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NEVER SEEK OUT A MAN. ALWAYS FORCE HIM TO COME TO YOU.
Elizabeth supposed that was one rule she was going to have to break. She also wondered how to reconcile Edicts Three and Five, which were:
YOU MUST NEVER BE RUDE. A HIGHBORN GENTLEMAN NEEDS A LADY WHO IS THE EPITOME OF GRACE, DIGNITY, AND GOOD MANNERS.
And:
NEVER SPEAK TO A MAN FOR MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES. IF YOU END THE CONVERSATION, HE WILL FANTASIZE OVER WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE SAID NEXT.
EXCUSE YOURSELF AND DISAPPEAR TO THE LADIES’ RETIRING ROOM IF YOU MUST. HIS FASCINATION WITH YOU WILL GROW IF HE THINKS YOU HAVE OTHER MATRIMONIAL POSSIBILITIES.
This was where Elizabeth was really confused. It seemed to her that even if she excused herself, it was rather rude to leave a conversation after only five minutes. And according to Mrs. Seeton, a highborn man needed a lady who was never rude.
And that didn’t even begin to include all of the other rules Susan had yelled at her as she left the house that morning. Be charming. Be sweet. Let the man talk. Don’t let on if you’re smarter than he is.
With all this nonsense to worry about, Elizabeth was rapidly warming to the idea of remaining Miss Hotchkiss, aging spinster, indefinitely.
When she entered Danbury House, she proceeded immediately to the drawing room, as was her habit. Sure enough, Lady Danbury was there, sitting in her favorite chair, scribbling out some sort of correspondence and muttering to herself as she did so. Malcolm was lazing on a wide windowsill. He opened one eye, judged Elizabeth unworthy of his attention, and went back to sleep.
“Good morning, Lady Danbury,” Elizabeth said with a shake of her head. “Would you like me to do that for you?” Lady Danbury suffered from achy joints, and Elizabeth frequently wrote out her correspondence for her.
But Lady Danbury just shoved the paper into a drawer. “No, no, not at all. My fingers feel quite the thing this morning.” She flexed her hands and jabbed them in the air at Elizabeth, like a witch casting some sort of spell. “See?”
“I’m glad you’re feeling so well,” Elizabeth replied hesitantly, wondering if she’d just been hexed.
“Yes, yes, a very fine day. Very fine indeed. Provided, of course, you don’t go and start reading to me from the Bible again.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Actually, there is something you can do for me.”
Elizabeth raised her blond brows in question.
“I need to see my new estate manager. He is working in an office adjoining the stables. Could you fetch him for me?”
Elizabeth managed to keep her jaw from falling open at the very last minute. Brilliant! She was going to get to see the new estate manager and she wasn’t going to have to break Edict Number Two doing it.
Well, technically she supposed that she still was seeking him out, but it couldn’t really count if she’d been ordered to do so by her employer.
“Elizabeth!” Lady Danbury said loudly.
Elizabeth blinked. “Yes?”
“Pay attention when I speak to you. It is quite unlike you to daydream.”
Elizabeth couldn’t help but grimace at the irony. She hadn’t daydreamed in five years. She’d once dreamed of love, and marriage, and of going to the theater, and of traveling to France. But all of that had stopped when her father died and her new responsibilities made it obvious that her secret thoughts were mere pipe dreams, destined never to come true. “I’m terribly sorry, my lady,” she said.
Lady Danbury’s lips twisted in such a way that Elizabeth knew she wasn’t truly annoyed. “Just fetch him,” Lady D said.
“At once,” Elizabeth said with a nod.
“He has brown hair and brown eyes and is quite tall. Just so you know of whom I’m speaking.”
“Oh, I met Mr. Siddons yesterday. I bumped into him while I was leaving for home.”
“Did you?” Lady Danbury looked perplexed. “He didn’t mention anything.”
Elizabeth cocked her head in puzzlement. “Was there any reason he should have done? I’m not likely to have any effect upon his employment here.”
