Page 44 of The Earl’s Inconvenient Nemesis

Anthony stood as she entered the room and indicated the seat next to where he had been sitting. As Alice sat down, he began speaking. “I was wanting to discuss further arrangements for the house party with you, if you are amenable and available to talk about it now.”

“Certainly,” Alice said, “but I am not sure how much use I will be. I have never organised any sort of social event and would have no idea where to start.”

“I am in a similar position,” Anthony admitted. “We never entertained much at home due to my father not liking to. Your Aunt Jane has very kindly offered to help me, but I wanted to make sure it was organised to be as painless as possible for you while also being efficient and producing the desired effect: a marriage proposal.”

Alice blushed. How had she ended up in this ridiculous situation? She appreciated Anthony’s help, but other women did not have to resort to this! And they certainly did not have events organised for them by a man they were concerned they had fallen in love with, and who, it turned out, had no idea what he was doing.

Perhaps sensing her discomfort, Anthony quickly said, “I have already sent out invitations, but when it comes to arrangements for dining and the like, I am afraid I am a little at a loss.”

Alice could not help laughing. Anthony always seemed so capable; who would have thought he would be asking for help with organising a social event? She would have been sure he was an expert at such things, but it was true that his father had only very rarely allowed his home to be opened to guests. When in London, she supposed Anthony socialised mainly at his club.

“I think we might be best off taking Aunt Jane up on her offer of help. She is an excellent hostess, and will enjoy doing it.”

“I suspect you are right,” said Anthony. “She will do a much better job than either of us. I shall place it in her hands and it will be a resounding success. You will be inundated with very suitable offers.”

Alice smiled back, though she did not quite share his confidence.

Chapter Eighteen

Alice was nervous about Anthony’s house party, about meeting all the new people, but mainly about being in such close proximity to Anthony again. She had hardly seen him for the last few days as he had returned to Kent to prepare for his visitors, but she had visited Rosalind daily with her maid as escort. Alice brushed the mare down and fed her apples, managing to refrain from any mucking out. Anthony’s staff seemed to think she was very peculiar, but that did not bother her. Visiting his horses was usually the highlight of her day and was about the only thing that seemed to calm her.

They set off after breakfast on Thursday morning after Alice had said a somewhat tearful goodbye to Duchess, whom her aunt had managed to convince her would rather stay in London than make the journey to and from Kent.

Once they were out of London, Alice spent the time taking in the very welcome views of the countryside around her, and feeling the pull of home.

They travelled down the long tree-lined driveway to Anthony’s estate to find him waiting outside the house to greet them.

“I trust your journey was comfortable?” he asked as they were helped out of the carriage.

“Very comfortable. Thank you, Lord Tonbridge,” replied Aunt Jane.

“My man will take your luggage up to your rooms,” he said. “I imagine you would like some time to refresh yourselves and relax.”

Aunt Jane smiled her appreciation.

“I have taken the liberty of ordering some peppermint tea to be placed in your room. It should help with your travel sickness,” he whispered to Alice, his warm breath on her ear making her insides melt.

“Thank you,” she replied, gratefully. She did feel decidedly green despite her aunt insisting that sitting up straight and looking out of the carriage window for the entire journey would help. It most definitely did not, and she was anxious to hide away until the nausea subsided.

“And I have invited your family for dinner this evening, as I thought it might be too tiring for you to ride over to see them this afternoon. I am more than happy to join you in visiting them and your stables tomorrow morning though, before the guests arrive.”

“That is very kind of you,” said Alice.

Anthony instructed his butler to show them up to their rooms. Alice’s room was lovely, with pale green walls and a large four-poster bed. The huge bay windows looked out over the formal gardens at the front of the house. Much to her delight, on the dressing table was a copy of ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen. She would save it for later, knowing if she started it now, she would be loath to put it down again.

Alice did not know Anthony’s home well since he had usually come to their house when he was younger. Her father had been invited over for occasional dinner parties when she was little, but she and her siblings never had. She was interested to see around it. In fact, she was interested to learn about anything to do with Anthony. Maybe the more she learnt about him, the more it would help her to understand her feelings for him, and, hopefully, mean she could at least begin to overcome them so she could start to have similar feelings for someone who actually wanted to marry her.

She sat in the armchair by the window, gazing out while she sipped the peppermint tea Anthony had organised for her. He could be so thoughtful sometimes. Thoughtful like a caring brother, she thought sadly.

Trying to be more positive, she reminded herself how good it would be to see her actual brother and her sisters. She had never been away from her sisters for any length of time since they were born. They would love to see her new clothes and she found she had missed their noise and company. She was a little surprised by how much.

Her mind soon returned to Anthony as it always seemed to. She felt embarrassed that he even knew about her grand plan, let alone the fact that she had made absolutely no progress so far. And now she had all these ridiculous feelings for Anthony taking her attention away from what really mattered.

Still, this house party would change all that. It would give her a chance to properly get to know the remaining men on her list and to spend time with them in more relaxed surroundings - surroundings that suited her much better than the noisy, hot, crowded London balls. She had to secure an engagement soon; just the thought of enduring a second Season made her head start to ache, but she would do it for Henry. She loved her brother and she could not stand by watching him bear the burden of the family’s financial worries on his own. It was time to forget her attraction to Anthony. She needed to see him as another brother, exactly as he wanted her to, and find someone who actually wanted to marry her.

Hearing carriage wheels approaching outside, Alice glanced out of the window. She felt more emotional than she thought she would when she caught sight of the carriage containing her brother and sisters arriving. She hurried outside to meet them and the four ended up in a very undignified clump of hugs and cries of, “We missed you!” and “Were you always this short?”

When they finally broke apart, Alice saw Anthony standing by the front door watching them, a smile on his face.