AllFreeNovel
Share Us
~~~
Vicky contained her sigh and the roll her eyes wanted to make when Lord Bertram offered his escort into supper. This house party was not going to accomplish its purpose in finding her a suitable husband if she had to be in his company all the time. He was most certainly not on The List.
Vicky allowed her mind to drift to the gales of laughter and vast amount of amusement she and Georgia had enjoyed in the preceding few weeks as they had compiled her list of potential husbands. This made the prospect of spending the evening in company with Lord Bertram a little more palatable. Besides him, every gentleman present was on the list, with the possible exception of Ashford Northcott, but that rather went without needing to even be thought. There were two weeks before them. Vicky assured herself that she could manage to tolerate the man for one evening. Surely, he wouldn’t try to monopolize her the entire time.
Then Vicky recalled Georgia’s admonition.
“Don’t allow it to appear that you have a preference for any particular gentleman until you’re certain that you do, in fact, have a preference, as some gentlemen might be discouraged from pursuing you and choose instead another one of our guests.”
At the time, Vicky had laughed and asked, “How many matches are you hoping to make during this party?”
Georgia had merely shrugged and grinned, not looking in the least repentant. “We have chosen our guest list very well. Every single person on it is delightful. I would be surprised to find there weren’t at least a couple matches made.”
“Why Georgia Horton, you’ve turned into an interfering biddy.”
“That’s Lady Crossley, I’ll remind you,” Georgia had replied with a feigned sniff of disdain before bursting into giggles again. “It’s all in good taste, I can assure you. Or rather Crossley assured me I am not overstepping any proprieties. And since we’ve chosen our guest list so carefully, we needn’t be concerned about any bad matches taking place.”
Vicky had hugged her friend as they laughed together. “Thank you for doing this,” she had finally said.
“No thanks required. I’m looking forward to having a house full of company. It will finally truly feel like home.”
Remembering that conversation as they strolled toward the dining room made Vicky’s stomach clench with a case of nerves. She certainly didn’t want anyone to think she had a preference for Lord Bertram. Nor would she want him to match up with anyone else at the party. She didn’t have anything specific against the man that she could explain, but she had the strangest feeling about him. She always felt defensive or apprehensive in his company, even though she could never explain why. Vicky resolved that she would speak to Georgia about it as soon as possible. She should have accepted her hostess’ offer of doing something about Bertram as soon as they had noticed, she realized.
With a mental shrug, Vicky accepted there was nothing that could be done about the situation at the moment. It was one evening. And if Crossley asked Lord Bertram to leave, then none of it would matter anyhow, so she resolved to make the best of the awkward situation.
Because they were being less than formal on the country estate, Georgia hadn’t assigned seating that evening, so Vicky knew she would be sitting with Bertram for the duration of the meal and didn’t demure as he pulled her seat out to assist her when they finally reached the table. The table quickly filled up and Vicky could see that, perhaps out of habit, everyone had sat in the usual way, almost as though it had been arranged. Almost every seat was alternating gentleman to lady. Except that their numbers were out slightly due to Lord Bertram. Lord Clifton looked disconcerted for the briefest moment to find himself seated next to Lord Crossley at the head of the table.
“I wanted to speak with you on a matter of some importance,” Lord Bertram said, keeping his voice low so Vicky had to lean closer to hear him over the rustle of movement as everyone settled in and conversations rose up around them.
Vicky blinked, trying to think how to respond to such a strange statement from the odd man. “What is it pertaining to?”
“Northcott.”
She should have had better self control, but Vicky couldn’t prevent her eyes from flickering over in Mr. Ashford Northcott’s direction. As luck did not seem to be in her favour, the man was watching her at just that moment. Heat suffused her, and Vicky wished she could climb under the table and ride out the evening. Why did she have to be forever embarrassed before that particular man, she demanded of herself as she stifled her sigh and turned her attention back to Lord Bertram.
“I don’t think I care to hear anything about Mr. Northcott,” she replied with a polite smile, hoping to prevent a scene, as the man seemed quite intent on the subject.
“It’s terribly important,” he insisted, staring at her earnestly.
“Well then, go ahead and tell me,” she replied, making him glance around furtively, much to Vicky’s disgust. While she would admit she wasn’t the best at being covert, for someone who insisted they had important, secret information, he wasn’t at all skilled at subterfuge.
“It cannot be said in company,” he complained.
“Well, I shan’t be meeting you in secret,” Vicky countered, making him rear back as though she had insulted him.
“Of course not,” he replied in a sulky tone.
Vicky allowed some silence to stretch between them before she relented. “After supper, while the guests are mingling, I’m sure we should be able to talk without drawing attention to ourselves but while still remaining in company.”
“Thank you, my lady. I shall look forward to it.”
I shan’t, she thought with a tightening of her lips as she turned to address the guests to her right.
The remainder of the meal passed in a bit of a blur. Vicky managed to eat enough not to draw attention to herself but couldn’t enjoy the, no doubt, excellent repast, as her stomach was clenched with nerves over whatever Lord Bertram might have to say to her.
Why, out of the several perfectly acceptable, handsome, and lovely gentlemen invited to the house party, did she have to be preoccupied with the two worst candidates? Lord Bertram hadn’t even been invited, and now he was clearly intent on stirring up trouble. Vicky was well aware that for some strange reason Mr. Ashford Northcott was Georgia’s favorite choice for Vicky’s future, but Vicky had her own reasons to wish for nearly anyone but him. And those were the two occupying her thoughts and time. If she weren’t so used to being the easy going middle daughter, it would be enough to drive her mad. As it was, she was seriously thinking about causing a scene.
That thought brought a temporary relief to her mind as amusement flooded her. As if she would cause a scene. It had been her self-appointed assignment to be the go-between, the peace maker, the calmest sister in her household while growing up. Being so close in age with her two older sisters, she wasn’t the middle of them but had always been the calm one when they were little girls. And then there was a gap between Vicky and the little sisters, Felicity and Graciela. Vicky had always felt the need to bridge that gap between big sisters and little sisters. It had never felt like a burden before. But in this moment, her instinctive urge to stay calm and not put herself first was weighing on her and warring with her desire to forge her own destiny, instead of waiting for it to choose her.
