Page 30 of The Society Catch
Joanna smiled at Georgy, knowing that until she ran out of breath it was hopeless to try and answer her. Lady Brandon was a handsome brunette with a voluptuous figure, wide mouth, endless enthusiasm and rather more kindness than common sense. Her doting husband, a good fifteen years older, maintained her in considerable style and indulged her in all her whims, except that of living in London or whatever fashionable resort the season of the year demanded. Visits to London certainly, his lordship agreed. Prolonged stays, no.
Georgy, ever optimistic, was convinced that by next Season she would have worn him down, meanwhile she seized on any diversion from their rural idyll with enthusiasm and the surprise arrival of her dearest friend from their Bath schooldays was clearly a great treat.
She finally fell silent and Joanna said simply, ‘I’ve run away.’
Georgy plumped down on the sofa, eyes wide. ‘Howwonderful. Who is he?’
‘Who?’ Joanna asked, making rather a business of settling her skirts as she sat opposite.
‘The man involved, of course. Is he handsome and dashing and hopelessly ineligible so your cruel papa has forbidden him to offer for you? Or is he taking you for granted, so you have vanished in order to pique his interest? Or…’
‘If you must know, he is in love with someone else and is going to marry her.’ It was hopeless trying to hide anything from Georgy. She had the instincts of a terrier and the staying power of a running footman.
‘That is too bad of him. You mean the wretch has been flirting with you and then went and offered for someone with a bigger fortune?’ her friend demanded indignantly.
‘He has not the slightest idea I have any feelings for him at all,’ Joanna said drearily, all the exhilaration of escaping falling away and leaving her feeling bereft and anxious. What would Mrs Gedding be thinking now? What was Giles doing? ‘Georgy, might I ask you to send a groom with a message? It is all of twenty miles or more I’m afraid, and he must not, on any account, reveal where I am, but my kind hostess will be so worried if I do not write.’
‘Yes, of course. Henry is not at home, so half the grooms are sitting around with nothing to do, I daresay. There, use my writing desk.’ She managed to contain her questions while Joanna scribbled a note and addressed it, sitting silently until the butler came in with a tea tray.
‘Rooke, please see this is taken by one of the grooms immediately. It is very important it goes at once and he must take a good horse. And, Rooke,’
‘Yes, my lady?’
‘On no account is he to say where he comes from. He is to leave the note and return at once.’
‘As you say, my lady.’
‘Oh dear, he will think it very odd,’ Joanna said, closing the tambour front of the writing desk and returning to her seat. ‘I’m afraid he regards me in a very suspicious light altogether.’
‘He regardsmeas being completely unsatisfactory,’ Georgy said with a twinkle, ‘so he probably expects all my friends to be as well. Now never mind Rooke, tell me all about this horrid man.’
By the time the ladies went upstairs to dress for dinner Joanna had poured the entire tale into Georgy’s receptive ears. At first she kept the identity of the man she loved secret, presenting Colonel Gregory simply as an old family friend who had gallantly come to the rescue, but Georgy knew her far too well.
‘It is no good, Jo,’ she declared, ‘You blush every time you mention him. This Giles Gregory ishim,is he not?’
‘Yes,’ Joanna admitted. ‘But please, Georgy, do not breathe a word of it to a soul. He loves someone else and I would die of mortification if he so much as suspected how I feel.’
‘I can see that,’ Georgy agreed, snuggling back into the sofa cushions. ‘It would be the most humiliating thing. But tell me all about him. What does he look like?’
‘Tall, very soldier-like, broad shoulders, grey eyes with the most fascinating black flecks, thick hair like dark honey which he should have cut more often.’
‘Ooh! He soundswonderful.’ Georgy’s own, much-beloved husband was only a head taller than her, already slightly corpulent and the possessor of a hairline which could only be described as receding. ‘Go on, tell me everything.’
She listened with many exclamations and demands for detail to the account of how Joanna had discovered that her love waslost to her, her subsequent misbehaviour, the odious attentions of Lord Clifton and her decision to run away. But when Joanna began to haltingly tell what had befallen her at the Thoroughgoods’ hands the sparkling excitement left her eyes and she stared aghast at her friend.
Only the triumphant rescue restored her spirits. ‘What a hero he is,’ she murmured, dabbing her eyes with a tiny handkerchief before the chiming of the clock recalled her to the time. ‘We must dress for dinner in a moment. Hurry and tell me how it all fell out.’
Joanna came to the end of her tale as they climbed the stairs.
‘What an adventure,’ Georgy exclaimed, ‘I am sure you have left out lots of important details, but we will have a comfortable coze after dinner. Now, what can we find you to wear? I declare you are more than a head taller than I am. Butterwick! Here is Miss Fulgrave come to stay and hardly a stitch to her back. I rely on you entirely.’
They returned downstairs again half an hour later, Joanna clad in a gown which was somewhat too short but, as Georgy said, ‘Who is to see it, my dear? Butterwick can let some things down tomorrow and meanwhile Rooke and the footmen will have to take care not to stare at your ankles.’
Joanna was just suppressing a giggle at the thought of the awe-inspiring butler so far forgetting himself as to ogle her ankles when there was a thunderous knocking at the front door. She gave a gasp of alarm, ‘Giles’ and retreated rapidly upstairs to the landing to look through the bannisters.
Chapter Fifteen
Georgy, continued to descend slowly while Rooke opened the door. Joanna had a view of a tall, travel-stained figure. Behind him she could see a big hunter, saddleless, its head drooping and sweat staining its neck and flanks.
