Free An Escapade and an Engagement by Annie Burrows Page A

only could she teach Milly how
to dress well, but she could turn her into the kind of woman he could take
anywhere.
    Lord Ledbury was waiting for them in the doorway to the box
he’d acquired. He greeted Lady Penrose before turning to her.
    ‘This is Miss Amelia Brigstock,’ she said, the second he
noticed who was standing beside her. ‘I do hope you don’t mind me bringing her
along? Only she is such a very good friend of mine.’
    The smile of welcome stayed on his lips, but to her surprise it
died from his eyes and the muscles in his jaw twitched as though he was grinding
his teeth.
    She watched in mounting bewilderment at the total lack of any
perceptible sign of softening from Lord Ledbury as Milly curtsied, and offered
her hand, and blushed prettily, exactly as any young lady just presented to such
an imposing aristocrat might have done.
    Having been as short with Milly as politeness would allow, he
then turned his attention back to her.
    ‘Permit me to introduce you to the other members of my party,’
he said.
    She felt very uncomfortable as she took his arm and allowed him
to lead her into the box. She couldn’t understand what she had done wrong. Why
had he not seemed pleased to see how well Milly could behave in polite company
after only a few lessons in etiquette? There had been a kind of suppressed
excitement about her, but she did not think anyone who did not know the whole
story would have been able to detect anything untoward in her demeanour. Why was
he not bursting with pride at her accomplishment?
    And then she wondered if she had been terribly insensitive. He
looked as though he was just barely keeping the lid on a seething cauldron of
various hurts and resentments at a time when he was still, to judge by the
pallor of his complexion, very far from well. The poor man had no idea that she
was trying to prove to him, and the world, that Milly could easily take her
place at his side, given a little instruction. Having her thrust under his nose
like this, when he clearly still believed he could never marry her, looked very
much as though she had twisted the knife in the wound, which was the very last
thing she’d wished to do.
    ‘You already know Beresford and his sister,’ he said as they
acknowledged her.
    Lucy was not behaving half so well as Milly. She was so excited
to be one of such a select party that it looked as though her brother was only
just preventing her from prostrating herself at Lord Ledbury’s feet.
    ‘And now I must introduce you to one of the few military men
still fortunate enough to be stationed in London,’ he said, ignoring the adoring
way Lucy was gazing at him. ‘Lieutenant Kendell.’
    Then Harry, who had been hovering in the shadows cast by the
pillars holding up the tiers of boxes, stepped forward, bowed smartly, and said,
‘Honoured to make your acquaintance.’
    Her stomach lurched. She found herself hoping, as she curtsied
and held out her own hand, that she was managing to conceal her reactions half
so well as Milly had just done, when Harry took her hand, tucked it into the
crook of his arm, and tugged her away from Lord Ledbury.
    ‘Allow me to help you to your seat,’ he said aloud. In her ear,
he murmured, ‘This is intolerable. He pursued me to the barracks. Now the devil
has me on such a short leash there is no way I can escape him. He will ruin me
if I step out of line.’
    Lord Ledbury clenched his fists as he saw Kendell bend down to
whisper in Lady Jayne’s ear. The system that sent good men off to die while
no-goods like this Kendell remained behind to prey on vulnerable heiresses was
monstrously unfair. Not that the boy would be much good on the battlefield, he
sneered. He wouldn’t want that handsome face bashed about, or his uniform
sullied.
    He indulged himself with a vision of striding across the box
and planting Kendell a facer to stop the man taking the chair next to Lady
Jayne’s. The fool! Could he not see that not only was he drawing