Page 13 of How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days

Taking a leaf from his cousin’s book, Ashford took in his own slow breath. One could forgive a momentary lapse of etiquette, and after all, she would not be the first lady to wear an unusual dress. Once they were married, he could advise her against such vegetal outfits.

‘I’m so glad you could come,’ Lady Phoebe said. ‘Now, you must be tired from your journey.’

‘La, not in the slightest,’ Miss Hanworth said. ‘Have all the other lords and ladies arrived? I am all of a-tremble to meet them. My knees are quite knocking together.’

Lady Phoebe cut quick, significant eyes to Ashford.

‘There is not the least reason to be nervous,’ Ashford said, swallowing a flicker of vexation. Young ladies did not habitually refer to knees in mixed company. Nor did they use such cant expressions as ‘la’, for that matter.

‘You have a great many footmen, Lady Phoebe,’ Mr Hanworth piped up, gazing around.

‘Yes, I suppose we do,’ Lady Phoebe said.

‘Almost – almost a … suspicious amount,’ Mr Hanworth added, brow furrowing.

Lady Phoebe stared at him for a moment, nonplussed.

‘Come, I shall show you all to your rooms,’ she said, after a beat, ‘so that you might rest before dinner.’

They were not to be invited to partake in refreshment with the others, thank goodness – Ashford should rather Miss Hanworth change her dress before introductions, too. Lady Phoebe led the way, tucking Miss Hanworth’s arm into her own, with Mr Hanworth following behind and Ashford bringing the rear, smiling as benignly as he could.

A strange beginning, to be sure. Had he committed a misjudgement, by inviting her here? It had not escaped his notice that while her family had been in transports of delight over his proposal, she had appeared more timorous – but this had only convinced him further that this would be the kindest way of way of introducing Miss Hanworth to the milieu she would soon be occupying every day. Perhaps he had been wrong.

No matter. A small misjudgement he could easily address. As soon as they had settled in, they would undoubtedly resume normal behaviour, too. There was no cause to worry; everything would proceed entirely to plan. Smile liberally, he reminded himself, be solicitous, spend time with her. It was a foolproof strategy.

‘I am so glad you have joined us,’ Lady Phoebe was saying to Miss Hanworth. ‘I believe this is to be the most memorable week.’

‘I could not agree more,’ Miss Hanworth said, and she sent Ashford a smile over her shoulder.

It was not a smile she had ever given him before. And perhaps it was the great width of it, almost a baring of the teeth, or perhaps it was merely the puce dress adding a strange quality to the exchange … but Ashford felt it was not a nice smile.

And somewhere, deep inside, he had the smallest inkling that he might very well have made the first and greatest mistake of his life.

4

‘Are you certain this is what you wish to wear? It is not one your aunt selected.’

Jane, Lydia’s lady’s maid, looked Lydia over with visible concern, but Lydia gazed into the looking glass with nothing but satisfaction. Tonight’s dress was certainly not one Aunt Agatha had approved: a striped gown of grass-green and white, excessively festooned with pink lace at the hem and each sleeve and ornamented with a medley of brooches on her bodice.

‘Don’t I look awful?’ she asked Pip gleefully upon his entering the room.

It was not even the worst dress in her arsenal. At Pantheon’s Bazaar, an astonishing mart not commonly the shopping destination for young, unmarried ladies of fashion, Lydia had used a whole month’s worth of pin money to purchase a wardrobe of such wild ostentation that Marie Antoinette herself might well have deemed it a Bit Much.

‘Hideous,’ Pip confirmed supportively.

‘You might still change,’ Jane said. ‘But we must hurry, you are already late—’

‘No, no,’ Lydia interrupted. ‘It is perfect.’

If Ashford had not visibly recoiled at her puce travelling cloak – nor the gaudy post-chaise Pip had sourced at great difficulty – then this certainly would do the trick.

Jane looked from Pip to Lydia with narrowed eyes. ‘What scheme is afoot, Miss Lydia?’

Lydia hesitated. In ordinary times, there was little about Lydia’s life that Jane did not know. Jane’s grandmother having been a close friend of Lydia’s grandmother, the two girls had known each other all their lives. Behind closed doors, they never stood on ceremony – indeed, Jane was quite Lydia’s closest friend – but on this matter, would it be better for Lydia to remain silent? She did not wish to put Jane in the position of having to lie to Aunt Agatha, if questioned.

‘My apologies, I have overstepped …’ The hurt in Jane’s voice made up Lydia’s mind instantly.

‘Later,’ she promised, ‘later I will explain everything.’