Free Miss Delacourt Has Her Day by Heidi Ashworth Page A

worse than the trouble stirred up by Lady Derby, and I fear it is all my fault.”
    Anthony was alarmed by his grandmother’s tone. He had never seen her like this, tired and vulnerable, old, even. He sat next to her and put an arm about her shoulders. “Whatever it is that has happened, dearest, we shall all come about”
    “Oh, my boy, my precious boy, I fear not!” she cried, her lips trembling.
    “Grandmama, you are crying!”
    “Impossible!” she said, pushing him away. “Now, just… you must go to her, Anthony. Comfort her as an old lady cannot”

    He hesitated to leave Grandmama in such a state, but the way he was being swatted and pushed toward the door left him in little doubt of her wishes. As he dreaded outlining to her the details of his conversation with his uncle, the duke, only an hour previous, he was more than a bit relieved to get away and decided he would write to her the odious news in a note to be delivered via the post as soon as the moment presented itself. No doubt his uncle would do so, as well.
    He went downstairs and out toward the tiny garden with an ever-increasing feeling of dread. First his uncle the duke had turned on him, then his mother, and now Grandmama. What sort of family had he invited Ginny to join? If she were wise, she would run screaming into the wilderness before becoming a Crenshaw. Instead, she was waiting where he had last seen her, glowing in a patch of sunshine.
    “I was beginning to think I was wrong, that you would never find me,” she said with a misty smile.
    Dropping to the bench beside her, he gathered her into his arms. “My poor girl! Has it been as bad as all that?”
    Ginny gave a watery chuckle and leaned back out of his embrace. “Your grandmama is no doubt watching,” she warned, looking up at the window where he had so recently stood. “She is already worked up over something, and I would hate to give her reason to have you thrown bodily from the house”
    “That kind old woman?” Anthony quipped. If Ginny’s news proved to be anywhere near as bad as his, this could be his last chance at levity. “Why, she’s naught but an old softy! Had her reduced to tears, I did!”
    “Grandaunt, weeping?” Ginny exclaimed with unaccountable pleasure. “Whatever did you say to her?”
    “Merely that I could not wait to take you home to Dunsmere and make you my bride,” he replied, carrying her hand to his lips. He waited, breathless, for the blush that would surely follow and nearly crowed in delight when she obliged him.
    “Anthony,” Ginny scolded, “surely you didn’t! And even if you had, she would more likely have rapped you over the head than weep”

    He laughed. “You are right, of course, as always. Actually, I thought perhaps you would know far better than I what has reduced her to tears,” he prompted, folding her hand into his own and giving it a squeeze.
    “I’m afraid it was your mother,” Ginny said with a sigh. “She was just here, and there was a bit of a row.”
    “Between m’ mother and Grandmama?” Anthony asked, surprised. “How I wish I had been present to witness that!”
    “No, you most assuredly do not! It was quite horrid. Lady Crenshaw called me a guttersnipe, and Grandaunt took great exception to that”
    Anthony was astounded. “Surely you jest!”
    “Why would I jest about such a thing?” Ginny snapped. Pulling her hand from his grasp, she stood and turned her back to him. “Your mother believes our engagement is at an end, and Grandaunt is persuaded it was she who made it so”
    Anthony shot to his feet. “Grandmama did what?” The words that came next to his tongue were more eloquent, but as he didn’t wish to blister the ears of his beloved, he bit his lip.
    “I’m afraid she might be correct,” Ginny said through what sounded like tears. “Grandaunt felt truly insulted and was quite adamant that, as a result of Lady Crenshaw’s rudeness, I should not wish to take the name of Crenshaw.”
    “I