For two days Averil shopped, with Finch the stiff-backed dresser at her elbow and Grace, almost bursting with the effort to behave with as much decorum as Finch, at her heels. She wrote to Mrs Bastable, her chaperone on the Bengal Queen and another letter to her father. She wanted to write to Dita, who must now be safe at home in Devon with her family, recovering from her ordeal. But she could not risk to writing what she had to confide to her friend; she must just hope Dita would come up to London soon. She needed her so much.
She took delivery of her new clothes and supervised her borrowed ones being cleaned, parcelled up and returned to Miss Gordon along with a letter of thanks and the assurance that her banker was dealing with the money she owed Sir George.
She arranged flowers for Lady Kingsbury and suffered her purchases to be examined and approved. She thanked her future mother-in-law for the loan of a pearl set and some garnets and sat and addressed invitation cards for a soirée in a week’s time and she felt as though her heart was weeping in sympathy with the rain that was pouring down outside.
As they drove back from church on Sunday Lady Kingsbury was graciously pleased to compliment her on her walking dress and bonnet. ‘You dress with taste, Miss Heydon.’
There was no sign of the earl—he appeared only at dinner and then left. The countess did not appear remotely discommoded by his neglect. Perhaps she was glad of it, as Averil might become glad of Bradon’s absence once she was married to him. She shivered.
‘Thank you, ma’am.’
‘You will accompany me to the Countess of Middlehampton’s reception on Tuesday evening. That will introduce you to a number of people of influence without the necessity to concern ourselves with dancing yet. You can dance, I trust?’
‘Yes, ma’am. I enjoy it.’
‘Excellent. Tomorrow I will review your new wardrobe with you and give you some guidance on who you will meet in London this Season. Do feel free to ask me any questions about matters of etiquette—I am sure things are different here from what you are used to.’
‘Thank you, ma’am.’ So, she was to be assessed to make certain she would behave the right way. Averil had no way of telling whether Bradon had told either of his parents the shocking tale of her rescue. She saw virtually nothing of the earl, and Lady Kingsbury, she suspected, would remain poker-faced and cool if she found herself in the midst of the Cyprians’ Ball.
Her spirits rose despite the thought of Lady Kingsbury’s critical assessment. It was frivolous, but a reception would mean new people to meet, entertainment, a change of scene, noise, human contact, warmth. She needed warmth as a drooping flower needed water. She needed, more than anything, someone to put their arms around her and simply hug her.
Chapter Seventeen
The Middlehampton reception del
ivered as much noise, heat and distraction as Averil could have hoped for. For the first time since the Bengal Queen had entered northern waters she felt warm enough.
Lady Kingsbury introduced her to a number of other young unmarried ladies and drifted off to gossip with her own cronies while Lord Bradon vanished in the direction of the card rooms. That suited Averil very well indeed. She smiled and chatted and one young lady introduced her to another and so on until her head was spinning with the effort of remembering names. Many of them had beaux and the young men flirted with Averil and the girls wanted to know about Indian silks and they all wanted to hear about life in the East and she found herself laughing and talking as if she was back in Calcutta with her friends.
She turned, gurgling with laughter over Mr Crowther’s tale of how he had encountered an elephant at some eccentric house party in Hampshire and had been prevailed upon to mount on to its back—’Into a howdedo’—and had fallen off and his hat had been eaten by the elephant. ‘They brought it back to me three days later,’ he finished mournfully. ‘But it was never the same again.’
There was an elegant girl reflected in one of the long mirrors, her face alight with amusement, her gown just like Averil’s. It is me! My goodness. How very au fait I look. And then a figure in a blue tailcoat with gold lace and white collar tabs appeared in the glass behind her and the laughter fled, leaving her wide-eyed and breathless.
‘Miss Heydon. Do you remember me? We met in the City five days ago.’ Luc stood there, chapeau bras tucked under one arm, dress sword at his side, the picture of the perfect naval officer. Which he is, she thought, her stomach swooping.
‘Of course. Captain d’Aunay, is it not? May I make you known to Miss Langham and Miss Frederica Arthur? And Mr Crowther, who has had much more exciting experiences of elephants than I ever had in India.’ She had an instinct to hide him in a mass of other people, even though she wanted him all to herself, alone. If Bradon saw them together he could find no blame if they were part of the crowd, surely? After all, he had introduced them himself.
Lady Kingsbury walked past as the two of them stood talking to half-a-dozen others, separated by the vivacious Miss Langham. She scanned the group with a critical eye and inclined her head in approval.
‘That’s your mama-in-law to be, I gather.’ Luc had come back to her side.
‘Yes.’ There was so much noise that although they stood just a few paces away from the nearest group they would have had to have screamed before anyone would have picked up their words.
‘She looks a cold fish.’
‘She is.’ Averil shivered. ‘They all are.’
‘I still have trouble realising that he proposes this month’s trial to make sure no little mistake is in the offing.’ He sounded comfortingly outraged on her behalf.
‘Yes. I was … surprised. I thought that if he did not believe me, the fact he thought I was not … you know … that would be enough to reject me.’ Part of her, madly, wished he had. Then she could be with Luc. And ruined, she reminded herself. ‘I suppose I have too much money for that.’
‘And yet you stay.’
He sounded cold and angry and she bit her lip against the hurt of it. ‘Of course. There is an agreement. Why did you follow us into the City? Do you want to risk everything?’
‘I had to see you with him. You looked beautiful, but you are unhappy.’ Luc moved a little closer, his back to the room, and she found herself in an alcove. It was all right, she told herself, there was no curtain, she could be seen by anyone who looked and all they were doing was talking.
‘I never expected happiness exactly. I did not know him after all, let alone love him. Contentment will come—it must. But, oh, I long for some warmth, to be held.’ Her voice trailed away. Luc stood like a statue and then reached for her hands. ‘No. I cannot. We must not. If there is the slightest suspicion of us, it would be a disaster. I am simply being feeble, I think.’ She put up her chin and smiled a determined smile.