“If you are so against courting the young lady, why did you agree to meet her tomorrow?”
“Asquith put a gun to my head.” Harbury pointed at his temple, his hand in the shape of a firearm. “A tidy, shiny, already-cocked flintlock.”
“Asquith? You must be jesting.”
“Never seen him so spitting mad. Can’t say as I blame him really. He has all those Wainwright girls to marry off before he can move out of the Albany and back into his own house.”
Adrian couldn’t believe Asquith had lost his usually cool head simply because he wanted to move back into Asquith House.
As Adrian could attest, there were many reasons a man might not want to live in his family home. Adrian also knew what it was like to feel responsible for a young relation. If someone had done to Emily what Harbury had done to one of Asquith’s relations, Adrian would surely have cocked a flintlock of his own.
“How many Wainwright girls are there?”
“Five. Though the younger three aren’t out yet. I’m to meet Lady Asquith and the two eldest Misses Wainwright tomorrow in Hyde Park at the fashionable hour. I’m to act as if I’m terribly interested in the chit I forced to dance and then invite her and her eldest sister to the Harbury ball.”
“That doesn’t sound too taxing.”
“But my punishment doesn’t end there. I’m also to escort—” He seized Adrian’s forearm. He spoke urgently, as if just having come to a profound realization. “Wait! There are two young women!”
“Yes?”
“And there are two of us! You’ll come with me, won’t you?”
Adrian twisted in Harbury’s grasp, slowly shaking his head. “I doubt Lady Asquith would want me there, given my imperfect family history.”
Imperfect being a mild way of describing his family’s past.
“Yes, yes. The awful business with your parents. Still, that was nearly two decades ago. You are a marquess as well as a decorated soldier. And Lady Asquith has five goddaughters to marry off.”
“I suppose, if she’s desperate.”
“She is.” Harbury was too drunk to catch Adrian’s sarcasm.
“I was jesting, Harbury. I’ve no desire to wed.”
“Neither do I. And I don’t have to wed her, I only have to court her.” He nodded to himself. “Lady Asquith might hopefor marriage, but all I agreed to do was behave in a pretty, solicitous fashion toward the chit, appear with her at the opera, a few functions, and the Harbury ball. They’re hoping that the Patronesses will reconsider their edict.”
“And if they do not? What will Lady Asquith do when no offer of marriage from you materializes? One does not antagonize a well-connected dowager if one wishes to live in social peace.”
There wasn’t a member of thetonAsquith’s mother didn’t count as a friend or relation. And she’d lived the whole of her life beyond reproach. She was just the kind of person one did not cross…
Adrian inhaled sharply.
…In fact, Lady Asquith was exactly the kind of ally one sought, when one was—ahem—a shade shy of respectable but had a beloved younger sister to introduce to theton.
What if Asquith’s plan was sound?
Might a sham courtship be the first step in ingratiating himself with Lady Asquith and—by extension—theton, too?
“Come with me. Please?” Harbury begged. “Entertain the sister. Please?”
Adrian leaned forward, propped his elbows on his knees, and bounced a fist against his lips as he considered.
I said her price was marriage. I did not say she wished to marry you.
Inwardly, he winced, just as he did every time he thought of that pithy exchange.
If he was serious about repairing his reputation, he’d not only have to engage with the social whirl of the season but also make himself appear an attractive catch. The Blackbird—according to Bessie—hadn’t wanted him because she’d thought him arrogant and aloof.
