Page 42 of Pleasantly Pursued

“Oh? You will not be attending dinner at Chelton next week?”

“No. My wife sent off the note yesterday, I believe, refusing the invitation to dine. We will come for dinner after we return.”

I smiled. “It is no matter, then. Certainly Lady Claverley will enjoy seeing her parents.”

“Undoubtedly.” His cheeks mottled red, and he looked frustrated. “This business will have to wait the fortnight until my return. I will send news of what my steward can put together for the estates.”

That he was still helping me after being denied Thea again came as something of a surprise, but I did not point it out to him. I rose, hoping to leave before I could further ruin Thea’s situation. “Until then, my lord,” I said, adding the deference to leave him satisfied. It accomplished what it set out to do. Claverley puffed his chest a little and waved me off. I walked to my horse, away from the earl’s house, with equal measures of hope for my future and concern for Thea’s.

I’d made her a promise, however, and I intended to see it through.

Chapter15

THEA

It had been ages since I attended a ball, and the local assemblies of Bakewell were everything I remembered loving about dances. The drink was sweet, the party lively, and the gentlemen plentiful. Felicity hung back, holding tightly to James’s arm, and I waited beside Lady Edith for Benedict to retrieve for me another glass of orgeat.

“The dancing will begin soon,” Lady Edith said softly, her eagle eyes sweeping over the room in a slow perusal.

Benedict had won the opportunity of selecting my first dancing partner, but I did not know if it was wise to share that with his mother. She would not find it amusing that we had treated my future marriage prospects so lightly. She was very unwilling to recall that I did not mind if I did not find a husband straight away.

I was no spinster and the shelf was far from reach at present.

“Shall we greet the vicar?” James asked, indicating Mr. Upshaw standing beside his son.

Lady Edith appeared to notice Alfred, the vicar’s son, and nodded. “Let’s.”

We had begun our small procession around the outskirts of the room when Benedict approached and lightly tapped me on the elbow. I turned to find a tall, narrow man standing just behind him with a shock of nearly white blonde hair and a serious expression on his long face.

“Miss Northcott, may I have the pleasure of introducing Bakewell’s newest schoolmaster, Mr. Rufford?”

The man looked perfectly ordinary, if a little solemn. He did not seem to smell bad or appear like a man who was prone to talk without ceasing—so what was the catch?

I dipped in a graceful curtsy and held the man’s attention as I rose. Thus far, he seemed infinitely better than Mr. Alfred Upshaw, who had long ago professed his undying love for me after church when I was seventeen. But after only a few weeks of knowing one another, I could not truly trust his profession, of course. He had been a difficult suitor to shake, so I tended to avoid him as best as I could.

“Miss Northcott, allow me to welcome you to the great parish of Bakewell,” Mr. Rufford said. “Your presence brings a spot of sunshine to this dreary countryside.”

I clamped my mouth closed to avoid arguing directly with this stranger. Calling this countrysidedreary, though, was akin to sin. This countryside was luscious, even in the ebbing autumn and approach of winter. It was heaven compared to the coal-smoke filled London or the industrious York.

Hehadcalled me a spot of sunshine, though, so I supposed his blunder could be forgiven.

“I am glad to be here,” I said simply.

He cleared his throat and bent regally over my hand. “Would you do me the honor of agreeing to dance the first set with me, Miss Northcott?”

It took a great effort to avoid Benedict’s eye. A small part of me had wondered if he would select himself as my partner—merely to vex me, of course—and his procurement of another man, a working man even, settled in my stomach strangely. I pasted a smile on my face to cover my disappointment. “I would be delighted to.”

Mr. Rufford sent me a bland smile, then walked away. Once he was out of earshot, I stepped closer to Benedict. “What did I do to deserve such kindness? He seemed completely ordinary.”

“Kindness?” Benedict guffawed. “He is aschoolmaster.”

I waited for further explanation, but he only blinked at me. Evidently he’d not chosen the man for his profession after all.

“Which makes him dependable and even-tempered,” I said. “If he devoted a fraction of the effort to learning to dance as he did his lessons, then I will walk away with a decent dance partner and all my toes unharmed.”

Benedict’s mouth flattened to a thin line. “I had hoped you’d find him boring.”

“How little you know me, Ben.”

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