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Max called, “Miss Kingsley, do hurry. Oi can’t keep the horses standing here … blocking the traffic Oi am.”
She hurried within, and they started off once more. Nanny pinched her cheek. “You are a wayward girl, but I do so love you.”
Everything looked so different to Kitty. She hadn’t been to London since she was a youth and her guardian had brought her with him on some business. It had been fun. They had stayed at a famous hotel, Clarendon’s, and she and Nanny had gone shopping. Bursting with energy, her hands fluttered as she continued to stare at the passing scene.
Fashionable ladies glided by in all shapes and sizes, and she found she had to exclaim, “Nanny—look at those clothes!”
“Yes, quite lovely.”
She saw dandies who took fashion to its extreme strolling and waving to acquaintances as they made their way during the ‘fashionable hour’ to visit friends or go to their clubs.
Kitty watched their parade and burst out laughing to say, “Nanny, Nanny … dandies on the strut.”
“Darling, your language. You can’t repeat the sort of things Harry says. He is a man, you are a young lady, and you know that. I know you know that.”
“Yes, I do, but I am used to saying whatever comes to mind.” Kitty beamed. “I shall try and do you proud, Nanny. I promise. I shall try.”
Satisfied, she sat back against the squabs and sighed happily. Her mind drifted back to their last evening together with Magdalen. The earl had been a perfect host, and she had found it difficult to look away from him. He had been jovial and entertaining, and her heart had swelled each time his eyes looked her way.
They had gone after dinner to refresh and wash up and then joined the gentlemen in the private parlor
the earl had procured. There, both men were enjoying their brandy, and both seemed in high spirits.
Their banter had her laughing, for they were outrageous, but even Nanny was swept away by the charm of it all. And then Nanny insisted they retire.
Kitty didn’t want to. She wanted to stay near the earl for as long as she could, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t remain in the company of two gentlemen in a public house without Nanny’s chaperonage.
Magdalen took her hand and said with ever so slight a slur, “May your dreams be of me and keep you warm, my pretty Kitten.” He then and Kitty thought audaciously kissed her wrist.
She had given him a warning look and noted the earl’s expression was suddenly stormy. The earl took a step towards Magdalen, and Kitty hurriedly withdrew her hand saying, “Naughty, Alex, very naughty, but I know you well enough so I shall not heed it.” She had the satisfaction of seeing the earl’s stance relax. Was he being protective of her because she was in his care, or was he being protective of his own interests? She hoped the latter.
As she left, she heard the earl encouraging Magdalen to take another drink. Thus, the next morning when they met for breakfast and he announced that they would be making the remainder of the journey without Alex, Kitty grinned and said, “Oh? And I think I know just how you managed that, my lord.”
He chuckled, and when his finger touched her chin she felt a shiver rush through her. He said, “A knowing one, aren’t you? I have a very knowing little beauty on my hands. Right, so it is that the old boy needs nothing more than sleep, and he’ll do.”
She saw the flicker of a smirk cross his face and laughed out loud. His mood in the coach with them was the best she had seen in two days. He was convivial and merry, telling them so many things about London and the beau monde that neither Nanny nor she wanted him to leave when he said suddenly that he was going to take to horse. She couldn’t stop the utter disappointment that came over her.
He had laughed and taken her hand to drop a perfunctory kiss before his eyes met hers and he said, “Only for a short while, my dear. I would like to make certain Halloway is in readiness for your arrival.”
She had lowered her lashes.
He laughed and said, “What, my Kitty, no fight left?”
Her green eyes flashed with the set down that came to her lips, but he put up his hands and said, “No, no … spare me, love. I’m off.”
Now, here she was in London. She had never before thought of a Season … and if the notion had entered her mind in the past, she had immediately struck it down. That was when her guardian was ill, and she would never, ever have left him.
Besides that, she had been content in the New Forest with her country life. But now, as she looked around, she admitted to herself that this … this was all very exciting.
“We must be getting close,” Kitty told Nanny.
Nanny agreed with an unintelligible sound and continued to survey the passing scenes. “It is so very busy. I don’t know how we won’t get lost.”
“We won’t. The earl will see to it that we don’t.” Her eyes then lit on a park that seemed to stretch forever, and it was with some excitement that she told Nanny, “Oh Nanny, look! Hyde Park. I remember Hyde Park. Ever such fun. There, there … the Serpentine. Kensington is not far now.” She sighed. “You know, I don’t think I shall, as I first thought, hate being here.”
“I know, dear. It is not in your nature to brood or hate anything. I have always noted that you make the best of all situations.” Nanny stroked Kitty’s hand.
“I do so love you, Nanny,” Kitty said and snuggled her shoulder into Nanny’s.
