Page 4 of Unmasked By a Captivating Lady
Miles nodded. “Of course I will, brother! It is a good wager, is it not?”
Andrew nodded as well. “It is. Two guineas. I win if you fail to attract any young ladies. You win if you do. Agreed?”
Miles held out his hand. “Agreed. Shake on it then.”
Andrew stared at the outstretched hand. “Should we not spit into our hands, like we did as boys?”
Miles laughed so hard he almost fell off the pavement. Hereallywas more intoxicated than he had first thought, and so was Andrew, judging by the way he was grinning inanely.
“Let us get to the carriage,” he laughed. “Before it has to come to us.”
The next minute they were ensconced in the carriage, and it was hurtling through the London streets. The carriage driver took a left turn a little too sharply, and Andrew slid across the carriage, bumping into Miles with a crash.
They both started laughing again, so hard that they could barely contain themselves. When the hilarity had finally died down, Andrew grew sombre again, staring out the carriage window as if searching for the meaning of life.
“I am looking forward to this ball,” he said contemplatively. “I am too old for these London seasons, and it would be a godsend if I could finally find the woman that I am searching for.”
Miles blinked rapidly. “You really are committed to the idea, aren’t you? London and all of its excitements no longer holds you in its thrall?”
Andrew sighed deeply. “It has been happening so gradually that I have barely noticed it.” He stared out the carriage window. “Where once I was glad to be in London, and attend all the balls and assemblies, now I simply find it wearisome. I desire nothing more than to be at the Kent estate, in the country. And if I could have a beautiful and good wife at my side there, all the better.”
Miles nodded, but he didn’t share his brother’s sentiments. Although he loved Kemp Hall, their ancestral home where they had grown up, he felt strangely restless there now. London provided diversion, and distraction. Yes, it was often superficial and petty, but he found nowadays that he didn’t want contemplation. If he was in a whirlwind of activity, then it stopped him thinking too much.
His face darkened slightly. He didn’t want to think about it too much; what had happened all those years ago. It suddenly occurred to him that perhaps distracting himself in London was his way ofnotthinking about it. One had to just get on with life. There was no point brooding about the past, was there?
Andrew, in the mercurial way of the slightly tipsy, suddenly turned happy again. He fixed his brother with a wide smile.
“Were you serious about our wager before?” he asked. “Are you actually going to do it?”
“Of course,” Miles replied, smiling brightly. “If you are up for it, then I am. It will be a bit of harmless fun.”
“To harmless fun,” said Andrew, raising an imaginary glass.
“To harmless fun,” repeated Miles, raising his own. They made a great show of clinking their glasses, then started laughing again, rolling around the carriage.
But by the time the carriage had pulled up in Grosvenor Square, at their parents’ house, they had gotten themselves together, and walked almost without a stumble to the grand front entrance, determinedly avoiding eye contact.
Chapter 3
Ara stepped down from the carriage, gazing up at the tall building in front of her, which was set on a wide tree-lined boulevard. She sighed deeply.
London,she thought darkly.Yet another season, with its interminable round of balls and assemblies, picnics and tea parties. How on earth am I going to endure it?
Ruth, who had stepped out of the carriage just behind her, gripped her arm excitedly. Her pale blue eyes were shining. “Oh, it is wonderful to be here, is it not, Ara?” Her eyes swept along the street. “Already I can feel my blood start to run a little quicker. As soon as we reached the outskirts of London, my heart surely leapt.”
Ara smiled fondly at her cousin. “I am glad to hear you are in such good spirits, Ruth. London seems to suit you.” Her smile faded a little. “I wish that I were as fond of it as you are. But the whole time that we are here, I must confess that all I dream of is the country.”
Ruth laughed a little. “You are turning into a country door mouse, Ara! You are only one and twenty, you know. Hardly old enough to fade into obscurity, my dear.”
Ara gazed at her cousin. Why did it always seem nowadays that Ruth was the elder of them, counselling her, when she was still only seventeen? And everything was so uncomplicated for her cousin. All that she desired was to wear pretty gowns, go to balls, and hopefully find a husband. Exactly what a young lady was supposed to desire.
Ara bit her lip, gazing down the wide street again. Well to do ladies and gentlemen were strolling down it, seemingly without a care in the world. Sometimes they would stop and chat, before continuing on their walk. It was the pattern of London that she was already familiar with, and which bored her to tears.
See and be seen. Parade along the streets on display. Make good connections. That was all that it was about, really.
“Girls.”
Ara jumped a little. It was her mother, standing on the doorstep of their London residence, staring back at them a little crossly.
