Page 5 of A Sporting Chance (The Chances #8)

T his was absolutely the most foolish thing she had ever considered.

Kathleen knew that. She knew it when she carefully dressed that morning, selecting her favorite chiffon high-necked blouse and pairing it with the blue skirt that had such an exquisite waistband.

She knew it as she ate breakfast with Angela, allowing her sister to chatter on over buttered toast.

She knew it as she stepped outside with a parasol on her arm, telling her sister she wished to visit the lending library and see if they’d had any half-decent novels come through.

It was unseemly to go alone, she knew, but she’d managed to convince Angela no one would take note of her.

It was true few in London knew her at a glance.

Perhaps only by name. Besides, it was her sister who had taken off—screaming—all by herself to head home the other day.

She knew it as she walked through the streets of London, every step taking her closer to a place that she knew she should not have been.

And she most definitely knew it when she stood outside the London Archery Club, gazing up at its front door flanked with columns, a footman standing beside it.

Oh, Kathleen , she thought wretchedly. What do you think you’re doing? This is not a place for you.

“I do not believe you could teach me archery.”

“I bet I could.”

“And I will take that bet.”

The memory of Lord Leopold’s words flickered in her mind like a flame.

Lord Leopold. Of course a gentleman like that was a lord—there was no possibility that he was a mere mister.

A man who walked like that, held himself like that, looked like that… No, he was always going to be a lord.

Kathleen swallowed. Every inch of the London Archery Club was designed to make it absolutely clear she was not wanted. The intensity of the formality, the severe knocker on the oaken door, the fact there was a footman there deigning whether or not to open the door…

It was a gentleman’s club. For archery, yes, but for gentlemen most of all.

It was the sort of place Kathleen would never be permitted to go, even if she had been with her family.

Now that Angela had fallen into disgrace, it was most definitely not the sort of place Kathleen should go.

Particularly not so brazenly unchaperoned.

Not that a chaperone would have allowed her to go in the first place.

And yet she was here. She was here because of a foolish infatuation with a gentleman she did not know. She was here because she could not get Lord Leopold out of her mind.

Which was foolish to the extreme.

“Are you meeting your…your brother out here, miss?” asked the footman suddenly.

Heat flushed across Kathleen’s cheeks, despite her best of intentions. “No.”

It was not the most circumspect answer. What she should have said, Kathleen knew, was yes . Or that she was not meeting a brother, but a husband—she was wearing her summer gloves, after all. The footman would not be able to see she was not wearing a ring.

As it was, her instinctive answer had made the man raise an eyebrow. “In that case, move along.”

Move—move along?

The sense of injustice of it all rose up within Kathleen before she could hold herself back. “How—”

How dare you . That was what she wanted to say, but the memory of her father’s kindly meant instruction reverberated in her mind.

“Ladies are to be admired, not attended to. I know you don’t like it, Kitty, but that is the way of the world.”

That was the way of the world, indeed. Kathleen kept her head high as curious pedestrians passed her by on the pavement, and she rose up one of the steps leading to the London Archery Club door.

The footman, a slender man with upright posture, moved to block her path. “I am afraid you cannot enter, miss.”

“Well, then,” Kathleen said, speaking far more sharply than she knew she should have, “I will find it most difficult to accept my invitation to meet with a member of the Chance family, then.”

She had believed that the mention of such an illustrious family would sway the man. After all, who had not heard of the Chances? A few scandals, yes, but not proper scandals. It was not a true scandal if everything was hushed up, or fixed with a marriage.

If only Angela’s difficulties could be so easily solved…

But apparently, the footman was not as impressed by the Chance surname as she had been. “A Chance? Which one?”

Which…which one? How many were there?

Kathleen recalled vaguely reading about the Chance family in a newspaper a few months ago—a wedding, wasn’t it? Three brothers, or four, she could not remember, who had all had children.

Well, if they’d all had at least one son, there would be many Chance gentlemen. Blast.

She did not really wish to give Leopold’s first name; he had taken a risk, she knew, by agreeing to meet with her in the first place. His reputation would be hardier than her own, him being a gentleman, but there was being responsible and then there was asking for the rumor mill to ramp up.

The pinched look on the footman’s face was unpleasant. “You aren’t really going to meet a member of the Chance family here, are you?”

It was his disbelief in her story—admittedly unusual—that prompted Kathleen’s ire. “I only wish to learn how to be an archer, sir. He has agreed to instruct me.”

The footman scoffed. “A woman? Learn archery?”

And that was when Kathleen decided enough was enough.

“Show me,” she demanded, striding up the final three steps and jabbing a finger at the footman’s chest. He practically stumbled to step back out of her reach, but there was nowhere for him to retreat. “Show me where it is written that a woman cannot learn archery.”

“B-But I—really, miss, I cannot—our club rules say—”

“Oh, I am sure your silly little club decided to write a rule that women were not allowed in, remarkably backward of you, but there we go,” Kathleen said darkly, rage fueling the words that she knew she should not speak.

“But where is it written that women cannot learn archery? Tell me, man, or retract your words!”

“Miss Andilet?”

Kathleen dropped her finger and turned with flushed cheeks to see—

Lord Leopold.

He was standing on the pavement with his jaw dropped.

Oh, damnation. Which was another thing her father had attempted to stop her from saying.

That was the trouble with her temper—it always flared up just when it would be most inconvenient. In public. With strangers. Over nonsense.

Why was she attacking this man about an expectation in Society that he’d had no part in establishing? Could every gentleman, every man be blamed for the lack of freedoms for women?

And did she have to lose control just when the dashing and devastatingly handsome Lord Leopold had arrived?

“I am having a disagreement,” Kathleen said weakly. “With this man.”

“Woe betide any man to have a disagreement with you, it seems,” Lord Leopold said jovially, advancing up the steps and halting beside her. “What appears to be the problem, Cooper?”

“It’s—you know the rules, Lord Leopold,” said the footman, pulling himself upright and glaring at Kathleen, who glared back. “I cannot break those rules for anyone.”

It was all Kathleen could do not to snap back that rules were made and therefore could be unmade. Really, she should have been presented with a prize for her restraint.

“The lady wishes to learn archery,” Lord Leopold said calmly. “It is not a crime, Cooper.”

Cooper’s eyes narrowed. “It is against club rules.”

“It is against the rules for women to become members. Miss Andilet is not requesting membership,” Lord Leopold pointed out.

Kathleen swallowed. He was so…so impressive . Not overbearing, never that, but with a presence that certainly made her wish to agree. To give him anything he wanted.

The footman looked torn. “It has never been done, my lord.”

Lord Leopold tilted his head. “And that means it never can be done?”

Exactly why Lord Leopold Chance was doing this, and for her, she could not tell. Perhaps, Kathleen thought wildly, he was a rebellious young man. Perhaps he enjoyed pushing the boundaries of Society. Perhaps she was merely a good excuse for him to raise a fuss.

The footman shook his head, and Kathleen’s heart sank as Lord Leopold seemed to lose his verve, likely growing weary of the debate.

“It simply cannot be allowed, my lord.”

She had been foolish to even attempt this. Her desperate attempt at flirtation with Lord Leopold the other day had been bad enough, but to follow through, to turn up and expect the place to acquiesce to her wishes…

“I should return home,” she said quietly, half to Lord Leopold, half to herself.

Kathleen expected him to agree—perhaps even to smile, to point out that she should have thought of this when she had suggested the bet.

Instead, Lord Leopold sighed. “I hope your archery skills are innate, Miss Andilet, for I cannot afford many lessons of this nature.”

Leaning forward toward the footman as Kathleen stared, a significant amount of whispering took place between the two men. She could not catch the wording exactly, but there appeared to be a negotiation of some sort.

When Lord Leopold leaned back, the footman smiled broadly.

“I shall add it to your tab, my lord,” Cooper said with a bow, stepping out of the way of them both.

“I am sure you will,” Lord Leopold said dryly. “Well then, Miss Andilet. Shall we continue?”

He… He bribed the man?

Kathleen could hardly breathe. Maybe her instinct to return home was the right one. This man was surely a rake, if he believed a small amount of money could get him whatever he wanted. He was a man who did not care for the rules of Society!