Lady Be Reckless (Duke's Daughters #2)(52)

Now that Eleanor was married and Della had run off and was in disgrace, that number was down to three, but adding in the duchess made it seem more like twenty-three.

“I wonder, Olivia, if we shouldn’t have brought the linens after all. You know how sensitive I am to scratchy bedsheets.” The duchess gave a vigorous nod. “Bedsheets are truly the most essential item for any person living in the world today.”

Olivia grimaced, thinking of all the things that families who weren’t ducal would put above non-scratchy bed sheets—food, heat, lodging, clothing. The true essentials.

“And tea. If we didn’t have tea we would be savages,” the duchess continued. “How else would we be able to communicate with one another?” As though the imbibing of tea was the essential element of communication.

“So you’re saying that the only things people truly need in this world are quality bed linens and tea?” Ida asked, her tone sharply sarcastic.

Their mother smiled in approval at her youngest daughter. “That’s exactly what I am saying!” she said in a delighted tone. “I never think you are paying attention to me, dear.”

“So says the woman who doesn’t even know how we take our essential beverages,” Pearl murmured to Olivia, who smothered a giggle.

It had been a long-running bet as to when—or even if—the duchess would finally prepare one of her daughter’s cups of tea the way the daughter actually preferred it.

The closest thus far was Ida, who took her tea with nothing in it. But at the last minute the duchess had added a lemon, and all of the sisters had had to stifle groans of disappointment.

“Oh, I don’t always pay attention to you, Mother,” Ida replied, and Olivia held her breath, wondering just what Ida was going to say—her sister was nearly as liable to say something shockingly direct as their mother, only in a more intelligent fashion “But it has gotten too dark for me to read any longer. When will we be there, anyway?”

Olivia looked out of the carriage window, squinting to make out a long line of trees in the distance. “It looks as though we are on property, not on the road any longer. Judging by the way the trees are managed.” She had to say she approved of the symmetry; trees left to their own devices were more likely to be wayward.

“I would imagine Mr. Beechcroft has enough money to purchase proper bedsheets,” their mother continued.

“Mr. Beechcroft?” Olivia said, feeling her stomach constrict. “You mean the marquis, surely?”

Olivia could see the duchess’s head shaking “no,” and then felt her mother reach across to pat her on the knee. As though she were a child.

“We are going to Mr. Beechcroft’s estate. Why would you think we were going anywhere else? You haven’t been listening to me either, Olivia.” The duchess turned to look out the window. “I see the lights of the house now, we should be there in a matter of minutes.”

Olivia sat back against the cushions, feeling her body stiffen in shock. Pearl took her hand and squeezed it, but Olivia barely noticed because of all the emotions coursing through her.

Mr. Beechcroft’s house. Which meant he would be there.

“Will Lord Carson even be there, Mother?” Olivia asked, hearing the tension in her voice.

“Yes, he arranged it. Honestly, Olivia, you cannot imagine we would go visiting Mr. Beechcroft just to see him. Have I not raised you properly at all? This is the moment all your dreams will come true! You’ll be engaged to Lord Carson and then I can focus on getting Pearl and Ida married.”

“Don’t bother on my account,” Ida said drily.

“Ida, did you know where we were going?” Had she just assumed things and everyone else knew otherwise?

“No, but I am pleased. Mr. Beechcroft is an excellent conversationalist, I am looking forward to resuming our discussion of books and ideas.” Ida did sound pleased, not aghast or startled or any of the things Olivia was feeling. Of course. Ida just saw the chance to continue her intellectual discussions—she wasn’t thinking about the physical interactions that might or might not happen.

Dear lord.

“And we are here! Girls, make sure you shake out your skirts as we exit the carriage. Not that Mr. Beechcroft is someone we have to concern ourselves with. But Lord Carson will be here, and we do have to worry about him.”

It would be fine. She would see Mr. Wolcott and they would be civil toward one another and Lord Carson would propose and she—she didn’t know what she would do.

She felt a suffocating squeeze suspiciously near her heart.

“Are you all right?” Pearl whispered as the coach slowed to a stop.

“No,” Olivia replied. “Not at all.”

It was the truth. She wasn’t all right. But she was Lady Olivia, champion of the oppressed, a duke’s daughter, a person who had literally been trained from birth to be gracious in awkward situations.

And this certainly counted as an awkward situation.



“Welcome!” Edward’s father said as the carriage door opened and the ladies began to emerge. Edward cursed himself for looking so eagerly to see her, but that didn’t stop him from doing so.

And there she was. Her face was set, almost angry, and he could see the flare of red on her cheeks even in the darkness.

What had happened to upset her so?