How Not To Marry An Earl. Christine Merrill

      ‘Not tonight, Dill.’

      ‘And servants dine below stairs,’ the maid said, stubbornly. ‘An auditor is a sort of a servant, isn’t it?’

      ‘He, Dill.’ The maid had a point. But employees occupied a place between servants and family. The way they were to be treated was likely situational and better decided by Grandmama, who was absent, just like her sisters.

      In the end, Charity decided to lie. ‘Mr Potts is a friend of the Earl as well as his auditor. He will be eating in the dining room, like a member of the family.’

      ‘Oh.’ Dill stared at her for a moment. ‘You don’t dress for family, either.’

      ‘But I am dressing tonight.’

      ‘Oh.’ Dill gave a nod and a grin that announced she had seen Mr Potts and had a theory about Miss Charity’s sudden interest in looking her best.

      ‘Grandmama would expect me to treat a representative of the new Earl with proper respect,’ Charity added. When the maid did not move from the doorway, Charity cocked her head in the direction of the wardrobe. ‘That is why I have summoned you to help me dress.’

      ‘Ah.’ The girl ambled towards the gowns and pulled two from their pegs. Both of them were brand new and with décolletage that Charity found slightly intimidating. Dill grinned again. ‘How much respect do you want to show ’im?’

      Charity took a deep breath, then pointed to the more modest of the two. ‘That one. And a shawl, I think.’

      Dill shook her head. ‘A shawl defeats the purpose. I will have the footmen build up the fire in the dining room. That and some pepper in the soup and you’ll be nice and warm.’

      ‘I suppose you are right,’ she said with a sigh. Though the dress would make her feel uncomfortably exposed, it was no worse than what the other girls in London were wearing.

      Of course, Mr Potts was not from London. America had been settled by Puritans. Perhaps he would be shocked by her. Or perhaps he would see through her ridiculous attempt to behave as other, normal girls did. Then he would laugh and dismiss her entirely. It would be a disaster, just as it had been in London, on those times she had followed her sisters’ advice and tried to mix in society.

      She sat quietly as Dill worked over her, afraid to look in the mirror, not wanting proof that she looked as awkward as she felt. It was not as if she needed to impress him. He worked for her family and would have to be polite, no matter how she acted. But whether he voiced it or not, he would have an opinion.

      She had escaped to the country because she could not abide the critical gazes and snide comments of the marriage mart, where men treated girls and horseflesh much the same. In both cases, they wanted an animal that was attractive, high-spirited. Then they put a bit in the mouth or a ring on the finger so that it could never think for itself again.

      ‘There, miss. All done.’ Dill stepped away, her hands falling to her sides, and added without a trace of irony, ‘And do not worry so. You will be the prettiest woman in the room.’

      ‘I will be the only woman in the room, Dill,’ she said, putting on her glasses and staring at her reflection. The results were…

      Passable. She looked as well as she ever did. She was displaying an unusual amount of skin, which men generally liked. But there seemed to be too much. A gown like this required jewels and she had none.

      Then a thought hit her and she smiled. ‘Dill, go to Grandmama’s room and bring back the case with the Comstock diamonds.’

      A decent maid might have questioned her right to wear the things, since they were reserved for the use of the Countess. But Dill was merely adequate and did not bat an eye. She simply returned with the box and placed them on the vanity. Then she pulled a set of ear-bobs from their place and hooked them into the ears that had been exposed by Charity’s carefully styled hair.

      ‘The necklace, as well, I think,’ Charity said, feeling oddly like she was a little girl again, playing dress up with Grandmama’s jewellery.

      ‘In for a penny, in for a pound,’ Dill answered, draping the heavy chain over her head until the teardrop-shaped lavalier fell in the hollow between her breasts.

      It was an excellent choice. But not for the reason her maid thought. It would give Potts something to look at, other than her. With a three-carat stone in front of him, he would have no reason to care whether the woman wearing it was pretty or not.

      And there could be no better way to assure the auditor that the entail was intact than to bring the Comstock diamonds out at the first opportunity. Once he had seen it, she could assure him that the rest of the parure was safe and accounted for. This, the most important item to be inventoried, could be checked off his list. And if he noticed that the stones she was wearing were paste?

      She would claim to be just as surprised as he was. Either way, she would be able to draw conclusions about his intelligence and observational abilities. It was information she could use against him later.

      She felt somewhat more confident about herself now that she had a plan. But it would not make the dinner any easier. Her stomach filled with nervous butterflies as she walked towards the stairs, only to see him coming down the hall on the opposite side of them.

      ‘Miss Strickland,’ he called. ‘Ahoy! Or perhaps, avast. I am not sure which is more appropriate in this case.’ He walked towards her with a cockeyed grin on his face, looking more appealing than she cared to notice.

      She smiled back at him. ‘Ahoy is meant to call my attention. Avast is a request that I stop. Which did you want?’

      His eyes swept her from head to toe, pausing for the briefest of instants to register the presence of the necklace. Then his gaze returned to her face, still smiling. ‘Both. I need an escort to the dining room. This house is not precisely a maze, but it is a long jaunt from end to end. I am likely to starve before the meal if left to my own devices.’ Then he held his arm out to her, as if he was about to lead her to the dining room.

      But not really. At dinners and balls, the men who took her arm were either assigned to the task by some sympathetic hostess or volunteered because they hoped to make a good impression on one of her sisters. As she walked with them, they did not pay attention to her, but glanced over their shoulders to be sure that someone else was observing their gallantry.

      But tonight, the man in front of her was focused solely on her, as if she was the prettiest girl in the room, just as Dill had said. Because they were alone. He was looking at her because there was nowhere else to look. There was nothing personal about it.

      ‘Miss Strickland?’ Now he was wondering at her hesitation.

      ‘Just thinking,’ she said, trying and failing to duplicate the light, flirtatious smile that her sisters used at times like this. But it was all wrong. She could not manage to look empty-headed while claiming to think. And now she could not decide how she was supposed to look, which must make her seem more dim-witted than thoughtful.

      If her shifting expression seemed odd to him, he did not indicate it. He simply continued to smile and guided her down the stairs.

       Chapter Five

      When they arrived in the dining room, Charity Strickland chose a seat halfway down the table and indicated the place opposite that was set for him. It seemed that the staff had ignored her change in rank as the only family member present and put her in her usual place instead of moving her closer to the head of the table. Even when they were not here, empty places had been left for her sisters.

      And for him, as well. The head of the table, where the Earl should be seated, had a place setting, but no chair. He could not help a small shiver of dread at the sight of it and the weird, undeserved respect that was offered to a supposed lord and saviour that none of them could recognise even when he was in the house with them.