The coachman shrugged again. “As you like. But then you’ll need to find somewhere to spend the night.”
Pippa turned to her mother, dropping her voice. “Can we afford an inn?”
Bridget’s face tightened. “Just about.”
“Wecouldwalk.”
“No.”
The word was uttered with finality. Bridget turned to face her daughter fully.
“Appearances are everything, and first impressions are crucial. We shall commence our journey as we intend to continue, arriving in a manner befitting proper ladies.” She turned to the coachman. “Will you bring our boxes up to the inn?”
He grunted an affirmation, and Bridget turned away with a sigh.
“Come along, then. Let us make haste before all their lodgings for the night are taken. And for heaven’s sake, repair that tear in your sleeve. You appear quite dishevelled.”
***
It was not a particularly nice inn. The innkeeper looked them both up and down, pursed her lips, and bluntly requested payment upfront. Pippa saw the way her mother clenched her jaw against the obvious insult, and carefully counted out their precious coins to pay. She felt like stepping forward and slamming her fist against the counter.
Don’t you know that my cousin is the Duke of Dunleigh?She would shout.My father was the Viscount Randall. We’re ladies.
She didn’t bother, of course. Calling on the names of rich relations wouldn’t make more money appear in their purses, and the innkeeper probably wouldn’t believe them anyway.
They were shown to a small, dusty room with cobwebs in the corner and a gritty, unswept floor. There was one bed for them both to share, and it creaked ominously when Pippa sat on it. She bit back a sigh and turned her attention to the hole in her sleeve.
“This might serve us better, now I think about it,” Bridget murmured, pacing up and down. “We can arrive in the middle of the morning, as if we were paying a call, rather than at the end of the day like a pair of supplicants.”
“That’s what we are, though, isn’t it?” Pippa remarked. “Supplicants. Poor relations.”
She’d made a mistake. Bridget rounded on her.
“I willnothave you spouting such nonsense,” she hissed. “I am a Viscountess, and you are a viscount’s daughter. My brother was a duke, and a rich one.Iwas a rich woman. When you marry – and you’ll marry well, I shall make sure of it – all will be righted again. We are coming to take our rightful place in Society, and don’t you forget it.”
Pippa avoided her mother’s eye, bending over her sewing.
“I liked our old place in Society,” she muttered.
Bridget pretended not to hear her.
“We shall go to bed early, I think,” she said, half to herself. “And start fresh in the morning. Our fates rest upon the morrow, and all must be executed to perfection.”
Chapter Two
Whitmore Manor, London
“You must attend, Nathan. You cannot withdraw, not for this gathering.”
Nathan bit back a sigh. There was so much work to be done. Ledgers to review, documents to write up, just endless, endless work. He couldn’t concentrate, not with his mother demanding so much of his attention.
“Nobody will notice if I’m not there,” he objected.
“Lord Davenport will notice. He’s a family friend, and it is Amanda’s first Season. She is his daughter, and you’ve known her for years. Youmustgo.”
“I’m not sure Amanda will care if I go or not. I went to her come-out, didn’t I?”
There was a brief silence, and Nathan risked a glance up at his mother. She was, unsurprisingly, frowning at him.
