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Right now, he had to pray that his mother didn’t say anything that would be humiliating for him at the wrong moment. She hadn’t so far, but he wouldn’t put it past her. Especially if she had already picked someone out for him and wanted to sabotage Derrick’s attempts.
Derrick ignored that thought. Lady Northampton was overbearing and a pain, but she meant well. It wasn’t malicious. Their opinions just didn’t often line up, that was all. And whoever he finally chose would get her approval eventually, Derrick was sure of it.
Again, his mind turned back to Lady Eleanora as they travelled through London to the ball. She was the daughter of an earl, and the eldest daughter. While she wouldn’t be the age that his mother wanted, she was still young enough to have children. And Derrick liked her. There was something between them that he was sure would work out well.
But from what he had heard about the Earl of Gillingham’s estate brought it all down. He had taken on the title shortly after getting married, but he had also taken on the huge debt that his grandfather had left behind.
Things had gotten better, and the debt was being paid off, but it had been almost thirty years and there was still quite a large amount owed. At the current point in time, Gillingham was an earl in just name. He had no significant money to his name.
As a result, that made Lady Eleanora penniless. In other words, she would not be ideal for Lady Northampton. The dowager countess wanted her future daughter-in-law to come from a good, respectable family who had lots of money. While the Earl of Gillingham was, by all accounts, a good and respectable man, he didn’t have the money.
Derrick didn’t care much about that. True, it had given him a momentary pause, but then it was gone. So what if Lady Eleanora didn’t have any money? There was nothing wrong with that, as it didn’t define who she was as a person. And that person was very interesting.
He wanted to know more. Maybe if she was at the ball tonight, he would get to know more. After all, she had said that they were entering London Society, and they needed to go to whatever social gatherings they could.
Would she be looking like herself this time? Or would she be dressed up as a spinster again? It was almost beginning to seem like a game she was playing. Did she think that was going to make men look the other way? It wasn’t distracting Derrick at all.
Except maybe wondering what she looked like without those dresses on.
Grunting, he shifted in his seat and adjusted his coat over his lap. God, why couldn’t he distract himself in a different way when his mother was sitting across from him?
“Derrick?” Lady Nothampton was peering at him. “Are you well? You’ve been groaning quite a bit lately.”
“I’m perfectly fine, Mother,” Derrick lied.
His mother didn’t look convinced, but she nodded and turned her gaze to the window. They rode on in silence, and finally, they arrived at the house. Carriages were already lining the drive, so when they stopped and got out, they were almost out on the main road. Lady Northampton looked in despair at the many carriages stretching up towards the house.
“Oh, dear. I was hoping we would get here early. It seems everyone else had the same idea.”
“Don’t worry about it, Mother.” Derrick held out an arm. “It will do you good to get a bit of a walk before we go inside.”
“You’re such a pain, Derrick,” Lady Northampton grumbled, holding onto his arm to the point she was almost tugging him down sideways as they walked. “We are on a slope, after all!”
“You’ll get used to it.”
Derrick couldn’t help but smile as they made their way up to the house, his mother muttering under her breath the whole time. He had to admit that his legs were hurting from the walk as well, but he kept his mouth closed; Lady Northampton would scold him for it.
He couldn’t win, so teasing his mother was all he could do.
They were almost at the house when there was the sound of clattering hooves, and someone shouting for them to get out of the way. Derrick turned to see a carriage bearing down on them. Grabbing his mother, he pulled them up against another carriage, clattering against the wheel, as the errant driver went past.
“Oh, my goodness!” Lady Northampton gasped, pushing away from Derrick. “Who was that maniac? Are you alright, Derrick?”
“I’m fine.” Derrick grimaced. His shoulder blade was throbbing, and it was spreading pain across his back. “Who was that? Surely, they didn’t need to behave like that.”
“Well, I’ll be giving that driver a piece of my mind.”
Lady Northampton started striding towards the carriage, which had now stopped. She was looking a lot firmer-footed than she had been a moment ago. Rolling his shoulder, Derrick followed after her. They didn’t need her getting irate with a driver who liked to run people over, not right now.
She almost knocked over a footman as she confronted the driver, who was still sitting up in his seat. Derrick was sure the people inside could hear her as she launched into her rant.
“You foolish, inconsiderate oaf!” she scolded. “What makes you think it’s alright to charge around like that and nearly cause an accident?”
“You shouldn’t have been in the way, lady,” came the reply. “You shouldn’t put yourself in a position where you’ll get hit.”
“What did you say to me? Is that how you talk to a dowager countess?”
“What’s going on?”
