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“How shall we manage the arrangements?” her grandfather wondered. “I don’t suppose you can plan a ball, Linny?”
This roused a flash of her mother’s old spirit, which Harriet was glad to see. “Naturally, I can, Papa.”
He took a large bite of potato and surveyed her, chewing. When he’d swallowed, he said, “You will come to me with the details for approval at each stage.”
Harriet’s mother nodded, accepting this humiliating prospect without argument. Was she perhaps a fraction less cowed? A tiny bit irritated at his contempt? Harriet dared to hope so. If she was, that made her scheme worth it.
***
Jack announced the change in his status at the Ferrington Hall dinner table. The Terefords took in the news of his engagement with a slight pause.
“Congratulations,” said the duke then.
“This is rather sudden,” remarked his wife, focusing her gimlet gaze on Jack. “How did it come about?”
He wasn’t sure what to say. If he agreed it was sudden, which he actually did, that implied some irregularity. That wouldn’t do. Clearly, he couldn’t mention kisses and damaged reputations. In any case, the duchess knew about those. She’d seen their embrace on the riverbank, and Harriet had implied her disapproval. Why then was she asking? “Ah,” he said.
His two polished houseguests gazed at him.Notlike cats trying to decide if they were observing a mouse. The duke’s eyes showed some sympathy, didn’t they?
There were, in fact, no details of his proposal that Jack cared to share, he realized. There’d been no talk of love or even esteem, as one would expect on such occasions. He’d blurted out some hackneyed phrases. Harriet must think him a bit of a clod. He ought to have prepared pretty speeches. Hewouldhave if he’d known what was afoot. Of course, Harriet had thought heoughtto have known. Jack supposed that was true. A gentleman didn’t go about kissing young ladies unless his intentions were honorable. But she’d been so angry with him so recently. He’d thought things had to be smoothed over before an offer would be acceptable. And so, he’d stumbled through his first, and only, he trusted, proposal. By the time he’d gathered his thoughts, Harriet was ushering him out the door. He’d made a mull of the thing from start to finish. But she’d said yes. He clung to that happiness.
The silence had stretched too long. “When is the wedding to be?” asked the duke politely.
“Quite soon,” Jack replied. “Harriet’s grandfather talked of posting banns at once.”
“I suppose we are staying for the ceremony then?” the other man asked his wife.
He might have consulted Jack, as their host and the prospective groom, but Jack didn’t blame him for turning to the true authority.
“One doesn’t wish to miss a wedding,” said the duchess.
Something had perplexed her. Jack had no idea what.
“Lady Wilton will be so pleased,” she added with a tiny brush of wickedness.
“Will she?” Jack frowned and muttered, “That would almost make a fellow draw back, just to spite her.”
“But of course, that would be ridiculous,” said the duchess.
Jack had no objection to providing entertainment, but he liked to do it on purpose. With the Duchess of Tereford, he was seldom granted that opportunity. “I don’t see why Lady Wilton should keep sticking her nose in,” he said.
“An inborn conviction that she knows best strengthened by decades of habit and the cowardice of her offspring,” replied the duke.
His tone was dry, but his blue eyes glinted. Jack laughed. Until another thought occurred. “Do I have to invite her to the wedding?”
“It would be customary,” said the duchess.
Jack groaned.
“You needn’t worry,” said the duke. “Grandmama will be pleased with the match.”
“So she likes Miss Finch?” Jack wasn’t surprised. Who could dislike Harriet, after all?
“Miss Finch is an heiress,” the duke replied. “Grandmama encourages all her family members to marry money.”
“I was not an heiress,” said his wife.
“I’m sure she saw your lack of fortune was outweighed by your many sterling qualities.”
