Page 6 of A Match for Princess Pompous
Fate proved kind. The partner to whom he had promised the next set extended her apologies, as she was obliged to return home early. Jack stepped out onto the back terrace and down into the gardens. A bit of weaving brought him to a quiet corner, surrounded on three and a half sides by tall hedges and boasting a single empty stone bench.
He sat and breathed. Six weeks remained of this torture he could not escape. Six weeks that would no doubt feel like six months. Could he endure that much more? Couldshe?
Long minutes passed. He was not engaged for another dance before the quadrille, and it would not come for some time. He let himself relax and imagine himself home again, where he was happiest. How easily he could pictureherthere in the neighborhood, in his home, in his life.
Small quick footsteps sounded from the other side of the hedge. He watched the entrance to his little shrubberied alcove, curious.
Odette appeared.
He jumped to his feet as she slipped inside. “What are you doing here?” He glanced at the path leading to the private corner.
The night was too dim for her face to be at all discernible. There was no mistaking her worried tone. “My parents have engaged the services of a matchmaker.”
“I know,” he said. “My mother told me.”
“Mrs. Northrop is determined. I do not know how long I can keep her at bay.”
“We will think of something, my dear.”
She stepped closer and rested her head against his chest. “What if we can’t?”
He wrapped his arms around her. “This was risky, Odette. We cannot take such chances with so much time yet remaining before we can return home.”
“Or with Mrs. Northrop ready to convince my parents to marry me off to the first person she can get to agree.”
He lightly kissed the top of her head. “I would be the first person to agree, if anyone even cared to ask.”
“So long as your parents have their hearts set on Miss Summerfield, mine will never even consider a match between us. They don’t dare risk overstepping themselves where your parents are concerned.”
“We will find a way, my love. I know we will.” How often they had told themselves that, yet they were barely clinging to hope.
She stepped back enough for the tiniest bit of moonlight to dimly illuminate her face. “You continue resisting your parents’ efforts. I will do all I can to undermine Mrs. Northrop. If we can manage that, it will all be worth it in the end.”
“It will be more than worth it.” He took her hands in his and kissed them one at a time. “Now, you had best slip back into that ball—alone—and make the best of things.”
She nodded. “Until we are able to see each other again.”
He tried to sound reassuring. “Soon, my dearest. Soon.”
She slipped away. He remained behind, sitting on the bench and thinking furiously. The chances of their plan proving successful had always been slim. Even if he managed to keep his parents off the scent for a Season while simultaneously avoiding their efforts to match him with Miss Summerfield, preventing Lord and Lady Barrington from strong-arming Odette into a match was tricky.
Her older sister had been coerced into a match not of her choosing. The oldest sister had expressed her love for a gentleman whose family her parents felt would disapprove of the match. The star-crossed couple had been kept apart from thatmoment on; her sister had married someone else. While neither sister was utterly unhappy, their experiences boded ill for his and Odette’s future.
Odette was not weak-willed by any means, but fate was not kind to young ladies. They were often pushed into unwanted matches and untenable situations simply for want of a choice.
Despite Odette’s family being titled, his family was the dominant one in the neighborhood, having money and standing that far surpassed anyone else nearby. No one naysaid his parents. Not even their son. At least not directly. Certainly not any of the other local families.
Odette could not marry without her father’s approval. Her father would never give it if Jack’s parents did not bestow theirs. Jack feared his parents would never approve of anyone but Miss Summerfield and the possibility of bringing into the vast Hewitt family holdings a very profitable estate in the north that was included in Miss Summerfield’s dowry.
Marrying for love might have been a new and emerging preference, but at times it felt utterly impossible.
***
From her position not far from the terrace doors, Adelaide watched her latest charge slip inside the ballroom once more. She had noticed Odette expertly maneuver her way behind a group of gossipy attendees and away from her mother’s watchful eye without drawing anyone’s attention—except Adelaide’s, she having kept careful track of a long list of young ladies over the years.
Odette’s movements as she’d left and now as she returned were just furtive enough to speak of a desire to not be seen or noticed. Being alone on the terrace or in the garden beyond could bring about a few whispers, but considering the younglady was already referred to as “Princess Pompous” and had done absolutely everything imaginable during their short time at the ball thus far to make certain that name stuck, her concern over more relatively harmless whispers seemed very unlikely.
Something else lay behind this sneaking about and the worry so clear in Odette’s posture.
