Debutantes Don’t Date (11 page)

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. Why is she here? She didn’t come on any
boat, she never had a chaperone at that ball and she has no maid. Her speech is like
none I have heard before and she doesn’t fit in. She doesn’t show any etiquette whatsoever.
Her behaviour is shocking, her story doesn’t make sense and now I’m wondering what
I’ve got myself into! Is she after my money? My title? Victoria, please, I know you
know, just tell me.” Jasper stood and started pacing the room. He seemed to do a lot
of pacing lately.

“Jasper, sit down. It’s all easily explained.” Victoria once again clasped her hands
in her lap. “I made up the story about the boat and the fire. But think for a moment
if you will on how her father left this country. He didn’t have a penny to his name
when he boarded the ship. Do you think he made a fortune in America? More than likely
not. He got married. He had a family. He died. His remaining daughter travelled here
with nothing, but didn’t want to appear as though she had nothing. She came to the
ball in hopes to meet her grandfather, but by the time she arrived, he had already
left. She tried to stay out of the way, but then she tripped and fell under the table.
Imagine her mortification, Jasper. Imagine yourself in her shoes for a moment. She
didn’t know
anyone
, how she even got through the doors without anyone questioning her is beyond me,
but she did. She asked me not to tell the truth about her situation so I said the
first thing that came to mind. I didn’t wish to embarrass the poor girl further.

“But you rescued her. You saved her from certain humiliation. No wonder she behaved
as she did in the alcove. No wonder she panicked in the library when we questioned
her. But she is a good woman, Jasper. She comes from good bloodlines and other than
her grandfather, she has no one, except us.

“But the question is, Jasper, what do you want? The girl can easily be sent away if
you like. Lord Lancaster seems quite taken with her. I’m sure now she has a place
to go, she would agree to call off the wedding. You could still marry Lady Anne if
you desire to do so.”

Jasper finally stopped pacing and sat back in the chair with his head in his hands.
The thought of not seeing Grace again left him breathless. He could too easily picture
her in his bed on their wedding night and every night thereafter.

“It’s up to you, Jasper; your fate is for you to decide.” Victoria patted him on the
shoulder and left the room. It was some time later before he made his way to his own
residence.

Chapter Twelve

He tried to cure his infatuation of Grace at Mme Demetri’s, but when it came to the
time to do the deed, he found he didn’t want anyone but Grace. So for the first week
after he returned to London without Grace, Jasper spent as much time as he could keeping
busy. He met with the minister again regarding the ceremony and called in at the jeweller’s
about the rings. He closed two deals with the bank, ensuring a major investor joined
the company. But since then he couldn’t find anything else to do and had been spending
most of his days at his club enjoying its fine brandy…and scotch whiskey and pretty
much anything else the butler cared to bring him.

He wasn’t surprised to see Philip walk through the door. He admitted to himself if
it was Philip who’d disappeared for six days, he too would look for his friend here.
It wasn’t that great a hiding spot after all, everyone knew where it was and it wasn’t
as though he was keeping a low profile in here either, sitting in plain view of the
entrance.

“Thought I’d find you here,” his friend said as he approached his table. “Your sister
is getting worried about you. She sent over a footman this morning, wondering if I’d
seen you around. I didn’t tell her where I’d thought you’d be but I did say you were
fine.” Philip reached over and poured whiskey into his own glass. “You are fine, aren’t
you?” Philip sank into the chair opposite his and stuck his feet on the ottoman between
them.

Jasper always loved the comfort of White’s. The leather armchairs and ottomans, not
to mention the whiskey. He gazed into his glass before raising it to his lips. Ah
yes, the whiskey.

“Pull yourself together, man.” Philip reached over and took the glass from Jasper’s
hand. “She’ll come back. The wedding is in a few weeks, she has to return for that.”

“What if she doesn’t? What do I do then, eh Phil?” His eyes hurt and he could hear
the slur in his own voice and knew he was spending too much time in his club, but
without Grace around what was the point to doing anything else?

Philip put his drink down without even taking a sip. “Come on, I’ll take you home
and get you a coffee. You don’t suppose your cook has any of those apricot tarts I
love, do you?”

Jasper allowed himself to be led out the door and into his friend’s carriage. Philip
was right, it was time to pull himself together. Just as soon as his belly settled
down.

“Ah, Philip?” He opened his mouth to say he needed Philip to stop the carriage, but
instead of words a week’s worth of fine liquor came out all over Philip’s velvet interior.

Grace sat by the fire and talked to Grandpapa. He told her about her ‘father’ as he
was growing up and she talked about her life back home. She tried not to make any
references to technology or modern life, but she constantly slipped up.

“When I first moved to my own apartment, Dad…”

“What? You lived alone?” Grandpapa interrupted.

“Oh, um, yes. Lots of American women live by themselves,” she recovered quickly. “Anyway,
Dad brought over pizza and…”

“Pizza? I’m not familiar with that term.”

“Oh, it’s a food the Italians make.”

“Italians? Bah, I’ve never heard of it.”

“Umm, hasn’t it been invented yet?” Oops, she shouldn’t have said that.

“What’s that?”

“I said, I didn’t intend that.” Grace grimaced at her attempt to smooth over her slip.

“You’re making no sense, girl!” He grumped and shifted in his chair. “Would you fancy
a game of chess instead?”

Grace breathed a sigh of relief; she’d never played the game before so hopefully Grandpapa
would be too busy explaining the rules to question her any further.

She found it exhausting monitoring her speech, but at least the evenings were entertaining.
She always looked forward to them. They were invited to a different home almost every
night for dinner. Her social calendar had never been so busy. She enjoyed visiting
his neighbours and finding out who her grandfather really was.

It was clear to her all the elderly ladies in the district absolutely loved Carl Lancaster;
but none more so than Mrs Williamson. That little old lady would fight tooth and nail
to sit next to him at every dinner party. Grace learned from her first hostess that
Mrs Williamson was a widow of twelve years and had spent eleven years and ten months
of that time trying to get her grandfather’s attention.

“He doesn’t notice though. He smiles and flirts with all the ladies, but he just hasn’t
been the same since he lost his boys and doesn’t really put his heart into winning
a lady friend. Since you’ve been here though, he seems almost like his old self again.”
The elderly lady smiled at Grace with real caring. “I’m glad you’ve come, dear. You’re
just what he needs.”

It was with a sad heart that Grace watched a maid pack her bags. She knew she needed
to go back to London. Talking with Grandpapa everyday about her home had reaffirmed
the fact that she needed family in her life. But she also knew she didn’t fit in around
here. She was bored out of her mind. She was used to working twelve to sixteen hours
a day, and sitting in front of a fire playing chess every day was beginning to annoy
her.

She knew if she was ever going to find her way back to 2014 again, the answer lay
in London. And if she couldn’t find her way home, she had better smooth things over
with Jasper. He hadn’t been pleased with her when he left.

But the very thought of leaving her newfound Grandpapa behind in the country filled
her with pain equivalent to when her family was killed. It was only after receiving
a promise from him to come to London before the wedding that she was able to climb
into his carriage and wave goodbye only three weeks after having met the only grandfather
she’d ever know again.

Chapter Thirteen

It was with a combination of joy and trepidation that Grace returned to the Harrison
townhouse. She hoped she would still be welcome at their residence.

Hoskins opened the door before Grandpapa’s footman could open the carriage door for
her. By the time her feet hit the ground Victoria was on the step to greet her. Tears
pricked Grace’s eyes. It felt like coming home, especially when Victoria enveloped
her in a warm welcoming hug, and her nerves melted away.

“I’m so glad you came back to us, Grace,” Victoria said as she released her.

“Thank you, it’s so good to be back.” Grace paused a moment. “Are you sure you should
be hugging me on the front step where everyone can see?” She looked over her shoulder
to see if anyone had noticed.

Victoria laughed. “Oh Grace, you are comical. Come, let us go inside where it’s warm.”
She threaded Grace’s arm through her own and led the way to her drawing room. “You
must be exhausted after your trip, did you travel the whole way today?”

“We left early this morning and made good time. It helped that the roads were clear.
I just can’t believe it takes so long to get anywhere…if I had my car, it would only
have taken a few hours, if that.”

“What is a car?” Victoria asked as she pulled the bell to ring for tea.

“It’s a kind of carriage I guess you could say; except it doesn’t have horses and
it’s a lot faster and warmer.” Grace’s hands tingled as they began to thaw.

“No horses? What is it pulled by then?”

“It’s not
pulled
by anything. It has a motor which runs on fuel and although I’m not exactly sure
how it works, I do know the fuel ignites and fires the pistons which make the engine
turn the wheels.” Victoria was giving her a blank look. “Don’t worry about it, all
you need to know is that it travels a lot faster than a carriage. I have pictures
of my car on my phone, but it ran out of battery ages ago and I can’t turn it on to
show you.” Grace thought about her racy red corvette and wished she could show it
off.

Mrs Walters came in then with the tea tray. They waited until she had left and shut
the door before saying anything else.

“It’s not so bad being here now, you know. I’m getting used to it and although I’m
used to doing a lot more during the day, it’s really only the conveniences I miss.”

“Does that mean you’ll stop looking for a way back?” Victoria asked as she poured
the tea.

Grace smiled. “No. I still want to go home, even though I don’t really have anything
to go back to, it’s where I belong, you know? Plus there’s my work, which I really
miss. Oh and my shower. I think I miss that even more.”

The next day Grace allowed herself the luxury of curling up next to the fire in the
library with a book. She still couldn’t believe her luck there was a library in the
house. Books were her guilty little pleasure, she loved them but she hadn’t had this
luxury for years; she’d been too busy trying to forget her pain to get lost in the
pages of someone else’s. But now having family again, a weight lifted from her shoulders
and she felt almost complete again. The ache inside wasn’t gone, but there was a cushion
around it; it wasn’t as sharp. She was so happy she had turned their carriage around
and followed her heart.

The warmth of the flames slowly melted the ice running through her veins. The drive
back to London from the Lancaster Estate was just as cold as the drive there had been
and, even though she had arrived back last night, she still hadn’t managed to warm
up yet. And that wasn’t the only thing that chilled her through.

Jasper had yet to make an appearance. He must know by now she was back; she’d seen
Victoria send him a note upon her arrival last night. The longer he took to come and
see her, the more nervous she became. Had she really done the wrong thing by staying
with her grandfather, instead of coming back with Victoria and Jasper? Could she really
go through with marriage to someone who was so put out and hurt when she did her own
thing? Surely he must realise getting to know her grandfather was important to her?
He was the one who took her there to meet him in the first place, for heaven’s sake.

Grace stretched out on the sofa and laid her head on the arm rest. The warmth of the
fire and the stress of trying to decipher the mind of her betrothed made her sleepy.
She was just drifting off to sleep with Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice
on her chest when there was a knock on the door.

She cracked open her eye to see Hoskins standing in the doorway. “You have a visitor,
Miss Lancaster, should I let her know you are in?”

Grace stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. “Who is it, Hoskins?”

“Here is her card, miss.” He entered the room and held a silver tray towards her.
On it lay a silver card with delicate blue writing: Lady Anne Higgins. The lady who
should belong to Jasper.

Her heart jumped and she sat bolt upright. “Show her in please, Hoskins.”

Butterflies invaded her stomach, but there was no point of putting this off, they
would have to meet one day. It might as well be now.

Her heart thumped in her chest when Lady Anne entered the room. Acting on impulse,
Grace gave her a very awkward hug which she regretted as soon as her arms wrapped
around the woman. “I’m so glad you came.” They stood looking at each other in silence
until Grace remembered her manners. “Oh, please be seated.”

“Thank you, Miss Lancaster. I was unsure whether you would receive me or not.” The
blush that coloured Lady Anne’s face only made her more beautiful.

Grace inwardly groaned. How on earth could she ever compete with someone who looked
like Lady Anne? She looked as though she’d just walked off a fashion shoot, albeit
one that was set in the 1800s, but still. “Would you like some tea?” Grace pulled
the cord, something she had secretly wanted to do since reading about bell pulls in
historical romances back home. How ironic she was now living a historical romance
novel. She stifled a giggle with her hand and tried to cough to cover her laughter.
Lady Anne looked at her wearily and Grace was happy when Hoskins entered the room.
She quickly ordered tea and biscuits for them both.