Strands of hair had escaped her coiffure, tickling the creamy skin on her neck. She sat perfectly still during the ceremony, a slight smile on her face. Was she thinking about a wedding of her own?
Soon the ceremony ended, and the guests formed a line to congratulate the bride and groom, then find their way to the church hall for the wedding breakfast. He hated to admit that he was quite pleasantly surprised when he entered the hall and found Miss Mallory and her two friends also there. Since he had spent time with her the other night going through bulletins, he felt comfortable approaching her.
After speaking with family members and brushing off their questions and suggestions about Michael, he wandered in the ladies’ direction.
“Good afternoon, Miss Mallory. Ladies.” He bowed slightly at the three women. Miss Mallory’s cheeks turned a rather sweet shade of pink when her two companions turned to her with raised eyebrows.
“Good afternoon, my lord.” She addressed her two friends. “Ladies, may I make known to you Lord Berkshire.” Both ladies offered a short curtsey.
“My lord, may I present Miss Charlotte Danvers, and Lady Pamela Manning.”
Grayson smiled in Lady Pamela’s direction. “May I offer my congratulations on a wonderful performance at the ceremony. You truly have a lovely voice.”
“T-t-thank you, my l-l-lord. I admit I w-w-was quite n-n-nervous.” Lady Pamela flushed and patted her damp upper lip with her handkerchief. He ignored her stuttering, appreciating her performance even more. It amazed him that someone with that affliction could sing and never miss a note.
He shook his head. “No reason to be. You did a capital job.”
“You certainly did, Pamela.” Miss Mallory hugged the young woman, looking at him over her shoulder. “Thank you,” she mouthed.
“Are you friends with the groom, my lord?” Lottie asked him.
“Miss Shepherd, or rather Mrs. Calvert now, is my cousin.”
“There you are, Grayson. Have you been hiding on me?” Grayson groaned inwardly as his Aunt Mary made her way through the crowd, thumping her cane hard enough to put a hole in the floor.
“Good afternoon, Aunt. It is so nice to see you.”
She hmphed and banged her cane again, barely missing Grayson’s foot. “Not only are you hiding from me, but now you’re lying to me as well. No one is ever happy to see me. One of the benefits of being old is you can make many people uncomfortable and not care because they have to keep being nice to you in case they are in your will.”
She used her cane to point in the direction of the three women. “Who are these ladies?”
Of all the people who he would be forced to deal with this day, Aunt Mary was perhaps the least difficult. Although she was abrupt and what some would call gruff and snappish, she had always been his champion.
As a child, he had spent every summer with her while his parents traveled. During the other months, he was away at school. This meant he saw his parents for about a half day, once a year. Christmas morning at their enormous estate in Shire County they would all gather in the drawing room and exchange gifts, then Mother and Father would kiss him goodbye and head to London to make the rounds of fashionable Christmas parties.
He would eat his Christmas dinner with the staff in the kitchen, who doted on him and gave him the gifts he really wanted instead of the expensive ones his parents had brought for a child they barely knew.
“May I make known to you Miss Mallory, Miss Danvers, and Lady Pamela?” He gestured toward his aunt. “And may I present my Aunt, Lady Witherspoon?”
The three ladies offered curtsies, causing his aunt to smile. Something that didn’t happen all that often. “Such lovely young ladies.” She poked Grayson on the arm. “You should grab one of them. It’s time you put that nonsense with Margaret behind you and married again.” She thumped her cane once more. “You need a mother for your boy. Someone else to see to the child’s best interests, and fight on his side against your greedy relatives.”
Grayson glanced sideways at the three ladies, grateful that they were talking softly among themselves, but still not sure if they were listening to Aunt Mary. “Aunt, this is not the time or place to discuss this.”
“Ha! You must come for tea the next time you are in London. Send word when you will be available, since I know you will complain that you are much too busy to spend time with your aged aunt.” She started to move away and pointed her cane at him again. “Tea is served at precisely three o’clock. Do not be late. And bring your little boy. He reminds me of you.”
The three women stopped their conversation, which led him to believe they had heard every word Aunt Mary had said since they knew it had ended. He cleared his throat. “May I escort you to one of the tables? I believe the meal is about to begin.”
He extended his arm to Miss Mallory, the other two ladies following behind them. He noticed the smirks her friends cast in her direction and the slight blush again on Miss Mallory’s face.
He was truly fascinated by the woman. She was obviously a lady, most likely a member of the ton. Why was someone like her unmarried and the owner of a bookstore in Bath?
Why did he care was the better question.
Chapter Three
Addie’s face would most likely be perpetually red if Lord Berkshire did not stop paying attention to her. The man flustered her, and she had no idea why. Well, not being stupid, there was one little thought way in the back of her mind that he might be attracted to her, but she squelched that right away as ridiculous and foolhardy.
She’d had six years to attract a suitor and failed. Miserably. Now that her life was exactly as she wanted it, a suitor would appear? Of course not. Fate would not be that unkind. That was why his attention was definitely not romantic.