Free Rebecca's Refusal by Amanda Grange Page B

arriving in Sloane Street without further mishap. Even so, Rebecca was glad when they were safely inside.
    You will stay for dinner, Josh?' asked Hetty, when he and Charles joined the ladies after discussing a number of business matters.
    He glanced at Rebecca but then, as if realizing there would be no chance of a private conversation that evening - realizing, too, that after her fright Rebecca should not be called upon to discuss anything important - he said, 'Alas, no. I have a number of arrangements to put in hand before I leave London to return north.' Hetty was not to be put off. Tomorrow, then,' she said decidedly. Joshua hesitated.
    Rebecca, suspecting that he had not accepted her refusal, willed him to decline. But this time he delighted Hetty by saying, Thank you, yes. I will look forward to it.' Rebecca thought, Which is more than I will do.
    Chapter Five
    Rebecca was reading in the drawing-room. It was the following evening, and she was already dressed for dinner and waiting for Hetty and Charles to come down. Outwardly she was calm. Inwardly it was a different matter. She was under no illusions about Joshua. She knew him to be a stubborn and determined man. There had been a look on his face the day before that had told her he had not accepted her negative answer to his proposal, but she was determined to stand her ground. Marrying Joshua because he had compromised her was unthinkable, she told herself.
    Wondering, a moment later, why she had added the phrase because he had compromised her. Marrying Joshua was unthinkable for every reason. Of course it was. Even so, she fervently hoped that she would not find herself alone with him that evening, so that no possibility of a disturbing and intimate conversation could arise. And really, it was hardly likely, she reassured herself. A small family dinner was exactly the sort of occasion that would offer no chance of anything private. Although an evening at Lady Cranston's and an afternoon at Frost Fair should not have offered an opportunity either . . .
    She was rescued from further uncomfortable musings by Hetty bustling into the room.
    'Oh, I do hope the food will be hot enough,' said Hetty anxiously. She was every inch the hostess, and was worried about the meal her cook was going to serve. It is so difficult to stop it going cold on its journey from the kitchen. In summer it is easy, of course, but in the winter . . . ah well, it cannot be helped.'
    I'm sure it will be perfect,' Rebecca reassured her.
    Well, Mrs Lunn will certainly do her best,' said Hetty dubiously. T3ut it is Joshua's first meal with us in over a year, and I would so like everything to go well.' Then, drawing her mind away from the problems attendant on having guests for dinner she glanced appreciatively at Rebecca, who was looking most becoming in a white satin gown en saque with a bodice of midnight blue velvet, over which she wore an Indian shawl.
    1 am so glad colours have become fashionable again,' said Hetty, her eyes going from the midnight blue of Rebecca's bodice to her own yellow gown. Made of silk, its high waist was ornamented with a gold band, and its sleeves were decorated with gold lace. Unrelieved white is all very well, but it never suited me, and I am vain enough to be pleased that colours are now the rage.'
    At that moment Charles entered the room, rubbing his hands heartily and remarking that the dinner smelled good.
    'Oh, do you think so, Charles? I am so pleased.'
    It will be delicious,' said Charles decidedly.
    'Now all we need is Joshua,' said Hetty, glancing out of the small-paned window, across which the curtains had not yet been drawn. 'Oh!' she cried vexedly. It is snowing again. I do hope he will be able to get through.'
    She need not have worried. The sound of the front door opening and closing could be heard, followed by Canning's deferential tones, and there was Joshua, looking immaculate in a dark tail coat and pair of pantaloons.
    He glanced at Rebecca as he