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“I’ll do what I can, Aunt Diane. I won’t do anything to embarrass you.”
“You would have done that already. Sneaking around pretending to be a spinster! Honestly, the nerve of you girls!”
“Well, how else were Ellie and her sisters meant to find husbands if you wouldn’t let them leave the house without you?” Emma asked. “Your nephew wanted them to join the Season, and if they had waited for you to be ready to take them out as a chaperone, this wouldn’t be happening right now.”
Lady Diane fixed Emma with a haughty stare.
“There are more important things than making sure nieces I haven’t seen since they were barely able to walk find husbands in a short period of time.” She sniffed. “I’m not a miracle worker. These things take time, and Eleanora should have realised that instead of sneaking around pretending to be an old maid.”
Ellie bit her lip. “I was just making sure that Regina and Dorothea didn’t do anything stupid. If I hadn’t gone along with them, they would have done it anyway. I went to make sure that they didn’t get into trouble.”
“You should have stopped them from leaving.”
“You don’t know my sisters like I do, Lady Diane. They’re very stubborn.”
Lady Diane glared at her. “I’m stubborn as well. And if I had had my way, you three would be on your way back to your father after such insolence. Consider yourself lucky you found someone willing to marry you without a suitable dowry, otherwise you would be back in Gillingham already.”
Ellie understood how lucky they were. Things could have gone very wrong, and nobody would have known about it until it was too late. Lady Diane was justified in her annoyance and anger, and Ellie couldn’t blame her for that. She only hoped she could soften the old woman up.
Although she had a feeling it would be nothing short of a miracle if they managed that. Ellie was sure her great-aunt would end up dead and buried before she softened up to anything.
But they couldn’t argue about any of it now. They were on their way to visit North at his home. He had told his mother about his engagement, and Lady Northampton had arranged for an engagement party to be thrown in their honour at their house.
It was a small affair, but there would still be quite a few people present. Regina and Dorothea were coming along in another carriage shortly, so Ellie was currently on her own. While Emma was on her side, she still felt like she was facing a wild animal single-handedly.
According to North, his mother wasn’t too impressed with his choice of bride, but he wasn’t about to back down. This was happening. If Ellie didn’t have faith in North to defend her when she came face-to-face with her future mother-in-law, there was no point in going through with this.
Even though she was nervous about meeting Lady Northampton officially and being the centre of attention, she had to admit that she was looking forward to becoming the Countess of Northampton. It was a stability that Ellie knew she needed, and North was a good companion. They would easily get along.
He also knew how to kiss, and Ellie found herself wondering if there would be more than that. If there was, Ellie would certainly not be complaining. It would be… well, Ellie would be interested to know more about the intimacies of a marriage.
Although asking North to teach her more about that was probably not something she was going to be brave enough to bring up.
You’ve kissed him and you’re already thinking about being in the same bed as him. That might not even happen, so pull back and calm down.
Easier said than done. Those kisses are addictive.
“Here we are!” Emma said brightly, leaning across Ellie to look out of the window. “This is Northampton’s home.”
Aunt Diane also stuck her head out, sniffed, and pulled back in again.
“Not very impressive,” she said. “I was expecting something bigger.”
“You’re such a snob, Mother,” Emma said blandly. “What are you expecting? Windsor Castle or something?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Emma. I was expecting something… better than what is right in front of us.”
Ellie and Emma exchanged glances, Ellie fighting back the urge to roll her eyes. She doubted anything would make Aunt Diane happy until she got rid of one of her nephew’s children. It left Regina and Dorothea at her mercy, but Ellie was confident things would get better for them if it was a certainty that they could find husbands of their own.
Unless Aunt Diane chose to sabotage them. Given how she kept sabotaging her daughter and showed obvious disdain for her nephew, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
Ellie could only hope she could sort out things for her sisters before that happened.
The carriage pulled up outside the front doors, and the door was opened by one of the servants. Ellie was about to move, only to have Aunt Diane almost knock her back into her seat without colliding into each other as she started to climb out. Her cane knocked against Ellie’s shins, and she bit back a whimper with the pain. Emma sighed.
“She complains as much as she desires, but she has to be there with a front row seat to all of it regardless.”
“She’s expecting a lot of drama, is she?”
