Dorothy stared at her friend with her mouth open.
“What? You and Pierce …”
“We didn’t go that far, don’t worry. But we’ll happily tell everyone that we were always present with you two. No one is going to question it.”
Dorothy hoped not. Because she was not that good a liar; if anyone pressed her on anything, she couldn’t hide what she had done. Frederica would need to be practically sitting on top of her before Dorothy felt comfortable telling a small lie to anyone.
Except what they would be hiding was pretty big. And if her parents found out …
She pushed that away. Dorothy was not going to think about that. She needed to take a deep breath and calm down. There was a good chance nobody would know what she was up to, anyway. She was just getting anxious over something that might not happen.
The carriage pulled up behind Gabriel’s carriage, and Frederica jumped out first. She turned to Dorothy as her friend climbed down.
“Do you want me to do the talking?”
“Let’s see if we can get away with this without too many questions.” Dorothy smoothed her hands on her skirts. “I look presentable, don’t I?”
Frederica giggled and took her arm.
“You look like a woman who’s had a lot of fun.”
“Frederica!” Dorothy hissed. “You’re not helping!”
“Well, we can be honest with that. We’ve had a lot of fun with Lord Dashwood and Mr Cowper. That’s all we need to say.”
“What if Mother and Father want us to elaborate?”
“We don’t need to. Let’s go in.”
Dorothy didn’t want to; if Gabriel had been waiting for a while, he would not be happy. It felt like a passive-aggressive move leaving his carriage out the front of the house instead of leading it around to the stables. Like she was being told that she was neglecting her duties of being a host to one of her suitors.
Although Dorothy didn’t really see Gabriel as a suitor. She saw him as a friend who was being a little intrusive. Somewhat annoying, but not to the point she wanted him to go away. Frederica had commented that Gabriel wanted something more from Dorothy than she was willing to give, but she had discarded it. Gabriel knew her well enough that she didn’t see him like that.
He knew, didn’t he?
Heading into the house and giving their outdoor garments to the footman, Frederica took Dorothy’s hand and led her to the morning room, where voices could be heard. Dorothy grimaced as she heard Gabriel’s voice, along with her mother’s.
She could only hope that her father wasn’t there as well; that was more disapproval for which she wasn’t prepared.
Frederica knocked, and then they entered. Gabriel and Dorothy’s mother sat by the window, a tea tray between them. The smell of freshly baked cake wafted past Dorothy’s nostrils. Even though she had had lunch at Lucas’ house, she was still hungry. Apparently, lovemaking was pretty good at building an appetite.
Gabriel got to his feet, staring at her suspiciously. Lady Bedford also stood in one flowing motion.
“Finally, you’ve turned up!” she huffed. “You’ve kept us waiting, Dorothy.”
“Forgive me, Mother.” Dorothy glanced at Frederica, who gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. “We did arrange to meet Lord Dashwood this morning, and we couldn’t turn him down.”
“You could have sent him a letter saying you would be detained instead of running off like a child.” Lady Bedford sniffed. “We’ll talk later, Dorothy. Lord Burville, my daughter is looking a little flushed. Why don’t you have a walk around the garden with her?”
“Yes, Lady Bedford.” Gabriel approached Dorothy and held out a hand. “Dorothy, dear?”
Dorothy gritted her teeth at being called ‘dear’. She glanced at Frederica, but her mother spoke before either of them could say anything.
“Frederica, would you kindly leave my daughter and Lord Burville? I’m sure they’ve got quite a bit to talk about.”
“I could be a chaperone, Lady Bedford,” Frederica offered, but the countess shook her head.
“Given you were the instigator earlier this morning, I don’t think that is wise. I’ll be escorting my daughter.”