Page 29 of Not Quite a Lady
The whole outfit was ostentatious, showy and extreme and Jack realised, quite against his expectation, that she looked magnificent in it.
He found that his mouth was open and shut it hastily.
Lily was regarding him with a twinkle in her eye and he saw that she knew just what effect she was having and what a figure she would cut as she rode her eye-catching horse in Hyde Park at the height of the fashionable hour. It was a declaration of war on her part.
No wonder I love the woman.The thought came into his mind unbidden and he fought to control the shock and his expression.What? Impossible!
Now what is the matter with the man?Lily buttoned her second glove, took her whip from Janet and came down the remainder of the steps.
Jack had looked quite pleased to see her, not at all embarrassed after yesterday evening, which she was afraid he might be.
Now he was looking positively stony. Perhaps he had seen her own feelings reflected in her face and that had annoyed him. Perhaps he was afraid she would expect something of him after that kiss.
Drat.She had thought she could manage matters so they could remain friends, despite the fact that her heart was thudding at the sight of him and her mind whirling with the thought that perhaps he might kiss her again.
And she had thought for a moment that he understood whyshe was wearing her outrageous new habit. But no, doubtless he saw only that it was ostentatious and, in his eyes, vulgar.
‘What do you think of my horse?’ she persisted, determined now to get a response from him other than disapproval and a blank face. Jack Lovell, once he assumed that flinty expression, looked every bit as forbidding as she imagined his blighted northern crags to be.
‘Very fine. I was admiring it – and coveting it for my eldest sister, Caroline. She is an accomplished rider.’
Approval for something at last.
‘I am exceedingly pleased with him.’
Lily ran her hand down the horse’s neck, then let Peters give her a leg up into the saddle. Spindrift sidled and she let him for a moment before bringing him back up to the bit, well aware she made a striking figure on the grey
‘My agent had a tussle to secure him. He had to pay a good round sum in the end.’
There I go again, mentioning money.Lily could have kicked herself.
And then she could have kicked Jack who just looked down his nose and remarked, ‘In this case, a purchase where moneydoesbuy quality, Miss France. Have a pleasant ride.’
In other words, most of my other purchases arenotquality, I suppose, Mr High and Mighty Lovell?she fumed as she trotted off towards Park Lane.
I just do not know why I love the wretched man.
‘Miss France?’
Lily stared around wildly and found she had come to a halt in the middle of Park Lane, almost causing a collision involving a landau, a chaise and two curricles.
She pulled herself together and arrived at the Stanhope Gate flustered and dazed, conscious that only Spindrift’s good manners had got her out of a nasty scrape.
‘Are you all right, Miss France? Shall we go back?’
‘What? Oh, yes, I am quite all right, thank you, Peters. I just realised something and it was a bit of a shock. Come along, I want to join the promenade along Rotten Row.’
All right? Will Ieverbe all right again? I am in love with him.
But I cannot be in love with him. He is a mine owner, and any minute he may lose that mine. He isn’t even merchant class as I am, however well he speaks. He isn’t rich, he doesn’t even seem to be comfortably off.
Papa would have been furious, everyone would be. No title, no place in Society. He would never ask me to marry him anyway, he despises my taste and my money…
‘Miss France.’
‘What? Oh yes, Peters, thank you, I see her. Lady Farringdon, good afternoon.’ She exchanged bows with a matron in a landau. Had she not heard all the scandal, or was she prepared to give Miss France the benefit of the doubt?
Oh goodness, there was Lady Jersey. She had not counted on meeting one of the Patronesses of Almack’s, which was foolish, given the fashionable throng who flocked to the Park of an afternoon. All of a sudden her defiance in wearing her new habit, let alone riding out with only a groom, seemed very ill judged.
