Page 20 of Married to the Lord

With a shrug, Augusta turned her head and peered out of the window to look at the rear gardens. They were likely glorious but she was too aware of the men approaching from the periphery of her vision. Joanna was right—the men liked her appearance of disinterest. Lord, would she ever understand the opposite sex? At least with Henry it had been simple. She adored him and he claimed to like her very much. She was not so certain now. It had been at a strange time in Henry’s life that he had proposed and looking back, she rather suspected he had done it to assuage some of his grief over his father’s death. Still, they knew each other well and there had been no need for flirting or pretending interest or disinterest.

Joanna gave her a nudge with an elbow and Augusta scowled before realizing the men were upon them. Augusta hastened to rise from her seat and greet the men. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brook watching them carefully—taking his role as chaperone seriously indeed.

“It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Snow,” said the taller man.

Augusta murmured something vague in response while frantically hunting her mind for the names of the gentlemen. The information had vanished, though, and she did not think anything could summon it back. The men did not seem to mind and engaged her and Joanna in conversation of hunts and riding—the men doing the majority of the conversing. After a while, Augusta’s mouth hurt from smiling and her feet were beginning to throb in her attractive but too tight shoes. She looked about the room and realized the party was dissolving into something more, with cards being played for what looked to be large sums of money and the volume of the laughter and chatter increasing with the consumption of vast amounts of alcohol. She caught Chloe’s eye as she stood rigidly next to Brook, neither of them appearing happy about where this party may lead.

“Joanna,” Augusta said quietly, “I think Mr. Waverly may be ready to leave.”

Joanna shared a look with Augusta and nodded. “I think you might be right. Forgive us, gentlemen, but our escort has another engagement.”

A few protests went up but Joanna successfully disengaged them from the men. Before they reached Brook, Mr. Jenkins stepped in front of them both. “Not leaving already?” His words were slurred and his skin shone with sweat. His jacket had also vanished along with his cravat. Any pretense of being a gentleman had appeared to have vanished.

“Yes, we must be going.” Joanna smiled politely but made to move past him, taking Augusta with her. “Thank you so much for—”

Mr. Jenkins put his hands to Augusta’s waist, twirling her away from Joanna into some sort of waltz-like dance. She gasped and tried to push his hands from her waist but he kept a firm grip on her, twirling her and twirling her until she grew dizzied. “I must show you the house,” he said when he finally stopped.

“Mr. Jenkins...”

“A private tour. What do you say?”

“Mr. Jenkins, I really—”

“I suggest you release Miss. Snow,” came a deep voice. She looked to see Brook glowering down at Mr. Jenkins.

“We are just having a little dance, Waverly,” Mr. Jenkins said dismissively.

“Unhand her or I shall be forced to make you,” Brook said between clenched teeth.

The golden-haired man glanced Brook up and down and she felt his hold ease enough for her to slip away.

“You shall just have to come back for a tour another day,” Mr. Jenkins said brightly. “Without your ogre here keeping guard hopefully.”

Brook curled a fist and Augusta whirled away, not bothering to respond to their host. Chloe tugged on her fiancé’s arm and they left the building swiftly before a fight could break out.

“I should not have agreed to bring you here,” Brook muttered. “I could see where this damned party was heading an hour ago. I should have forced you all to leave.”

“You know very well you could not force us to do anything we do not wish to do,” Joanna pointed out. “Besides, we did what we needed to do. Augusta attended another party where she garnered quite a lot of attention. There were plenty of people there who know Henry. Word of her success will spread, I am certain.”

Augusta shuddered. She was not certain she wanted news of her attendance to such an event to be talked of.

“Do not be disheartened, Augusta,” Joanna said. “We shall make your Henry return, I promise.”

Augusta nodded slowly but she could not help wonder if she really wanted him back.

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