Page 10 of A Mismatch Made in London

“What a hateful man,” I muttered, but my aunt didn’t appear to hear me.

“My dear, such a happy thing, to be asked to dance by Mr. Jeremy Beaumont.” She kept her voice down so that, hopefully, no one else could hear.

I almost said something to contradict her, but thought better of it, partially for Juliet’s sake, whose dance partner had escorted her back to her brother. Then Juliet came to stand beside me.

“My brother can be so odious sometimes.” Juliet rolled her eyes in a way my brother Ollie sometimes did. “But he is a good brother and has a good heart. But look. Here come two more gentlemen.”

Two gentlemen did indeed come to join us, and Mrs. Kendall, who seemed to be acquainted with everyone in the room, made the introductions. They immediately asked us to dance.

The rest of the evening passed just in that way, with Juliet and I being asked to dance nearly every dance. It was the most pleasant of evenings, in spite of Mr. Fortescue speaking to me so rudely and Mr. Beaumont treating me so coldly.

At least the evening had led to my fortuitous meeting with Juliet. We talked and giggled at every opportunity, and by the end of the evening we were making plans to walk in the park together the very next day.

As we were waiting for our carriage, I caught a glimpse of her brother’s scowling face as he hovered behind his sister. But I could see that even though Juliet loved her brother, she had a mind of her own and would not be persuaded by his opinion, if indeed he was warning her to stay away from me, though I couldn’t imagine why he would.

Mrs. Kendall said quietly to Juliet, “I always have a headache the morning after one of these parties. Do you think you can get someone else to accompany you and Amelia to the park?”

Mr. Beaumont smirked, and not in an amused way.

“Of course,” Juliet said. “My brother can accompany us. Do not trouble yourself at all.”

In parting, Juliet clasped my hands and said, “I am so happy that we met.”

“I am happy too. This has been the best day of my life.”

I realized how childish I sounded as soon as the words were out of my mouth, the unsophisticated country girl with eleven brothers and sisters. Was that why Jeremy Beaumont narrowed his eyes and looked away in disgust? Of course, I couldn’t know what he was thinking, but he was abominably rude.

3

Jeremy saw right through Mrs. Kendall’s request that they find another chaperone for Juliet’s walk with her niece. These mamas—and in this case, aunts—were shameless in their efforts to procure a wealthy husband for their charges.

In the carriage after the ball, Juliet chattered on about the gentlemen she’d danced with, but she talked even more about her new friend, Miss Amelia Moore.

The last time Juliet had made a friend at a ball—a Miss Scofield from Cheshire—she had spent nearly every waking minute with her. After several days, when Juliet was not around, Miss Scofield cornered Jeremy in their drawing room and tried to kiss him, admitting that she’d only befriended his sister in order to get close to him.

Of course, many men might have been flattered, or they may have even taken advantage of her, but how could she have thought he would marry her after she shamelessly threw herself at him? Could she have thought he didn’t have a choice? Or that his standards were so low?

He told her in no uncertain terms that she would get no proposal from him.

Perhaps he had been a bit harsh with her. He should have toldher gently but firmly that such actions were not likely to get her a husband, but he’d been extremely put off, thinking about how a young woman could easily compromise her reputation. If a lady made a claim against him, his name could be tarnished, as would be hers, if he did not marry her forthwith.

But he had no intention of allowing anyone to trap him in an unhappy marriage. He would marry a good woman and not because she trapped him.

“Jeremy,” Juliet said, interrupting his thoughts, “I believe you were rude to Miss Moore. I saw you glowering at her. Why would you do that?” Juliet stared hard from where she sat opposite him.

“You will recall that your friends don’t always have the highest ideals or behavior.”

“That is unfair, Jeremy. Only one—”

“What do you know of this Miss Moore? Nothing.”

“Oh, Jeremy.” Juliet rolled her eyes in that deliberately disrespectful way of hers. “Not everyone is mad with love for you.”

“I never said anything of the kind.”

“Just because Miss Scofield turned out to have ulterior motives concerning you doesn’t mean everyone who wants to be my friend will be the same. Besides, Amelia didn’t even know who I was or that I was your sister.”

“How do you know that? You did hear how her aunt made that flimsy excuse to get me to take you both to the park tomorrow.”