A Sense of Propriety

Chapter 21

Lady Midrake remembered that first day they returned to London when she had suggested he settle with a lady. Although she had been insinuating a proposal to Alicia, any other noblewoman would have sufficed.

I do not wish to marry someone from the city.

Those had been his words, and she had come to a few conclusions from it. He was not against the thought of marriage, but he refused to marry someone from the city, which meant that he may have found someone already. Who she thought he was referring to made her boil with indignation.

She may be a superficial woman, but she certainly was not a lady of rudimentary intelligence.

So, she straightened her shoulders and continued with confidence, "But I will be the first to know. He may be the Marquis, but I am still his mother and know what is best for him."

"What is best for him?" Cordelia finally spoke, and her fingers curled around the reins when the older woman's eyes locked on her.

"Not tying himself down to a good-for-nothing girl for a start," she snapped back, and Cordelia winced at the accusatory tone. The Dowager attempted to hide her harsh tone from the rest of the party by shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "No matter. He has more sense than that, anyway. He would never be caught dead with the likes of a country mouse who pretends that she is something more than she truly is. I am certain you have heard similar words from your father, Miss Sutton. He knew his place in society very well."

Each syllable of her words felt like a whip to Cordelia's back, and she felt the unusual burning sensation pressing against her eyes. She looked at the Dowager and noticed the dark intent in her equally dark gaze.

She realized what the lady was doing, and knew the objective behind her choice of words. But Cordelia knew attempting to defend herself would not help her at all. For if she tried, she would only place herself in greater danger of ridicule by letting her past be known.

Alicia, who had been listening to the interaction closely, frowned at the Dowager's words, and she glanced between the two of them, noting the fearsome gaze of the woman and the pale complexion of her friend.

"Did you . . . know Cordelia's father?"

The Dowager's thin lips quirked in a sarcastic smile. "No, but my agent was very well acquainted with him."

Perplexity grew on Alicia's face, and she looked as if she wished to enquire more on the topic, but the approaching sound of horses forced all of the ladies' attention to turn to the riders who had returned. All three stallions were soaked, white foam gathering about their necks and legs. Their riders looked in just as much disarray with untidy cravats and mud splashes on their boots.

"And what is the verdict, gentlemen?" Lady Topham asked in a rather hasty tone, attempting to divert the attention from the current topic of conversation.

The Marquis, though windswept, did not appear boastful or upset as he approached them, but the Viscount was most upset, his cheeks dark with rage.

"It is only because I was on an unfamiliar horse! Midrake had the advantage as he always seems to have," he exclaimed, the bitterness of his countenance placing a lemon to shame.

Lord Midrake turned to him. "Then invite me to your estate, and we shall race again on the horses of your choice," he stated with a confidence very few could attain.

The Viscount puffed his cheeks and turned his head sharply in the opposite direction, before jabbing his heels into the horse's sides, forcing it to canter away from them. As he did so, Cordelia felt that he was behaving like a petulant child, and she found her opinion of him growing less and less favourable.