Page 5 of How To Woo A Wallflower

‘I am all for gripping life by the lapels, and when a ripe opportunity presents itself, only a fool wouldn’t seize it.’

‘But you gripped those lapels for five measly shillings, Hattie, when I would have paid you ten to keep them away. I still have nightmares about that weekend.’ He shuddered for effect, enjoying the way amusement made her bright blue eyes dance. ‘And about debutantes in general, for that matter.’

‘I cannot say I blame you for that as most have fluff for brains and those that don’t are, by and large, a mercenary lot. All chasing after the eligible gentlemen like hunters after a fox. All prepared to do anything to claim the kill.’

That was a fitting analogy. ‘Which is why this fox tries to avoid them like the plague nowadays—except when I get a royal summons from the Duchess of Avondale herself, of course. Demanding my attendance to the first ball of the Season and riding roughshod over all my excuses because she was launching her girls. Her girls was underlined in all four of her letters, so I didn’t dare argue. But I should like it noted that I wanted to. No contented bachelor should have to be subjected to the Season. At least not if he wants to remain a contented bachelor. If I end up caught in the parson’s trap on the back of it, it will be your mother’s fault and there will be hell to pay.’

‘I am sure you will find ample ways to avoid it, Jasper, as you always do. Your shocking reputation alone should go some way to protecting you.’

‘Because that worked so well for your brother last year, didn’t it?’

‘Freddie threw himself willingly into the parson’s trap, as well you know. He and Dorothea are sickeningly happy.’ She screwed up her face as if she found that happiness a puzzle. ‘Worse, it’s made my mother more determined to see the rest of her brood happily married off with all haste, hence she is so obsessed with our debuts and cannot fathom why I am not as excited by it as she is.’

‘Your mother is a romantic.’ Everyone knew the Duchess had married her Duke for love. ‘One who views the marriage mart through rose-tinted spectacles.’

Hattie scoffed at that. ‘The lenses in mine are blessedly clear and I have low expectations of finding a soul mate in the stuffy ballrooms of Mayfair. But as Annie has longed for her first Season, I am trying to pretend I am looking forward to it too—for her sake. It is the least I can do after I ruined her first Season.’

‘How has the experience been this second time around?’ Something told Jasper he should find a way to address her accident specifically rather than keep skirting around it while it lingered unsaid in the air between them, but he couldn’t quite find the right words to address it politely when she seemed so determined to avoid it.

‘Much the same as the first—only worse because my mother is on a mission to do it bigger, better and grander than she had originally planned.’

‘It sounds exhausting.’

She wafted a hand in front of her face for comic effect, and he liked that she did not take herself too seriously. ‘I am quite worn out, but my mother is in her element.’

‘If I know your mother, she is loving every second of it.’ The Duchess of Avondale was a legendary hostess and society guest. Effervescent, charming and fun. He could imagine her plotting, planning and scheming behind the scenes in preparation because he had witnessed it in action the first time around. Everything would have to be just so. Everyone committed to the cause. Absolutely everyone would have to be in attendance to witness the triumph too—hence he had been summoned with specific instructions to flirt with all three of her girls shamelessly and fill up their dance cards to make all the other young bucks jealous. All part of her carefully constructed master plan to ensure the Fitzroy girls were the undisputed diamonds of the Season—even if they were much older gems than tradition dictated.

Hattie shook her head in exasperation. ‘Since our return to town the last few weeks have been a never-ending maelstrom of nonsense, and the last few days little better than organised chaos. It is a relief to have an excuse to escape for the afternoon—although I seem to have inadvertently discovered more chaos in the process.’ She frowned as she gestured down the road towards the blockage where tempers were audibly becoming frayed. ‘I have been deliberating whether or not it would be quicker to walk to the hospital.’

He wanted to ask if she was capable of a five-minute walk, but didn’t, respecting her pride by assuming she wouldn’t have brought it up if she couldn’t. ‘As I have abandoned my own conveyance in favour of Shanks’s pony, I would be delighted to escort you seeing as we are headed the same way. That is if you do not fear what being seen with a scandalous reprobate like me will do to your reputation?’

She laughed that away and allowed him to help her out of her carriage. Because it felt appropriate given her injuries, he offered her his arm and pretended not to notice how heavily Hattie leaned on it while her concerned maid lingered a short distance behind. The first few steps were obviously difficult for her. The limp more pronounced than he had been prepared for, but she covered her pain with breezy small talk about her dreaded debut, making his heart simultaneously bleed for her for all she had lost and swell with pride at her resilience and tenacity. The intensely physical and competitive sportswoman he knew of old might be gone, yet there appeared to be no trace of bitterness in her character nor self-pity in her manner.

‘If I never have to visit the modiste’s again, it will be too soon.’ After a few minutes her gait was more assured and the pressure of her hand in the crook of his elbow lessened. Even the taut pull of stress had disappeared from her features as her muscles warmed to the task.

‘You never know, you might enjoy it all once it starts.’

She blinked at him as if he were mad. ‘It is difficult to feel enthused about taking up my place among the wallflowers.’ Her expression was wistful. Accepting, and that bothered him.

Jasper stopped and stared at her in mock outrage that she would suggest such a thing. ‘You shan’t be a wallflower, Hattie.’ The mere thought was inconceivable. ‘Your dance card will be so full I doubt there would be space for me to scratch my name on it. In fact, I shall invoke our long connection to insist you reserve me a dance in advance. I want the first waltz.’ An impertinent request which tumbled out before he could stop it.

‘That is very decent of you to offer—even if it was done out of obligation—but I am afraid I shall have to politely decline.’

‘It wasn’t done out of obligation.’ The truth, although he couldn’t even explain to himself why. ‘I asked because I would be honoured if you would dance with me.’ Another new and unexpected truth he could not quite believe he was admitting to, so he made a joke out of it in case she noticed. ‘That I would also be making all your suitors green with envy has only the smallest bearing on the request.’ It was his turn to hold his finger and thumb an inch apart. ‘Everyone knows that Jasper Beaufort always snags the most perfect partners wherever he goes and that makes my rivals furious.’

Her smile this time did not touch her eyes. ‘And yet still I must politely decline.’

The disappointment was instant. ‘Because you do fear for your reputation after all or because you have already promised the waltz to someone else?’ The flash of jealousy came out of nowhere, but he managed to cover it with a conspiratorial wink.

‘Because I can’t, Jasper.’

For the briefest moment, her light seemed to dull, before she banished it with a matter-of-fact shrug.

‘I physically can’t.’

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