To Catch A Suitor (Dalton Family 2)

Carver looked like he had a sally on the tip of his tongue but the door to the carriage opened and a footman waited to assist them down. It was then that Elizabeth noticed Lord Hastings and his family lined up in front of the home, waiting to watch her trip out of the carriage. Because she was certain from the way her legs suddenly felt wobbly and unsure of themselves she was going to end this scene by crashing onto the gravel below.

She had never felt nervous around Lord Hastings before. And, even now, she wasn’t sure if the nerves she was feeling were because she was going to see Lord Hastings and meeting his family, or because she was afraid she was making a terrible mistake.

No. Not a mistake. She would be lucky to have Lord Hastings—Wesley—offer his hand in marriage.

“Lady Elizabeth,” said Lord Hastings after Elizabeth had exited the carriage and miraculously managed to not fall on her face. His smile was different from any Elizabeth had ever seen before on his face. It was unrestrained and…genuinely excited. It gave her a flicker of hope. “I trust you had a pleasant journey?”

Well. If he thought that trying to avoid catching glimpses of one’s brother making inappropriate eyes at his new bride for several hours was pleasant then, yes, it had been extremely pleasant.

“It was a lovely journey.” Perhaps one day she would feel comfortable enough with him to tell him what was really in her thoughts instead of just polite answers.

“I’m glad to hear it.” He continued to exchange pleasantries with Carver and Rose and then his eyes were back on her, and she was painfully aware of his family watching from only a few paces away. He noticed Elizabeth’s glance their way and grinned. “Allow me to introduce all of you to my family.” He leaned in slightly toward Elizabeth so that only she could hear him. “Mama is beyond excited to finally meet you.”

Mama was most definitely excited to meet her. The woman’s face bloomed when Elizabeth was introduced. Lady Hastings's already rosy cheeks turned two shades deeper with excitement as she began lavishing compliment after compliment on Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s hair was ravishing. Her smile was dazzling. And, oh my, how elegant Elizabeth was!

Elizabeth had been expecting the stoic Lord Hastings's mother to be very like him in temperament. She could not have been more wrong. The dowager Lady Hastings, was the exact definition of motherly. She was neither tall nor lean, and she wore a frilly lace cap on her head. The woman was positively lovely. Lady Hastings was warm and inviting and just the sort of mother that Elizabeth was sure possessed a concoction for curing any illness known to man. Doting mothers were always proud of their ability to heal a headache.

The point was, Lady Hastings was nice. And that made Elizabeth feel a little guilty. She was not standing there admiring the lady’s son—the man who would more than likely propose to her soon—but she was thinking about Oliver. Wondering what he was doing at that moment? Did he go to White’s for breakfast that morning? Or did he skip and take a ride in the park? If he skipped White’s, that meant he had skipped his morning coffee, which then meant he would be ailing from a headache by that time in the day.

Elizabeth finally shook her thoughts of Oliver and focused on meeting the rest of the family and greeting Lord Hastings’s younger sister, Lady Olivia, once again. They were all kind. Welcoming. But none of them sparked any particular feelings of joy or excitement in Elizabeth. Which also made her feel guilty. Shouldn’t she be filled with the desire to get to know the members of a family that might become hers?

Thankfully, Lady Hastings insisted that they all be given time to settle in and recover from their exhausting journey. Those words almost made Elizabeth laugh on the spot. She never understood why anyone would find sitting in a closed carriage for most of the day exhausting. If anything, it was an exhausting trial just forcing herself to sit there and do nothing.

After Elizabeth was shown her room, she absolutely could not bring herself to lie on her bed and spend the rest of the day motionless. With the help of a sweet maid who had been assigned to attend to her over the course of her stay, Elizabeth changed out of her traveling clothes into a blue walking dress with yellow flowers embroidered across the bodice, and slipped out of her room.

She should be used to enormous homes. But this one felt different. It was foreign and imposing and everything seemed to be made of stone. It felt a little cold. Or perhaps she was just projecting her own feelings onto the house.

Elizabeth wandered around a bit, until she heard laughing echoing from a room down a long corridor. She paused outside the door, and was surprised to find Lord Hastings hunched over a chessboard across from his youngest sister, Lady Georgia, whom Elizabeth knew to be thirteen years old.

“You’ve gotten better since we last played,” he said, sounding impressed.

“Well, that could be because you haven’t played chess with me since I was eight years old.”

He chuckled, and Elizabeth was relieved to say she enjoyed the sound. And also the way his brown hair was falling across his brow. “That could be it.” He paused a moment. “I’m sorry I haven’t been home more often, Georgia.”

Elizabeth looked away, feeling that the conversation had suddenly become too personal for her to observe.

However, if she was contemplating marrying the man, shouldn’t she be allowed to get an inside look on what he was like before Papa signed the marriage contract? Elizabeth sank beside the door so she could still listen but wouldn’t be seen. Eavesdropping was a slightly unsavory thing to do but, apparently, she was getting a lot of practice, and had perhaps become good at it. She would deal with the guilt later.

“I’m sorry for that, too. We’ve missed having you around,” said Lady Georgia, moving a chess piece across the board.

“Well, if things go as planned, I believe I will be home much more often in the future.”

“Does this mean you do intend to propose to Lady Elizabeth, then?”

Elizabeth held her breath and leaned a little closer to the door.

“I’m not sure I should actually be telling you this but…yes. I do plan to propose while she is here. And since she prefers the country to Town, I believe we will reside here for the majority of the year.”

Was it bad for a person to go from perfectly well one moment to seeing stars the next? And that whooshing sound in her ears, was it normal? And, oh no…she felt as if she couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. She put her hands up on her neck as if that would help her grasp the air she needed.

“Checkmate,” said Georgia, signaling the end of their game.

Chair legs scraped against the ground. Blast. They were coming.

Elizabeth looked around quickly knowing it would be terrible to be caught lurking outside a room where Lord Hastings had just admitted to his plans of a proposal. Elizabeth practically dove into a room adjacent to her. She pressed her back to a wall of the empty music room and waited, holding her breath, until she heard the clicking of Lord Hastings's boots and the swishing of Lady Georgia’s skirts fade down the hallway.

A breath rushed from her mouth and her legs felt weak.