Wife Errant by Joan Smith

Author:Joan Smith [Smith, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1992-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Lyle Marchant was not a modest man, nor a pessimist. Yet neither his pride nor optimism quite convinced him that Lou was at the bottom of this invitation, much as he would have liked to believe it.

It was pretty clear to him that young Revel’s was the hand at work here. Revel wished to make an offer for Tess; he could not like to choose his bride from a scandal-ridden family. Therefore he was trying to patch the marriage up. He had done his best, poor fellow, but it was not within Revel’s powers to keep Lady Corbeil’s own kin away from her party. Lord James would be there, and Revel had come to warn him of it.

Demme, they were all civilized people. He would be a perfect pattern card of civility to all his potential in-laws, even including Lord James. And while he was about it, he would continue to pursue his wife. Lou could hardly throw a jug at his head at a polite party. He sent off his acceptance, which threw Lady Corbeil into quite a tizzy.

Revel knew he had failed miserably in his execution of Tess’s errand. His instinct was to send Auntie Corbeil his own regrets and head off for London. Yet to send Tess and her mama off to that do without warning of the disaster awaiting them was unconscionable. He would go and confess to Tess, and let her and her mama decide what course to take.

He arrived at Bartlett Street just as the ladies were going abovestairs to dress. “That will be my corsage!” Tess exclaimed, and waited below till Crimshaw answered the door.

“Revel!” she said, and went rushing forward when she heard his voice.

“May I have a word with you, Tess?” he said, and herded her into the saloon. “The worst thing has happened.”

She was disappointed to see no corsage. “If you are going to tell me you have the sniffles again, Revel, it will not fadge. And furthermore, that is not the worst thing that could happen.”

“Sit down, my dear,” he said, with a weak smile.

She remained standing and observed him suspiciously. “Did you speak to Papa?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I assume from the hangdog look of you that you managed to turn the meeting into a disaster. Pray how did you do that? What happened?”

“I—” He stopped, conning his mind for the least damaging words to employ.

“Revel! You didn’t hit him... ?”

“Good God, no. We had a friendly chat. The thing is, Tess, he somehow got the notion he is invited to the rout party, too, and he plans to attend.”

She blinked and was silent a moment. “I don’t see how he could think anything of the sort when he knows Mama is going with Lord James,” she answered testily.

“She is not actually going with James.”

“They will meet there. It amounts to the same thing. I am sure Papa will not come.”

“I am sure he will,” he said, and sank onto the edge of the sofa without realizing he did it.

“Did you invite him?”

“Not intentionally.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.