The Accidental Countess (Accidental #2)(28)

Not to mention, it seemed Lord Berkeley had lost his stutter. Perhaps it was because he was no longer attempting to court Lucy. Last summer in Bath, the two had had a bit of a failed romance. But Lord Berkeley was obviously still great friends with Lucy, and clearly up for a bit of fun. He’d agreed to participate in this madness, hadn’t he?

“Thank you for your gracious invitation. I’ve been looking forward to it all week,” Lord Berkeley said to Lucy.

“Now in addition to calling me Lady Worthing and Cass Miss Bunbury, Miss Jane Lowndes is here and she has decided to be Miss Wollstonecraft,” Lucy informed him.

The viscount arched a blond brow. “Wollstonecraft?”

“Yes. She’s the niece of the author. In her head, that is.”

Cass elbowed Lucy and blushed at Lord Berkeley.

“What?” Lucy asked, her innocent look firmly ensconced upon her face. “Didn’t he ask Derek to write letters to me pretending they were from him last summer? If anyone is up for this little farce, it’s our Lord Berkeley here.”

It was true. Poor Lord Berkeley had been so overcome by his stutter that he’d gone to Derek and asked him to help him write letters with which to woo Lucy. He’d chosen Derek because Lucy had indicated how much she enjoyed her banter with the duke. Derek had agreed until he’d inconveniently realized he was writing letters to the woman he himself loved.

Lucy smiled at Lord Berkeley. “I can only say I’m sorry the party is not larger, so we might introduce you to some eligible young ladies.” She said to Cass, “Christian here is quite interested in finding a nice young woman and settling down to have an inappropriate amount of children. He told me so himself.”

“Lucy!” Cass pressed her palms to her burning cheeks. Not only was Lucy using Lord Berkeley’s Christian name—which just so happened to be Christian—she was mentioning his future children. “You must be the most improper duchess in the history of improper duchesses.”

“Which is exactly how I like it,” Lucy replied with another smile for Cass.

“I did, indeed, say that,” Lord Berkeley interjected, bowing. “But in an effort to change the subject and spare poor Lady Cassandra any more embarrassment, let me say that I look forward to meeting Captain Swift and enjoying myself at the house party.”

“Excellent.” Lucy clapped her hands. “Now, don’t worry that Garrett isn’t here.” Lucy put her arm through Lord Berkeley’s, drawing him farther into the house while Cass followed behind them.

“Yet.” Berkeley added with a firm nod.

Cass’s head snapped up. “Pardon?”

“He’s not here yet,” Berkeley replied.

Still smiling, Lucy shook her head. “Oh, no, he’s not coming. I thought you knew.”

Berkeley shrugged. “That’s not what he said to me this morning.”

Cass gasped. Her hand flew to her throat.

Lucy stopped walking. She dropped Berkeley’s arm and turned to face him. “This morning? You spoke to Garrett this morning? In person?”

Berkeley straightened his cravat. “Yes. We spoke before I left his house. He said he planned to come along as soon as he was able. Seems he had a few business affairs to attend to first.”

Lucy’s face was quickly turning a mottled shade of red. “You were at Garrett’s house this morning?”

“Yes. It was on the way. I decided to stop and see if he would like to come over with me.”

Cass resisted the urge to sink to the floor. Where was that elusive magic wand when one had need of it? Of course Lord Berkeley would stop to visit Garrett. Whyever would Berkeley assume that Lucy’s own cousin wasn’t invited to her house party? Oh, this was no good. No good at all.

Lucy quickly recovered herself. “Oh, well, that’s wonderful. It’ll be lovely to have him. I haven’t seen Garrett in several weeks, actually.”

Berkeley smiled approvingly.

Lucy looped her arm through the viscount’s again and they continued their stroll across the foyer. Cass followed in their wake, frantically tugging at the ends of her gloves and considering the possible scenarios over and over again in her mind, all of them equally horrifying and with sufficiently appalling endings. What would Patience Bunbury do?

Lucy stopped at the foot of the staircase where a footman patiently waited. She faced Lord Berkeley. “Henry here will take you up to your rooms, my lord, and see that you are settled.”

Lord Berkeley bowed again and made to follow the footman away. “Thank you, Your Grace, er, my lady,” he replied.

He had barely taken two steps up the staircase when he turned back to face Lucy. “I nearly forgot. I saw someone else you both know while I was visiting Upton.”

Cass was still frantically attempting to think of a way they might evade discovery by Garrett. She was barely paying attention. “Someone else?”

Lucy echoed the same words.

“Yes, he arrived at Upton’s house just as I was leaving.”

Cass perked up and turned to face Lord Berkeley.

“Wh … who? Who?” Lucy sounded like an anxious owl. Her eyes were also nearly as wide as the fowl’s. Cass was half expecting her head to swivel.

Lord Berkeley smiled at Cass. “Why, none other than your very own brother, Lady Cassandra. Lord Owen Monroe.”