to a life of crime, is it?’
‘No, but—’ Georgiana clapped her hand to her mouth.
‘What?’
‘I was just imagining lying in wait, behind some bushes, and leaping out upon...someone.’
‘One of your dastardly suitors? Or, no, even better,’ said Miss Durant, getting into the spirit of things, ‘some drunken bucks. Staggering home at dawn from White’s, or Boodles. Lawks! Only think of what the newspapers would make of that. Footpads in petticoats.’
‘No, no,’ Georgiana protested. ‘You said we were going out on horseback. We’d have to be h-highwaymen in p-petticoats.’
At which point they both collapsed in giggles.
Which made Lady Havelock rise from her sofa and come across the room.
‘I am glad to see you girls getting on so well,’ she said. ‘What are you two finding so amusing?’
‘Miss Wickford was just suggesting...’ Miss Durant began with an impish gleam in her eye which made Georgiana hold her breath. ‘That is, I thought,’ Miss Durant continued, ‘that she might like to come out riding with me some mornings. She hasn’t brought a horse to Town with her. So I could lend her Snowdrop. Oh, do say yes, Mary.’
‘Could you possibly spare your stepdaughter some mornings,’ said Lady Havelock, turning to Stepmama with a winsome smile, ‘to accompany this hoyden for a ride in the park? I am afraid that Julia is finding her stay in Town sadly flat, since I am unable to take her out riding. Lord Havelock and I really would be most terribly grateful if you would say yes.’
Georgiana held her breath. She couldn’t see Stepmama refusing Lady Havelock’s request that she become intimate with a member of such an exalted family. Not as long as Miss Durant said nothing about the pistol shooting. Which was a very real danger, considering how rash the girl appeared to be about voicing her opinion.
‘Georgiana would love that, would you not, my dear? Although...’ Stepmama twisted her hands together ‘...I do not like to sound overprotective, but...and of course I do not mean to sound stuffy, either, but you will provide a groom to attend the girls, won’t you?’
‘Of course. Gregory—that is, Lord Havelock—is terribly strict about that sort of thing. Julia is an heiress, you see, so we cannot guard her too carefully.’
Stepmama relaxed into a smile of genuine delight. Not only had she just discovered that Julia Durant was an heiress, but her own insistence on having a groom in attendance had clearly done her no harm in Lady Havelock’s estimation.
‘Well,’ she said, as soon the last of their morning callers had gone, ‘isn’t it a good thing you have your riding habit with you? Even though we couldn’t afford to stable a horse in London?’
Georgiana bit back the retort that she no longer had a horse to stable anywhere. And that the only reason she had her riding habit was because they’d had to pack all their possessions and remove them from Six Chimneys when her father’s cousin had moved in.
She was not going to say, or do, anything that might induce Stepmama to change her mind about permitting her to go out on horseback. Nor give her cause to suspect she might be taking up an activity of which she disapproved so strongly that she’d confiscated the pistols Papa had given her.
She just hoped Miss Durant’s brother was as open-minded about it as the girl believed, that was all. Because he sounded too good to be true.
Chapter Nine
Edmund could never understand why so many people he scarcely knew persisted in sending him so many invitations to events they must know wouldn’t interest him in the slightest, whenever he came to Town.
Nevertheless, tonight he was glad that Lady Twining had invited him to her daughter’s come-out ball. Because Lord Havelock had informed him that his wife had somehow managed to get Georgiana’s name on the guest list, too. And although on first hearing this, he’d just been pleased to see that his ploy was working, that Georgiana was, gradually, getting to know females who would encourage her to discover her true self again, as the hours had ticked by he’d found himself increasingly unable to concentrate on his work. Because he couldn’t stop wondering what sort of reception she’d get. Just because Lady Havelock had managed to get her name on the guest list, it was no guarantee that people would receive her cordially once she got there. They would be just as likely to take one look at her stepmother, draw their own conclusions and cut her dead.
Society tabbies could be incredibly cruel. Especially those with unmarried daughters who would regard both Georgiana and Sukey as a threat to their own matrimonial ambitions.
In the end he tossed his pen aside, changed into evening clothes and sent one of his footmen to fetch him a hack, since it was raining too heavily for him to walk.
He need not waste his entire evening, after all. He could just take a look in to see how Georgie was faring and, if it looked as though she was not being well received, he would...
As his footman shut the door of the cab behind him, Edmund wrinkled his nose in distaste. And not entirely because it smelled as though a previous passenger made their living boiling onions. No, it was mostly because he’d realised that if he wanted to make sure Georgiana was enjoying herself, he’d have to go through all the rigmarole of approaching her stepmother, and asking permission to dance, or for the honour of escorting her into supper, or some such foolery. He’d have to spend enough time with all of them to demonstrate that he endorsed their presence in the polite world.
* * *
A footman bearing an umbrella opened the door of Edmund’s hired hack the moment it drew up. But the unfortunate man received only a baleful glare in return for escorting him up the front steps to the open door. Because light and noise were streaming out in about equal measure, proclaiming that Miss Twining’s come-out ball bore all the hallmarks of being what people referred to as ‘a squeeze’.
People were queuing up the stairs inside, chattering and laughing and jostling those who were trying to descend. People who’d clearly had enough and were attempting to leave. For a moment Edmund considered turning around and joining them.
But then he remembered the way he’d found Georgiana cowering in a corner at Lady Havelock’s gathering, gave a deep sigh, surrendered his hat and coat to yet another footman, and joined the end of the queue.
When he was about two-thirds of the way up the staircase, a mature lady attempting to go down gave an exaggerated start and came to a halt.
‘Good heavens! Lord Ashenden?’ Lady Tarbrook clapped her hand to her heavily jewelled bosom. ‘I never expected to see you here, of all people!’
Several responses sprang to mind. All of them rude. On any other occasion he would have selected one and tossed it carelessly at her feet, hoping she would stumble over it. Because she was one of those gossipy, hen-witted matrons with whom conversing was a colossal waste of time. He wouldn’t have cared if he offended her. He didn’t care what females of her type thought of him, or said about him.
But tonight he didn’t have only himself to consider. Georgiana’s position in society was far from assured. She couldn’t afford to offend any one of these tabbies. Therefore, tonight, for her sake, nor could he.
&n
bsp; So he confined himself to merely raising one eyebrow, and saying, in what he hoped was a manner sufficiently off-putting to discourage further conversation, yet not cold enough to leave any lingering hostility, ‘Indeed?’
Lady Tarbrook appeared to regard his bland response as an invitation to linger, even though she was preventing the people on the stairs behind her from getting past.
‘Yes, I should have thought you would consider this ball far too frivolous a way to spend an evening,’ she said archly, ignoring the portly gentleman on the step above her who was noisily clearing his throat.
‘You are correct,’ he bit out, realising his error too late. There would now be no escape until he’d furnished her with some sort of explanation. ‘I would not normally waste my time at such an event. However,’ he continued, ‘some people who hail from the environs of Fontenay Court, who have recently come up to Town, are attending. And I thought it would be a neighbourly gesture,’ he said, feeling a muscle at the corner of his eye give a twitch, ‘to take a look in and see how they are faring in the Polite World.’
There, that should send out the message that he approved of the Wickfords. As their life-long neighbour, who was better placed to know what kind of people they were? And what better person to whom to divulge that information than one of the busiest gossips in England?
He gave her a nod of dismissal, and, as the queue surged upwards, climbed the next two stairs.
‘Neighbours, you say?’
To his acute annoyance, tossing her that bone had not satisfied Lady Tarbrook. On the contrary, as she fell into step beside him, her eyes alight with curiosity, he saw that all he’d done was whet her appetite.
‘Anyone I know?’
‘I should not think so.’
‘Oh? I would have thought—that is, since your mother is also here tonight I had assumed they must be here under her aegis, since they are such close neighbours of yours.’
The Debutante's Daring Proposal Page 10
