Page 34 of A Lady’s Rules for Seaside Romance (The Harp & Thistle #3)

Frustration ground at him, but he refused to show it and give the satisfaction to the blasted cad.

“Oh, Mama, do play for everyone,” Mary begged.

Victor’s eyes lingered on the way Mary held on to Ashby’s arm.

Her fingers were digging in. Perhaps Mary liked the idea of Ashby pursuing her mother, as opposed to Victor, and was hoping to intervene.

“It’s too quiet now. We need to add a little more excitement to the air. ”

Anne swallowed. “Very well, but not for too much longer, darling. We do have to return home at some point.” With a brief glance at Victor—did he detect a shared regret in that glance?—she made her way over to the piano.

As the music began, Mr. Lucas Ashby reappeared. He bowed ridiculously low to Mary. “Lady Mary, would you please join me in a dance?”

Immediately, Mary ripped her arm from Ashby’s and took the younger brother’s extended hand.

As Anne played, she caught her daughter and her escort dancing together, the only people doing so.

But Anne likely understood if she stopped playing to reprimand her daughter, it would only garner further attention.

She frowned at the couple instead. Victor was about to speak to the young woman on Anne’s behalf.

Though in a small setting such as this, it was technically acceptable for Mary to dance with a partner, it was clear Anne didn’t like it.

But, thankfully, Ashby reached them first. The young couple separated and the young lad’s jaw became rigid as his oldest brother said something low to him once again.

Victor watched as Ashby nudged his brother away, and then join his youngest brother and Freddy.

The trio talked amongst themselves then disappeared from the room, running off to do something else.

Briefly, Victor was grateful Ashby had intervened. The fact that Mr. Lucas Ashby kept pursuing Mary despite regular intervention from both of their families did not give the young lad a good look.

But then Ashby turned to Mary and bowed. Mary’s eyes went wide as yet another gentleman asked her to dance.

Anne started banging loudly on the piano keys as she shot daggers from her eyes at her daughter—if she wasn’t keen on Mr. Lucas Ashby dancing with Mary, she would be quite against the eldest brother doing so—but Mary was far too much in awe of being asked to dance by an older gentleman.

Victor knew the cad was only trying to woo Anne by charming her daughter, but did Mary know that?

Victor looked over to Anne and lifted his eyebrows in a way that asked if he should intervene. Anne shook her head and kept playing. It ended up being the right decision because only a minute later, the dancing ended and Ashby departed from the young lady with a cold bow.

Mary was left behind, her mouth agape.

*

The carriage ride home later that evening was soaked in a heavy silence. Freddy fell asleep two minutes into the drive and leaned against Victor. On the seat across from them, Mary and Anne sat beside each other, but the tension was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife.

Victor knew Anne worried about her children and she had a particularly tight hold when it came to her daughter.

He understood, to a degree. Girls and women were at risk when it came to boys and men.

And Anne knew this better than anyone. He understood, with her experience, why she would want to be so strict with Mary.

Both Anne and Mary were staring out their respective windows, refusing to acknowledge each other.

If Victor had been a chatty man, he would have been able to ease the tension with some kind of conversation.

Instead, he sat in silence with them and watched Anne.

The drive would only be about twenty minutes, and whatever explosive argument was building between Anne and Mary, he hoped he wouldn’t have to get in the middle of it.

Unfortunately, that explosion happened only a minute later.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” Mary shouted, unprompted.

Anne and Victor both jolted at the sudden noise. Freddy let out a snore.

Anne’s mouth pinched as she considered her response. As she ran her hands swiftly over her skirts, she looked up at Victor. However, her eyes were shuttered.

He had no idea what she was thinking or feeling.

“You and I,” Anne finally said to her daughter, “have discussed, on numerous occasions, that you are not to dance with anyone until you come out.”

“It wasn’t that serious, Mama. It was a dinner party, which is a perfectly fine place for me to dance! It wasn’t like I was dancing at a ball!”

“It doesn’t matter if society thinks it acceptable. My rules are my rules! Your behavior this entire evening was ridiculous.”

Mary released a rather overdramatic gasp.

“Mary.” Anne rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Over the entire hour-long dinner, you sat beside Mr. Lucas, shamelessly flirting with him and leaning toward him so he could look down your dress. I’ve been on this planet far longer than you.

You may think I’m old and out of touch, but the truth of the matter is I know all the tricks.

You can’t get anything past me and you’d best realize that now. ”

Mary crossed her arms and slouched. “It was only meant to be a bit of fun, Mama,” she said with a pout. “There’s nothing wrong with flirting with a cute young man. You even said you wanted to do that this summer!”

Anne replied with her own overdramatic gasp. “Mary! How dare you?”

“What’s going on?” Freddy asked sleepily. He pushed himself up and seemed startled to realize he had leaned on Victor. But as Mary and Anne continued sniping at each other, he looked over at them. “Oh. They’re arguing again.”

As they argued about men and flirting—the entire conversation lost on Victor—Victor instead put his attention on Freddy. “Do they often do this?”

Freddy yawned. “Not really, just ever since we got here. Mary keeps throwing herself at Lucas Ashby and Mama doesn’t like it.”

“I do not throw myself at him!” Mary whined.

“Yes, you do,” Freddy bit back. “It’s a bit desperate, really.”

Mary leaned forward and slapped Freddy’s arm.

“Ow!” He rubbed the spot, making a big show of it.

“I’m not desperate. And anyway, I’m not interested in Mr. Lucas Ashby anymore. I don’t like how he danced—he was rubbish at it.” She said this with a haughty tone and lifted her nose.

“Thank goodness,” Anne replied, putting her attention back out the window into the darkness. “I don’t wish to hear anything further about him, then.”

“Fine,” Mary quipped.

“Fine,” Anne replied. And then she let out a sigh. She met Victor’s eye and shook her head just enough for him to see it. In a show of support, he lifted one corner of his mouth ever so slightly.

The remainder of the drive was, thankfully, free of argument. When they arrived at Summerwood, Vivian and Dantes were still up.

“We just put Lily to bed for the third time tonight. How was the Ashbys’ dinner?

” Vivian led them into the drawing room in her usual willowy elegance.

Mary and Freddy were about to follow, but Anne made them stop.

“To bed with you two,” she said. The children let out groans of disappointment but didn’t argue.

Anne’s eyes followed them up the stairs and once she seemed satisfied they were obeying her wishes, she entered the drawing room as well.

Victor followed and went over to his brother, who poured out whiskeys for the two of them.

“Mary and Freddy looked tired. It must have been a good evening.” Vivian took a seat in a wingback chair.

“It was, for the most part. Mary was being quite difficult tonight, though, which is unusual for her. I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Why, what was the matter?”

Anne sighed and sat at the end of a sofa near Vivian. Meanwhile, Victor and Dantes sipped their drinks in silence, relishing in the cool, sea breeze wafting in through the open windows.

“Oh, young gentleman drama. We went to the dinner with her nearly bouncing off the walls in anticipation of seeing Mr. Lucas Ashby, to leaving with her deciding he wasn’t worth her time.”

Vivian laughed. “I remember being that young. I wouldn’t fret about it too much.”

As the women giggled about their own silly behavior from youth, Dantes and Victor settled in. For a bit, they discussed their evenings and then something on a nearby table caught Dantes’s eye.

“Oh, I mustn’t forget.” Dantes went to grab the object, then returned. He handed the item over to Victor. A card of some sort.

“What is it?” Victor asked.

“Your invite to Lord and Lady Bell’s masquerade. They also sent their apologies for not sending you one earlier. They didn’t have you on their annual list, but you have since been added.”

Victor frowned. “That was nice of them, but I won’t be going.”

Dantes knew better than to argue with Victor. “Suit yourself, then. You’ll be missing out on the fun, though. It’s only in a few days.”

“I don’t even have a costume.” Costumes had to be ordered in advance, and if the masquerade was only days away, he wouldn’t have any time. Not that he wanted to go, anyway.

“Hm. Good point. Never mind, then.”

Victor glanced at Anne and, convinced she paid him no attention, turned to his brother and lowered his voice. “Is it true, what I hear about it?”

Dantes raised his eyebrows. “What do you hear?”

Victor hesitated. “Courtesans. People going off with strangers. Multiple partners, and the like.”

Dantes pulled back a bit, as if surprised, then glanced over at Anne. Understanding seemed to cross his face. He took a sip of his whiskey, topping it off with a satisfied sound. “You’ll have to go to find out for yourself.”

And before Victor could argue back, Dantes hurried on to share a funny story about Lily and the twins discovering a few rogue chickens that had wandered over from a neighboring farm. Victor was only pretending to listen, though.

He was vehemently against going to the masquerade.

The debauched masquerade in which Anne would be participating.

Forget the jealousy that tried to rear, the masquerade would be the perfect place to approach Anne as her secret admirer. If he could find a costume.

But would she be receptive to it? He hoped.