Chapter 13
GIDEON
“Icannot believe she has not been to a dance with her husband even once,” James said, as he and Gideon stood in the queue outside Almack’s the following Wednesday.
“I was surprised too. But it opened this opportunity to take her to Almacks. There is no better way to bring her into society and refine her dancing skills. Also, it is a perfect opportunity to introduce her to a few gentlemen.”
“Do you think you will be more successful this time?”
“I should imagine so. I have told her she must be less arduous when meeting gentlemen. Less opinionated.”
James smiled. “I am sure she appreciated that very much.” He was roasting him, and Gideon knew it perfectly well.
“She was less enthusiastic than I would have liked, but she appears amenable. Her main concern seems to be her daughter. Which is only right.”
“Indeed,” James replied. “Pray, did you write to her late husband’s heir? The current Lord Vale?”
“I did,” Gideon said, and beamed. “And it worked. He sent her money. If I fail at finding her a husband, I will pressure him into sending more. Although he was most difficult about it. He wrote back in the sternest of terms, telling me he did not appreciate my calling him a miser who was leaving a widow and his own niece to live in less than pleasant circumstances. He said I did not know what I was talking about, and that he was already being generous.”
“Generous,” James said as the line moved forward.
“Yes. Can you imagine? Apparently there is a plot of land left to Lavinia in the will. He said that if he wished, he could argue against her receiving the inheritance — though how he imagines he could do such a thing is quite beyond me.” James rolled his eyes.
“I wrote back at once and told him he was a petty fool for taking his grudges out upon a child not yet a year old. A child he was condemning to the poorhouse. That convinced him to send the money.”
James patted his shoulder. “Very well done. Does she know?”
“No. I made sure he did not tell her. I do not want her to think I am meddling in her affairs.”
“Even though you are, of course, meddling in her affairs.”
“I am,” he shrugged, “but she needs somebody on her side. She has had such a difficult life. It does not seem right to leave her to fend for herself.”
James looked at him sideways, a crooked smile on his lips. “You are fond of her.”
“She is a lovely woman,” he replied.
“No — I mean you are truly fond of her. As in, perhaps you should consider pausing this quest for finding a husband and do the deed yourself.”
“No,” Gideon said, the word coming out strangled somewhere between a gasp and a laugh.
“I have no intention of marrying anytime soon, and even when I do it will be an arrangement only. Helena and I are far too well acquainted now for such a thing.” He paused, and something settled into his chest. “Although I will say — she has given me some hope that there might be ladies who are not as calculating as Cassandra was. One of the things she took strong exception to was my suggestion that she amend her ways for certain gentlemen. Present a more agreeable version of herself.”
“Like what Cassandra did to you,” James said. “You are advising Helena to do the same.”
“No,” he said, rounding on his friend. “Not in the least. I would never expect her to present herself as somebody she is not. I merely suggested a slightly less formidable version of herself. She was very upset by the idea.” He had carried that exchange with him when he returned home that evening.
He had sat in his parlour with a glass of brandy and thought about what she had said.
Her determination to be who she was without pretense had caught something deep within him — for his chief complaint about Cassandra had been precisely the opposite.
Cassandra had taken an interest in everything he found joy in and claimed them as her own sources of joy, and none of it had been true. She had presented herself as a different person from who she really was. She had bubbled him completely, and the worst of it was that he had let her.
It had not been right. And yet here he was, asking Helena to do something similar.
Was that right? Should she really marry somebody who did not appreciate her as she was?
And then there was the question of her marriage — just how bad had it truly been?
Clara had told him it was not a happy match.
Helena had said as much herself, more plainly than her friend.
And yet she had not given him any detail.
He wanted to ask her at times, but it did not feel like his place. If she wished to tell him more, she would.
“Where is she, anyhow?” James asked, drawing him from his thoughts.
“Inside already. Lady Clara accompanied her. I had a temporary voucher sent to her.”
James nodded. “A voucher obtained by using my name, no doubt.”
“But of course. And I will not hear a word about it. If it were not for me, you and Frances would still be dancing around each other rather than being blissfully married.”
James grinned. “Blissful and contented we are not entirely, as of this day. She has riled up the farmers against me. I had proposed a modest rise in the tithes to improve communal conditions across the estate, but she was against it. She went to the steward and the farmers’ representatives and told them I could perfectly well afford to make the improvements without raising the tithes on any of them. ”
“And could you?” Gideon asked. “I am not as experienced in being a Duke as you are, but I find that often there is considerably more money available than we are led to believe by our stewards.”
“There is,” he shrugged. “But I always worried about spending what was saved. What if something dreadful were to happen? What if the war were to continue and the Crown required our assistance?” He paused.
“Frances has been giving me the silent treatment, so I have decided to give her what she wants for the sake of peace at home.”
“Peace at home,” Gideon said. “I would have given a great deal for peace at home when I was married. I can tell you it has never been so quiet as since Cassandra left.”
“But lonely too, I imagine,” James said.
“That too,” he admitted. “That is true. And still I preferred it. Although,” he said, “if I want entertainment these days I simply call upon Helena. She and Lavinia brighten my days considerably.”
“Until she is married,” James said. “And she will brighten somebody else’s day.”
“Quite,” Gideon said — but the word washed over him like a bucket of cold water on a winter’s morning.
It was true. He had grown accustomed to seeing Helena.
To conversing with her. To little Lavinia and her absolute certainty that he existed purely for her entertainment.
Once Helena found her husband, that would be over.
Perhaps they could remain friends. Perhaps the husband he found for her might even be a man he knew.
But should he even want her in his life at all, beyond the bounds of what this arrangement required? Why was he so worried about that?
She was nothing more than a project. An old debt owed to an old friend. He had to stop thinking of her as anything more.
The queue moved slowly, but eventually they were greeted by the lady patronesses and admitted. He entered Almack’s — the music was already playing — and looked around the ballroom. They made their way inside, and then he saw her.
Helena. Standing in an alcove with Lady Clara.
She looked lovely. She had finally put aside the lavender she had worn throughout her half-mourning and was dressed instead in a Pomona green gown that complemented her complexion perfectly.
Her hair shimmered, and a white bandeau had been fixed above it. She looked almost angelic.
He took a slow breath.
A project. A favor for a friend. That was all this was. Nothing more.