Free False Colours by Georgette Heyer Page A

it?’
    She exclaimed instead: ‘What an odd, unexpected creature you are, my lord! Can you deny that you looked forward to this party with the gravest misgivings? You told me that the very thought of running the gauntlet of my family put you into a quake!’
    ‘That was because I had been misled,’ said Kit brazenly.
    She looked at him, amused, yet with a puzzled crease between her brows.. ‘But you weren’t in a quake—even before you decided that you had been misled. I own, I thought Grandmama would have put you out of countenance, but she didn’t.’
    ‘To be honest with you, she did, but I thought it would be fatal to betray my embarrassment.’
    ‘Yes, very true: she despises the people she can bully. You gave her a homestall, and she may very likely have taken a fancy to you.’
    ‘Can she bully you?’ he asked.
    ‘Oh, no! That is, I shouldn’t let her do so, but the occasion hasn’t arisen: she is always very kind to me.’ She fell silent for a few moments; and when she spoke again it was in a more formal tone, and as though she were carefully picking her words. ‘Lord Denville, when you did me the honour of asking me to marry you, we discussed the matter—we began to discuss the matter quite frankly. But we were interrupted, as I expect you will recall, and there has been no opportunity since that day to resume our discussion.’ She raised her eyes to his face. ‘I should like to be able to do so before coming to an irrevocable decision.’
    He had been regarding her over the rim of his wineglass, but he set the glass down at this, saying involuntarily: ‘I thought you had come to a decision! How is this?’
    She answered apologetically: ‘I’m afraid I gave you reason to think so. And indeed, at that moment, I believed I had done so. I can’t explain it to you tonight. I had hoped to have seen you again before this party, but you had gone into the country, and Albinia—Lady Stavely—sent out the invitations without telling me.’
    He cast a swift glance towards his hostess, to assure himself that her attention was still being claimed by her brother-in-law, before asking bluntly: ‘Do you wish to cry off, Miss Stavely?’
    She considered the question, frowning. ‘You will think me a perfect wet-goose, Denville, but the truth is that I don’t know! If Albinia had not come into the room when she did—’
    ‘Unfortunate!’ he agreed.
    ‘Yes, and so stupid, if she but knew it, poor thing! To be sure, there was some awkwardness attached to our discussion, but we were on the way to an understanding—or, so I believed. I have felt ever since that a great deal was left unsaid. You too, I dare say. When Albinia came in you had just said there was one stipulation you must make—but you weren’t granted the opportunity to tell me what that may be.’
    ‘Good God, did I really say anything so uncivil?’ he asked, startled.
    ‘No, no, you were not uncivil! Remember that I begged you to be plain with me—not to stand on points!’
    ‘I seem to have taken the fullest advantage of that request, if I did indeed talk about stipulations!’
    ‘I thought that was the word you used, but I might be mistaken, perhaps. Yet—’
    ‘I fancy you must have been, for I haven’t the smallest recollection of it.’
    ‘But you can’t have forgotten that you said something of that nature!’ she objected, considerably surprised.
    He laughed. ‘But I have forgotten, which proves that it can’t have been a matter of much consequence. If only we had not suffered that untimely interruption—!’
    ‘Exactly so! You must feel as I do that it left us uncomfortably situated. Would it be possible for you to visit me tomorrow, a little after eleven o’clock? We may be secure against another such interruption, for Albinia means to go shopping with her mother directly after breakfast, and my grandmother never leaves her room until noon.’ She thought he hesitated, and added, colouring slightly: ‘I ought not