Page 4 of Bad Luck Bride

whatever it was—can still be managed. Failing that, we might see if the party that stole the Pinafore out from under us can be persuaded to change their reservation.”

“Never say die,” Kay said solemnly. “Perhaps like Sir Adair, they have a favorite charity Wilson can donate to.”

“My thoughts, exactly,” Magdelene said with complacence.

“Mother!” Kay cried in vexation. “I was joking.”

“I wasn’t.”

Kay groaned, and for a moment she wondered if a second attempt at elopement might be in order. But she shoved that mad idea aside. This wedding had to be right out in the open, for everyone who mattered to see. For Jo’s sake as well as her own, it had to be the biggest, most opulent social event of the season, the event everyone spent the rest of the summer talking about, not because it was a scandal, but because it wasn’t.

That was why, despite Wilson’s desire not to formally announce the engagement before he returned, they had informed all their relations of the news. Happily relieved that their most disgraced relation was about to be washed clean, all of them had agreed to attend, hence the need for such a large banquet room. Making her wedding a social success was why she’d chosen fashionable satin for her dress when she preferred chiffon, why she starved herself with minuscule breakfasts, and why she was willing to accept the embarrassing efforts of her mother and Wilson to bribe the society papers—it would all be worth it in the end. Once she walked down the aisle in honorable fashion in front of all of society, her past would be well and truly behind her at last.

“Either way,” she said, returning to the vital point, “I doubt evenWilson’s money can be counted on to persuade the party reserving the Pinafore Room to vacate it.”

“I think we are obliged to explore all possibilities. We simply must find a room that will seat everyone.”

That was an inarguable point.

“So,” her mother went on in the wake of her silence, “I asked Mrs. Carte if we might call on her to discuss the matter. She suggested half past eleven, but now, I wonder…”

Magdelene paused, considering. “I wonder if that gives us enough time. We shall have barely a quarter of an hour to see the florist before we have to dash off. Perhaps you could see about the flowers while I pay that call on Mrs. Carte. Orchids would be lovely, darling, by the way.”

“Very lovely,” she agreed, her gaze straying to her desk where the unpaid bills were piling up with alarming rapidity. “And very expensive.”

“But we don’t have to worry about expenses, darling. Not anymore.”

Yes, there’s nothing like marrying a millionaire to solve all a girl’s problems.

That rather cynical reply hovered on Kay’s lips, but as she looked up, noting how her engagement to one of America’s richest tycoons had smoothed away the lines of worry that had been etched into her mother’s face since her father’s death a year ago, any impulse Kay had to say those words vanished.

Giles, being the new earl, had wanted—quite rightly—to move into the house. He had half-heartedly offered to let them continue living there with him and his wife, but that would have been terribly awkward, to say the least, and they had declined. For the past year,they had been drifting all over England, from hotel to hotel, trying to make their minuscule quarterly allowance from the impoverished estate last by ducking their bills and evading their creditors. Had Wilson not come along, had he not proposed, they’d eventually have had to go abroad.

But Wilson had come along, and when he proposed, Kay’s relief had been so great, she’d nearly fainted for the first time in her life. The creditors could all be paid, Mama would be secure, and Josephine would be able to have her first London season at last.

London, of course, was expensive, but the Savoy had always been known to have fairly liberal terms of repayment, at least as far as members of the aristocracy were concerned.

“Yes,” her mother said, breaking into her thoughts, “orchids would be best, I think.”

She wanted gardenias, but for a June wedding, gardenias would be almost as much as orchids. On the other hand, did it really matter? After all, the dresses were from Lucile, the Savoy was costing the earth, and the pricing estimates for Jo’s debutante ball had made her gasp in shock, but perhaps her mother was right to not be worried. After all, Wilson was one of the richest men in America, and once her engagement to him was formally announced, the bank would be happy to give her a loan based on her expectations. And once she and Wilson married, the marriage settlement he’d agreed to pay would cover everything. They’d only be in trouble if the wedding didn’t come off.

“Not orchids,” she told her mother. “I prefer gardenias.”

“Gardenias? No, no, dear. I know they are your favorite, but they are white, and your dress is white. No, orchids will be better. Pale green ones, with your coloring.”

“I’ll have both, then,” she said, making the compromise. “But either way, I don’t have to pick them today. I’d rather go with you to see Mrs. Carte,” she added, hoping there might be a way to prevail upon the wife of the Savoy’s founder for the Pinafore Room without attempts at bribery. “After all, the room is more important. We have plenty of time to choose the flowers.”

“But we don’t, Kay. That’s just it. June seventh is only ten weeks away, dear. The season will be full-on by then, with flowers of all sorts in short supply. And with this being Josephine’s first season, things will be a whirlwind for us as well. Best to have all the wedding plans made well in advance. I will call on Mrs. Carte, and you will see the florist. Your sister can accompany you.”

Kay capitulated, knowing her mother was right. “Very well. When Jo and I have finished, we’ll come fetch you, have lunch at the Criterion, and go on to Lucile from there.”

A frown marred Magdelene’s smooth forehead. “I’m not sure that’s wise. I don’t want anyone to see you two on your own and think you’re gallivanting around London unchaperoned.”

“A valid point, Mama, but a five-minute ride in a growler with my sister is hardly gallivanting. And it’s silly for you to come back here when Mrs. Carte’s office is right on the way to the Criterion. Don’t fuss.”

“Oh, very well, but you’d best stop dawdling and eat your breakfast,” Magdelene said as she set down the paper and rose from the table. “You’ve only half an hour, and you still have to dress.”

Kay turned toward her sister as their mother started toward her room with Foster on her heels. “You don’t mind helping me with the flowers this morning, do you, Jo?” she asked, casting a covetous glance at Josephine’s croissants as she picked up her napkin.

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