Page 11 of A Diamond for Christmas (Diamonds of the First Water #6)

G eoffrey paced the floor of Hatchards, but Caroline never arrived. And why would she if she was perfectly happy giving her hand to Mangue? If only he knew for certain whether she had a secret tendre for the man.

He wasn’t going to wait for another infernal ball. Instead, he loitered outside the Chimes’s home the following day, not in his own carriage emblazoned with his family’s coat of arms. Rather, he was in a hired hackney.

After seeing the incriminating article in The Times , even his own parents demanded he offer for Lady Caroline.

He didn’t bother to tell them his own doubts over whether her heart was already given to Mangue, or at the very least, her hand.

If they thought she might be fickle, they wouldn’t condone him taking her as his wife.

From his vantage point, Geoffrey saw Lord Chimes leave the residence. Stretching out his legs, he continued his vigil. If Lady Chimes left, too, then he might attempt to breach the front door. However, she never went out.

Instead, Lord Mangue arrived around noon, and Geoffrey sat up, scowling. Had the rogue spoken to The Times in order to lower her dowry price? That seemed the only reasonable explanation as to why Mangue would have told the newspaper about what he saw and embellished it with what he imagined .

Deciding to take the bull by the horns, Geoffrey jumped down, paid off the driver, and crossed the road. Knocking upon the door, he asked to see Lady Caroline.

“She is not receiving visitors, my lord,” came the butler’s reply.

“Then I would like to speak to Lady Chimes.” For Geoffrey didn’t give a fig with whom he met, as long as he got his foot in the door and talked to someone.

The butler sighed. “Her ladyship is also not receiving visitors.”

Crossing his arms, against all standards of politeness, he said, “That’s ridiculous! I can hear voices in the drawing room.”

Seeing one of the double doors was ajar, he skirted the shocked butler and hurried toward it.

Sure enough, there was Lady Chimes and Lord Mangue, while Lady Caroline was nowhere in sight.

“What is the meaning of this?” Lady Chimes demanded.

“I wish to offer for your daughter,” he said at once. “May I speak with Lady Caroline?”

“Here now,” Mangue said, rising to his feet. “Her parents and I already have an understanding.”

“You have done enough damage already,” her mother added, “with that unforgiveable tattling tale to The Times .”

“Indeed,” Mangue said.

“I didn’t say a word,” Geoffrey vowed. “How would it benefit me? Obviously, this man did.”

“I didn’t. Not a peep,” Mangue protested. “It would benefit me even less. You told the newspaper, so I would cease my pursuit of Lady Caroline. Obviously, you did it. And the proof is that you’re here now.”

“I am here because only by marrying her can I salvage her reputation.”

“On the contrary,” Lady Chimes insisted, “if Lord Mangue marries her, it will disprove the false statements. Who would believe a sane man would marry her if she were truly ruined? Ergo, Lord Mangue will marry her and remove any whiff of tainted virtue.”

“And I shall receive a larger dowry for my trouble,” Lord Mangue added, causing Lady Chimes to narrow her eyes at him.

“We were discussing it,” she said firmly, “but no decision can be made until I’ve discussed it with my husband.”

“I will take Lady Caroline without any dowry at all,” Geoffrey offered, as if he were bidding on horseflesh at Tattersall’s.

Both of them stared at him, mouths slightly open.

“Not if you betrayed me to The Times ,” Caroline said from the doorway. “In which case, I shall have nothing to do with you.”

Geoffrey felt a shard of warmth slice through him like summer sunshine, simply from seeing her. Moreover, he couldn’t help smiling.

“How dare you grin at my daughter?” Lady Chimes said.

“How can I not?” he asked. “She is perfection.”

“What poppycock!” Mangue muttered. “If Diamond doesn’t want a dowry, he’ll probably be miserly with his wife, keep her in rags, and not give her any pin money.”

“Nonsense. My wife may have all my fortune,” Geoffrey insisted. “I will rest it at her feet.”

Instead of garnering a smile in return from Caroline, she frowned.

“I want to hear the answer. Did you speak with The Times ?”

“No,” he said firmly.

She looked at Mangue. “Did you talk to The Times ?”

“Indubitably not,” he said, sounding sincere. Even Geoffrey couldn’t doubt him.

“Then I am entirely bewildered for I know it was not I nor my mother.” Caroline looked at Mangue. “Only know, my lord, I think it the height of kindness that you would still offer for my hand. ”

“I want your hand,” Geoffrey interrupted, “and not out of kindness.”

They stared at one another.

Her mother bristled. “You will leave, Lord Diamond, or I will have our butler toss you out.”

Geoffrey tried to imagine the Chimes’s butler achieving such a feat, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t create such an ignominious scene. That was, not unless Caroline asked him to stay.

“I came to see you, Lady Caroline, to pledge my troth and to ask for your hand.”

“You are out of line,” Lady Chimes said, but Geoffrey didn’t turn his gaze from her daughter’s exquisite face.

“I will gladly help your butler get rid of this rascal,” Mangue offered.

Geoffrey heard him but ignored his words, waiting only for an answer from Caroline.

She stared at him a long moment before glancing at her mother.

“Don’t you dare respond to this scoundrel,” Lady Chimes directed. “His behavior is beyond the pale!”

Caroline bit her lower lip, which he found not only charming but incredibly arousing.

“I don’t believe I shall marry either one of you,” she said finally.

While he was digesting that odd statement, she turned heel and left.

Geoffrey had to endure first one week and then two of missing Caroline.

He had not simply enjoyed each of their brief, furtive encounters, he had relished them.

She’d become a necessary part of his existence, even if he’d had to hide his affection and disguise his admiration.

Yet she disappeared from the events on the Season’s social calendar and cut off all contact .

He sent notes on three occasions, left his calling card twice, and even demanded to see her to an utterly impassive butler — all to no avail. Either she had lost interest, or her parents were keeping her on a tight rein.

And then one day, she appeared again. He was at the theatre with a young lady whose mother was a friend of his own mother.

His companion was attractive, soft-spoken, and had a sweet smile, but she wasn’t Caroline.

It wasn’t the lady’s fault that he couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm to even sniff her hair or do anything more than politely smile.

While he was looking out over the audience from his family’s box during the intermission, having been a terrible escort and declining to go to the lobby for wine and jabbering prattle, he saw a head of glorious red hair.

Paired with another equally coppery-headed female, he knew in a heartbeat it must be Caroline and her mother.

Leaning forward, he tried to see the rest of their party. He spied Lord Chimes, too, and hoped Caroline was with only her parents, but then she leaned over to speak to the man at her left and even laid her hand upon his arm. With their heads bent close, they spoke and then laughed.

Geoffrey’s insides tightened as a burst of jealousy raced through him. Dammit all!

“Are you well, my lord?” asked the lady beside him. “You groaned and muttered.”

He wanted to tell her he felt bloody awful and do the unforgivable — take her home before the evening’s entertainment ended. However, his mother would give him hell if he offended her friend’s daughter.

“My apologies. A touch of indigestion is all.” He rolled his eyes at his ridiculous words, making himself sound like an old man with gout.

Glad when the lamps dimmed, so he could no longer see Caroline and her escort, who appeared a damn sight more appealing than Mangue, Geoffrey settled back for the longest evening of his life.

He would not make the same mistake. He would remain a monk rather than be tortured by being in the company of a hapless miss who could do nothing but disappoint him through no fault of her own. She was simply the wrong woman.

Thus, the rest of the Season passed without him in attendance.

He didn’t want to see Caroline, so he stayed away from the ballrooms. Despite his self-imposed banishment, he read the daily papers, dreading the appearance of an engagement announcement between her and Mangue or even with the mysterious stranger. Luckily, there were none.

Waiting did nothing to further his own pursuit of her, and while the passage of time gave tongues other scandals to wag on about, it did little to lessen Geoffrey’s obsession with the red-haired goddess.

Finally, it was Stir-Up Sunday, the last Sunday before the season of Advent, and he was at his parents’ home for a long-held tradition.

“This has seemed an exceedingly long year,” James Diamond said, rubbing his hands as he stood before the hearth in their drawing room. “Parliament has been busy. We started a new war with the Burmese, which I think shall drag on and be damnably expensive. Regrettably, it had to be done.”

He took his glass of brandy from the mantel and sipped.

“On the other hand, I personally helped create a few acts that hopefully shall prove useful, and we signed a good treaty with the Dutch.”

The Earl Diamond loved when they had a peaceful accord rather than a ruinous war. But Geoffrey was in no mood for good news.

“From the sublime to the ridiculous, our government stopped a war, started one, and spent a fortune on Angerstien’s art collection,” he said, feeling dour despite the normally festive occasion.