Page 34 of The Model Debutante
‘Good evening, Rainbird,’ she said brightly. ‘Is Lady Parry in?’
‘She retired early, Miss Grey. May I get you anything?’
‘No thank you, Rainbird. I will retire too. Please send my maid up.’
The minute she was in her room Tallie regretted that lastrequest. What she wanted to do was find another cushion and beat the stuffing out of it. Now she had to act with calm and dignity while Susan helped her undress, unpinned her hair, put away her jewellery.
She sat in her wrapper while Susan plied the hairbrush and calmed herself by mentally listing all of Nicholas Stangate’s numerous faults.He is cool, he is manipulative, he is domineering, overbearing and suspicious, he kisses innocent young women, he makes me lose my temper and my self-control.That was a satisfyingly long list.
Tallie bit her lip and decided in all fairness she should catalogue the few – very few – virtues Nick possessed.He loves his aunt and looks after William with a great deal of tact. He rescued me from Jack Lynley twice. He behaved with chivalry when he found me in the attic. He is highly intelligent. He has a sense of humour. He looks…He is very handsome. When he kisses me I want to…I want him never to stop. He makes me lose my temper because…
Her thoughts stumbled to a halt. ‘Thank you, Susan. I do not require you any further tonight.’
The fire flickered and crackled in the grate, hypnotically drawing her eye. Tallie gazed at the flames and let her mind go free. Why did Nick crack right through her painfully acquired poise, her calm common sense?
‘Because I love him,’ she said out loud to the room. ‘Because I love him.’
Chapter Twelve
The following morning Tallie found she had no idea what to do about her moment of self-revelation the night before. She had felt strangely calm afterwards and had simply gone to bed and slept. So far as she was aware she had not dreamed.
The odd calm persisted, but underneath she was disturbed. It was as though she was sleep-walking into danger, watching herself do so and yet unable to wake herself up. Something had to be done about it of course, she quite realised that. Nick was certainly not in love with her and even if he were, she was a most unsuitable wife for him.
The odd feeling persisted despite an expedition with Lady Parry to Ackerman’s Emporium at 101, Strand. Although Tallie already possessed every gown she could ever imagine she would need, Lady Parry wished to get ahead of what she called ‘the others’ by procuring all the latest fashion plates so that a refreshed wardrobe could be paraded half-way through the Season.
‘I am certain you will be receiving some offers soon, Tallie dear,’ she remarked complacently as they embarked in the barouche.
Tallie was staring absently at a thin individual in an overlarge greatcoat and battered beaver who was lounging against the railings near the house. He looked oddly familiar. She focused on Lady Parry. ‘Offers, ma’am?’
‘Of marriage. You are not sickening for something are you, Talitha?’
‘No, no…I beg your pardon. Who would offer for me?’ Several gentlemen had appeared to enjoy her company, that was true. There were a number who always sought her out to dance, several took her driving and more than one had introduced thesubjects of their family, country estates and interests in life into the conversation in a way which, she supposed, she should have recognised as being somewhat pointed.
Aunt Kate rolled her eyes. ‘Making all due allowance for modesty and inexperience –honestly,Tallie! Let me list a few – Mr Runcorn, Sir Jasper Knight, Dr Philpott, Lord Ashwell, the Reverend Mr Laxton. I could go on.’
‘Truly?’ Tallie gazed at her incredulously. ‘But I had not considered marrying any of them. I simply had not thought of them in that way.’
Aunt Kate shook her head at this folly ‘I will lay any odds you like that at least three of them come up to scratch by the end of the week, so you had better decide what you want to say to them.’
‘No.’
‘No? You want me to speak to them first? They will not necessarily approach me, as they know you are of age and I am not your guardian.’
‘I mean, no, I do not want to marry any of them.’I want to marry an infuriating man who does not trust me, laughs at me – and for whom I am entirely ineligible as a wife.
‘Oh well, the Season is young yet,’ Aunt Kate said philosophically, picking up her reticule as the carriage began to slow down. ‘You are suffering a little from tiredness and nerves, I have no doubt. We must buy some more hats, I find that is always such a tonic.’
Nick woke feeling decidedly cheerful, a sensation which lasted through a leisurely bath, a careful shave, an excellent breakfast consumed in the comfort of his bedchamber before dressing and two cups of coffee.
It was at the point where the second cup was making its stimulating effects felt that he woke up enough to consider just why he was feeling this good. A moment’s reflection was enoughto produce a vertical line between his brows and a decided diminution in his feeling ofjoie de vivre.
Miss Talitha Grey was proving a serious worry. She might be enchanting to observe on her alarming progress through Society. She might be delicious to kiss and charming company for his aunt but he was now convinced that if Aunt Kate thought she knew Tallie’s dark secret, she was deceiving herself. One blinding flash of revelation at the Duchess of Hastings’s ball left him suspecting a far more unusual and scandalous secret than any he had imagined. And if he were correct it could prove both dangerous for Tallie and, at the very least, could cast a blight over Lady Parry’s position as a leading member of Society.
If she had only failed to “take”. But Tallie had been an instant success and if he was not much mistaken would soon be receiving any number of offers. He could guess at most of them and Nick regarded his mental list with little favour.
Knight was a dull dog, Runcorn had a tendency to gamble, the Reverend Laxton was a prosy bore, Dr Philpott was only looking for a wife with money before retreating back to Oxford and his books and Ashwell was… Ashwell was probably perfect for her.
A title, a modest fortune, a nice little estate, bright, pleasant, responsible. Perfect. Nick kicked a boot across the room and contemplated a newly-wedded baron storming into Lady Parry’s house to demand why she had allowed him to unwittingly marry a woman with a shameful secret. It had to be stopped.
