Louise M. Gouge by A Lady of Quality

Author:A Lady of Quality
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Catherine had not expected Lord Winston to come calling every day, but when he did not visit early in the week, or even on Wednesday when Parliament did not assemble, she began to doubt his interest. Nor had she been able to speak with Mr. Radcliff, for Lord Blakemore kept his secretary very busy these days. How could her plans go forward if the gentleman in question had not fallen in love with her after all?

On Thursday, Lady Blakemore summoned Catherine. “Fetch your bonnet, my dear. We shall visit Lady Winston.”

“Yes, my lady.” Catherine’s heart lilted as she hastened to obey.

Perhaps the baron would be at home, as well. Even if he was not, his mother and sister would surely report that she had been there. That should garner some attention from him. Catherine’s only concern about the visit was for the dowager baroness and her daughter. She could not deliberately cause either of them pain, any more than she could hurt her own loved ones.

The carriage rolled up in front of Lord Winston’s Grosvenor Square town house, and Catherine’s pulse began to race. She could only attribute it to her longing, no, her interest, in seeing the baron.

These past nights as she had struggled to find sleep, she could see his winsome smile, his gray-green eyes bright with interest in her, his anxious attempts to learn how to laugh. Her heart warmed as she recalled the delightful way he teased his sister, just as she teased back and forth with Lucien and Isabella. And she admired his nose, of all things, narrow at the bridge, and in profile an attractive triangular shape that seemed to point him toward a promising future.

But sleep would not come until she reminded herself that his ambitions for his own career had destroyed the prospects of her brother and sister. When a gentleman like Papa was ruined, his entire family suffered ruin with him. With Napoleon defeated, Papa might have gone to Paris with King Louis to become a part of the new French government. Or if he preferred to stay in England with Mama’s people, he could continue his good work in managing her Norfolk estate, where everyone who lived nearby loved him. Lord Winston had also destroyed all of those possibilities.

While the brownish-gray brick exterior of the baron’s town house looked much the same as the others in Grosvenor Square, its austere interior lacked the interesting furnishings that would make it homier or a place where one would wish to entertain. But then, Catherine supposed he was far too busy ruining other people’s lives to attend to such matters.

“Lady Blakemore, Miss Hart, I do hope you will forgive my son’s inattention to his home.” Lady Winston seemed to be reading Catherine’s mind after she joined them in the large drawing room. “The late Lord Winston did not care for what he called ‘fripperies’ when it came to furnishing this house. And of course, it has not been lived in for six years.

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