Impetuous Innocent. Stephanie Laurens

in her eyes, Lady Winterspoon waved one hand in a negative gesture. “No, my dear. I can’t tell you much about them; I didn’t know them that well. I take it they’ve passed on?”

      Disappointed, Georgiana nodded. Bella promptly stepped in with their agreed explanation for her presence in Green Street. Lady Winterspoon’s shrewd eyes remained on Georgiana throughout Bella’s speech. Whether she accepted the story, neither young woman felt qualified to say.

      “Hmph!” was all the response she made.

      After a moment of silence, during which both Bella and Georgiana racked their brains to think of something to say, Lady Winterspoon commented, “Dare say you’ll make quite a hit. Not just in the common way. In the circumstances, not a bad thing to be.”

      Georgiana decided that was meant as a compliment. She smiled.

      Lady Winterspoon’s lips twitched. She turned purposefully to Bella. “But that’s not why I came. Bella, you’ve got to have a word with that brother of yours. Elaine Changley’s becoming entirely too much, with her airs and graces and subtle suggestions she’ll be the next Viscountess Alton.” Lady Winterspoon snorted.

      Bella frowned and bit her lip. She cast a slightly scandalised look Georgiana’s way. But Georgiana was too engrossed in Lady Winterspoon’s disclosures to notice.

      “If I thought there was any chance of it coming to pass, I’d insist Arthur break the connection. Elaine Changley! Why, she’s…” Amelia Winterspoon became aware of Georgiana’s clear hazel gaze. She broke off. “Well, you know what I mean,” she amended, glaring at Bella.

      Relieved at the opportune halt to her sister-in-law’s tirade, Bella gracefully seated herself on the sofa. “Amelia, you know I have no influence whatever with Dominic.”

      “Pshaw! You’d have influence enough if you chose to use it!”

      Bella coloured slightly. “I assure you I share your concern about Lady Changley, but mentioning her to Dominic is entirely beyond me.”

      “Well, Elaine Changley is beyond the pale! Just bear that in mind. You’ll look no-how if you wake up one morning to find her your sister-in-law.”

      Lady Winterspoon heaved herself up. “Must go. Just wanted to let you know things need a bit of push from you.” She fixed her grey gaze firmly on Bella.

      Despite her annoyance, Bella could not help grinning back. She rose.

      Lady Winterspoon paused to nod to Georgiana. “I’ll see you at Almack’s, my dear.” She turned to Bella. “I’ll get Emily to send you vouchers.”

      “Thank you,” said Bella, taken aback. She had forgotten Amelia had the ear of several of the patronesses of Almack’s. She went out with Lady Winterspoon.

      Minutes later, returning to the back parlour, Bella found Georgiana staring into space. She shut the door with a click, jolting her guest to attention. “Well!” she said, with determined brightness. “Vouchers for Almack’s without even having to charm one of the patronesses. We’ll go just as soon as Lady Cowper sends them.”

      “Yes, of course,” said Georgiana. But it was plain to Bella that her friend was absorbed in distant thoughts…thoughts she made no move to share.

       Chapter Three

      BELLA HEARD the door of her boudoir open and shut, but, absorbed in brushing the haresfoot delicately over her cheekbones, she did not turn around. In her mirror, she saw Hills obediently drop a curtsy and leave. Finally, satisfied with her appearance, she swung about. “Arthur—Oh! Dominic!”

      She was out of her chair and across the room on the word.

      Half laughing, half frowning, Dominic held her off. “No! Compose yourself, you hoyden. What will staid Arthur think? And I can’t have you ruining my cravat as you did the last time.”

      So Bella had to make do with clasping his hands. “Oh, thank you, dearest Dominic, for sending Georgie to me! We’re having such a wonderful time!” She drew him down to plant a sisterly kiss on one lean cheek.

      Dominic suffered the embrace, using the moment to cast a knowledgeable eye over his sister. “So you and Miss Hartley have hit it off?”

      “Famously!” Bella sat with a swirl of her satin skirts. “But whoever would have thought you’d…?” She broke off, biting her lip.

      Dominic’s black brows rose. There was a disconcerting glint in his eye, but his voice was gentle when he softly prompted, “I’d…?”

      Bella flushed and turned back to her dressing-table, skirts rustling, and busied herself with a pot of rouge. She refused to meet his eye. “That you’d behave so uncommonly sensible, if you must know. From everything I’ve heard, it must be the first time in weeks!”

      “Weeks?” The arrogant black brows rose again. Dominic considered the point for all of ten seconds. “Feels more like years.”

      Bella, surprised by his weary tone, chanced a glance at him in the mirror. He raised his head at that moment, and she was caught in his chilly blue gaze. “That aside, dear sister mine, you would be well advised not to listen to gossip—about myself, or anyone else, for that matter.”

      Eyes wide, Bella knew better than to remonstrate. Dominic was ten years her senior and had been the strictest of guardians in the years preceding her marriage. She half expected some more pointed rebuke, but he turned aside, a far-away look settling over his handsome face. To her, that pensive look was far more frightening than Amelia’s bluster. Surely he wasn’t serious about Elaine Changley?

      She waited, but he made no further remark. Finally she asked, “Will you stay for dinner?”

      He looked up.

      Bella fidgeted with her hairbrush. “Georgie and I are going on to Almack’s later, so you needn’t fear you’ll have to kick your heels in my drawing-room.”

      Her tone brought a smile to her brother’s face, dispelling the withdrawn look which had so concerned her. Still, she was sure he would refuse.

      Instead, after a moment’s hesitation, she heard him murmur, “Why not?”

      As it seemed a purely rhetorical question, Bella made no attempt to answer it.

      Dominic shrugged, then turned his sweetest smile full on her. “Since you ask, dear sister, I’ll stay. It might be interesting to meet my…your protégée.”

      As Bella reached for the bell-pull to summon Hills, Dominic surveyed a nearby chair through his quizzing-glass. Reassured, he carefully disposed his long limbs in the delicate piece.

      “So how came you to get vouchers for the Marriage Mart so soon?”

      “Well! It was the most fortunate thing!” Bella seized on the question to lead the conversation on to lighter ground, hoping her intrusion into her brother’s private life would be the quicker forgotten. Dominic had never allowed her any speculation on the possible candidates for the position of Viscountess Alton. And she had long ago learned that any mention of his mistresses, past, present or potential, was sure to invite one of his more painful set-downs. Still, after Amelia’s warning, and her own unfortunate gaffe, she had felt justified in at least trying to broach the subject.

      While Hills informed Johnson of the necessity of setting an extra place and returned to twist her hair into an elegant knot, Bella described the recent history of Georgiana Hartley. As she prattled, she watched her brother’s face in the mirror. He sat quietly studying his nails, paying scant attention to her words. His lack of interest worried her. She had hardly expected him to be seriously concerned with Georgiana. After all, he had barely met her and she was certainly not the sort of woman to hold his attention. But his introspection was unusual and disquieting, suggesting as it did the existence of some weightier matter dragging on his mind. Like matrimony. But surely, surely, he wouldn’t choose Elaine Changley?

      It