A Proper Companion Read Online Free PDF

treats the housemaids with kindness, they
suspect she is a queen."
    "Well, then, they would truly be shocked to leam how
a real queen behaves, would they not?"
    "I would not know, milord," Luckett said with a
sniff.
    "Hmm. Well, it seems we have a mystery, Luckett,"
Robert said, stroking his chin. "Perhaps Bath will not be so dull
after all."
     
     
     
     

Chapter 3

A short time later Robert, wrapped in his blue silk
dressing gown, sat at a fall-front secretaire and penned a note to
Augusta and her parents explaining his absence and sending his
regrets that he could not escort Augusta to those dinners and routs
to which they had been expected. This would not please Lady
Windhurst, he knew. He tried to smooth over this obstacle by
mentioning the dowager's intention of holding an engagement ball.
This bit of news should send Lady Windhurst into high alt. The
dowager countess was well known and respected in the beau
monde and had many friends of high rank who could be expected
to attend her ball.
    After sealing and franking the letter to Augusta,
Robert sat absently trimming the quill as he pondered the
engagement ball. He suspected his grandmother had hidden motives,
and the ball was merely a ruse to get to London and meddle in his
affairs. No, that was not fair. Lady Bradleigh had never actually
interfered in his life. In fact, he was often grateful that his
grandmother was not one of those managing females who made it her
business to find him a wife, despite his increasing age and his
obligation to the succession. He had seen several friends over the
years succumb to the machinations of mothers, aunts, sisters, or
grandmothers who continually threw eligible young misses in their
paths. It was almost like a game with these women, and he was happy
that the two most significant women in his life, his grandmother
and his sister, were content to leave him to his own devices. It
seemed they were satisfied to have his respectable cousin Simon
continue as the heir apparent. Robert was fond of Simon and knew he
would be a worthy successor to the earldom. But as he grew older he
was forced to admit that he would much prefer a son of his own to
inherit the title. Hence his recent betrothal.
    Robert had no trouble picturing the beautiful and
coolly elegant Miss Windhurst in the role of his countess. He
dismissed the egregious Lady Windhurst as an insignificant burden,
since he had no intention of allowing her to live in his pocket. He
would remove Augusta to his seat in Derbyshire away from the
persistent prattling of her mother, which he secretly suspected
Augusta would appreciate. He did not fool himself that he was in
love with Augusta. Nor she with him. But he was sure that they
would rub along well enough together, and that she would provide
him with beautiful children. What sort of a mother would she make?
he wondered. Would their children be able to warm her cool and
distant nature? Would he?
    Robert forced himself to cease his woolgathering and
dress for dinner. His grandmother had a marvelous French chef who
could always be counted on to provide extraordinary culinary
delights. He was certain that the dowager would insist on bringing
Anatole to Bradleigh House, and he began to ponder the inevitable
battles in the kitchen with his own cook.
    Later that evening Robert made his way downstairs to
the drawing room, after having been fussed over by the fastidious
Luckett. He wasn't totally indifferent to his appearance, but he
was not obsessive about it, as was his valet. For Luckett it was a
matter of honor that his master be turned out in distinction.
Fortunately for Robert, Luckett was an advocate of the Brummel
school of simplicity and elegance. He would not have been nearly so
indulgent of a valet who attempted to turn him out in dandified
extravagance. As it was, Robert simply trusted Luckett to see to it
that he was appropriately attired, and paid little more attention
to the matter. He could not even boast of tying his own