Debutantes Don’t Date (4 page)

Neal didn’t release her hand, but used it to lead her to the settee. Jasper bristled
when Neal took the seat next to her. He left his sister to look after herself and
made his way over to them and sat in the chair nearest Miss Lancaster.

He should’ve known better.

Victoria cleared her throat and raised her eyebrow at him.

Damn. He extricated himself from his seat and gallantly offered it to Victoria. By
the time he had fetched another chair from the other side of the room, the conversation
was well on its way again.

“…escort? No, I didn’t pay anyone to come with me, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell anyway.”
Her laughter filled the room. The musical sound shot straight to Jasper’s groin and
in that moment he decided he would do anything to make her laugh again.

She opened her reticule and after a moment of intense searching she pulled a small,
smooth metal case from its depths. She opened the case and handed them each a piece
of paper. Jasper looked at the card in his hand.

A calling card.

Sinclair Functions Ltd.
Parties with a difference
Senior Party Planner
Grace Lancaster
(212) 527-8636
[email protected]
www.sinclairfunctions.com

“You plan parties?” Victoria asked after a moment.

“Yes. But not just parties. We plan weddings, balls, like this one, conferences, birthday
parties, engagement parties, expos, anniversaries, you name it, we can organise anything
you like.”

“I’ve never heard of a ‘party planner’ before.”

“You haven’t? That’s weird. Surely you’ve watched
The Wedding Planner
?”

“Miss Lancaster, who exactly did you come with tonight?” Neal was obviously tired
of this absolutely bizarre conversation. “I need a name.”

“Well, my boss is here. Ron Sinclair. You can ask him. You can even ask the Duchess
of Kensington if you like. She’s the one who hired us for this function.” The tone
of her voice changed. She was also getting tired of the conversation. “I really need
to be going now. I thank you for your time and your help with my wardrobe malfunction,
Mr…? Sorry I didn’t catch your name.” Her eyes bore into his and Jasper’s stomach
clenched again and something lower stirred back to life.

“Jasper. You can call me Jasper.” Somewhere far away he heard Victoria gasp and say
his name.

“Well. Thank you. But I need to go. Have a wonderful night.” She rose and headed to
the door.

“Wait.” Jasper jumped to his feet; she couldn’t just walk away from him. “I need to
know. Why me? Why did you single me out?”

“What d’you mean?”

“Why did you take me into the alcove tonight? Was it for my money? Or was it revenge?”

“Revenge? I don’t think so. I don’t even know who you are. Look, this has been a slice,
but I really need to get back out there.”

That couldn’t be right. Surely she knew who he was? “I’m terribly sorry, Miss Lancaster,
allow me to properly introduce myself. I’m Jasper Vincent Colin Mossman, Earl of Bingham.
But I’m sure you knew that when you singled me out.”

Seriously? What was wrong with these people? Had they all had a turn or did madness
run in their family? Whatever it was, it was seriously freaking her out! Why were
they so desperate to meet who she came with? They were behaving as though she’d committed
a heinous crime. Granted, Ron wouldn’t be too impressed she’d kissed one of the guests,
but did he really need to know? The way these people were behaving, she’d be lucky
to get off lightly. She might as well kiss her dream of living in Paris goodbye.

God, her head hurt. She must’ve hit it harder than she thought. When would this night
be over? All she wanted to do was curl up in her hotel bed and sleep for a week. But
she couldn’t do that. Not yet. Not until this blasted party was over. Ron didn’t expect
it to wind down until at least sunrise.

God, this was so embarrassing. If she knew she’d be involved in an interrogation,
she wouldn’t have led him into the alcove. No kiss was worth this…no matter how good
it was. She could feel her face redden at the memory.

But what she really wanted to know was what was up with those lights? She examined
the chandelier again. Maybe if she stood on a chair she could get a better look. She
glanced at the trio of weirdos and thought better of it. They’d probably call the
cops on her. How did candles end up in those chandeliers? It created a certain ambience,
she would give it that, but who would have replaced the real lights with candles?
Especially without her knowing? Maybe it was an optical illusion; lights designed
to look like candles. Now why hadn’t she thought of that? She made a mental note to
find them for her next event.

Now that she’d sorted that out she could bring her mind to the task at hand. She needed
to finish this conversation so she could get back to work. This had taken up far too
much of her time, and there was still so much to do before the end of the night. What
was it ‘Jasper’ was going on about now?

“Sorry, what was that?” She hated to ask.

“I asked why you chose me as your target tonight.”

Grace looked at the man she had jumped, practically raped even. His clothes moulded
to his body, showing off his muscular chest and broad shoulders. Her eyes travelled
down over his trim waist to his tight pants. They didn’t leave much to the imagination.
She knew her face would be the colour of her favourite underwear, she always blushed
so profusely. God, this conversation was
not
happening. She was going to have to tell him the truth and in front of his sister
too. He just wouldn’t let it go, would he? If at all possible her face got even redder.

“Well, you see, the thing is, I haven’t had a relationship for a long time and I seem
to have had too much to drink tonight. I couldn’t stop myself, you were just too good-looking
and you rescued me from that awful crowd. Besides, it is just this once and if I wasn’t
in a foreign country I would never have dared do what I, we, did, but I will never
see you again, so I thought it would be safe. I actually can’t see what all the fuss
is about. It was only a kiss.” She stopped abruptly. She tended to babble when she
got nervous; it was a habit she found hard to break.

“A kiss that the biggest gossip in all of England just happened to see!” He ran his
hands through his hair. His head must hurt from pulling his hair so much. “We’ll have
to be married. There’s no other way to avoid a scandal.”

Grace finally really looked into the three pairs of eyes boring into her. “What kind
of party is this?”

Chapter Three

The girl was a sure candidate for Bedlam.

Or a good actress. Watching her one would think she was surprised, outraged even,
at the consequences of being caught by Mrs Barrett. That’s what worried him most.
The fact that she might not be acting. Because if that was the case, he’d be stuck
marrying a mad woman. He should have picked Lady Anne after all. At least she never
cried or tried to run away from him. This girl was currently trying to break past
Neal to get to the door. Hell fire, she could scrap. Another worrying thought. He
definitely wasn’t envious of Neal as he dodged her flying fists. She looked as though
she knew what she was doing. Jasper winced in sympathy as she connected a right to
Neal’s eye.

Who was she? He certainly didn’t believe she had planned this ball.

Enough of this. “I’m going to get the Duchess.” It was past time she was brought into
this.

Once he was out of the library he did his best at smoothing the scowl from his face,
but he wasn’t sure how successful he was because by the time he found the Duchess
of Kensington men and ladies alike were making way for him as though he was Moses
and they were the Red Sea.

The Duchess of Kensington pursed her lips at his request to accompany him. She must
have heard the rumours already. In the end, she gave a nod, excused herself from her
friends and placed her hand on his arm and allowed him to escort her from the room.
They didn’t say a word to each other. Jasper had the distinct impression she knew
what she was needed for.

At last the Duchess of Kensington was on her way. This would be sorted out in a matter
of minutes.

Grace sat back down on the settee and placed her hands in her lap, pretending they
didn’t throb from just moments before drawing blood with them. Really, it was all
that man’s fault. If he’d just let her leave, he wouldn’t be sporting a black eye,
bloody nose and split lip.

No one spoke. Lady Harrison sat in a chair across from her and Lord Harrison dabbed
a hanky at his lip. They all watched the grandfather clock at the far wall. It was
exactly twenty minutes before the door of the library opened.

Grace’s heart fell. The lady Jasper brought with him was not the Duchess of Kensington.
This lady was short and slightly dumpy, although her costume was exquisite. She wore
a blue silk period dress with a sliver lace overlay. But the best part of her outfit
was her blue shoes playing peek-a-boo as she walked. Grace wondered if she’d had it
especially made for the ball or if she rented it from a costume shop for the night.
The Duchess of Kensington, whom she had been meeting with all week, was tall, slender
and blonde. This lady was grey-haired and past her prime; Grace could see her wrinkles
from here. And since Grace had talked to her about an hour or so before
the kiss
she knew the Duchess didn’t have nearly as charming a dress on as this lady.

Grace rose from her seat as the elderly woman made her way towards her. The lady was
so proper that Grace couldn’t decide whether she should bob a curtsy or not. Maybe
she was related to the Queen. You never knew at these types of events who you could
run into.

“Miss Lancaster, may I present the Duchess of Kensington?” Jasper watched her face
closely for her reaction. He wouldn’t have been disappointed by the shock that ricocheted
through her body. Her mouth was stuck in the open position. But there was no way she
could manage to close it, until she realised this must be the Duke of Kensington’s
mother. She shut her jaw with a snap.

“How do you do, your grace? It is so nice to meet you. I have really enjoyed working
with your daughter-in-law, organising this event.”

“Eh? I’m not aware of having a daughter-in-law. Who is it that you have been conversing
with, Miss Lancaster?” The elderly lady leaned in close with a quizzical eye.

“The company I work for, Sinclair Functions Ltd, has been working closely with Jane,
Duchess of Kensington to put together this fantastic fundraising event this evening.
And I must say it has been an absolute pleasure to organise such an amazing…um…event.”
Everyone in the room was staring at her as though she had lost her mind completely.
“Is there something amiss?”

“Once again I must reiterate that I have no daughter-in-law and that I have never
heard of a ‘Jane, Duchess of Kensington’. I think, my dear, you are confused and that
it’s best if you sit down.” The lady led Grace back to her seat and sat next to her.
“Lord Bingham!” the lady commanded. “Go and find my butler, Harvey, and tell him I
require his services in the library, please.” She patted Grace’s hand. “Lady Harrison,
fetch that blanket by the fire, will you, dear? And Lord Harrison, make yourself useful
and fetch us all a glass of sherry.”

The world had stopped. Grace could feel herself falling. Everything was spinning around
her. All she could think was ‘am I going crazy?’ Her vision narrowed, everything lost
focus and her world slowly turned to black.

Chapter Four

Conversation and laughter quieted to an eerie silence as the foursome emerged from
the library. Mrs Barrett had made certain the scene she had been privy to was spread
to all her dearest friends. Of course she was shocked, simply shocked, she would say,
at Bingham’s behaviour. She couldn’t say anything at all about the American however.
Americans are very crass, don’t you know?

Everyone in the room stopped to watch the foursome leave the ball. Once the door shut
behind them the room burst into animated conversation with the ladies whispering and
giggling behind their fans and the men smiling knowingly to each other. The infamous
Lord Bingham had finally been brought down by a woman.

Lord Bingham escorted Grace past the throng of spectators, his hand warm upon her
back. She welcomed his support as she passed each curious face, so much so that she
found herself leaning into his side. But she stopped dead when the front door opened
before them.

What was going on?

The street was lined with horse-drawn carriages. The streetlights held flames, not
the steady glow of light bulbs. Snow lay thick on the ground and smoke from many fireplaces
filled the air. This was not the London she knew. She had arrived here this afternoon
in a cab, and the streets had been packed with noisy cars and trucks. Where were they
now?

“Miss Lancaster?” Lord Bingham’s voice was warm against her ear. “Come, our carriage
is waiting.” He led her down the steps of the Manor and handed her into the carriage.
He followed her in and settled himself beside her. Lord and Lady Harrison were already
seated across from them.

She gazed out the window of the carriage and saw the streets filled with more carriages
and carts and horses. She looked across to the other seat at her companions. She studied
their clothes. She didn’t think they were wearing costumes like she was. She could
feel the zipper against her skin. Lady Harrison’s dress had buttons down the back;
she noticed them when she was led from the library. This was all too much for her
to take in.

Grace frantically dug into the purse attached to her wrist. She fumbled for her cell
phone and desperately tried to get a signal. It was no use. There was no signal. Things
were not right here. In fact they were very, very wrong! She felt the panic begin
to rise in her throat again but before it could overtake her, the carriage stopped
and the coachman opened the door to reveal a grand house.