“Yes, miss.”
She had just settled down with a cup of tea when a rap sounded on the door. Rather than letting her maid take it, Henrietta opened the door to find the same footman.
“This just came for you, miss.”
“Thank you.” She could tell from the paper that this missive was from her grandmother. As long as the duchess did not want her tomorrow, all would be well.
Once again she sat down at her desk and opened the message.
My dearest Henrietta,
I am pleased to invite you to dine with me. I will see you tomorrow evening at eight o’clock.
B.
Henrietta frowned at the brief missive. As always, her grandmother simply assumed she had no other plans. And at this time of year she did not. She only hoped that once the Season began Grandmamma would take a busier schedule into consideration. Actually, she would have to considering she was helping to chaperone Henrietta.
She pulled out a piece of her finest paper. There was no response needed, but it was only polite to confirm that she’d received the summons.
Dearest Grandmother,
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at eight.
With much love,
H. S.
A few minutes later she went back to the corridor, where the same footman waited, and handed him the letter. “The Duchess of Bristol is at the Pulteney Hotel. Tell Parkin I will require a town coach tomorrow evening at twenty minutes to eight.”
The young footman dipped his head. “You can count on me, Miss Henrietta.”
“Thank you.” She really must ask someone who her personal footman would be this Season.
Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, but Henrietta looked forward to it. She especially looked forward to spending more time with Fotherby.
* * *
Nate had no sooner walked through the front door when he was handed a folded note.
“From her ladyship,” his butler said.
“Thank you. I’ll be in my study.” Strolling to the back of the house, he opened the missive.
Fotherby,
We have been invited to dine with the Duchess of Bristol tomorrow evening. I have accepted for both of us. Miss Stern will be present as well.
Mama
But not Lord and Lady Merton. Nate wondered if he was going to be tested again. After the last time he distrusted the duchess. This time he’d be prepared.
Nate reached his desk just as Chetwin, his secretary, placed a stack of letters on it. “All of these came today?”
“Most of them are invitations for the early entertainments.” Nate raised one brow. “They are all for after Easter.”
“Good. Send them to my mother. She is a much better person to work out which ones I should attend.”
“As you wish.” Chetwin removed well over half the stack and grimaced. “Better you than me.”
Nate leaned back in his chair. His secretary came from a good family. His older sisters had married well, but, as usual in the ton, the younger sons had to seek employment. “If any of your family is in the metropolis this Season, you know I will not keep you from attending their entertainments.”
“I do know that.” Chetwin gave a small smile. “Although it will be nice to see them, the truth of the matter is that I prefer quiet to balls and all those other things.”
“I can understand.” Truth to tell, Nate had not attended many large events when he’d been here before. Other than seeing Henrietta, he didn’t expect to find much enjoyment in them this year. That reminded him that his mother would select the events Henrietta was most likely to attend, and there would be dancing. He would not look forward to seeing her dance with anyone else. Yet if he failed to become betrothed to her, that was the only thing to which he could look forward.
His secretary took the cards and returned to his office. Nate glanced at his mother’s note. Was the duchess meddling? If so, he was glad of it. Whether she knew it or not, she had succeeded in insuring that he’d be able to spend most of tomorrow with Henrietta. He turned to the correspondence that had been forwarded to him. If he kept coming to Town, he’d have to engage a steward. Until then, he’d try to manage from here. He opened the first letter that turned out to be from the tutor he had hired in an attempt to start a dame school.
Dear Lord Fotherby,
I regret to inform you that for the past week none of the children have attended classes . . .
Bloody hellhounds! He’d been afraid of that.
I did go around to some of the families, but they all claimed they needed the children at home.
It is a waste of my time and your money to keep me on. Therefore, I herewith tender my resignation.
Yr. Servant,
K. Kimble.
Nate resisted the urge to crumple up the damn thing and throw the letter into the fireplace. How in God’s name was he to educate his tenants’ children when he met with such resistance? On the other hand, he’d had to personally take—it had really been more like dragging—two of his tenants to Coke’s experimental farm in Norfolk. The only thing Nate could do was try again when he returned home. But he needed ideas to make it work. His new friends might know how to start a school and make it work. They were all very forward thinking. Yet the person he should probably ask first was Henrietta. He’d be surprised if she did not have an opinion, and an excellent one at that. He set the letter aside. It was a shame he had to wait until morning to see her.
The next day he opened the window and stared up at a grayish-blue, cloudless sky. In the east, streaks of pink and yellow painted the horizon. The sun was making its first appearance. If he wanted to meet up with Henrietta and the other ladies, he had to hurry. Nate opened the door to the corridor just in time to see one of the maids. “Please tell Hulatt that I need my horse in ten minutes.”
Putting down her bucket and cloths, she bobbed a curtsey and dashed toward the hall. He cleaned his teeth, dressed, and called for Padraig, who was still sleeping at the foot of Nate’s bed. “Come, boy. We’re going out.” Never an early riser, the Wolfhound stretched before standing on the bed on his hind legs and putting his front paws on the floor to stretch again. “I’m going to have to start waking you earlier.”
The dog yawned when he opened the door. For a second he thought the Wolfhound would go back to bed, but Padraig wagged his tail and followed Nate out the door. They reached the pavement as Darragh was brought around. Unlike his dog, the horse was ready for exercise. He passed Grosvenor Square but didn’t see the ladies. Looking toward the Park, he spied them a street away. Keeping his horse to a trot, he reached the small group just before they went through the gate.
“Good morning.” He lifted his hat to them.
“Good morning,” Lady Turley said from her carriage.
“Good morning.” Lady Exeter tilted her face up toward the sky. “It promises to be a lovely day.”
He glanced at Henrietta, and her smile made him slightly dizzy. “Good morning. I wondered if you would join us.”
Little did she know he always wanted to be where she was. She looked particularly beautiful this morning in a deep, rose-colored habit. Nate glanced at Padraig. “Some of us are harder to awaken than others.”