My Notorious Gentleman by Foley Gaelen

Author:Foley, Gaelen [Foley, Gaelen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781410461988
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2013-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

“Now, Miss Kenwood, my mind is quite made up!” Lady Windlesham dragged her aside as soon as the women had retreated to the drawing room, leaving the men to their brandy and cigars. “Now that I’ve had a chance to meet this charming man for myself, I am quite resolved. Lord Trevor must marry my daughter. Heaven knows the stubborn gel will have nothing more to do with poor Lord Brentford. She cannot abide even to hear his name spoken—and we all know why that match didn’t work out,” the baroness reminded her with an accusing huff. “Thankfully, you have another chance to make it up to me, and pay for what you’ve done to this family by bringing that unspeakable woman here. I shall be counting on you to help me secure Lord Trevor for Calpurnia.”

Grace pressed her mouth shut, her lips tightly sealed.

She would have liked to tell the baroness where she could put her plans, but how did one refuse a favor, however outrageous, to a hostess who had just treated one to a grand feast?

She did not always do well in awkward situations. The choking trick was unlikely to work but once a night. While she hesitated, debating how to reply, Lady Windlesham took her silence for agreement.

“Good, then. I knew I could count on you. Still, it is all such a bother. She and George always seemed so perfectly matched—and he will be a marquess! But what he did was unforgivable.” Her Ladyship let out a vexed sigh as she scanned her drawing room, making sure the other ladies were content. She shook her head. “If he had kept his dalliances out of sight in London, we could have turned a blind eye. But to do it right here, under our noses! He humiliated all of us with his flagrant indiscretion. He should be ashamed.”

“He is, my lady. He is very sorry.”

“Well, it’s not enough,” she murmured. “At least not for Calpurnia. I’m a practical woman. I would happily forgive him, but she’s the one who’ll have to live with him, and she’s not having it.”

“But she has received his apologies?”

“Oh, several. She burns them. I imagine our dear George will soon have cause to feel even sorrier still. Maybe then he’ll learn his lesson.”

At that moment, over by the fireplace where the other ladies sat on the small, striped sofas, Lady Stokes passed wind loud enough to be heard in the next county.

“Good God!” Lady Windlesham muttered while the others fought not to react. “If she weren’t a countess, I wouldn’t allow that woman to mop my floors.”

Mrs. Bowen-Hill quickly supplied a polite new topic, while Calpurnia looked ready to fall on the floor with the agony of holding in hilarity.

Grace did not dare meet her young friend’s insistent stare as she knew that the debutante would lose that battle.

“Now, then. I will work to arrange some sort of outing for us all again, so that our new neighbor will have another chance to appreciate my daughter’s charms.

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