Page 28 of Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Duchess (Wallflower Season #3)
Chapter Eighteen
“ G randmama, what should I do?” Kate wailed. She had found her grandmother sitting in her bedchamber’s small sitting room. She had told her of Eliza’s declaration that she and Nicholas would soon be betrothed.
Her grandmother watched her, a bemused look on her face. “You are making your complexion as red as a beet, Kate. Do sit down!”
“How can you be so calm? Nicholas and Julia are about to make a huge mistake. They will spend their lives unhappily married. Is that what you want for your only grandson? I am—” Kate’s voice grew strident.
“Enough of this caterwauling and nonsense!” The Dowager Viscountess said.
She never raised her voice. Her tone was enough to stop Kate in mid-sentence.
“If you will take a breath and use the sense the good Lord gave you, you will see that it is not up to you nor I to decide Nicholas’s and Julia’s fate. ”
“But—” Kate protested.
The Dowager Viscountess held up her hand. “Let me finish, child. You are worse than a two-year-old begging for a sweet. No patience.”
Kate clenched her hands in her lap and tried to still her body.
Underneath her skirt, her foot tapped impatiently.
She longed to run from the room and persuade Julia to rethink her decision.
Or corner Nicholas and get him to admit that he still loved Julia and that his courtship of Miss Chambers was simply a ruse to make Julia jealous.
“You are fidgeting,” the Dowager Viscountess said, her face serene.
“Oh! How can you remain so calm?” Kate exclaimed.
“Because I know that things will turn out as they should. Love always conquers all.”
Kate barked out an unladylike laugh. “That isn’t true. If it were, there would be no broken hearts and Nicholas and Julia would already be married.”
“You need to trust that things will end as they should. Perhaps instead of embroiling yourself in your brother’s love life, you should turn your attention to your own.”
Her words stopped Kate. She scrunched her nose. “I have no love life to concern myself with, Grandmama. The Viscount of Surry is a pleasant enough fellow, but he is only after one thing.”
Her grandmother’s eyebrows shot heavenward in shock. “Kate! It is unladylike to speak of such things.”
“I meant he was after Renwood Castle and the money Nicholas settled upon me for my maintenance since it seems I shall never marry, what did you think?” Kate swallowed her exasperation at her grandmother’s unwillingness to help her stop the impending disaster. “Were you happy with Grandfather?”
“I was, child. In my day, marriage was more of a transaction than a love match. I was fortunate to fall in love with a man whom my father approved. Your grandfather and I both felt strongly that one shouldn’t marry simply for convention’s sake.
It’s why I have not pushed you into a loveless marriage.
I want both my grandchildren to be happy. ”
Kate threw her hands up. “Which is why we need to stop Nicholas from marrying Eliza.”
“He hasn’t even proposed. Instead of meddling in his affairs behind the scenes, why don’t you go to your brother and tell him of your concerns?”
Kate frowned. “I’ve tried. I fear that he is avoiding me. I’ve been unable to find him anywhere.”
Her grandmother yawned, covering her mouth. “All of these overwrought emotions and late-night comings and goings have me exhausted. I pray that I’ll have a good night’s sleep tonight.” She smiled coyly. “There won’t be another mouse in the house tonight will there?”
Kate didn’t answer. Instead, she stood and kissed her grandmother’s cheek. “Get some rest, Grandmama. I must go check on the guests. Shall I have a maid bring you supper in your room this evening or will you be dining with us?”
Stifling another yawn, the Dowager Viscountess said, “I think I’ll dine here. The Dowager Duchess is welcome to join me. If you could extend her my invitation.” Her expression became thoughtful. “You know, as much as we were rivals in our youth, we’ve discovered that we have a common goal.”
“And that is?”
She shrugged, “You’ll find out in time, I am sure. Have a good evening, Kate.”
Andrew considered telling Kate his plan, but he feared she might balk.
Much depended on her servants’ willingness to assist him.
He thought he would find Mr. Scoville near the drawing room or front entrance, but the man was nowhere to be found.
When he spotted Kate’s lady’s maid, Sally, he approached her.
“Sally, I need some assistance.”
“How can I serve you, Your Grace?” Sally inquired.
“It’s a rather odd request and it is of the utmost importance that you don’t tell Miss Avery.”
Sally’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, Your Grace, but I don’t think that I could tell a lie to Miss Avery.”
Andrew shook his head. “Not a lie, Sally. An omission. If Miss Avery doesn’t know to ask, you won’t be forced to lie.”
Sally’s expression brightened and she bobbed her head. “Then that’s all right, Your Grace. I am at your service.”
“Wonderful. This is what I need you to do.” He leaned down and told her what he needed in a low voice.
When he finished speaking, her plain face beamed. “I’ll take care of it right away.” She turned to go and then did a quick curtsy and added, “It’s not my place to say so, but I think this is the way things should be.”
Andrew was pleased. He hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly. He returned to his search for Mr. Scoville. One more thing to take care of and all would be set for tonight.
Dinner was a disaster, and it was Kate’s fault.
As a hostess, she was expected to seat people according to their station and their interests, and she had failed miserably.
In the days since their arrival, guests had grown tired of dinner conversation with the same few people seated near them.
She, herself, could attest to growing weary of the Viscount of Surry’s pointed queries into her estate’s prosperity.
To make matters worse, Julia was absent from the table, and Harry had grown progressively louder and more obnoxious with each course.
At a loss, she glanced at where Andrew sat.
He, too, had been quiet, but not from sulking.
Instead, he sat smiling and looking like a blue-eyed cat who had fallen into a bowl of cream.
She hoped it was thoughts of their meeting tonight that had him looking so happy.
She felt a flush of warmth at the thought of what was to come.
“Miss Avery, don’t you agree?” Viola DeClancy’s voice broke through her reverie.
Kate gave her a blank expression unsure of how to answer. Although the answer was usually yes, with recent events and gossip swirling amongst her guests, she was leery. “I apologize, Miss DeClancy. I was lost in thought. Could you repeat your question?”
Viola gave her a prim look and wiped daintily at her mouth with a napkin. “I said it seemed rather strange to find Miss Chambers here with the Viscount so soon after her own broken engagement.”
Kate’s ears perked up at this tidbit of news. “I fear that I have not kept up with the latest news. I didn’t know she had a broken engagement. To whom was she engaged?”
Viola gave a furtive look to the other end of the table where Eliza sat next to Lady Uxbridge and her daughter.
The poor woman looked like a fox trapped by hunters with no way to escape.
Despite Kate’s misgivings about Nicholas’s relationship with her, she hated for anyone to be interrogated by Lady Uxbridge.
Viola lowered her voice. “She was left at the altar. The Earl of Lancaster walked out of the chapel the morning of the wedding and sailed to France by the afternoon. He didn’t leave a note or bother to explain why he left the country.”
Kate’s mouth dropped open. “I didn’t know this. The poor woman. How awful!”
Viscount Surry glanced up from the chicken bone he gnawed and said, “It’s because his creditors called their loans due the day before the wedding. He would have no place to take his new bride as they took his home in London and his estate in Lancaster had fallen into ruins.”
She shouldn’t listen to gossip. Kate loathed it after the harm it had caused Nicholas, but the tingling sensation that something was afoot with Eliza Chambers and her brother made her take a second look at the auburn-haired woman.
Turning to Viola, she asked, “When was Miss Chambers jilted?”
Viola looked at the ceiling and thought. “About two months ago.”
Aha! Eliza had been lying through her teeth.
Realization dawned on Kate. Was Nicholas using the beautiful Eliza Chambers to make Julia jealous?
But what reason could Miss Chambers have to agree to such an arrangement?
She didn’t know, but she intended to find out.
Kate glanced around and wondered how soon she could ask the servants to bring dessert.
The sooner this dinner ended, the sooner they could retire to the drawing room, and she could corner Miss Chambers herself.
First, she would question Eliza Chambers on why she lied about her and Nicholas’s courtship.
Second, she would find Nicholas and Julia and make them talk to each other.
Finally, she would figure out a way to escape from her bedchamber to meet Andrew without any of the guests being the wiser.
As she took her last bite of apple dessert, she sat back pleased with her plan of attack.