A Lord Rotheby's Holiday Bundle (4 page)

By the time she had dressed, had her
hair properly coiffed, and breakfasted, she sat at the writing
table in the main parlor, hoping to get a bit more written before
the dreaded man arrived. Scarcely half a moment later, a knock was
already sounding at the door. One o’clock, on the nose. Good Lord,
the man was punctual. Not to mention rather dicked in the nob for
planning something at this indecent hour of the day.

She ought to return her journal to her
chamber. It certainly couldn’t remain where it was, because one of
the maids might stumble upon it and have to open it to determine
what to do with it. No, that simply would not do.

Aurora dashed out into the hall,
hoping to accomplish her task and be back downstairs before Hobbes
came looking for her to inform her of Norcutt’s arrival, only to
have to stop short in order to avoid smacking head first into the
man in question himself. “Oh, Lord Norcutt,” Aurora mumbled. “I did
not realize you had already arrived.”

He executed a low bow.
“Miss Hyatt. Good morning to you. I trust you are well rested and
ready for our jaunt through the park.” His eager smile abruptly
became an irritant. She should just write
their
story and be done with him,
send him on his merry way to some other, less interesting miss who
could suffer his attentions with more decorum than she.

But that, she must admit, would
require focusing less of her efforts and imagination on Lord
Quinton’s story. Not what she had any intention of doing, at least
for the time being.

Still, stringing Lord Norcutt along
behind her was not terribly becoming.

It wasn’t as though she was setting
her cap for him, though. She just wasn’t discouraging his
attentions. Not yet.

She would.

She must.

“
Quite, my lord,” she
finally responded. “I have been
so
looking forward to our afternoon.” She prayed God
would not smote her down for such an impudent lie as he placed her
gloved hand in the crook of his arm and he led her to his
curricle.

She only remembered she still had her
journal with her when she realized her other hand was forced to
hold both her journal and her parasol, thereby making the task of
opening and holding the parasol aloft impossible. Aurora
tried.

And failed.

And tripped in the process, nearly
falling down the steps in front of Hyatt House, and landing flat on
her face on Berkeley Square in front of everyone out for a walk,
ride, or for any other reason, and pulling Lord Norcutt with her in
the process. It would have happened, as well, if not for the fact
that his rather staunch and sturdy frame pulled back against her
and saved them both from utter catastrophe.

But at least her journal was
safe.

Norcutt took the parasol from her
hands at that point. “Might I be of some assistance, Miss Hyatt?”
He opened it and held it above her head, shading her
already-too-dark complexion from further darkening.

It just would not do to look any more
exotic than she already did, or at least that is what Aunt
Sedgewick continually reminded her. Aurora didn’t care one whit
about the demands of society. The shade of her skin, the darkness
and waviness of her hair, the slight bend in her nose—all of this
reminded her of her mother. For that purpose alone, Aurora was
tempted to sit out in the sun as often as possible, watching her
skin brown as other misses ducked to hide from its rays in fear of
random freckles peppering their perfect English rose
complexions.

But Father continually
reminded her how it would not do to flaunt her mother’s Greek
heritage in the faces of the
ton
, that she already suffered a
dearth of suitors possibly due to just such a cause. Never mind the
fact that her scarcity of suitors might have something to do with
her habit of running them off before they could make an
offer.

Instead, she turned her most gracious
smile on Lord Norcutt. “Thank you so very much, my lord. I daresay
I would have made an utter cake of myself if not for your heroic
efforts.” She tried not to gag on the words as they left her mouth.
It proved difficult, but she achieved success.

Then he assisted her up into the silly
contraption (one that men only owned in order to show the ladies
they escorted off to the best of their ability—for she could think
of no other practical purpose for the blasted things), followed
along behind her, and they were off.

Supposedly.

Never in her life had Aurora
experienced a horse walking so slowly, let alone two of them
together. “Are your horses feeling quite the thing, my lord?” They
had to be as old as Moses to be moving so slow. A group of toddlers
could pass them by, circle the park, and come back to them before
they reached the end of the street at this rate. She would clearly
be well into her dotage before he returned her to Hyatt
House.

“
They are doing rather
well. Thank you for inquiring.” Lord Norcutt held the reins so
tightly she imagined his knuckles must be whitening beneath his
gloves. She wasn’t entirely certain he was still
breathing.

He started to say something, then
stopped himself to fidget with the reins. Again, he opened his
mouth and took a massive breath of air, only to close it again with
a “Hmm.”

His nervous energy could be due to any
number of things—none of which Aurora presently wished
for.

By the time they reached the end of
the street and the horses began to turn, Norcutt turned to face
her. “Miss Hyatt, I hoped to speak with you today before we are
joined by Lord Merrick and Lady Rebecca. You see…I…” His grey eyes
filled with tears that threatened to spill over.

She had to stop him. She couldn’t
allow him to go through with this. It would make them both terribly
uncomfortable, and there was little in the world Aurora detested
more than to be uncomfortable.

But he continued before she could cut
in. “I am in love with Lady Rebecca,” he said with a violence she
had never expected possible from such a staid and stoic
man.

Not to mention a statement she never
expected to be uttered by him. Was he not attempting to court
Aurora? Lord Norcutt had shown every indication of a growing
attachment to Aurora, not to Rebecca.

She was, to be plain,
stunned.

And relieved and delighted and
thanking every god known to every civilization in her history books
that he would not be offering for her that day.

Because really, throwing out
gentlemen’s hopes and dreams like they were used bathwater was not
now and would never be her chosen manner of spending an
afternoon.

Sometimes it did prove to be a
necessity. But not today.

“
I see. And does Lady
Rebecca know of your
tendre
?”

“
No, she does not.” His
typically monotone voice had become animated and lively. In fact,
Aurora feared he might burst into either tears or song at any
moment. Neither of which was an appealing option. How terribly sad
for him, since Rebecca would never entertain his offer.

“
Yet, when you could have
invited Lady Rebecca to ride with you through Hyde Park this
afternoon, instead you offered such an invitation to me. Not only
that, but you sat by and watched as Lord Merrick issued just the
invitation you ought to have done to Lady Rebecca. That all strikes
me as a bit odd, my lord. How might you think Lady Rebecca will
react to a faux pas of that caliber?”

“
I’ve come to you, Miss
Hyatt, because I’m in desperate need of your assistance. His Grace,
the Duke of Aylesbury has granted me permission to pursue an
attachment with his daughter. But I am uncertain how to proceed.”
He delivered his impassioned plea with the most ardent eyes she had
ever seen. It almost broke her heart.

Almost.

“
That is a most lamentable
predicament, my lord. And you believe I can assist you how,
precisely?”

“
It is common knowledge
amongst those in the know that Lady Rebecca is your most especial
friend. I was hoping…I wanted to ask you to give me some hope. To
speak with her about me, and discover if my feelings might be
returned.” In his enthusiasm, he took both of her gloved hands into
his own and squeezed them tightly before remembering himself and
dropping them to her lap just as suddenly. “Lord Merrick agreed to
aid me in my cause. He invited Lady Rebecca to ride with him so
that I might at least catch a glimpse of her during our excursion
today while I courted your favor in my endeavor.”

“
Indeed.” She wasn’t quite
agreeing to his suggestion. It was more that she could not fathom
what else to say.

Her intentions didn’t matter, though,
as Lord Norcutt took her response to mean what he wanted it to
mean. “Oh, thank you, Miss Hyatt. I am certain that once you have
spoken with her, and perhaps softened her toward me, she will be
quite delighted to accept me. With your favor, how could I go
wrong?”

How, indeed? Oh, dear. Now she might
truly end up crushing this man’s hopes and dreams, even though they
had nothing to do with her.

This afternoon was most
decidedly
not
working out in the manner she had either expected or
envisioned.

Blast it all.

With his concerns appeased, Lord
Norcutt no longer seemed inclined to force his team to walk at a
snail’s pace. He nudged them with the reins, and they took off at a
canter. Before much time at all had passed, Aurora and Norcutt
arrived at Hyde Park and saw Lord Merrick’s curricle near the
Serpentine.

Norcutt raised a hand in greeting as
he drew his vehicle closer. “Good afternoon to you both.” His face
beamed brighter than a full moon in a cloudless sky. Pure joy
etched itself across his visage. Such a pity that he would be
devastated when Rebecca rejected his attentions.

That, she reminded herself, was none
of her concern. If he wanted to get his hopes up and think he could
possibly receive her favor, then so be it. Lord Norcutt was a grown
man. He could look after his own heart.

They all exchanged various
pleasantries and the gentlemen discussed the lovely sunshine they
had been granted that day, and Aurora generally lost interest in
the entire matter. The only matter she wanted to focus her
attentions upon was the story in her journal, which felt like it
might burn a hole straight through the muslin of her afternoon
dress if she didn’t get back to it soon.

There were scenes that needed to be
written, by gad. Namely, the wedding night.

“
A race it is, then,” said
Lord Norcutt. “First to the end of Rotten Row wins, and the loser
buys the ladies an ice at Gunter’s.”

Oh, blast. A race? She really ought to
object. Her hair would fly free of its pins, because she had
prevented Rose from securing it properly, and then the wavy mass of
it would be tangled into knots, and it would be pure and utter
torture to have it all brushed out. No, a race just would not do.
She turned to her escort, prepared to protest—but she was too
late.

The curricle shot forward like a
cannonball, tossing her back against the seat.

Her bonnet strings began to work loose
beneath her chin. She grabbed hold of the bonnet to keep it atop
her head and give her hair some chance at decency once it was all
over.

In holding to her hat, she was forced
to let loose the parasol and her journal. The parasol caught a gust
of wind and whipped away from them, floating back to the ground and
settling beside a tree next to the Serpentine. “Oh, my.” Her voice
floated away in the wind, as well.

Trees and horses and riders
whisked by, turning into a blur. Aurora looked down over the side
of the curricle. Bad idea. Very, very,
very
bad idea. She gripped the brim
of her bonnet tighter to her head and prayed that nothing would
cause the silly contraption to capsize.

Lord Merrick drew up alongside them
and gradually slipped ahead. Norcutt whipped the reins again, and
his horses somehow gained more ground. The trees at the end of the
Row were coming upon them so fast it seemed hazardous.

And finally they reached the end, with
Lord Merrick and Rebecca’s curricle drawing up just a nose ahead of
Lord Norcutt’s.

Aurora breathed a sigh of
relief.

“
Excellent race, my lords,”
called out a laughing Rebecca. Her hat had blown off her head and
her hair and cheeks were windblown, and she looked simply delighted
at the afternoon’s proceedings.

“
Ices, it is!” called
Merrick. “But first, shall we collect the ladies’ bonnets and
parasols and such? And I suppose our own hats as well.”

“
Yes, and in a hurry, my
man.” Norcutt had already turned his team around to make their way
back to the grove of trees where Aurora’s parasol lay. “I should
not wish to lose anything entirely.”

Nor would she. Aurora straightened the
bonnet atop her head and smoothed her hands over her dress and
pelisse.

And her heart almost stopped
beating.