“You may use my name as well—” She looked at him a trifle sternly. “As long as you don’t use that taunting inflection that always made me want to slap you.”
“You should have done it.” He grimaced.
She smiled, her lips teasing, tempting. “I would love to join your house party for the weekend,” she said. A dimple peeked out and he felt an urge that astonished him.
What would she do if he claimed those berry-sweet lips? It would be madness to do so. Yet, he couldn’t help but think what the weekend house party would bring. Friday, she would be just down the hall from his bedchamber.
A mistake waiting to happen.
CHAPTER 6
“Iwish you would not go.”
Irritation flickered in Grace at the sound of her father’s words and she looked up from the valise Will was loading into the carriage.
“Papa, it is decided.”
His brow creased and he peered over the rims of his spectacles. “You could plead a headache or some female complaint.”
Helentskedand placed a hand on his arm. “Haven’t we been urging Grace to go out in society? Now she has secured an invitation to a most exclusive party my friends will all envy. We can hardly deny her this chance.”
“But the Harcourts are known for some havey-cavey doings,” Papa hedged, twisting a button on his waistcoat and pulling it askew. “The countess vanished for decades, then suddenly reappeared. I cannot help but be concerned.”
“Captain Harcourt is a war hero and raises some of the finest horses in England,” Will insisted, chafing like a Thoroughbred waiting for the starting gun. “His wife is a trifle odd, meddling in architecture and his brother, the viscount is less than amiable,but the Harcourt sisters are earl’s daughters! They will go about in the best society.”
Papa flushed. “That earl?—”
“Lord Ravenscroft is a recluse on some distant estate,” Helen soothed, straightening the mussed waistcoat. “Besides, Wilberforce will attend the house party with Grace. If there is any questionable behavior, he can fetch Grace home straightaway.”
“Papa, I am going and that is the end of it,” Grace said, straining to have patience. “The Harcourt sisters and I were great friends before things went awry between you parents. Whatever you argued about was a long time ago. Surely, Jane, Cassandra and I should not be punished for it.”
Before her father could argue further, Bennet tugged on Grace’s skirt. “Youwillbe home to check under the bed for monsters tonight, won’t you?” The expression in his large green eyes hurt her heart. It was the first time she would be gone overnight since their mother took so ill.
She cupped Bennet’s cheek. “No, little man. You might ask Stepmama to do it.”
Avery made a scoffing sound.
“For shame, boys!” Helen scolded. “You great big lads mustn’t be selfish. You can’t expect Grace to be tied to the nursery forever! She needs to have a husband and babies of her own.”
“She doesn’t want them,” Ethan said stoutly.
Avery’s chin tipped at a pugnacious angle. “She hasus.”
“I will be back to tuck you in on Saturday night.” Grace reassured them, but she fidgeted with the strings of her reticule. True, she had her brothers, but did she want babes of her own? A husband?
She had dreamed of having her own family once. Sometimes she lay awake, imagining what it might have been like to shareNeville Freyne’s bed. But now, it was Lucien Harcourt’s face that flashed in her mind.
“Grace?” Bennet’s piping voice drifted up to her. She shoved such absurd imaginings from her mind as her littlest brother beckoned her to lean down. Cupping his palm around his mouth, he whispered in her ear, “Do you think your reticule is big enough to bring me cake?”
Grace grinned. “I am sure of it.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. Now, you mustn’t fret.” She ruffled each boy’s hair in turn then bestowed a kiss on her father’s cheek. “Anyof you,” she admonished sternly. “I will be back before you know it.”
Steeling herself against the cluster of long faces, she let Will hand her into the coach. He climbed in after her, sprawling against the squabs as the coachman set the horses in motion.
“Father looked ready to lock you in a tower until Helen intervened,” Will said, his lanky body taking up as much of the space as possible. “Makes you wonder what all the fuss was about long ago, doesn’t it? As to the Harcourts, I mean. Mysterious disappearances. That strange business of a perfectly good village being torn down.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Perhaps we can find out what really happened.”
