Someone to Love by Mary Balogh

Author:Mary Balogh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-10-03T12:20:41+00:00

Thirteen

Avery kept his distance from South Audley Street during the following week. He also dined each evening at one of his clubs with acquaintances who made not a single mention of either bonnets or the education of Lady Anastasia Westcott. It was very refreshing. On the afternoon of the eighth day, however, having just returned from taking Jessica to Gunter’s for an ice in an effort to raise her still-drooping spirits, he stepped into the drawing room to pay his respects to her mother.

“Anastasia is ready to meet the ton,” she told him without preamble, “or as ready as she will ever be. We had quite an argument about how it is to be done, but I will not bore you with the details.”

“Thank you,” Avery murmured.

“We decided upon a full ball,” she said. “Nothing less will do, though one hesitates to call it a come-out ball at her age. She will make her curtsy to the queen at the next Drawing Room, and the ball will be held on the evening of the following day. We had a spirited discussion upon where it would be held.”

And having promised not to bore him with details, she proceeded to do just that as she poured him a cup of tea he did not want any more than he wanted the details. It seemed that the dowager countess could not host the ball because she was too elderly, and Cousin Matilda was hopeless. The Molenors lived so far to the north of England that if they were to trip and fall they would land in Scotland. They came to town only once in a long while and really knew hardly anyone. So they would be a poor choice as hosts of such a grand event. The house the new Earl of Riverdale had leased for the Season did not even have a ballroom, a fact that more or less excluded him and Cousin Althea from the running, and it would be entirely inappropriate to use Westcott House for the occasion.

Avery could see where she was headed from a mile away.

“So you see, Avery—”

Must he? He interrupted her. “The ball will be held here, of course,” he said with a sigh, and sipped his tea—it was just a little better than lukewarm. “Was there ever any doubt?”

“Well, there was,” she said. “Everyone knows you are finding this whole business with Anastasia tedious, Avery. You have not shown your face at Westcott House for a week or more, and you have not expressed one iota of interest in the progress we are making with her. She is not a relative of yours, of course, and you cannot be expected to care. I am delighted that you agree the ball must be held here. I shall borrow your Mr. Goddard, if I may, and start planning.”

“Ah, but I do not lend out Edwin’s services,” Avery said, setting his cup and saucer back on the tray and preparing to make his escape before he found himself being treated to a description of ball gowns.

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