Page 68 of The Undaunted
“Your Royal Highness,” Lady Easton said pleasantly.
Lord Alvanley said, “Miss Upton, may I?” reaching out his hand for her card.
Caroline handed it to him as the Prince laughed. “Really, Alvanley. Getting your name down before poor old Mushy has even been introduced?”
“In the race to secure the prettiest lady of the evening,” Lord Alvanley said gallantly, “I wait for no man. Especially when supper is conveniently still open.”
Caroline smiled but was certain Lady Easton was steaming beside her. It was precisely what she did not wish for.
“I make no argument against it. Miss Upton, Lady Easton,” the Regent said, “may I present Mr. George Mushkell. We call him Mushy on account of his coloring being rather like a mushroom. He is one of the thousands of distant cousins that Alvanley seems to be always pulling out of his pockets.”
“Or, to be more precise,” Lord Alvanley said jokingly, “he is one of thetwodistant cousins, along with Mr. Landon. This one has just arrived and I cannot afford more than that—they stay at my house and eat my food, you know.”
Mr. Mushkell was a rather ordinary looking fellow, or perhaps Caroline might describe him asmedium. He was of medium height and had medium brown hair and medium brown eyes. His coloringwasrather mushroom-like. There was nothing at all to put one off, and nothing at all to pull one in.
Mr. Mushkell bowed and said, “Alvanley conveniently forgets that it is always my pleasure to impose on a cousin. Miss Upton, may I?” Caroline nodded and he took her card from Lord Alvanley. He wrote himself in for the fourth.
The Regent was then called away, and Lord Alvanley and Mushy followed him like two moths chasing a flame.
“It is most aggravating,” Lady Easton said. “That is three of that ridiculous set on your card now. Who on earth is Mr. Mushroom, I wonder?”
“They are only dances, though,” Caroline said, looking to soothe the lady.
“Even so. I only wish Richard were here. He might stand right by us and those sorts would stay well away. They naturally avoid men like Richard, it is too likely he would expose them as juveniles by comparison.”
Only a week ago, Caroline would have laughed into her sleeve over such an assessment. Now, however, she rather agreed with Lady Easton. Still, itwasonly a few dances.
Other gentlemen, who Lady Easton found she favored far more, approached and put their names down. Caroline’s card was filled and she need not have worried about arriving late. There were plenty of people still arriving, and so Lord Easton had been right—Lady Easton might wish to express her displeasure by way of tardiness, but she could not bear to take the thing past a few minutes.
*
Richard was notso lacking in self-awareness that he did not see what he was doing just now. He was stewing and brooding. When had he become a stewer and brooder?
He did not have to be at the Regent’s ball to know well enough what was happening there. He’d seen Miss Upton leave the house; it was all a foregone conclusion.
She had looked marvelous. He was certain she’d looked far more marvelous than any other lady who would attend the ball. They would all be in pastels of sky blue or seafoam green. But then, some modiste or other had decided to dress Miss Upton in an indigo silk whose matching sequins and stones positively glowed in the candlelight. She would be a star in the heavens and the rest of the ladies would be washed up on the beach. That dress, and that face, would tell the tale.
Why had his aunt allowed it? As they were walking into a veritable lion’s den, why had not Lady Easton dressed Miss Upton in something more frumpy?
Frumpy would have been ideal. Dowdy, even better.
He supposed Alvanley and Landon and Pierrepoint and the rest of them were circling her like sharks in the water.
He’d not even had a chance to warn her off Landon. He’d hinted to his aunt, but he’d not been specific. He’d not told her that Landon had got a scullery maid with child. It seemed a subject Lady Easton would have recoiled from hearing.
He’d thought of warning Miss Upton directly, but then his apology had come off so well that he hadn’t wished to ruin it by going back to lecturing.
Maybe he should have gone to the ball after all.
But no, it would have been foolish. He was not meant for such places, where the very air was committed to jokes and levity. There he’d have been, stern-faced and with a black eye. He would have been the subject of weak jokes from Alvanley, which all would have laughed at because they were secretly afraid of becoming the man’s next joke. He would not fit in or blend in. Miss Upton might even have found him silly.
He did not find that reason for staying away a very satisfactory explanation for himself. He really should not have made his decision based on his personal comfort. He should have done what was needed, despite whatever cost to his pride.
Now, Miss Upton was exposed to what he considered unsavory characters.
Especially Landon.
He thought that reprobate took a particular interest in Miss Upton. And no less of an interest in her father, Baron Dunn. Landon had hinted he wished to go into business with the baron and had come right out and asked him if he could arrange an introduction. He was a second son and would avoid the clergy or the military. He wished to have a career in horses. Who better to align himself with than the daughter of the premier horseman in England?
