“Of course I’ve been counting. What haveyou been doing?”
“Ehrm…sitting here and trying to take it like a lady?”
Her grandmother chuckled. “You probably didn’t think I could count so high.”
Annabel spluttered and stammered and began to regret turning down that brandy.
“Pfft.” Lady Vickers dismissed her distress with a sharp wave of her hand. “I have all sorts of hidden talents.”
Annabel nodded, but the truth was, she was not certain she wanted any more of her grandmother’s talents to rise to the surface. In fact, she was sure of it.
“A lady must have her own private reserve of secrets and strength,” her grandmother continued. “Trust me.” She took a sip of her drink, let out a contented exhale, and took another. “Once you are married you will understand what I mean.”
Ninety-eight visitors, Annabel thought, doing the addition in her head. Ninety- eight people had called upon Vickers House, eager to see the latest scandal. Or spread it. Or tell her how much it had spread.
It had been awful.
Ninety-eight people. She slumped.
“Sit up straight!” her grandmother snapped.
Annabel obeyed. Maybe not quite ninety-eight. Several people had come more than once. Lady Twombley had been byevery day .
And where had Mr. Grey been in all this? No one seemed to know. He had not been seen since the altercation at his club. Annabel was quite certain this was true, because she had been told this, no fewer than ninety-eight times.
But Annabel supposed she wasn’t angry at Mr. Grey. None of this was his fault. She should have told him that she was being courted by his uncle.She was the one who could have prevented the scandal. That was the worst of it. She had spent the whole of three days feeling embarrassed and angry and small, and she had no one to blame but herself. If she had told him the truth, if not the moment she’d learned his name then at least when they’d met in Hyde Park…
“Visitors, my lady,” the butler announced.
“Our first two of the day,” Lady Vickers said dryly. Or was it mockingly? “Who is it, Judkins?”
“Lady Olivia Valentine and Mr. Grey.”
“It’s about damned time,” Lady Vickers grunted. And then, when Judkins had shown their guests in, she said it again. “It’s about damned time. What has taken you so long?”
Annabel wanted to die of mortification.
“I took ill,” Mr. Grey said smoothly, with a wry half smile that pointed up toward his eye.
His eye. It looked awful. Horribly red rimmed, a bit swollen, and with a blue-black bruise that spread from the underneath around to the outer corner. Annabel gasped aloud; she could not help it.
“I am rather frightening to behold,” he murmured, taking her hand and leaning down to kiss it.
“Mr. Grey,” she said, “I am terribly sorry about your eye.”
He straightened. “I rather like it myself. It gives me the air of a perpetual wink.”
Annabel started to smile, then tried not to. “A most gruesome wink,” she agreed.
“And here I thought it was dashing,” he murmured.
“Sit down,” Lady Vickers said, pointing at the sofa. Annabel started toward the spot, but her grandmother said, “No. Him. You over there.” Then she marched over to the doorway, called out, “Judkins, we are home tono one ,” and firmly shut the door.
Once Lady Vickers had finished directing everyone into her chosen seats, she wasted no time in starting the conversation. “What do you plan to do?” she asked, directing her question not to Mr. Grey but to his cousin, who had heretofore managed to remain silent throughout the exchange.
But Lady Olivia was unruffled. Clearly she also did not judge either of the two principals able to manage their own scandal. “That’s why we’re here,” she said efficiently. “My cousin is aghast at the potential damage to your granddaughter’s reputation and is most apologetic over any part he may have had in the scandal.”
“As he should be,” Lady Vickers said tartly.
Annabel stole a glance at Mr. Grey. To her relief, he looked somewhat amused. Maybe even a little bored.
“Of course,” Lady Olivia said smoothly, “his involvement was completely inadvertent. As we all know, Lord Newbury threw the first punch.”
“Theonly punch,” Mr. Grey interjected.
“Yes,” Lady Vickers said, acknowledging the point with a grand wave of her arm. “But who could blame him? He would have been overcome with shock. I have known Newbury all of my adult life. He is a man of delicate sensibilities.”
Annabel very nearly snorted aloud at that. She looked over at Mr. Grey again, to see if he felt the same. Just as she did so, however, his eyes widened with alarm.
Wait a moment…alarm?
Mr. Grey swallowed uncomfortably.
“Yes,” Lady Vickers said with an affected sigh, “but now the entire match has been put at risk. We did so want an earl for Annabel.”
“Eeep!”
Annabel and Lady Olivia both looked over at Mr. Grey, who had, if Annabel’s ears did not deceive, just squeaked. He smiled tightly, looking as ill at ease as she had ever seen him. Not that she’d seen him
terribly much, but he did seem the sort of gentleman who was rarely anything but utterly comfortable in his own skin.
He shifted in his seat.
Annabel looked down.
And saw her grandmother’s hand on his thigh.
“Tea!” she practically shrieked, jumping to her feet. “We must have tea. Don’t you think?”
“Ido ,” Mr. Grey said with great feeling, using the opportunity to scoot himself as far away from Lady Vickers as the sofa would allow. It was only a few inches, but still, far enough so that she could not grab him without being ridiculously obvious about it.
“I adore tea,” Annabel babbled, moving over to the bellpull to ring for it. “Don’t you? My mother always said that nothing could be solved without a pot of tea.”
“And does the opposite hold true?” Mr. Grey asked. “That anything can be solvedwith it?”
“We shall soon find out, shan’t we?” Annabel watched with horror as her grandmother edged across the sofa toward him. “Ohmy !” she said, with what was certainly too much emphasis. “It’s become stuck. Mr. Grey, would you mind helping me with this?” She held out the bellpull, careful not to tug it into ringing.
He practically leaped to his feet. “I would be happy to. You know me,” he said to the other ladies. “Ilive to rescue damsels in distress.”
“It’s why we’re here,” Lady Olivia said smoothly.
