Free The Chocolate Debutante by M. C. Beaton Page B

Jeynes watched them enter the ballroom together. So that was Dangerfield’s interest! His brain began to work busily. He still wanted revenge on Dangerfield because of that old humiliation, and perhaps if he thought hard, he could get at him through Miss Susan Colville.
     
    Harriet dressed very carefully in preparation for calls the following day. Surely Dangerfield would come in person. It was the custom for gentlemen to make calls on the ladies they had danced with the night before. On the other hand, some of them contented themselves with sending a servant with a card.
     
    She tried to put the earl out of her mind. He could not be interested in her. Susan looked the image of his Griselda. Therefore it followed that he meant to get her to favor him so that she would accept his suit when he asked her permission to pay his addresses to her niece.
     
    She went to Susan’s bedchamber, where the maid was brushing the girl’s hair. “Susan,” she said, sitting down next to her, “are you interested in Lord Dangerfield?”
     
    “I am not really interested in anyone, Aunt. I thought Mr. Courtney was pleasant but such a rabbit. I asked him to get me some of that centerpiece and he would not.”
     
    “That was not the act of a rabbit, that was the act of a gentleman.” Harriet sounded every bit as exasperated as she felt. “Thanks to Lord Dangerfield’s quick wits, remnants of the centerpiece were found in the fireplace and the act was blamed on some young bucks who had had too much to drink and fortunately could not remember exactly what they had been doing. Susan, if you get a reputation for being greedy, then no beauty of yours will make you appear attractive. No more chocolates or sweetmeats. The servants have been told not to buy you any. I want your pin money… now!”
     
    “But how can I enjoy myself without sugar plums?”
     
    “Very easily. Now, hurry and make ready. Our callers should be arriving soon.”
     
    Susan surrendered her pin money. “Dangerfield is already weary of London and has decided not to get married after all,” she said. A shadow passed over Harriet’s face. Susan felt slightly guilty at having hurt her, for she was sure her aunt was attracted by the earl, but Aunt Harriet deserved to be punished a little for having cut off the supply of sweets, and after all, she had only repeated what the earl himself had said.
     
    So when Lord Dangerfield arrived, it was to find Harriet’s drawing room full of gentlemen callers and to be welcomed by a very subdued Harriet, who did not pay him any particular attention. He felt offended. He deserved better than this. Had he not rescued Susan from disgrace? And so he flirted amiably with Susan and stayed only for ten minutes before taking his leave.
     
    Every bit of Harriet’s body was aware of his departure. She continued to smile and talk and pour tea. And all the while she thought how she had so recently looked forward to returning to her old life when the Season was over.
     
    After the callers had left, she felt all she wanted to do was lie down with a cologne-soaked towel on her forehead and forget about the earl, the Season, and Susan, but her butler entered and said, “Sir Thomas Jeynes to see you, madam.”
     
    “We are not at home.”
     
    The butler bowed and left. He returned after a few minutes and said apologetically, “Sir Thomas knows you are at home, madam, and humbly begs a chance to offer his apologies.”
     
    Harriet was suddenly too weary to argue. “Send him up.”
     
    Sir Thomas entered the drawing room bearing a large bouquet of flowers. He had wondered whether to bring a large box of chocolates for Susan but had decided that after the girl’s eating of the centerpiece such a present would not be welcome. He bowed low.
     
    “Miss Tremayne, I am come to offer you my humble apologies for having encouraged your niece in the folly of eating the centerpiece. But she begged so prettily. Do not look daggers at me,