Page 19 of Anything But a Duke
“Then they’re fools.” Dom stepped closer, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Don’t even think of giving up on your inventions. Father never stopped believing in his.”
Diana bit back the reply that rushed up. “He was tenacious.”
Dom had always idolized their late father, looking up to him despite his many failures. What she didn’t mention was what her brother chose to ignore. Their father’s tenacity had bankrupted their family.
At times, Diana feared she was like her father. Bullheaded, impractical, too devoted to her own ambitions to consider the needs of others. Few of his inventions had been useful and half hadn’t functioned at all.
No, she wasn’t like him. Tenacity they might share, but not the rest. Her inventions were practical. All of her ideas could help others. If she could find success with just a single one, the influx of funds would help her family too.
“Ready to face Mama?”
“I didn’t tell her where I was going this morning, so at least I won’t have to bear her disappointment.”
Dom winked. “What Mama doesn’t know is for the best.”
Di followed her brother through the front door. No servants greeted them. They’d let one of their maids go the previous month to economize, and the cook and housekeeper were no doubt busy below stairs.
Their mother’s voice, along with several others, echoed from the front drawing room. Diana exchanged a raised-brow glance with her brother.
“I’m not going in there. I’ll face her later,” he said with a foot on the first step that led to the upstairs bedrooms. “First, I need to sleep.”
Diana waited for him to ascend the stairs and straightened her spine before entering the drawing room. Her jaw dropped at the scene before her.
Three of her friends, young women she hadn’t seen in nearly a year, sat clustered on the settee. Lady Sophronia Bales squealed when she spotted Diana in the doorway. Miss Grace Grinstead and Lady Elizabeth Thorndyke smiled warmly at her.
Her mother offered an inscrutable expression and raised her arms in welcome. “Diana, dear. You’re finally home.” She came forward, gripped Diana’s shoulders, and planted a quick kiss on each cheek. “The note you left was rather cryptic,” she whispered.
“Not cryptic, Mama. Just incomplete.”
“I insist you tell me all about your morning promenade later. First, come and say hello to your friends.”
Each lady stood and they exchanged hugs and cheek kisses before Diana took a seat on an overstuffed chair nearby.
“My goodness, it’s good to see all of you.” She let her gaze rest on each friend’s face, remembering the adventures they’d gotten up to together at Bexley Finishing School. “What brings you for a visit?”
The Season, she guessed, would draw all of them to London. Of the group she’d studied with at Bexley, only a handful had yet to secure a betrothal. Those whose families could bear the expense had a fresh Season year after year, ever determined to make a fortuitous match.
“We hadn’t heard from you, Di,” Lady Sophie said in her high-pitched voice. “We were worried you hadn’t received our invitation.” She beamed at her companions on either side of her on the settee. “So we decided to come and invite you in person.”
Diana frowned. “To what exactly?” A quiver of nervousness chased across her skin.
When she was working on an invention, her habit was to turn down invites to dinners and soirees, not that she received many. Just the notion of a ball made her queasy. Dancing had been an accomplishment at which she’d never excelled.
“Your classmates are planning a reunion, Diana,” her mother put in before any of her friends could answer. “Apparently your invitation went astray.”
“Do say you’ll come.” Lady Elizabeth was the most earnest of the lot. Emotional and prone to fancy, she was also one of Diana’s kindest friends.
“We’ve brought a new invitation.” Grace dipped a hand into her reticule and pulled out a cream-colored rectangle with Diana’s name printed on the front in bold, swirling letters. “All the details are inside.”
“My parents have agreed to host the event.” Lady Elizabeth leaned forward and smiled. “Would it be very rude of me to insist you come? It will be a wonderful way to start the Season and Mama has promised to devote herself to matchmaking for all of us.”
Diana fretted endlessly over her family’s financial struggles, but she’d never been disappointed that she’d been spared the rituals of a Season, or matchmaking.
“Sophie and I are doing much of the planning,” Elizabeth continued. “We thought we’d start with a luncheon, some games in the garden, and then a dance in the evening.”
“In other words, a ball.” Diana tried to hide a shudder at the prospect.
“Say you’ll come. A Bexley reunion wouldn’t be complete without you.”
