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“Oh, and you know this how?”
“I have known the family for years,” Warren answered vaguely as he removed an invisible speck from his dress cloak. “I am privy to many things.”
“Dandy!” the reverend said with contempt.
Warren laughed.
* * *
Serena unbent from kissing her uncle’s forehead to find their elderly butler hovering at the door. “Miss Serena, both Mr. Waverly and the Reverend Bailey are here to escort you to the Merriweather ball.”
She turned a surprised face to her uncle. “Warren is here? I thought that the reverend was chaperone enough.” She eyed him, quizzically. “Whatever are you up to?”
“Didn’t want that prosy fellow Bailey taking you into the ball. It would make it look as though you and he had sealed the deal, and you haven’t. He isn’t for you, Serena. Something about the fellow makes me want to spit.”
Serena swallowed her laughter and turned to the retainer. “Thank you, Davis.” Seeing the slight smile curve his lips, she shook her head. “Oh, I suppose you agree with my uncle. You awful men. Right then, please advise the gentlemen that I will be down momentarily.”
She turned back to her uncle and, once the door was shut, wiggled a finger at him. “High-handed, my dear, very high-handed. I forgive you, for in this I will be, actually, more comfortable. Ah, escorted by not one man, but two. It is quite exciting and wonderful—this life, this spinster’s life,” she teased affectionately.
“Spinster? You, my dear-heart, are the Diamond of Hampshire, and though you are still unwed, you have them all beat. Disgraceful is what people will say about me. They will say ’tis me keeping you from marrying.” He eyed her. “You like Warren, and the two of you would go on comfortably … his estate is near, and I would have you close by.”
“Uncle, please, we have been through this. I love you dearly, but I don’t love Warren in that particular way. Besides that, I have come to see that he would make a dreadful husband.” She sighed. “What I do want is for you to get out of this bed and come down and have breakfast with me tomorrow morning. The doctor says you are well enough to do so. So we, you and I, shall breakfast tomorrow in the breakfast room.”
She was almost out the door when he grumbled after her, “That minister means to have you. He told me so.”
She laughed, blew him a kiss, and said, “Don’t fret yourself over what he told you. What matters is not what any of them want, or think they want, because it takes two. This part of the two says loudly and clearly that I am already spoken for.” Oddly enough, an image came into her mind, and she chided herself. His Lord Arrogant was what he was, and he had no business in her thoughts.
“Aye then, playing word games with me, are you? You can’t be tending an old man all your life. You need a life of your own.”
“So I do,” she said patiently and waved herself off. “I shall look in on you when I return.”
He grumbled as she closed the door, and she sighed quietly as she made her way down the stairs with a swish of her emerald velvet gown. Her maid had dressed her honey-gold hair at the top of her head and allowed cascading curls to fall down her neckline like a waterfall, and she had to admit when she passed the hall mirror that the style was quite alluring. She wore her mother’s pearl teardrops in her ears and the matching single strand of pearls around her neck. She looked down at the bodice of her gown and frowned. Her seamstress had cut it a bit lower than she liked to wear, displaying the fullness of her breasts to advantage. She hoped it wasn’t too low.
She took up the black velvet cloak and draped it over her arm as she made her way to the central hall, where her escorts awaited her.
She heard Warren’s outrageous flattery with an accompanying patient eye as she pulled on her cream-colored lace gloves and smiled a greeting.
Warren murmured, “Egad … woman, damn, but you are exquisite.”
She smiled to herself as Eustace frowned at Warren but turned to tell her with a soft smile, “You are, you know, quite ravishing.”
Serena thanked them, and as both gentlemen offered their bent arms, she laid a gloved hand on each, thinking that, honestly, a woman could do worse than to marry one of these pleasant men. She then chided herself. What are you thinking? Eustace would bore you with his lectures and his staid take on life within a week, and Warren would be Warren, and you could never passionately love either. You don’t want a marriage of convenience, she told herself soundly.
She noted that Eustace’s ball clothes were quite fashionable and was surprised because she was nearly certain they were also fairly expensive. Perhaps he had a private income?
Warren’s pockets were forever to let, but that never hampered his style. It was most absurd, but it was none of her business.
“My carriage awaits,” Warren stuck in. “It is a great deal more comfortable than the minister’s coach, and he may follow, if he likes.”
“No, I prefer to go with you both. Eustace may join us, as your carriage is large enough for the three of us,” Serena countered.
“Very well,” Warren conceded and tweaked her chin. “Whatever my lady wishes.”
“Neatly done, Warren,” she teased.
“You are too good,” answered the minister while he glared at Warren.
Serena giggled as the gentlemen attempted to help her climb inside the coach, for while they fought for position to aid her into the carriage, she nimbly climbed inside without either’s ministrations. She saw them exchange challenging looks before they took up position on the seat in front of her. She pulled her cloak around herself against the chill of the night as the driver clicked the horses forward and covered the three miles to the ball.
