A Regency Invitation to the House Party of the Season by Nicola Cornick, Elizabeth Rolls, JOANNA MAITLAND Read Free Book Online Page B

my pet.’ She sighed. ‘Mr Timms and I…well…Sometimes I wish…’
    ‘Yes?’ Cassie prompted.
    ‘I wish we had had our own chance of happiness,’ Eliza said, in a rush. Cassie noticed that her hands were busy folding and refolding a petticoat with little jerkygestures. ‘We have known each other nigh on twenty years, but being in different households with our own responsibilities…Well, it was not to be. And now I think it is too late. No point in talking about it. There it is.’
    ‘Oh, Eliza!’ Cassie’s brow puckered. She felt a pang of acute sympathy for the maid’s plight. She had had no notion that Eliza’s feelings ran so deep and could tell that the brisk tone she had adopted hid much more painful emotions.
    ‘Now…’ The maid turned her face away, clearly not wishing to pursue the subject any further. She pushed Cassie gently towards the armada chest, where she had laid out a walking dress in cherry pink.
    ‘I thought the pink today, to match your pretty face.’ She held Cassie at arm’s length for a moment and smiled. ‘You’re as bonny as a May morning, so don’t let that sour old puss tell you otherwise. She’s only jealous.’
    ‘Eliza—’
    ‘And,’ the maid continued inexorably, ‘don’t believe a word she says about your Viscount neither. It’s you he’s come to wed, Miss Cassie, not some old trollop!’
    Cassie sat down heavily on the chest, almost squashing the gown, which Eliza whisked out from under her.
    ‘If he had indeed come to woo me, then that would be a different matter, Eliza, but in truth it is my money he wishes to wed.’ She sighed. ‘Show me a gentleman who does not! Even Great-aunt Harriet once said that it was indecent for a young girl to have so much money as I.’
    Eliza put her hands on her sturdy hips and viewed Cassie shrewdly. ‘You are an heiress and you are never going to be able to get past that, my pet, until you cansee a man for what he is and judge whether he cares for you alone. Yon Viscount seems a likely fellow to me. I would give him a chance.’
    Cassie looked up. ‘It seems Anthony has already given him his chance by consenting to a betrothal! Of all the mob-handed, arrogant, masculine things to do.’
    ‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself, do,’ Eliza said sharply. She gave Cassie a little push. ‘And go and put your clothes on. Don’t expect me to wait on you!’
    Cassie slid off the chest and obediently reached for her underclothes. ‘I am minded to wait until I am five and twenty and may have control of my own fortune,’ she said, her voice muffled as she pulled her petticoats over her head. ‘John and Anthony cannot make me marry even if I have ruined my reputation. Why should I care? They can all go hang.’
    Eliza snorted. ‘There are some as are cut out to be wizened old maids, Miss Cassie, and others like you are not. Besides, you don’t want to be stuck with that Lady Margaret for another four years. You’d run mad.’ She held out the pink gown for Cassie to put on. ‘Don’t you want a home and family of your own?’
    Cassie put her hands up to her cheeks suddenly. ‘I don’t know, Eliza. What I do know is that I grow tired of everyone telling me what to do. Live here, marry there…’ She let her hands fall. ‘No one asks me what I want, so…’ Cassie said with determination, ‘I shall simply have to show them. I will show Anthony and John and Viscount Quinlan—’ she invested the name with dislike ‘—that they do not take my consent for granted!’
    ‘Then the good lord help them!’ Eliza said devoutly. ‘You will be careful, though, won’t you, Miss Cassie? Think matters through sensibly now…’
    ‘Of course,’ Cassie said, her eyes bright. ‘You know that I always do.’
     
    Peter had been lingering at the breakfast table far longer than was his usual wont. He would have preferred to be taking a ride about the estate than sitting indoors on so glorious a morning, but he was determined to