Page 71 of The Lord Next Door
Her decision put her in a nervous flutter all day. When she went upstairs to dress, her mother followed her, and sent the maid away. Victoria stared at her with suspicion.
“I’ll help you” was all Mama said.
Victoria was down to her corset and chemise before Mama spoke again.
“Your husband doesn’t know you’re going, does he?” she asked.
Victoria bit her lip. “It’s important to go. He’ll never get over his past until he confronts it. If my meeting people helps, then that’s what I have to do.”
“I’m worried about you, Victoria, but I’m not sure I have any advice to give—none that you’d take anyway.”
Tears sprang to Victoria’s eyes as she realized that her mother was right. Since her father’s death, and the revelation of their financial problems, Victoria had lost faith in her mother. She didn’t know how to get it back. She was arrogantly trying to heal the rift between a father and son, but had never seen that she had to work on her own relationship with her mother.
“I have to do this, Mama,” she whispered.
“I know. But I worry for you. I remember every party you hated, how miserable you were. Now you’re going all by yourself.”
“I’ve grown up, Mama. I handled David’s business colleagues; I can handle his political colleagues. It’s a first step to facing all of the ton.”
Her mother said nothing else, just silently helped her to dress.
Just before leaving Banstead House, Victoria looked at herself in the reflection of the entrance hall mirrors that surrounded her. Her bodice was cut straight across beneath her shoulders, and the very tops of her breasts were daringly evident. The bodice sloped to a point deep below her waist, making her appear somehow slimmer. Lace gathered beneath her breasts and flowed down the front of her green silk gown, parting to show her underskirt. She looked…like a woman, and not a naive girl.
Could she do this? Could she really face a roomful of strangers without David? She clutched her reticule, where she’d hidden her journal with its many lists, suddenly impatient to be leaving.
“Victoria?”
She turned to find Lord Banstead laboriously trying to wheel himself down the hall from his suite. She rushed to him, and he stopped, sitting back, breathing heavily as he looked her up and down.
He cleared his throat. “You look…well tonight.”
She beamed at him, so relieved. “Thank you, my lord. I’m attending my first dinner party with members of Parliament.”
“Is David to meet you there?”
Her happiness faded. “I don’t think so. He does not like this sort of thing.”
There was an uncomfortable silence between them. Would he forbid her from going? She would feel the need to obey him.
“Go on, go on,” he said gruffly. “I’ll get Nurse Carter to read to me, though she doesn’t have your voice.”
“You could ask my mother. She had a gift for making characters come to life when I was a child.”
He shuddered. “Stupid idea. Get on with you.”
Victoria went out to the carriage, where Wilfred the footman grinned as he helped her inside where Anna was already waiting.
~oOo~
David sat in his office at Southern Railway, looking through paperwork, although everything was as ready as he could make it. They owned enough shares in the three smaller railways; the final buyout should be easy, as long as no one interfered. They’d kept their secrecy intact.
He just couldn’t stop thinking about Perry’s behavior at the dinner party, even though the man had assured him he was over Staplehill’s remarks.
Was David missing something crucial? He was so distracted by Victoria lately, something that he’d never imagined. He’d once wanted her for so many reasons that had nothing to do with the person she was. And now all he could do when he was with her was be swept up in her emotions, in her needs.
But still he was hurting her.
There was a knock on the door. David called for the person to enter and was surprised to see one of the Banstead footmen.
