To Suit a Suitor Page 6

  Miss Pathetic was undoubtedly in love with Mr. Chamberlain and she seemed to search Julia for any hint that she felt the same. Julia could see the other three young ladies eyeing her suspiciously as well. She could tell that although they let Miss Pathetic have her say, they all were possessive of Mr. Chamberlain and secretly in love with him too. As a newcomer, Julia was clearly not allowed the privilege of being in love with him. The ridiculousness of the situation struck her and a disbelieving chuckle escaped before she could cover it up and quickly reassure them, “I didn’t think much of him at all … He’s nothing like the men in London I’m so used to.”

  Julia could see them visibly relax as they met each other’s eyes. Miss Pathetic even smiled at her, but without letting the subject drop she asked Julia, “So you didn’t think him handsome, witty … charming?”

  He was undeniably handsome. That was a ridiculous understatement. He had been quite witty too—although Julia hadn’t enjoyed it as his wit had been directed at her. But charming? “Not at all,” she replied, happy with her success in diffusing their ire. “His manners were not at all the thing, and I have to say I was quite unimpressed.”

  “So if perhaps … he were to ask you to dance this evening, you wouldn’t oblige?”

  Julia was on a roll now and responded with conviction, “No, trust me; I have no desire to dance with Mr. Chamberlain.” This was an easy promise to make. Julia wanted to prove to Martha that she wasn’t chasing after Mr. Chamberlain, and besides, she had seen already that there were more women in the room than men. She was sure that she wouldn’t be asked for any dance, but especially not by Mr. Chamberlain. Besides, after conversing with Miss Pathetic and her friends, Julia was fairly certain they wouldn’t let her near him anyway.

  Miss Pathetic seemed to finally be satisfied that Julia wasn’t a threat to her, and she removed her hand from her arm, only to now link their arms together in the friendliest way. A positive sign surely, but it left Julia with no means of escape until a few minutes later when the gentlemen rejoined them and she was able to re-station herself by her cousin after the interruption.

  There was a flurry of activity near a window not long after that as one young lady saw a carriage pull up and many of the younger guests crowded around to get a look and see if it was one of the Chamberlain carriages arriving. They were all fairly certain that it was and soon an exclamation was heard, “That’s him!” and, “He did make it back, then.” Julia thought that the excitement of his impending arrival was contagious because she couldn’t help but feel a flutter of excitement herself. It was his tragic story that drew her to him, and despite what she had said to Miss Pathetic and especially emphasized to Martha, she couldn’t help but wish she could be the one to reach his heart. It must be her competitive nature, because considering her history, she knew she was the least likely girl to accomplish such a thing, but as she told herself, she couldn’t help it.

  Mr. Chamberlain entered the room with an air of assurance that showed he knew the reception he would receive. The young ladies didn’t disappoint. Miss Pathetic was the first to claim his attention, with an over-bright smile and a hand on his arm, but she wasn’t given any opportunity to monopolize him. Several other young ladies were there too, exclaiming over him.

  Julia couldn’t help but feel that they were all making fools of themselves, drooling over him so. Just watching such a spectacle made her glad she had resolved to avoid him. He seemed to enjoy the attention, which made her earlier words to Miss Pathetic even more true: she was quite unimpressed. Her pledge to the girl that she wouldn’t dance with Mr. Chamberlain would be an easy one to keep.

  Julia joined a table of whist players and tried very hard to concentrate on the game. She was usually an exceptional card player. She loved the thrill of an excellent hand and the strategy involved in playing a poor hand. But this evening her attention was diverted as Mr. Chamberlain made his way around the room. Even she had to admit that he managed all the admiring youth with impressive skill. They looked at him adoringly with their upturned faces and he gave them several minutes of attention and politely moved on. Julia’s play was poor and her elderly partner, Mrs. Thurston, complained that young people weren’t taught to play cards properly. She just sighed in resignation; she couldn’t contradict her after the hand she had just played.

  A

  Chapter 8

  Henry made his way around the room in his usual manner. He greeted his mother first; then he exchanged a few sentences with everyone and stopped to speak a little longer with closer friends. He eventually made his way to Mrs. Stephens, who was appreciative of him coming. “We weren’t certain you would be back in time for our party this evening. I’m so relieved your business didn’t keep you.”

  “Yes, I was relieved to make it back in time too. I didn’t want to miss your famous hospitality,” Henry had responded with a smile. But it had never been a concern. His arrival had been timed perfectly. By arriving late, he wouldn’t have to spend the entire day in company. He had arrived after the card tables were arranged, so he didn’t have to join in. Next there would be dancing, and then it would be time to go. He had told his mother he might not be back in time so she wouldn’t plan any surprises for him this evening. Sometimes she invited young ladies—acquaintances of acquaintances—to come stay so they could be introduced at events just such as this. It was the very reason he had moved to the empty Dower house rather than deal with flirtatious young women at breakfast every morning.

  And his plan had worked; there were no surprises waiting for him this evening. He was only surprised at himself. After another amusing encounter yesterday with Miss Julia North, he had told himself to ignore her from then on. There was an inexplicable appeal that went hand-in-hand with a guilty conscience whenever he saw her. The surprising thing was that even though he had been quite firm with himself, he had been aware of her since he walked into the room.

  As he moved about, he looked up every few moments to gauge her distance and note whom she was speaking with. He didn’t even have to look directly at her. Sometimes he just let his eyes wander far enough to catch a glimpse of her at the edge of his vision. Her white gown with touches of blue was easy to spot. And her brown hair, which had been loose and windblown the first two times he had seen her, was pulled away from her face in perfectly smooth waves and curls that shone in the light and continually drew his attention. With each glance, he was hoping to see her expressive eyes, but she was never looking at him. Hopefully he was discreet enough that no one noticed, but his wandering glances were frequent enough that he could see she wasn’t much of a card player as she and Mrs. Thurston lost every hand. When the dancing began, he approached their hostess, Mrs. Stephens, this time for a dance. But still he knew the precise moment Miss North joined the dancing when Miss Abbot introduced her to Alec Hibbert. And when the dance ended, he noticed she didn’t return to her cousin, but moved across the room to a less crowded corner and observed the dance from there.

  That was when her eyes met his and his only thought was “Finally.” Despite a residual feeling of guilt that Henry knew he didn’t need to feel, he decided he wanted to see if the same attraction he’d felt the last time they were together was still there. He excused himself from Mrs. Stephens and made his way to Miss North.

  As he approached her, he began smiling in anticipation. He certainly enjoyed reminding her of their first encounter. “Do you not think I’m brave?” he asked by way of greeting.

  She looked confused at his question, then mistrustful, probably aware of what he was leading up to. “I don’t know you well enough to judge, sir,” came her proper reply.

  Her effort to be proper and distant made it almost too easy. “It’s how well I know you that makes me brave. I’ve seen you catch your prey, and yet I’ve just taken my life in my own hands and approached you.”

  Her annoyance was evident, but Henry was happy to observe that she was trying to hide her amusement. He could see her smile in her profile as
she turned away from him. He wanted to recapture her attention.

  “I hope you will reward me for my bravery by dancing the next set with me, Miss North.” He waited for her to say yes so he could take her hand and lead her to the floor.

  She didn’t answer right away, and he looked down at her in surprise as her eyes darted about the room. With indecision in her countenance she said, “No, thank you, Mr. Chamberlain, I … I umm …”

  Was she trying to think of an excuse for refusing him? “You … what?” He waited expectantly. It was an extremely uncommon thing for him to be turned down—so uncommon that he couldn’t remember a single instance when it had ever happened.

  She finally just shrugged one shoulder and said, “I won’t be dancing with you.”

  His eyes narrowed just a bit as he scrutinized her. “I saw you dance with Alec Hibbert, your first catch of the evening. I assume he didn’t bite?” She gave him a withering look for that comment, which caused him to smile broadly. “So surely it’s safe to dance with me too.”

  He held out his hand to her, feeling quite sure that her unusual reluctance would give way. Instead, she obviously contrived a casual manner and said airily, “No, thank you.”

  He pulled his hand back and lifted it to his face to rub his jaw. Henry couldn’t think of a reason why she would decline. He had teased her a bit, but while it brought color to her cheeks each time, he could tell she wasn’t offended. He was very curious to know what her reason might be. “So it must be me that you take exception to,” he said with mock humility, hoping it would prompt her to reveal her true reason for refusing him.

  She narrowed her eyes, not falling for his trick, but luckily she still answered him. “I don’t take exception to you, sir. I refused to dance with you because I told some of the other young ladies earlier that I wouldn’t dance with you.”

  Henry glanced around with a puzzled look and then looked back at Miss North and voiced the obvious question. “Why would you tell them that?”

  She looked as if she was trying to decide whether to tell him or not. Finally she said, “It was the only way to avoid hostilities. They seemed to view me as a threat. I felt that the best way to avoid an angry mob was by saying I wouldn’t dance with you.”

  Henry tried to grasp her meaning. Would the young ladies of the neighborhood really intimidate or threaten someone? He had to admit that he didn’t know them well enough to guess. To talk too long to any of them would just be asking for trouble, but they all seemed like sweet enough girls. “An angry mob?” he asked skeptically. “Surely you’re overstating things.”

  “No,” she shook her head. “They definitely think of you as their possession and they are not willing to share.” Her voice hinted at doubt, which made Henry smile. Of course it wasn’t true. He never gave any young lady more attention than any other to avoid that exact scenario. Somehow, she had misunderstood something they had said to her.

  With a disbelieving grin, he asked, “So you are saying that you promised not to dance with me to appease some of the other young ladies who perhaps think of you as an outsider and therefore not worthy of dancing with me?”

  She looked torn between feeling ridiculous for thinking such a thing and annoyance that he didn’t believe her. She folded her arms and gave him a defiant look. “Yes, that is precisely what I’m saying.”

  For a brief moment, Henry felt his confidence slip. She was refusing to dance with him. He shook his head. No, someone had said something to her that had confused her somehow. She wasn’t saying no to him, just to dancing with him because of some ridiculous promise. She looked away, as though she thought their conversation over. Henry wanted to keep talking with her; he wanted to surprise her the way she always surprised him. Maybe she would find him just as interesting. “I can see dancing together is out of the question, Miss North. But would you instead do me the honor of not dancing with me?”

  She slowly turned her gaze away from the dance floor. She looked so confused as to what he was asking that Henry thought he might laugh out loud. “I beg your pardon?” she asked.

  “Since you have so imprudently promised not to dance with me, I thought that perhaps you and I could sit this dance out together.”

  “So … we’ll spend the set together … not dancing?”

  “Precisely. I think, under the circumstances, it is the only option.” Henry saw her tentative smile and his confidence was completely restored.

  Miss North might be different from the young ladies he was used to, but he could still treat her the same. He would flirt and enjoy her smiles and compliments, and even every unexpected thing she said, and then he would move on, like he always did. He moved closer to her and stood with his back to the wall just as she was. He leaned closer to her as if they shared a secret and said, “I never liked this dance anyway.”

  “How flattering. You sought me out for the dance you don’t enjoy,” she retorted.

  That was unexpected. Usually when he flirted with a young lady, she would flutter her hands, or pull out a fan or something as she smiled and tried to think of a reply. But despite her quick response, Henry was too practiced in the art of flirting to let it discompose him. In fact, it would be more entertaining by far to accept it as a challenge. With a sly grin he said, “I was certain if I danced the quadrille with you, it would be my favorite from this night.”

  She turned to face him as she said, “And I would doubt the intellect of anyone who told me the quadrille was his favorite dance, no matter the reason.”

  “We have that in common then, Miss North. Neither of us enjoys the quadrille,” he replied, happy that he was able to turn her words in his favor again.

  “Mr. Chamberlain, I’m surprised that you are interested in finding common ground with me. From what you were saying to my cousin the other day, I rather assumed you were disinclined to have me here at all.”

  That discomposed him, at least a little. He felt slightly unsure as he asked, “What is it that you’re referring to?”

  “You told Martha that she shouldn’t have sent for me. You said she should have stayed at Barrington Court rather than have an unknown relation here to help.”

  “Did you overhear our conversation, then?”

  Miss North looked uncomfortable but admitted, “Yes, just those few words as I hung my cloak up in the hall.”

  He arched an eyebrow at that, wondering if that was really all she had heard. “Miss Abbot has lived in Barrington her entire life. She has served so many in our community and I just felt that now that she needs help, she should have turned to us rather than some cousins who have never visited before.”

  She didn’t respond, but just looked at him with a penitent expression. He felt remorseful himself for making her feel guilty and said, “You are doing her a great favor by coming now. Miss Abbot seems to appreciate it very much.”

  “You’ve got it backward, sir. She is the one helping me. I wanted to leave London.”

  A mysterious remark, but she didn’t expound on it. They should have been having merely a light, flirtatious conversation, but instead she stood there with a sad, faraway look and he wanted to know why. He shouldn’t want to delve deeper into her past and find out what made her so unique. Trying to keep their conversation light, he said, “I would have invited you to Barrington myself if I had known your skill as a hunter. We have rather good sport around here, although typically with foxes, not flies.”

  A startled chuckle escaped her and she just shook her head and with a reluctant smile muttered, “Will it never end?”

  Henry knew she wasn’t really asking him, but he responded anyway with a smirk, “Not ever. I love to talk about hunting, especially strategy. Just ask my brother. Now that I know we have this in common, you are my new favorite person.” He was surprised to realize she really was his new favorite person, although not for the reason he gave.

  “I’m sure our similarities end there,” she replied.

  Henry didn’t know why, but her sad exp
ression returned with those words. Again, Henry waited intently for her to say more, but she stayed silent. He could feel himself slipping under her spell. He wanted to pursue her with every resource he had and at the same time he wished they’d never met because of the inner turmoil he felt.

  He had probably leaned in too close, because Julia startled him out of that thought by taking a small step away from him and asking, “Where is your brother? Is he here this evening?” The change of subject felt deliberate to Henry and he felt it would be safer to go along with it, rather than ask what troubled her.

  “No. He finished school last year and is on a tour of the continent. He’ll likely come home this summer and you can ask him then.”

  Henry felt a tap on his arm from behind and turned his head to see Miss Clifton pulling gently on his arm. Her voice was sweet as she entreated him, “Mr. Chamberlain, I hate to be so forward as this, but I need your help fixing the tie on my slipper. I’m sure no one could fix it as quickly as you could. In fact, I’m sure you could have it done in time for us to dance the next set.”

  He felt as if he were being pulled back into safer territory. Miss Clifton he knew how to deal with. She would flirt and agree with everything he said and never say anything unexpected. “Of course, Miss Clifton, I am at your service.” He turned back to Miss North and said, “If you’ll excuse me, Miss North?” She nodded her head with a resigned smile, but her eyes barely met his for an instant. Instead her gaze lingered on Miss Clifton, whose hand was pulling gently on his elbow, urging him away. Feeling strange, like he was leaving their conversation unfinished, he followed Miss Clifton to a bench in the hall, but it was some time before he could put Miss North from his mind. If a simple conversation—not even a dance—had left his thoughts so preoccupied, he might be in real danger of succumbing to his attraction to Miss North.