Read Online Miss Delacourt Has Her Day by Heidi Ashworth - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Heidi Ashworth
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cream.
“You realize what this means,” Lady Derby said, frowning around a mouthful of food.
“I’m sorry, I do not. Is the cream soured?” Ginny asked. “I will ring for Garner to take it away at once”
“It is not the cream that is in danger of souring, Miss Delacourt,” Lady Crenshaw said with a meaningful stare.
Ginny quickly scanned the food cart for other perishables. “Oh, dear. Do you mean to say the butter has gone bad?”
“I can see that I shall have to say this straight out,” Lady Crenshaw said with a heavy sigh. “My son is to be the next Duke of Marcross. Whatever you think of such, please know that Lord Crenshaw holds his future title in high regard and fully understands the responsibility he has for the family name and honor. When he formed his… attachment for you,” Lady Crenshaw said with a shudder, “you must own that it was before he knew what his future held in store”
“I am sure neither of us dreamed this would be our lot, Lady Crenshaw, but I can assure you that I will do my best to honor my title as the future duchess”
Lady Crenshaw emitted a rueful little laugh and put aside her plate. “You? Duchess? Miss Delacourt, do you not perceive the importance of his making a brilliant marriage?”
Ginny formulated her reply with care. “Yes, I do, but I am persuaded you discount the importance your son places on true affection for his chosen wife.”
“Poof! Love,” Lady Crenshaw said with a wave of her hand. “If only you knew how little that means once the passion subsides. The look he has in his eyes when he speaks of you is no different than the sparkle he bore when he was courting Lady Derby!”
Ginny, her stomach roiling with apprehension, cast about for the proper duchesslike response to such hurtful words but found there was none.
“He can fall in love with a girl who is a suitable match as well as one who is, well… not,” Lady Crenshaw continued with a sickly sweet smile, then leaned toward Ginny over her cup and saucer as if to keep her words from the wrong ears. “If you truly love Anthony, you will release my son in order to save him the scandal of breaking the engagement himself. Surely you can understand that,” she said with a sweeping glance of Ginny’s person, “even if you are no better than a guttersnipe.”
Ginny opened her mouth to reply but was shocked when the voice of her Grandaunt rang loud and clear. “That will be enough out of you, Deborah! Ginerva is the granddaughter of my own brother, and he was a Wembley!”
Lady Crenshaw rose to her feet in a huff. “And I suppose the Wembley name is better than ours”
“It is good enough. However, if bearing a noble name gives you free rein to behave like a rag-mannered fool, my Ginny shall be glad to be free of it!”
“Well, I never! I suppose I should thank you for that! In point of fact, I shall waste no time in getting word to Anthony that the engagement is at point non plus!” Lady Crenshaw cried as she hastened from the room.
Grandaunt waited until the sound of her daughter-in-law’s ranting went down the stairs and out the front door before she turned to Ginny, her expression inscrutable. “I believe I warned you to let me handle Lady Crenshaw. Now, go and change your clothes. You look a fright. I expect my grandson will be calling at any moment, and we wouldn’t want him to have reason to think you a guttersnipe, as well.” Then she, too, quit the room.
Ginny longed to throw something, anything, but it was the one habit of hers Anthony had expressly forbidden. In every other way, for every other virtue and vice, he loved her just as she was. She would not have him enter the room to witness her failure to change the one thing about herself he objected to when there was so much about her that was objectionable.
However, she did not change her gown or her shoes or tidy her hair. She went down to the kitchen and out the door to the small walled garden and took up a bench in
“You realize what this means,” Lady Derby said, frowning around a mouthful of food.
“I’m sorry, I do not. Is the cream soured?” Ginny asked. “I will ring for Garner to take it away at once”
“It is not the cream that is in danger of souring, Miss Delacourt,” Lady Crenshaw said with a meaningful stare.
Ginny quickly scanned the food cart for other perishables. “Oh, dear. Do you mean to say the butter has gone bad?”
“I can see that I shall have to say this straight out,” Lady Crenshaw said with a heavy sigh. “My son is to be the next Duke of Marcross. Whatever you think of such, please know that Lord Crenshaw holds his future title in high regard and fully understands the responsibility he has for the family name and honor. When he formed his… attachment for you,” Lady Crenshaw said with a shudder, “you must own that it was before he knew what his future held in store”
“I am sure neither of us dreamed this would be our lot, Lady Crenshaw, but I can assure you that I will do my best to honor my title as the future duchess”
Lady Crenshaw emitted a rueful little laugh and put aside her plate. “You? Duchess? Miss Delacourt, do you not perceive the importance of his making a brilliant marriage?”
Ginny formulated her reply with care. “Yes, I do, but I am persuaded you discount the importance your son places on true affection for his chosen wife.”
“Poof! Love,” Lady Crenshaw said with a wave of her hand. “If only you knew how little that means once the passion subsides. The look he has in his eyes when he speaks of you is no different than the sparkle he bore when he was courting Lady Derby!”
Ginny, her stomach roiling with apprehension, cast about for the proper duchesslike response to such hurtful words but found there was none.
“He can fall in love with a girl who is a suitable match as well as one who is, well… not,” Lady Crenshaw continued with a sickly sweet smile, then leaned toward Ginny over her cup and saucer as if to keep her words from the wrong ears. “If you truly love Anthony, you will release my son in order to save him the scandal of breaking the engagement himself. Surely you can understand that,” she said with a sweeping glance of Ginny’s person, “even if you are no better than a guttersnipe.”
Ginny opened her mouth to reply but was shocked when the voice of her Grandaunt rang loud and clear. “That will be enough out of you, Deborah! Ginerva is the granddaughter of my own brother, and he was a Wembley!”
Lady Crenshaw rose to her feet in a huff. “And I suppose the Wembley name is better than ours”
“It is good enough. However, if bearing a noble name gives you free rein to behave like a rag-mannered fool, my Ginny shall be glad to be free of it!”
“Well, I never! I suppose I should thank you for that! In point of fact, I shall waste no time in getting word to Anthony that the engagement is at point non plus!” Lady Crenshaw cried as she hastened from the room.
Grandaunt waited until the sound of her daughter-in-law’s ranting went down the stairs and out the front door before she turned to Ginny, her expression inscrutable. “I believe I warned you to let me handle Lady Crenshaw. Now, go and change your clothes. You look a fright. I expect my grandson will be calling at any moment, and we wouldn’t want him to have reason to think you a guttersnipe, as well.” Then she, too, quit the room.
Ginny longed to throw something, anything, but it was the one habit of hers Anthony had expressly forbidden. In every other way, for every other virtue and vice, he loved her just as she was. She would not have him enter the room to witness her failure to change the one thing about herself he objected to when there was so much about her that was objectionable.
However, she did not change her gown or her shoes or tidy her hair. She went down to the kitchen and out the door to the small walled garden and took up a bench in
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