The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown (Lady W 1) Read Free Page A

account of the evening.” With a rustle of material, Lady Daven stood and swept out of the room.
    “It is not good,” Anne said to the closed door. “I don’t like being ordered about; and certainly not by an antique-wearing sheep farmer.” But such eyes . She shook herself. “And I really don’t wish to be seen in his company. Everyone will make fun.”
    “My lady?”
    “Daisy, please go and inform Lambert that he is to let me—and only me—know when Lord Howard arrives.”
    “But—”
    “No arguments, please. I am not going to spend my life imprisoned in Yorkshire.”
    As her maid hurried downstairs, Anne sat back to fiddle with her earrings. Her mother would’ve been livid if she’d known Lord Howard still expected to escort her daughter to the theater tonight. Anne wasn’t entirely certain why she’d decided to be so defiant—except that the Marquis of Halfurst had arrived knowing he’d already won, and he hadn’t bothered to be gracious about it, or to consider her feelings and her situation at all.
    Someone scratched frantically at her door. “Come in,” she said, jumping.
    Daisy slipped inside. “My lady, Lord Howard is here, and I heard the countess your mother in the drawing room!”
    Anne stifled a nervous breath. “Very well. Get your shawl, and let’s be off.”
    A miserable expression on her face, the maid nodded. “As you wish, my lady.”
    “Don’t worry, Daisy. I’ll make certain any wrath falls on my shoulders.”
    “Oh, I hope so.”
    “So he just barged in on an ox cart and expected you to trundle back to Yorkshire with him?” Desmond Howard nodded at the footmen as they passed through the main doors of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and up the stairs, where only those privileged enough to have box seats were permitted to tread.
    Now that they’d reached the theater without being discovered or stopped by Lord Halfurst or any of her family members, Anne relaxed a little. “Yes, without even a by your leave or a good morning.”
    “Typical.”
    Anne looked sharply at the viscount’s square-jawed countenance. “Do you know Lord Halfurst?”
    With her hand wrapped over his arm, she felt him shrug. “In passing. We attended Oxford at the same time. I haven’t seen him since he was last in London.”
    She hadn’t realized he’d ever been to London before today. “When was that?”
    “Seven or eight years ago, I’d wager.”
    “Hm. And he didn’t bother to call on me then, either.” Of course, she would have been only twelve or thirteen, but they were still betrothed.
    “He left after a very short time—when the old marquis died, I believe.” The viscount chuckled. “I imagine he was none too eager to stay once his solicitors let slip that he was nearly bankrupt.”
    Wonderful. Halfurst was arrogant and poor. Her parents certainly hadn’t told her that, and they were insane if they thought she would willingly go off to live in some shack with him, handsome face or not. “How delightful,” she muttered. If the marquis needed her money, escaping him would be even more difficult.
    Lord Howard chuckled again. “Don’t trouble yourself, Anne,” he returned. “Tonight, you’re with me. And rest assured that in his place I would never remove such a lovely blossom as yourself from the fertile environs of London.”
    “Thank you,” she said feelingly, smiling as he held aside the curtain to his private box.
    “My pleasure, believe me,” he murmured, seating himself beside her.
    As the patrons filled the theater, oblivious to the silly pre-Shakespearean farce being enacted on stage, a commotion in the pit caught her attention. Down below, among a crowd of amused-looking commoners, stood a very handsome, well dressed gentleman in the company of an equally well dressed and mortified-looking Miss Amelia Rellton.
    “Who’s that with Miss Rellton?” she asked, trying not to stare, though from the direction of the opera glasses in the other boxes, no one else had