Miss Armistead Makes Her Choice (16 page)

“I say!” Sir Henry cried. “We are only out for a ride through the park; there is no harm in that. I will have you know that we were properly introduced at the Ames’ do night before last.”

“One of the many you promised to escort me to,” Analisa said with a bat of her lashes for her brother. “But you needn’t worry, Colin. Sir Henry is perfectly safe. We should never suit.”

“I am? We shan’t?” Sir Henry demanded huffily. “Why ever should we not?”

“Now, don’t be provoked, Sir Henry. You know as well as I that you should prefer we remain friends, isn’t that so?” she said with an arch look for Colin.

“Mere friends do not live in one another’s pocket, Analisa,” Colin pointed out even as he wondered why she should wish to be seen in the presence of such a coxcomb.

“I shall be sure to relay your notions on the subject to your dear friend, the soon to be Mrs. Cruikshank.”

“What does my friendship with Miss Armistead have to say to anything?” Colin demanded.

“Ah, then it is perfectly unexceptionable for you to live in her pocket, but I should not be seen with Sir Henry, here, even though I should never deign to marry him, not in a million years.”

“Again, I say!” Sir Henry entreated.

“Analisa Lloyd-Jones,” Colin warned in his most authoritative voice, “what game are you playing at? Have you forgotten that it was you who insisted I invite the ladies from India to the museum, as well as to my own home for dinner?”

“No, of course I haven’t,” she replied, suddenly contrite. “But, Colin, dear, you must allow me to conduct myself as I choose in these matters. Do you not trust me?”

“But of course I trust you, Ana,” he claimed, reigning in his restive mount. “I simply don’t like you being seen out and about with this dandy; that is all.”

“I do believe I have been insulted yet again!” Sir Henry cried. “Miss Lloyd-Jones, do you wish to proceed with our drive or should you prefer to be let down in the street this instant?”

Colin was as astonished as Sir Henry when Analisa gave her suitor a glance that took him in from head to toe. “I believe my brother is correct. I am persuaded I shan’t have a difficult time enlisting his aid in seeing me home,” she said, whereupon she alighted from the carriage and smiled up at her brother as he dismounted.

The two of them waited until Sir Henry had tooled his eye-catching vehicle from view before bursting into laughter. “Analisa, you minx! I am persuaded he shall be soon regaling his cronies at White’s with tales of your double dealing, and where shall you be then?”

“Double dealing? I shall have you know, I was perfectly amenable to riding out with Sir Henry today. It wasn’t until you registered your disapproval that I thought better of it.”

Colin linked her arm with his and drew his horse behind them, reins in hand. “I am delighted to learn that you have seen sense. Might I ask if you have plans with any other exquisites? They do dress like men of means but I am persuaded father prefers to wed you to a peer.”

“He does, does he now? I don’t know what makes him think I am worthy of such
elan
,” she said with an impish smile.

“Do not disparage yourself, Ana. However, I do find you need guidance when it comes to marriage prospects. It is clear that I have been derelict in my duty. That being said, I have had a
communique
from Tony and I am now free to attend as many social events as even you should choose. To whom do you go tonight?”

“The Russell’s but I hardly think you should like to go there. Cecily is their god-daughter, after all.”

“Never mind that,” Colin said. “They shall be as eager to forget their connection with her as am
I. As for the visit to the museum tomorrow; were you genuine about how it might look should I be seen too often in the company of Miss Armistead?”

“I did not mean to imply it was only Miss Armistead about whom I am concerned. There is also Miss Hale to consider.”

“True. However, should I be seen squiring Miss Hale about town, there should hardly be any stir. She is to return to India very soon and that will be the end of any tittle-tattle.”

“Are you so sure she wishes to return to India, Colin? I am persuaded she would enjoy marriage to a resident and to remain here as much as Miss Armistead.”

It was a surprising notion. “Do you truly believe that?”

“Why, yes I do. I would not have said it, otherwise.”

“But you can’t mean that the sole reason Miss Armistead intends to wed her betrothed is to live in England?”

“I do believe you to be correct; it is not the sole reason, I am most sure of it. However, I am every bit as certain that she does not love Mr. Cruikshank.”

Colin felt a grin stretch across his face and he turned away from his sister to hide it from her view. “So, you feel it your duty to rescue her from a loveless marriage. Is this what lays behind your schemes?”

“Do be serious, Colin, do! And do not say that you aren’t pleased; I know you are smiling, I can hear it in your voice. My motivation for throwing the two of you together is quite simple; I believe she shall make you a most excellent wife and myself an amiable sister. After months of feigning to love Miss Ponsonby and failing miserably, I find it a welcome notion, indeed.”

Colin felt the smile fade. “She shan’t fall in with your plans. There is no mistake about that. Whatever her reason is for having chosen Mr. Cruikshank, she is entirely attached. And there is her character to consider; she has made it perfectly clear that she won’t easily forgive herself if she should fail to honor her promise to him.”

“We shall see about that. Perhaps even as soon as tonight,” she suggested as she tipped her shining face up to his. “And there is always tomorrow.”

Colin declined to say so aloud, but he had hopes of discovering the ladies from India at the Russell’s do. However, it was not to be. To make matters worse, he received so many compliments on his imperial green waistcoat that he dared not wear it again the following day. He was persuaded Miss Armistead should appear in her best color sooner rather than later, but it seemed that such a happy convergence would have to wait.

He awoke earlier than he wished after a long night at his sister’s side fobbing off unwanted advances from nearly every man present. Analisa insisted that they merely wished to dance with her, but he had a darker view of the matter. Once he was awake, however, he thought of little else but Miss Elizabeth Armistead. That she had agreed to join him and his sister on their visit to the museum was splendid, indeed. That no note crying off had arrived seemed nearly miraculous, especially in light of the ladies’ absence at the Russell’s ball the night prior. It was early days yet, however, and he forced himself to occupy his time with something useful, with only periodic journeys to the front hall to ascertain whether or not a correspondence had arrived.

He had not forgotten that most of the house was still in need of modification and his thoughts turned continually to the garish suite of rooms that Cecily had once hoped to occupy. A bedchamber, a sitting room and a dressing room, done up in mawkish shades of lavender, lilac and violet comprised the rooms deemed for the use of the lady of the house. However, Colin felt that any true lady of fashion should prefer something a bit more modern such as Pomona green and primrose.

It should require that the brand new carpet be taken up, replacement draperies for the bed and windows be devised and the wallpaper be stripped and rehung but he would be glad to bear the expense; he knew in his heart of hearts that he should never wish to call on his wife in a room that spoke so clearly of Cecily. Instructions to his housekeeper on how she should apprise the decorators took up the better part of his morning until at last, the hour for his departure for the British Museum
had arrived.

He tooled his curricle as far as his father’s establishment whom he had hopes had been enjoined by Analisa to allow them the use of the family coach as they were to be so large party. Colin, pleased to see that the coach was already in front and waiting when he arrived, had but enough time to hand off the reins of his vehicle to a groom before Analisa was seen springing down the front steps of the townhouse.

“You are looking quite the thing,” Colin said as he handed his sister up into the carriage. “And yet, such a vision is not sufficient to force my eyes open after last night’s festivities. If only they had not slipped into the wee hours of the morning.”

She waited until he was seated across from her to reply. “Do not say that you regret having escorted me there. I am fatigued beyond bearing, but it was ever so delightful. I can’t think of a time when I danced so often or for so long!”

“You have only been out for a fortnight, m’dear. There will be other balls,
many
other balls, at which you shall dance all night and find it difficult to stir from your room before two or three in the afternoon.”

“How terribly exciting! Now, let us discuss Miss Armistead and how you are to win her heart.”

“We shall do nothing of the sort. It is clear as crystal that she is very much looking forward to her upcoming nuptials and life on that wild, deserted stretch of Scotland,” Colin insisted.

“Oh, but you don’t believe that, do you? I suspect she hardly does herself. She has made a grand gesture and she requires your help in getting her out of it.”

“And how should I do that?” he asked with the realization that he truly desired to learn the answer.

“I don’t know, at least not yet. However, you are older and wiser than I and I am persuaded that, between the two of us, we shall think of something that answers.”

“Ana, you know that she will never cry off. It is not in her to be so false. It leaves me with very
little to choose from. I can hardly snuff him out,” he said with a rueful laugh. “Aside from the immorality of it, what is there in such an action that should make her love me?”

“Oh, but you do not understand,” Analisa insisted. “She already loves you quite desperately. The fact that she does not know it yet is a mere trifle.”

Colin stared at his sister for some moments before he replied. “Have you run quite mad? For a chit of seventeen to know enough of love to recognize it in another young lady, that is one thing. However, for you to say she does not know even her own heart whilst you do is bold, indeed.”

“Oh, Colin, shall you never learn?” Analisa asked as she arranged her skirts to advantage. “Women are so very perceptive about one another even while they remain without a notion as to their own state of mind.”

“I see,” Colin agreed in spite of his reservations. “Am I to apply that to you, as well?”

“Oh no, not I!” she said in some astonishment. “How can you ask? Have you ever known me to be in any doubt as to my own mind? The very idea!”

Colin laughed outright. “Somehow I thought you should say precisely that.”

“Do be quiet, Colin, and let me think on how we might solve the problem of her current engagement.”

Colin sighed. “Am I to believe that you shall have arrived at a means for me to woo Miss Armistead under Mr. Cruikshank’s nose in the next moment or two?” he asked as he tugged at his gloves and adjusted his hat.

“But, what else?” Analisa asked in all sincerity.

“My dearest Ana, life does not always cooperate with our desires though there is no mystery as to why you should believe otherwise,” he said with a wry smile. She was not best pleased by this revelation and the two of them kept their own council for the remainder of the journey. Colin spent most of it in hopes that the apprehension he felt did not show in his face or manner.

The coach came to a halt in front of Lady Augusta’s townhouse and it seemed an inordinate
length of time before anyone came to the door once the driver had alighted from the box and rapped. Just when Colin thought perhaps no one was home or they were all still abed or had, perhaps, succumbed to a sudden fatal illness, the door turned on its hinges and Miss Hale squeezed through the doorway before the driver had a moment to divulge his purpose.

“Oh!” Miss Hale cried through the open window of the carriage as she peered inside. “I have been so looking forward to our little tryst!”

“Doubtless you have, as well?” Colin teased his sister, one brow cocked in surprise. “Though, we mustn’t forget the others,” he said as he opened the door from the inside and let down the steps. “They are coming as well, are they not?”

Miss Hale’s smile fled. “Yes, of course. I am persuaded that Mrs. Armistead should not let me attend without her chaperonage. Naturally, it should have been vulgar to deny Elizabeth and Lady Augusta the chance to come along, as well.”

Colin looked to Analisa and beheld the self-same expression of consternation gazing back at him. “Miss Hale, we are delighted that you are well and able to attend the museum with us,” he said as he reached out his hand so that she might enter. “We should not have dreamed of excluding a single one of you,” he said firmly.

Miss Hale only took his hand in reply and entered the coach, however, she waited so long to take her seat that Colin was forced to stand, bent over, face to face with her. “Miss Hale, please do sit,” he asked.

“I suppose I should yield the forward facing seat to the older ladies,” she remarked as she sat on the bench opposite. Colin could hardly be less gallant and was forced to sit next to her. When the other ladies were handed up they availed themselves of the places next to Analisa while Miss Hale indicated that he should slide to the far side so that Miss Armistead was left to take up the seat two places down from him. As such, Colin was denied anything much more than a glimpse of her profile through the lace trimmed brim of a fetching toque. It was old rose in color and matched a very smart
spencer, both of which served to accentuate the rose of her cheeks.

“Good afternoon Lady Augusta, Mrs. Armistead, Miss Armistead,” Colin greeted them in turn. To his dismay, Miss Armistead afforded him nothing more than a glimpse from beneath her lashes and a very low “Good day”. He was tempted to wonder what he might have done to offend her but, after a thorough review of every word they had spoken two nights previous, knew there was nothing.