Only to halt, for about thirty feet away on the road, an elegantly dressed older woman was being assisted out of a grand carriage.
“Wait!” Ada yelped, running as best she could down the uneven gravel path toward the open carriage door. “Turn back and take me with you!”
The stranger stared in openmouthed surprise, yet something about her face was oddly familiar. “Miss Blair?”
“Yes—”
“Ada!” her father roared from the vicarage front steps. “Stop.”
The older woman slid gracefully back into the carriage. “Get in, my dear.”
With no time for decorum, Ada flung herself into the carriage and sprawled face first onto a cream leather squab, wincing as her knees connected with the hard floor. Soon they were speeding down the road, leaving her father bellowing behind them.
“Er…thank you,” said Ada awkwardly as she righted herself. “I would like to clarify that I’m not a thief absconding with the silver. Or someone who has lost their wits.”
The woman beamed. “I know. And I must thank you, for I’ve always longed to bark drive like that. It was very exciting to rescue you from the clutches of a dastardly man, like we are two characters in a gothic novel. My late husband was also dastardly, so I consider it my sacred duty to assist.”
Utterly bemused, Ada shook her head. Why did she look so familiar? They certainly hadn’t met. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding horribly gauche, but may I ask who you are?”
“Oh! Forgive me. I am the Duchess of Gilroy. I believe you know my eldest son rather well…no need to blush, dear, I am a thoroughly modern woman. I invited Miss Lacey and Miss Kinloch for tea to hear the gossip, and we decided to step in and assist you and Gil in settling this love matter once and for all. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this, and it seems my timing was impeccable. Now we have a few miles to get to know each other. Pray tell me more about yourself.”
Still reeling, but not about to challenge an actual miracle, Ada leaned back on the squab.
“Well…”
How could it only be bloody noon?
Jasper glared at the clock in his library. Much like the day of his first tryst with Ada, time had slowed to a near standstill; he was ready to begin hurling objects from the window, just for something to do. His mother had informed him earlier that she would be taking tea with a few friends, and even the thought of a chattering horde of ladies gave him hives. So he’d retreated here. But now he was as trapped and bad-tempered as a bird in a cage.
Really, he needed to get her and Winslow back on the road to London before they extracted any more information from him. If his mother found out about Ada…
He shuddered. All meddling hell would break loose.
Surely it wasn’t a bad thing that he wished to figure out the love matter for himself. At his own pace. Without interference. Quite frankly, that he thought of love at all was a miracle when he’d always shunned it for being chaotic claptrap, as his late father had insisted. Besides, love matches were so rare in society; most wed for money to save or restore estates, to elevate position, or to unite two ancient families. It wasn’t as though he’d been surrounded by happy couples his entire life. Christ, he’d been in his thirties when Mother and Winslow, then Tristan and Tabitha happened.
A brisk knock sounded at the door.
“Enter,” he called.
Expecting a footman with a tea tray, he raised an eyebrow at the sight of his mother sashaying through the door instead. But one look at her cheery grin, and he groaned inwardly. He knew that expression. It was her signature “after much prodding I shall eventually confess to the mischief I have been dabbling in, but will remain utterly unrepentant” face.
“Mother,” said Jasper, pinning her with the most forbidding of frowns. “What have you done?”
Lavinia hesitated, her smile faltering for an instant before righting itself. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, darling.”
“You know exactly what I mean. You’ve meddled, haven’t you?”
She took a seat, her cherry-red skirts swirling about her ankles. “Meddle is such an ugly word. I am merely smoothing the path of true love, as I did for your brother.”
Jasper’s jaw clenched. “Mother. Either you tell me what you did with no detail spared, or I cut off your milliner allowance forever.”
“Bonnet blackmail is decidedly unbecoming for a duke. As is that scowl…oh, very well. The birds in the trees told me when you first arrived here, you were visited by three ladies from St. Mary’s in Charlton Kings. Miss Lacey, Miss Kinloch, and their much younger friend, Miss Blair. Then you were seen at the Cheltenham fair talking and laughing with these same three ladies, but most especially Miss Blair. As I am thoroughly invested in your future happiness, I decided to invite Miss Lacey and Miss Kinloch for tea to learn more, but they drove a hard bargain: secrets for premium French brandy. Thankfully, there was an unopened bottle in the drawing room…”
Bloody hell.
“Are you telling me you got two elderly ladies intoxicated to interrogate them?”
Lavinia snorted imperiously. “I beg your pardon. We are not elderly, but sparkling silvers. All enjoying life, able to hold our brandy better than most young bucks, and only wanting what is best for those we hold dear. In conclusion, I left Miss Lacey and Miss Kinloch happily ensconced in the gold parlor while I went and abducted Miss Blair—”
“You did what?” he croaked.
“In my defense, abducted is the wrong word. She threw herself into the carriage to flee that awful father of hers. Good grief, I’ve never heard a vicar bellow like that.”
Jasper pressed his fingertips to his forehead. At least there was one aspect of this bizarre conversation his mind had managed to partially comprehend. “Ada is here?”
His mother nodded. “Oh yes. Safe and well in the parlor with Miss Lacey and Miss Kinloch.”
“I must go to her,” he said, rising to his feet.
“No, you must think about what you’ll say to the woman who has captured your mind and heart. My new friends inform me your effort at the mineral spring was “er, well, good” and really, Gil. No one will swoon at that.”
“All of you need to mind your own damned business,” he bit out. “I would have said more than “er, well, good,” but I was interrupted by bloody visitors.”
“How rude, people arriving at a popular public venue.”
“There aren’t exactly a multitude of locations a duke and a vicar’s daughter can meet to chat.”
Lavinia’s smile widened. “Such a shame there are no private places about, like an abandoned gamekeeper’s cottage or so forth.”
“We don’t talk there, we…”
“Play chess,” she replied solemnly. “I understand completely. Winny and I do that regularly. For hours.”
“Mother, I beg you. Stop.”
“I cannot stop until I know you will do right by your true love. A declaration is important, Gil. You only get one chance to do it properly.”
“What makes you think Ada is my true love?” he blustered.
“Do you think of her when she isn’t with you? Are you happiest when together? Are you a better man with this woman in your life?”