Page 36 of A Perplexing Regency Romance (The League of Meddling Butlers #5)

While the duchess planned the nuptials, and she did not seem to require any opinions from the couple to do it, he and Finny went on famously.

He knew his first instincts were right. She was not just pretty as a picture, they had so much in common.

As they rode through the park in the duke’s open carriage, they discussed it all.

For one, they both did not care to rise early, as some people did.

They were not “up with the sun” sort of people.

They were closer to “up for a midday meal” people.

As a married lady, Finella could have her breakfast served in bed.

She proposed that he should do so too so they could breakfast together.

After all, he was a duke, could he not make up some of his own rules and traditions?

So that had been settled—they were to dine in bed each day, likely around noon.

He did not know what else Finella thought they might do in bed, but he had some ideas of his own.

Another thing they had in common was they both liked to ride and they had matching greys. They planned to ride all over the duke’s land, which was extensive. Kestrel would be sent for and be waiting at the family seat.

The only difference of opinions regarding food and drink they discovered was that his fiancée preferred a Riesling or other sweet wine, rather than anything dry. He’d contacted his wine merchant that very day to have both of his houses well stocked.

But most of all, they had very similar outlooks on the world. They both preferred to be happy, and that everybody else be happy too. They did not like gossip or mean spiritedness. They did not see the point of it, as it just made people unhappy.

Hugh had, of course, had to warn his fiancée about his sister, who never wished to be happy.

Lucinda had rushed to the house when she’d heard of the engagement.

As he’d been expecting her, the door had been bolted and Frederick was told to keep her out.

His footman had done it too, but he looked as if he’d been to the wars and back after she finally left his doorstep.

Lucinda had then sent a letter, which he’d thrown away without reading. He informed the duchess that his sister was not invited to the wedding service or the breakfast that would follow, as she could not be trusted to behave in any rational manner.

The duchess did not seem surprised, nor disappointed. Hugh got the idea the lady had never liked his sister.

All of that had transpired even before Finella had told him what she overheard in the ladies retiring room at Almack’s.

He’d been positively incensed and had written Lucinda a letter, barring her from his house, and his life, forever.

He should have done it long ago and she would not be missed.

He did not expect any trouble from her husband, Lord Gaddington, as that fellow probably wished he could bar Lucinda from his life too.

One person who was not barred from the house, but who Hugh dreaded seeing, was Packington. He had expected to see him sooner, but a full week went by before he turned up.

The first thing he said was, “I’ve taken Violet home.”

Hugh did his best to outline how things had gone, including the wrong color shawl and the misdirected daffodils.

Packington had not even known about the flowers until Lady Violet had shouted out about them at the Secrets Exposed party.

Even then, he had not known if they were real.

He told Hugh he’d had several direct conversations with her about her behavior and that if the duke had an interest in her, he surely would have mentioned it to her brother.

She could not be convinced until word went round the ballroom that Hugh had engaged himself to Miss Fernsby.

Considering how fast her feelings had gone from distress to annoyance, it had only been a youthful infatuation.

In the end though, Packington blamed himself.

He’d been sure she was not ready for a season and had allowed her to push him into it.

He’d spoiled her, ever since he’d become head of the family and she’d become headstrong without the maturity to manage it.

She was home now, and she would come back in a year or two, with a deal more sense.

As much as Lady Violet had irritated him and got in the way of his plans, Hugh did not hold anything against her.

It was only the folly of youth, and he and Seddie were well acquainted with that particular brand of folly.

In any case, what right would he have to hold anything against anybody when he found himself in such happy circumstances?

He had been blessed, backward and forward, and he wanted everybody to be just as happy as he was.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For the first few days of her engagement, Finella had felt a bit off kilter, or woozy, or dizzy, every time she saw Finstatten.

He took her breath away and she was going to marry him.

She grew more comfortable over time and the thrill felt more manageable, but the beginning had been nearly overwhelming.

Still, every time she thought about walking around as a duchess and people calling her Your Grace, she felt woozy again. Finstatten had sent over a tiara that had been owned by his mother, and of course she would wear it, but it seemed too grand for Finella Fernsby.

She had at least got past her insecurity about her height and her Rubenesque figure.

It had seemed impossible that the Duke of Greystone would be at all interested in her person.

But he was. He most definitely was. She had thought she would not be for everybody, but she might be for somebody.

The duke turned out to be the somebody. A very enthusiastic somebody.

The night of the Secrets Exposed party was not the last time she’d sat on his lap.

Lucy had entirely changed her opinion of the duke, now that she was to be lady’s maid to a duchess and he was no longer the wrecker of her plans.

Finella had written her father about taking Lucy with her, as she had been one of the baron’s housemaids and he’d been expecting her back at some point.

He wrote that the housekeeper and the other housemaids were delighted, as they all thought she was a shirker of duties.

The housekeeper even mentioned that Lucy could have a very pert attitude and was far too prone to speaking her thoughts as they arrived.

The lady was thrilled that the girl would not be returning.

So, a happy ending all round on that front.

The wedding, the actual day, was another thing that made Finella woozy. The duchess was planning it all. Finella had on occasion imagined her wedding day through the years. It had been a small affair in her home church, to a gentleman with a modest estate.

Now she was to wed in St. George’s. She was marrying a duke. All of society would be there. The duchess said even the queen would be there. The Queen of England. At her wedding.

It was best not to think of any of it. She would not think about it and just depend on Finstatten to hold her up at the altar.

She had already warned him that she was terrified and there was every chance she might faint in view of the queen.

He assured her that she would be all right.

He would be right by her side. Then he advised Finella to have a glass of wine and some biscuits ahead of time.

She could not wait for it all to be over.

She would be married to Finstatten and they could go away and be alone.

They’d had extensive discussions about where they would go after the wedding.

They might stay in Town, they might do a tour of various relations, they might go to Suffolk so she could see the estate.

One of the difficulties of all of those places was that there were a lot of other people there too. Where could they go to be alone?

Then Finstatten had an idea. He had not been there in years, but his family owned a very small lodge in the Lake District.

More of a camp for his father, who’d been a keen fisherman, than anything civilized.

It sat on a very small lake, hemmed in by hills.

Nobody lived within view and nobody but his father seemed to think the lake worth fishing.

Hugh sometimes thought his father liked it so much because he could go there alone and there was nobody asking him for anything.

One could even swim in the lake, if the frigid temperature could be tolerated, though he did not recommend it. Hugh had tried it once and it was really awful. A quarter mile down the very lonely road that led to the camp, there was a caretaker and his wife who could cook meals and take in laundry.

He’d almost forgotten he owned the property.

The last time he’d been there was years ago.

He and Seddie were determined to become expert fishermen when they were on a term break.

They had not become expert. Like a lot of their suddenly hatched plans, it did not work out the way they’d imagined.

They were either terrible at it or there were not any fish in the lake.

The fishing not turning up anything, one day Seddie wandered off into the woodland to have a look around.

That had been in the morning. By the late afternoon, Hugh was fairly confident that he’d got himself lost. Hugh and the caretaker spent hours looking for him.

When the sun began to set, they decided to return to the lodge and set out again in the morning.

They’d ended up finding him on the way back, sitting by a small stream.

He said he’d walked for hours and then decided all was lost so he would stop and die next to the stream as he was bound to get thirsty while he was in the process of perishing.

He’d been about two hundred yards from the lodge.