Dizzy Dilemmas (29 page)

“It is not what you think!” Dizzy began in panic
.

Glenmore
remonstrated saying; “Gherkin, it is precisely what he thinks!”

“
Glenmore I am shocked! I know the Dowager suggested you seduce her but I thought you were too much the gentleman.”

“What can I say?” Glenmore shrugged nonchalantly
. ”I could argue I was carried away by passion but it is not true. I came here determined to bed your sister.”

“Have you gone mad?” Dizzy
could not believe she was hearing this. “And what do you mean grandmamma suggested it?”

“Yes. Deadly serious too, when she
recommended I should seduce you,” Glenmore informed her.

“Never mind that now. The wedding will take place in, shall we say four weeks?” Gideon surmised.

“There will be no wedding! I ref
use to be coerced into marriage,” Dizzy cried angrily. “Glenmore and I were carried away by lust which is not a good basis for marriage.”

“You lost all rights to have a say when you decided to act like a common strumpet
!” Gideon retorted.

“Enough,
Brockton.” Glenmore said suddenly becoming the epitome of an autocratic Duke.

The two men locked gazes until Gideon acknowledged his fault.

“I am sorry Dizzy, I deserve to be horsewhipped for saying such a thing to you.”

“Please Gideon
,” she begged “let us just forget it and I promise it will never happen again.”

“Do not make pr
omises you cannot keep, Gherkin,” Glenmore warned with a smile taking enjoyment from making utterances designed to annoy her. “I have every intention of it happening again and you know you will not be able to resist.”

“Will you shut up!” she hissed “You are not helping!”

“Do you not think?” he replied and then addressed her brother. “Brockton, if you could leave us I will be pleased to meet with you in the library in twenty minutes. But first I have things to discuss with your sister.”

“Very well but ten minutes only,
” Gideon warned “That should be enough time to straighten your clothes and make your proposal; albeit late.”

The door closed behind him and Dizzy scowled at Glenmore. “See where your stupid game has led. He is going to be angry with me forever when we do not marry.”

“Leave him to me sweetheart but let’s not waste time now. I only have nine minutes left to make love to you again.” Before she could object he had her on her feet and made short work of divesting her of her clothes and when she was naked apart from her stockings and garters, he laid her on the sofa and gently made love to her again.

             
It was a little over twenty minutes when Marcus sought Gideon out in the library, once more immaculately attired and every inch the fashionable Duke.

“Apologies
Brockton for my tardiness,” Marcus said but offered no explanation and indeed none was needed; Gideon having a pretty accurate idea of what had transpired after he had quit the room.

“So has she agreed to marry you?”

“No and is not likely too. Your timing was unfortunate as I was about to profess my undying love and devotion for her when you turned up. Now she will only believe I am marrying her out of obligation having been caught in the act as it were.”

“I could say that your timing was unfortunate too, Glenmore. Most men propose prior to having sex. I know some
enjoy the wedding night before the nuptials but you have gone a whole step further have you not? There is nothing for it; she must be made to marry you no later than four weeks hence.”

“Perhaps now is the time for me to set o
ut my plans for the house party,” Marcus said taking the proffered glass of cognac and settling into the leather chair that his host indicated.

              Dizzy was surprised the following morning when she joined her brother for breakfast, that he in no way censured her on her behaviour of the previous night nor tried to browbeat her into marrying the Duke. Initially she thought that perhaps Glenmore had led him to believe that she had accepted him and the wedding was on but then she reasoned he would not have been able to resist mentioning it to Grandmamma so therefore they would have been in the midst of wedding preparation pandemonium.

Of course she had neither accepted nor declined Glenmore’s proposal as he had not made one. If she was honest it had annoyed her as she had wanted to be g
iven the opportunity to say no; to assure him that she was not a husband hunter and was not about to trap him as many others had attempted to do. She even hoped to shrug off their tryst as insignificant to her as it had probably been to him, though in truth it was quite the opposite. She did not regret what she had done though she realised that being hurt was inevitable which ever way she turned. To stand fast in her refusal to marry him would break her heart; to know that they would never be together and that he would almost certainly marry someone else. But to marry him knowing he did not love her and had been trapped in the very snare he had tried so hard to avoid would be equally as bad. He would soon come to resent her once the lust had worn off, and how could she bear him to look at her with dislike and bitter regret when she loved him so much?

Coulton coming into the room bearing fresh coffee delved into his pocket and handed her a
n incredibly crumpled missive. “The footman who delivered insisted on waiting for your answer,” he informed her.

Dizzy held up the wrinkled envelope to her brother who grinned at the face she was pulling although he was quick to hide it when the butler having delivered his load to the sideboard turned back to them.
“Are you going to read it or just stare at the envelope?” he asked her caustically and Gideon dived behind his newspaper to hide his humour when she replied.

“I am just wondering if it will survive my opening it. I feel the letter inside may be illegible there are that many creases in it! Perhaps I should request an iron!”

“And it sounds to me like you are requesting a clip around the ear! Just open it so I can send the lad off with the reply. He is a handsome devil and causing mayhem with the maids,” Coulton told her with a sniff of disdain.

             
Gingerly opening the envelope, Dizzy smoothed out the sheet of paper with her hand and quickly perused the few, neatly penned lines instead. “It is from Erica,” she told Gideon. “She says she is going shopping this morning with her cousin Fiona and asks if I would care to join them.”

“Will you go?” he asked. “I know you hate shopping but it might be fun.”

“Yes I believe it will. We are to have lunch at The Pulteney Hotel too,” she said getting up. “I had better pen a reply.” On a whim she went up to her brother and hugged him from behind; wrapping her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek. “Thank you Gideon for being the best brother a girl could have.”

He patted her arm affectionately. “Go on with you before Coulton loses all p
atience! Have a good time today,” then after she had taken a couple of steps he called to her, “Dizzy, I only want you to be happy, you will remember that won’t you; even when we are at outs with each other?”

She searched his solemn face for a moment, wondering if he was talking generally or whether he had a scheme afoot but whichever she knew she had to reassure him. “I will always love you Gideon and I know you think you know be
tter than me what will make me happy but believe me you don’t. I have to make my own choices and decisions. If ultimately I am unhappy then it is better that I am living with the consequences of my actions and not yours; then I will have no one to blame but myself.”

“Do you love him?” he
posed the question gently.

“With all my being else I would not
otherwise have acted how I did last night. But he has made it clear to me since the moment we met that he is avoiding love and marriage and nothing he has said since has led me to believe he has changed his mind. I could not endure being married to him knowing he had been forced into it; knowing that eventually he would not be able to hide the resentment,” she replied.

“What if he does love you as much as you love him? What if he tells you that next time you meet?” he asked.

“Then I would know that he is lying. As a gentleman he is expected to put all right by marrying me though it is against his wishes. He was caught in the act of satisfying his lust and in the eyes of the world he must make recompense. Only the world does not need to know and I am not disposed to comply; I am not agreeing to a life of misery for the sake of one rash and irresponsible decision.” When her brother nodded acknowledging her point of view she brought the conversation to a close. “I shall see you at dinner, enjoy your day.”

             
Within the hour a coach had pulled up outside and Dizzy tripped lightly down the steps to be greeted warmly by her companions for the day.

“Ross refuses to come shopping for more furniture and has taken Stephen and Marcus off to Gentleman Jackson’s for the morning and then they plan to go on
to their club for some ‘masculine conversation’,” Erica explained as they pulled out into the busy London traffic.

“So we are going to help her choose items for their new house
and if Ross does not like our choice then it will be tough on him,” Fiona added with a mischievous grin.

“Do not think you are buying any old monstrosities Fiona just to tease Ross for I have to live with them too!” Erica pointed out.

“How could you think I was referring to any old monstrosities?” Fiona asked in outrage then with a quick smile at Dizzy said “I was thinking of new ones!”

“Oh were you now? Bear in mind, cousin dear that anything purchased that I do not like will be saved to be given as birthday and Christmas gifts to one or two of my relatives!”

“She would as well! Although, to be fair giving away unwanted gifts is a bit of a family tradition,” Fiona told Dizzy. “There is a particularly ugly vase that does the rounds of our extended family. It was a wedding present given to Erica’s parents by a colour-blind old, great-uncle who had made and painted it himself.  They gave it as a present to my mother who the following year passed it onto Stephen’s mother and then every Christmas since it has been passed on again. My mother has had it twice that I can recall.”

“So who has it now?” Dizzy enquired.

Erica laughed saying, “Ross’ parents were the happy recipients last Christmas. Their faces were an absolute picture and their efforts to sound sincere in their thanks were praiseworthy. For several days they had it on display in a prominent position so as not to upset Charlie who had given it to them.”

“
Unfortunately, one of the children, Thomas I think, let the cat out of the bag and their relief was comical. Simeon; Ross’ father, was heard to mutter “Oh thank God!” as he quickly whisked it from view and I believe his mother had compiled a list of potential recipients by the time he had returned to the room; sans vase,” Fiona added.

“Who will be the lucky one to get it this year do you think?” Dizzy asked.

“She is keeping it very quiet so I do not know but I suspect it will be one of the newly weds,” Erica said smirking a little at Fiona.

“If we are on the list I hope they give it to you and not me!”

“Then I guarantee that you will be getting it the year after!” Erica retorted.

“In that case we should both hope
Charlotte gets it; she is so kind we will easily be able to manipulate her into giving it to someone other than us!”

“Thank heavens I am not a member of your family!” Dizzy exclaimed. “Such scheming!”

“Oh it is most decidedly dog eating dog when it comes to that vase!” Fiona confirmed.

“You have not seen the vase!” Erica said at the same time and they all laughed.

“I pray it stays that way,” Dizzy told them.

“
Back to today,” Erica stated all businesslike. It is mainly sundries we will be looking at as most of the big items have already been purchased but I would like to look at ordering a dinner service and buying table linen.”

“
Have you ever been to Kipps Emporium? It has a wide range of everything but being relatively new, it is not yet popular with the ton,” Dizzy asked.

“Then we will head there first
,” Erica decided and with Dizzy’s help, gave the directions to the coachman.

             
When they pulled up and alighted from the carriage they spent several minutes admiring the building before them. A converted warehouse it was large and rambling but it was the front that held their attention. Several storeys high, the front was made up of mainly glass set in floor to ceiling, thin, arched window frames and so taken as a whole it looked very much like the façade was a wall of glass.

“It looks like a dolls house,
” Fiona remarked, “Only life-size!”

“Wait till you get inside. It feels like you are in a doll’s house!” Dizzy told her and led the way to the front door which was opened for them by a footman who bade them a good morning as they walked past him with a smile of thanks.