Debutantes Don’t Date (3 page)

“Here, let me,” and, with experienced hands, he adjusted her dress so her breasts
were no longer in danger of falling out. Jesus, it was hard to concentrate with this
woman around. How in the hell was he going to get out of the mess she created? “This
certainly is
not
a joke!” He stepped back and ran his hands through his hair. “I now must do the honourable
thing…and to the wrong woman too! God damn it, what a mess. Where is your father?
I must speak to him immediately.”

“My dad is dead. Did you just tell that lady I’m your fiancée?” Her beautiful mouth
dropped open and then broke into a smile as she finally registered what he had said
earlier. “Fast thinking, but are you crazy? At least that old lady won’t be too worried
now, will she? But you don’t even know me, I could be some psycho for all you know.”

Jasper scrubbed his face with his hands and thought maybe
he
was the crazy one. He should just walk away from this fortune-hunter and leave her
to the wolves. Who cared about her reputation? It was all but ruined from her display
earlier anyway; his reputation would survive, men got away with so much more. But
looking down at the confusion evident in her eyes, he couldn’t just leave her there.
Besides, if he was honest with himself, she was not the only one to blame in this
predicament. He suspected he couldn’t walk away from the passion he still felt for
her. His hands still tingled where he had accidently brushed against the warm skin
of her breast while he was setting her dress to rights, for God’s sake. How could
he walk away from that? His passion for her was immediate and so intense he, for the
first time ever, had forgotten where he was and what the consequences would be if
he was caught. And caught he was.

“Do you have a brother I could speak to then?”

“No. My whole family died in a car accident three years ago.”

“Car accident? Oh, you mean carriage. I’m so sorry to hear that. You have my deepest
condolences.” He could relate to losing loved ones and he didn’t wish that emptiness
on anyone.

“They crashed on the interstate just before Christmas, three years ago. The road was
covered in ice.” Tears welled up in her eyes and he could read the terror on her face
as she relived it.

A strange protectiveness washed over him as he watched the sadness spread across her
face. He couldn’t help but step forward and pull her into his arms. “You have no family,
but all is well now, you have me. I’ll look after you, don’t worry. Stay here, I will
go and find my sister.” He gently kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right back,” and then
he ducked from the alcove.

Jasper pushed his way through the crowd, trying to locate his sister Victoria. She
was his voice of reason whenever he did something rash. He hadn’t gone to her for
quite some time; he thought he was all grown up and could look after himself. How
wrong he was. If there ever was a need for her advice, now was it. Heat from his sudden
desire stilled pulsed through his veins. The protectiveness he felt towards the mystery
woman overwhelmed his senses until he couldn’t think properly. He hadn’t even asked
her name before he left her there.

“Damn.” Several outraged gasps rose from the group of ladies next to where he came
to an abrupt stop. “I do beg your pardon.” He nodded in the ladies’ direction, turned
around and went back the way he had come. He shouldn’t have left her there all by
herself. Busybody Barrett would have cornered her by now.

“Ah, Lord Bingham, a word if you please.” It was the father of Lady Anne, the woman
he was supposed to marry; Richard Higgins, Earl of Alderton.

“Oh. Ah, umm, Lord Alderton, about our appointment tomorrow, umm, something’s come
up. I won’t be able to make it.” Jasper stumbled with an excuse to un-ask the man’s
daughter for her hand. Thank God he hadn’t
actually
asked her yet.

“Oh, my boy, I hope it’s nothing serious.”

Jasper choked on a cough. “No, my lord, nothing I can’t handle. But speaking of which,
sir, I must run.”

Before Jasper could escape however, Lord Alderton caught his arm. “Oh none of that
‘sir’ stuff, my boy. Call me Dick; we’re practically family now, aren’t we?” Lord
Alderton winked and slapped him on the back affectionately.

Damnation!
. “Ah, I really must go now, Alderton…Dick.” Jasper quickly turned and lost himself
in the crowd before he could dig himself into an even bigger hole than he already
found himself in.

“Jasper.” He stopped when a hand touched his arm and he heard a voice he recognised.
“What is going on? What’s this about you going off with some girl?”

Jasper let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness it’s you. I need your help, Victoria.”

Grace closed her eyes, took a deep calming breath and counted to three as she exhaled.
When she opened her eyes a figure came around the pillar, but it wasn’t who she was
expecting. It was Mrs Hillary Barrett.

“So you are the gel that has snared him at last, are you?” the nasty old lady blurted
as soon as the curtain fell back in place.

Grace’s hackles rose. “I don’t know what you mean. All we were doing was kissing.”
As if it was any of her business anyway, the old battle-axe.

The older woman sucked in her breath. “You’re American? It’s just like you upstarts
to come over here and steal our men.” She made it sound like Grace had the pox or
something.

“Excuse me? You have no right to insult me or my country. You probably haven’t even
been there, so what would you know what we Americans are like? Besides, it’s none
of your business anyway.” Where was that guy, it was just like a man to keep her waiting
here by herself. Was he even coming back? “I’m sorry, but I have to be going now.”
She pushed past the strange old lady with her head held high and into the overcrowded
ballroom. Enough of this nonsense, she had to get back to work.

Grace wandered around the ballroom trying to locate the rest of her team, but without
her headset she couldn’t hope to locate them in this crowd. She looked at her phone
and saw that it was 12:30 a.m., January 2014, a half hour since the lights went out
and she hit her head…and dragged a man into a corner to have her wicked little way
with him. A giggle escaped her lips. What had come over her? She would never behave
like this on a normal night.

She needed to get some air and clear her head. She was about to escape into the garden
when a voice whispered in her ear, “I thought I told you to stay where you were?”
The man that made her hot just thinking about touched her arm and said, “Come with
me. My sister is waiting in the library.”

“I would really like to meet your sister, I would. But I have to get back to work.
Maybe I will see you before I go?” Her heart thumped wildly. She rubbed her hands
on her skirt to get rid of the moisture. She wished she hadn’t drunk so much champagne…or
hit her head on the table. This night was getting so confusing. She may have been
able to figure out what was going on if she had kept away from the alcohol. Actually
she wouldn’t be in this mess at all if she had managed to stay sober. She
knew
she shouldn’t have taken a break.

“Sorry, what kind of work are you in?” It would be just his luck if he had made his
intentions known to a prostitute.

“I’m an event manager. I organised tonight’s event.”

“I don’t think that the Duchess of Kensington will take kindly to you saying that
out loud, even if you did organise it all. She won’t want word to get out that she
was unable to arrange her own ball.” The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled
down at her. “Besides, everything is running smoothly, the place is packed. It is
a crush! A success, don’t you think; so what more can you do here? Come with me and
meet my sister and we can talk about what to do next. And I can see Mrs Barrett talking
to her crones over there and it’s only an amount of time before they notice us.”

He pointed across the room and sure enough she could see the old battle-axe deep in
conversation with some older ladies. Mrs Barrett did look like she was scanning the
ballroom as she talked. The man was right; it would be only a matter of time before
she spotted them.

“Come, let’s sneak out here.” He grabbed her hand and led her out the door into the
garden and around the side of the balcony to the door of the library where his sister
was waiting for him to explain how he had become engaged to the wrong girl.

Chapter Two

The first thing Grace noticed upon entering the library was the candles. There were
no lights. The chandeliers hanging from the vast ceilings had candles in them. There
were light bulbs in there earlier this evening; she had checked to make sure they
were all in working order before the ball commenced. What the hell was going on???

The library housed a large desk, comfortable-looking chairs, a large man leaning against
the mantle and an elegant woman sitting primly on the settee. Upon their entrance
from the terrace, the woman rose to welcome Grace.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Jasper?” she said when it became evident that Jasper
had lost his manners somewhere outside. “You must forgive me for being so bold as
to do it myself then, but under the circumstances I am sure you will forgive my impertinence.
I am Lady Harrison, but you may call me Victoria. This is my husband Neal, Lord Harrison,”
she said gesturing to the man at the fire. He only raised his glass and nodded in
her direction by way of greeting. “You must be the woman who has convinced my dear
brother to marry. How nice to make your acquaintance.” She turned to Jasper then before
Grace could make a reply, “Would you care to explain to me how you have managed to
become engaged to this girl? It is my understanding that you are supposed to be offering
for Lady Anne tomorrow.”

“Yes, I know that, Victoria, but I can’t offer for her now can I?”

“I don’t know, Jasper, you tell me. Why can’t you? What exactly have you done? And
do you mind telling me why the gossip mill is working full-steam tonight? About our
family? Again!”

“Victoria, you know none of those rumours are true.” Jasper pleaded with his sister
as though this conversation had played many times before.

“So you’re telling my you
will
be offering for Lady Anne tomorrow, as planned then?”

“Well, uh, no, I can’t exactly do that.” Jasper looked in Grace’s direction. “Something’s
come up.”

“Humph, I thought so.”

Lord Harrison stepped forward and bowed to Grace. “I don’t believe you have had a
chance to tell us your name, my dear?”

“Oh, hello, it is very nice to meet you. I’m Grace Lancaster.” She grasped his outstretched
hand and shook it before turning her attention back to the chandeliers.

“Of
the
Lancasters?” all three of them asked at the same time and she felt her skin prickle
across her back as three sets of eyes focused on her.

Grace tore her attention from the chandelier long enough to answer. “I guess so. I
do have some relatives in England, but I’ve never met them.” Her great-grandfather
had gone over to America sometime in the last century, but she couldn’t remember when.

“And you’re an American?”

“Born and raised.”

Grace missed the look Jasper and his sister exchanged.

This might prove interesting. Old Lancaster was here tonight. Jasper needed to get
this sorted out before the head of the Lancasters found out one of his relatives had
been found in the arms of his business rival, if he hadn’t already. They each owned
shares in opposing banking institutions; at the moment Lord Lancaster’s bank was having
better returns but Jasper hoped to turn that around by the end of this financial year.

“Jasper.” Victoria motioned him to join her over by the mantelpiece next to Neal.
“Something’s not right here.”

Neal nodded. “With whom did she come to the ball? You say her family’s dead?” Neal
looked Jasper straight in the eye and Jasper was once again reminded how successful
his brother-in-law was on the continent.

Shaking off Neal’s gaze, Jasper nodded. “Still, she wouldn’t be here by herself, would
she? You’re right, Victoria, something’s not adding up.”

Miss Lancaster was still looking at the lights with a puzzled frown on her face. Had
she never seen a chandelier before? Good God, she
was
a fortune-hunter. You would think she would’ve gone to Lancaster himself if she needed
money, but if she was of the American line…? How on earth had he got himself into
this mess?

“I suppose I should bring Ol’ Lancaster into this conversation? I saw him here earlier
tonight.”

“I saw him leave a while ago.” Victoria laid her hand on his arm before he could turn
towards the door. “The Duchess said his knee was bothering him again. She indicated
he was traveling to his country estate in the morning so if you think we should discuss
this with him, we should go to his townhouse now. But he may have retired for the
night already.” Victoria removed her hand from his arm and put it to her forehead.
“Oh, this gossip is going to run for months. A
Lancaster
, Jasper? Couldn’t you have been bewitched by
anyone
else?”

“Too late for that, Victoria, what’s done is done. But you will have to find her chaperone,
Jasper.” Neal turned towards the lady in question and raised his voice. “Miss Lancaster,
with whom did you arrive this evening?”

“Hmmm?” She relinquished her inspection of the lighting, and turned towards them.
“Oh, I came this afternoon with the rest of the crew. Long before any guests arrived.
Speaking of which, I do need to get back to work.” She walked towards them and stuck
out her hand. “It was lovely to meet you all, do be sure to enjoy the rest of your
evening.” She had plastered a perfect smile on her face, as though she was used to
pacifying difficult guests.

Her hand stayed outstretched for a moment too long before Neal stepped forward to
claim it. Something clenched in Jasper’s stomach as Neal brought her hand to his lips.
Miss Lancaster’s face coloured and Jasper wondered if she always blushed so easily.