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Susan kissed her on the cheek and rose from the bed as Mary set the breakfast tray on a side table. “Make sure Miss Jennings looks her absolute best by a quarter of three this afternoon, Mary. We are calling upon a most eligible gentleman, and though I daresay the gentleman already has an affection for my sister, we want to make sure he is dazzled.”
“I should be delighted, Your Grace.”
“I thought you might be,” Susan said. “I shall see you soon,” she said to Rebecca, and then she left Rebecca and Mary alone.
Mary’s eyes twinkled, and she rubbed her hands together in apparent anticipation. “Assisting Madame Veronique in dressing you yesterday was such fun! I’m delighted that I get to dress you elegantly today too, and all by myself this time.”
“Not too elegantly, regardless of what my sister said,” Rebecca said. “You did do a lovely job with my hair though. I was very pleased.”
“Thank you, miss!” Mary tapped her chin with her finger and then brightened. “And I know just the dress,” she said. “The lovely blue frock with the tiny flowers embroidered around the neckline that makes your eyes look like jewels!”
“I do like that dress.”
Mary scurried over to the wardrobe to get the dress in question.
And Rebecca’s heart began to race. She had hope for her future with Ben, but what he had to tell her had affected him deeply. It was going to, most likely, be a difficult conversation. Thoughts about what he might be needing to tell her were beginning to accumulate in her mind, but she forced them back. Better to hear what he had to say rather than speculate.
She picked up her cup of chocolate and noticed that it rattled against the saucer a bit. She took a deep breath to steady herself and then took a sip of the warm liquid and let it soothe her.
* * *
Rebecca and Susan arrived at Ben’s London home at precisely three o’clock. They would have arrived earlier had it been up to Rebecca, but Susan had been firm. “I daresay Winton has already witnessed your eagerness when it comes to his affection,” Susan had said. “Let us maintain at least a semblance of decorum this afternoon, shall we? Remember, you are dressed to dazzle him. Do not undo that effort by being an overly eager female.”
But the time was at hand, and Rebecca was near to bursting. They descended from the Aylesham carriage, and Rebecca nervously smoothed her skirts as they approached the front entrance.
“Decorum,” Susan murmured out of the side of her mouth as she knocked on the door.
“Since when has that ever applied to you?” Rebecca murmured back, tugging at her gloves.
“Still your hands,” Susan said, taking the hand closest to her into her own. “There now. Breathe. And to answer your question: I may have flouted decorum during my days as a bluestocking spinster, and I may in the future flout decorum again. But here and now, you need to find some inner strength, otherwise I fear poor Winton will be carrying you in his arms once again—you in a dead faint, this time from having overworked your delicate sensibilities into a frenzy.”
Rebecca snorted at Susan’s dramatic words. Only Susan would dare to express herself in such a manner, but its levity had worked as intended and had calmed Rebecca . . . a bit.
The door opened, and the Winton butler bowed. “Good afternoon. Please come in.” He led them to a sunny parlor. “I shall inform Lord Winton that his guests have arrived.” He bowed and left them.
“Look at these books!” Susan said, wandering over to a bookshelf on the opposite side of the room from the fireplace. She ran her hands reverently over the spines. “My opinion of Lord Winton has gone up, and I daresay my opinion of him was already quite high to begin with.”
“That pleases me greatly,” Ben said from the parlor door.
Susan turned and grinned at him.
“Good afternoon, Duchess, Miss Jennings,” he said, coming into the room. “I am grateful you agreed to call upon me today. I realize that what I asked was the opposite of what would normally be expected by Society in such a circumstance, but I believe my reasons for inviting you here today rather than my calling upon you at Aylesham House will become readily apparent.”
“Such a mystery, Lord Winton,” Susan said. “I am intrigued.”
“Please, be seated, if you will,” Ben said. “Ah, here is tea.” A maid bustled into the room and set the service on the low table in front of the fireplace. “Duchess, will you do the honors?”
“I’d be delighted,” Susan said. She sat and began to pour tea for each of them. “I am impressed with your collection of books, Lord Winton, and that they are here in the parlor. I would have expected such a display in your study, perhaps, or an office.”
“Oh, those are filled too,” he said after taking a sip of his tea. “My father was an avid collector of books—more a collector than a reader, sorry to say. I’ve read a good sampling of them, however. It is a fine collection.”
“Did he collect music books as well?” Rebecca asked, trying with all her might to stay in the conversation going on around her, despite her anxiety to discover what explanations he planned to share this afternoon.
“Some,” Ben said. “Although not nearly as many of those as I’m sure you’d wish. I can show you that collection later, if you’d like. I set them aside, knowing you’d be interested. And because he enjoyed the finer things of life, there is an excellent pianoforte in the music room, which I’m sure you’d also love to see if there’s time.”
He set his teacup down on the serving tray. “Duchess, I have a favor to ask. I wish to speak to Rebecca privately. Not the sort of thing a gentleman normally asks, I know, for propriety’s sake; however, I am hoping that with your liberality of spiritandyour declared high opinion of me, perhaps you will give your permission for this, as Rebecca’s chaperone.”
“You put me in a difficult position,” Susan said, an eyebrow winging skyward. “Hmm. I daresay, however, that since you carried her home from her accident after binding her broken ankle, and since you carried her home when she defiantly rode astride to your country house, I can trust you not to be indiscreet at this particular juncture. I also suspect that you hoped I would be playing chaperone today, as I am inclined to be more liberal in my thinking than our mama would be.”
