Julien was quickly admitted and shown to the drawing room.
“Oh, Julien, dear me, you have arrived, and quite none too soon. Oh dear, yes, come in, come in.” Lady Bellingham straightened her dowager’s lavender turban over the small, crimped curls and turned distractedly to him.
“I hope I find you quite well, Lady Bella,” he said, his voice and expression at their charming best, crossing to where she sat and lightly touching his lips to her gloved fingers. He raised his eyebrows in question.
“Don’t stare down your nose at me, Julien. I vow I can’t help it if Katharine must needs spend hours getting dressed. And I thought that she’d changed her mind toward you. I should have known the two of you would cut up my peace. What can she be doing?”
Julien laughed and moved over to stand next to the fireplace. “Tell me more.”
“A more ill-matched pair I have yet to see. Do help yourself to a glass of sherry. Lord knows what the girl is doing. Probably plotting to poison your supper.”
Julien did as he was bid, careful to pour a very full glass for Lady Bellingham. She was fond of her sherry, particularly when she was undergoing an agitation of the nerves.
He handed her a glass and eased himself into a chair opposite her. “Have you been waiting long, ma’am?”
“Stupid question, my boy. You were expected at eight o’clock. It’s now eight-thirty, and I feel at least two years older.”
“The performance doesn’t begin until nine-thirty. We’ve lots of time.”
“That is not the point, as you well know, young man. Whatever your mama would say to your antics I don’t know. Why must a man be so perverse as to pick a chit who wants to see him with his throat cut?” She quickly downed a sizable gulp of sherry.
“Actually, I haven’t yet spoken to her.” He added quickly at the look of surprise in Lady Bella’s eyes, “Never fear, ma’am. I shall pay her a visit as soon as our engagement is to be announced in the Gazette.”
“At the rate you’re proceeding, your hair will be as gray as mine.” She heaved a deep sigh and swallowed the rest of her sherry.
When Julien had paid Lady Bellingham his unexpected visit almost three weeks ago, she had been eager to fall in with his plan. She had proudly seen her dear Anne, the last of her numerous brood, wed to the young Viscount Walbrough during the past summer and had grown quite bored resting her bones at home in the evenings. She had known Julien’s mama before her marriage to Julien’s papa, and she’d watched Julien over the years politely but disinterestedly turn away from each new season’s crop of girls making their come-outs, including her own dear daughters. The thought of again being involved with a courtship, and particularly the idea of meeting the girl who had finally managed to bring his lordship to heel, had made her quite animated. As for the tenuous connection she shared with the Brandon family, that bothered her not at all. Indeed, she wasn’t at all certain that Julien was right, that there was indeed a connection. Her only concern had been that Katharine would speak with that horrible northern accent and thus make both of them a laughingstock among the ton.
When Katharine had arrived on her doorstep, clad in the most horrid and outdated of clothes, she had groped for her vinaigrette, believing that the worst of her fears had been realized. The girl spoke in a soft, cultured voice, which was somewhat of a relief, but Lady Bellingham didn’t set aside her vinaigrette until Kate proudly announced that she had a thousand guineas with which to purchase a new wardrobe. Her enthusiastic response was catching, and Katharine herself unbent considerably. But what a surprise it had been to Lady Bellingham when at every mention of the earl’s name, the girl’s magnificent green eyes had flashed red.
Julien asked Lady Bellingham matter-of-factly, “Has Katharine been a sad trial to you, ma’am?”
“Good gracious, no, Julien. It’s just that, well, she’s quite independent, but a dear girl, so bright and smiling— at least most of the time, when you’re not the topic of conversation. She will lead you a merry chase, Julien, that’s for sure. I only hope I am still alive to see it when it finally happens, but I’m not at all sure it will happen, given the way things are going now— or not going.”
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