“You are doing the right thing, Constance, so stop second-guessing yourself.” Lady Frinton patted her sister’s hand. “Sometimes, we mothers have to give our offspring a little nudge in the right direction but in stubborn Guy’s case, that means pushing him off the cliff! We need to put temptation directly in his path and let nature take its course.”
“My father had to do that with a reluctant bull once,” said Lottie without thinking. “We had to surround him with cows in season before he worked up the enthusiasm to cover one of them—but once he started there was no stopping him. Ended up being the most randy bull we ever had.”
One look at Lady Wennington’s stunned face told Lottie that she had completely misjudged her audience and she winced. Lady Frinton, on the other hand, roared with laughter. “Indeed! One has to lead a horse to water to make him drink and we are going to supply him with an ocean.”
“Exactly how much of London are you inviting?”
“As many as we can get, Travers.” Lady Frinton rubbed her hands together with glee. “I have made a list of every good family with an unmarried daughter who could potentially be here by the eighth—which gives us just fourteen days to pull it all off.” Then she deflated. “But that lofty ambition is not without its challenges at such short notice. We’ll need to get all the invitations posted today to stand a chance of having a halfway decent turnout.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem here in Kent where the postal service to London is excellent.” Lottie’s letters always arrived in her family’s hands within two days and their replies came back to Mayfair just as swiftly.
“Ah… yes.” Lady Frinton turned to her sister. “Travers is a native of this county.”
“Are you really?” Lady Wennington tried to show some interest even though her mind was on the party. “That’s nice.”
“Sadly, sending out so many clandestine invitations without Guynoticing is only half the battle.” Lady Frinton threw up her palms. “While we can easily explain away taking a carriage into Maidstone this afternoon on the pretense of shopping, it will not be easy to hide the veritable mountain of replies from him. He’ll smell a rat if Constance gets too many letters as he’s capped her guest list at thirty and expects them all to be local.”
“The servants are ridiculously loyal to Guy so one of them is bound to tattle.” His mother tossed her handkerchief on the bed as if surrendering. “And before you suggest that we ask the postmaster in the village to hold them for us, Miss Travers, he’s as loyal as the servants are and will not engage in any deception if he thinks Guy will be upset by it. Never mind that it’s impossible to make proper plans unless we know precisely who is coming, as that would only result in chaos. Bedchambers will need to be covertly prepared for the most important guests lest we grossly insult them, inns will need to be reserved for everyone else in good time if we get more than I can house here, and then there is all the food to consider. A great deal of that will need to be ordered in—but not from anyone close who is liable to let the cat out of the bag. So you see, we’ve rather been scuppered by the first hurdle as everyone hereabouts adores my son.”
Lottie struggled to believe that but did not question it because mothers were supposed to love their children unconditionally. Clearly Lady Wennington wore blinkers when it came to her objectional offspring. But that wasn’t her problem, and this situation had provided her with the perfect opportunity to be indispensable.
“If you state plainly on the invitations that this is asurprisehouse party, you can instruct everyone to direct their replies elsewhere. My father’s farm is less than ten miles away and no trouble at all for me to get to and fetch them for us. Especially as I am unlikely to be missed by his lordship.” Avoiding himwhilebeing able to visit her family was a double bonus.
“Your father would do that?” Lady Wennington reached for her hand. “It seems like a dreadful imposition.”
“Of course he would—but if you wish for me to ask his permissionfirst, I could do that this afternoon and post the invitations en route. Aylesford is just outside of Maidstone and that is too busy a town for him to know every merchant.”
“Oh, that would be splendid, Miss Travers. Thank you.”
“Didn’t I tell you that this one showed promise, Constance?” Lady Frinton settled back against her pillows and gestured for her teacup that was well within arm’s reach on her nightstand. When Lottie dutifully passed it to her, she didn’t get a thank-you. “If Travers is the intermediary on the guest front, Longbottom can return to London and take care of all the food that needs ordering andmymaids can take care of the covert making up of the guest bedchambers nearer the time. Between us all we’ll get it all done and Guy will be none the wiser. In the meantime, Constance, he must think that it is business as usual so you must do a very public job of organizing a small evening soiree on the day of his actual birthday while lamenting its mediocrity alongside his reluctance to allow you to do the deed properly.”
“I can absolutely do that!” For the first time since Lottie had entered the bedchamber, Lady Wennington grinned. “He loathes me nagging him about finding a wife so much, he will purposefully make himself scarce if I am relentless.” Then she giggled, mischief dancing in her eyes. “This is going to be such fun, isn’t it?”
Lottie nodded, already enjoying herself immensely at the vexing viscount’s expense.
Lady Frinton, on the other hand, scowled at them both over the rim of her teacup. “Well? What in God’s name are the pair of you waiting for? Divine intervention? Pick up some pens this minute and start writing while I reel off the names of every eligible and gloriously single young lady of the ton.”
It was late afternoon when the Frinton carriage made its way up the lane to the farm. She could see her menfolk dotted around the fields, all watching the grand conveyance with interest because nothing like itever visited, but it was her youngest brother, Dan, who saw her first and ran toward her, beaming.
“Well, look at you, Beanstalk!” He eyed the carriage first, taking in the unusual purple paint and gold crest. “All fancy.” He hauled her into a hug and, in case the coachman heard, whispered, “I take it this smart gig belongs to the fire-breathing old dragon you’ve just started working for?”
“Lady Frinton is more hot air than fire—but yes, this is hers.”
Knowing her only too well, he held her out at arm’s length with a scowl. “Did she lend it to you or did you pilfer it?”
“Pilfered, and I kidnapped her coachman.” She pushed him away, laughing. “Of course she lent it to me. I am here at her behest actually so this visit is all aboveboard, thank you very much.”
“What could aviscountesswant with the likes of us?”
Over her brother’s shoulder, from all directions, she could see the rest of the family running toward her and knew the window of opportunity to talk to Dan alone was rapidly closing. “I’ll tell you all that in a minute. First, tell me how dire things are here?” He was only a year older than her and had always been the brother least likely to be overprotective.
His expression shuttered. “I overreacted in my last letter, Beanstalk. We’ll get by.”
As she had since childhood, she quickly grabbed the hand he had hidden behind his back before he could stop her. Guilt instantly suffused his face when she stared down at his crossed fingers. “I thought as much. Spill everything before Papa gets down here or I’ll break your nose again, liar.”
“He’s planning on selling half the dairy herd to tide us over the winter.”
“But the milk makes money! Especially in the longer term.” A fact her father knew better than anyone so things must be worse than she thought if he had to sacrifice that future income to pay for the months in between. “Surely that’s a last resort?”
