Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Edmund felt guilty for treating Amelia as he did before walking away, but he couldn’t change anything now. He wished that he could; Amelia didn’t deserve to be treated like that. It was not fair on her.

“Why was Lady Amelia talking to you, my lord?” Lady Colette asked, leaning into him conspiratorially. “Do you know her? She seems to know you somehow.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because she was looking at you like you two know each other.” Lady Colette sniffed. “You don’t really know her, do you? How can you and her be acquainted when you’re so vastly different? I didn’t think you would be on friendly terms. Surely you know about her…personality.”

Edmund wanted to snap at her for saying that. There was a definitive sneer in her voice, and that was not what he wanted to hear. He could tell that Lady Colette didn’t care for Amelia, and that was a choice she could make, but to be rude to someone else was not something Edmund was comfortable with.

Amelia was different, he knew that much. But she was a sweet woman when she wanted to be. Edmund could tell that she didn’t want to be here, and that she had been dragged into something she disliked. What she needed was a familiar face, a friend.

And Edmund had treated her really badly. He felt like a complete cad for doing that.

John and Harold were looking at him with wide eyes, John’s mouth open in his surprise. Edmund frowned at them.

“What’s gotten you two so stunned?”

“We’ll explain in a moment.” Harold gave Lady Colette a nod. “Forgive us, my lady, but we’re going to have to steal Lord Silverton away.”

Lady Colette pouted.

“And I’m not permitted to have his time a little longer?”

“We won’t keep him long from you, I promise.” Harold nudged Edmund before pulling him away. “This won’t take much time out of his evening.”

Edmund knew what they were going to ask—what had just happened between him and Amelia. He didn’t want to explain his brief acquaintance with her and how he felt when he had met her when she was all grown up. His friends were not going to be kind toward her, as proven by their words earlier.

Much as he hated himself for it, he didn’t want to admit that the woman who had caught his attention in a way that made him rethink things turned out to be an outcast. It was not fair on either of them, and Edmund wished that he didn’t feel ashamed about it. It made him feel like a bad person.

Harold and John led him to the corner of the ballroom, where they turned to him with surprise and confusion.

“What was that all about?” John demanded.

“What are you talking about? Nothing happened.”

“Nothing happened? Lady Amelia does not approach any man. She prefers to remain alone and refuses to converse with anyone. And yet she approached you and spoke to you.” John folded his arms and shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. What do you have that we don’t?”

Edmund sighed.

“Are you serious? You dragged me over here because you’re shocked that someone everyone made into a social pariah simply approached me to start a conversation? How old are we for being shocked at that?”

“It’s because she’s never done it before,” Harold replied. “She never approaches any man.”

“She’s only just entered Society herself. How do you know?”

“Because we’ve seen her at other social gatherings, and she never approaches anyone. If anything, she only has one friend, and if she’s present, those two stick together. She won’t even look at anyone unless forced.”

Edmund jerked his head toward John.

“I thought he was the one who was upset about her turning him down. And, if this is his attitude for being rejected, I think she had every reason to.”

John bristled at that.

“Are you saying that I’m not desirable to any woman? You’re meant to be my friend, not tear me down, Edmund.”

“I am your friend, and friends are honest with each other,” Edmund shot back. “You cannot take rejection very well. You know that you behave like a petulant child whenever you have a woman turn you down from whatever you’re suggesting. It’s very off-putting, and you sulk around as if you’re a baby who’s been told no for the first time after being spoiled all its life.”

John’s mouth dropped open. He looked incredulous.

“Is that how you see me? Seriously?”

“You want friends to tell you the truth, don’t you? I’m telling you the truth. Maybe Lady Amelia saw through your behavior and decided she didn’t want anything to do with it. I wouldn’t if I was a woman.” Edmund frowned at Harold. “But I don’t understand why you’re shocked about it and upset that a lady approached me. What’s the matter with you?”

Harold sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“I will admit that I tried to approach her myself, the first evening she was introduced. And she gave me a cold look, said nothing, and simply walked away. I couldn’t believe how rude she was.”

Edmund raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, so you got rejected as well. And you’re upset about that. Again, how old are we that we’re upset over something so insignificant?”

“It’s just that we did everything right, and you’re the one who still has her talking to you when you didn’t do anything. That’s not fair.”

Edmund felt like his head was about to explode with all this madness. He knew that his friends, for all of their good intentions, were people who didn’t like to be told no. They were like small boys when it came to that. Harold could take it more graciously, but John reacted badly to it all the time. It was why he was still unmarried or had no prospects; most ladies figured that out about him pretty quickly.

It did make Edmund wonder occasionally why he was friends with John Sutton when he behaved like that, but then he remembered the good times and how loyal John was toward him.

“Well, we’ve discussed why you’re so bizarrely incredulous toward Lady Amelia Everly approaching me when she turned you two down. Now, can we get back to the ball?”

“Not just yet.” John smirked, looking like he was plotting something. “Harold and I were discussing a few things between us. A wager. You know how much you love wagers.”

That got Edmund’s attention. He wasn’t keen on wagers, if he was honest. It was really frustrating having to go through with them for something he wanted. His friends didn’t give him something for nothing; they always had to make it more interesting.

Maybe he needed new friends, but Harold and John had been with him for years, and Edmund couldn’t see his life without them.

Even so, despite disliking wagers, they always made him curious, and Edmund wanted to know what this one was.

“What do you want to do with this wager?” he asked. “You’re not throwing me into the middle of it all again, are you?”

“Us?” John looked shocked at that. “We never do that. You do it to yourself.”

“Just tell me the wager, John. Stop with the theatrics.”

His friend smirked and looked at Harold, who nodded.

“You got a reaction out of Lady Amelia Everly, something nobody else has. So we think you should ask to court her.”

“Excuse me?” Edmund felt like the words had gotten twisted up in his head. “Court her? How is that a wager?”

“We’re not saying it’s a permanent thing. You approach her and ask to court her. And you do it for at least a month.”

“A month?”

Harold shook his head at Edmund’s interjections.

“We’d go through this a lot quicker if you didn’t keep talking at the end of each sentence, Edmund.”

“You can’t spring this on me and expect me not to be surprised,” Edmund pointed out. “That’s a stupid thing to put a wager on, and what’s at the end of it?”

“Maybe if you let us get there,” John quipped sharply. He cleared his throat. “If you win and are still courting her at the end of thirty days, we’ll give you fifty pounds. It’s all yours.”

Now Edmund had to be hearing things. John was very stingy with his money. He never gave anything to anyone, and if he did he was always saying that he needed to be paid back. In his dreams, he was paid back immediately instead of over time. It was very annoying, so Edmund never bothered to ask John for anything when it came to money. For him to say that he would pay fifty pounds between him and Harold was more surprising than the actual wager itself.

“But if you lose,” John went on, “you owe us a party. One where we have everything we want, no expense spared. You have the money for that.”

“How is that a fair bet?” Edmund asked. “Why not money on both sides? Or throw a party on both sides?”

Harold chuckled.

“If you throw a party for us, we’ll get a lot of money out of you, given how much you’ll be spending.”

“It still doesn’t seem fair. And why would you bet on such a thing?” Edmund looked from one friend to the other. “You’re essentially playing with someone’s feelings. No matter how she is perceived, Lady Amelia doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. That’s awful.”

Harold scoffed at that.

“You’re concerned about her feelings? What about ours?”

“Are you going to do this to every woman you’ve been rejected by? What’s so special about Lady Amelia Everly that you would do it to her?”

“There’s nothing special. She just needs to be taken down a notch.”

“Because she exercised her ability to choose?” Edmund shot back. “If every gentleman behaved like you two every time a lady turned them down…” He glared at them with a raised brow. “It’s no surprise that neither of you has a potential bride. That’s not how you treat the women in your life.”

John rolled his eyes and looked at Harold.

“It sounds like he’s trying to make excuses for why he doesn’t want to do this,” he said.

“I don’t want to do it because it’s just downright silly,” Edmund responded. “Either make it a more sensible bet than playing around with someone’s feelings or make the reward equal.”

“It sounds like you’re not confident in your ability to win her over.” John sniggered. “You’re thinking that you won’t be able to do it.”

Edmund wanted to say that he was not going to play around with someone, especially not when it came to someone like Amelia Everly, but he didn’t like it when his friends taunted him about being unable to do something. It was an unfortunate part of him, but Edmund was certain that he was good at everything. When he was told he couldn’t do it, it was natural for him to say otherwise.

It was an annoying flaw of his, but Edmund couldn’t help it. And now his friends were goading him about being unable to do something, and it was making his hackles twitch. They wouldn’t stop about it, either. It would keep going if he refused the bet.

Besides, getting such a sum from John Sutton was very tempting. It would be the only time he got money off his friend without any complaints. Sighing, Edmund held up his hands.

“All right, fine. I’ll do it. I’ll speak to her father tomorrow about it.”

John and Harold smirked in triumph and looked at each other, their expressions smug. Then John took Edmund’s arm and led him back into the main throng of the ballroom.

“You’d better win, Edmund,” he said. “It would be worth it to have to pay you twenty-five pounds if it meant you made a fool out of Amelia Everly.”

“All this because she turned you down?”

John’s expression darkened for just a moment.

“No one makes a fool out of me.” Then the moment was gone, and he jovially slapped Edmund on the back. “You won’t regret this, Edmund. Trust me.”

Edmund didn’t believe that at all. He was already feeling guilty about the bet, and he wanted to back out. But that was another trait of his; he never backed out once he gave his word.

And he had a feeling that it was going to make things more uncomfortable for him.

***

Amelia tapped her pencil on the desk and looked over the lesson plan she had been working on. It was coming together nicely, although she was wondering if there was a bit too much for children at the age she was going to help with. At eight and nine years of age, they were a little more advanced than younger children, but there was also a limit. She needed their full attention, after all, for quite a period of time.

She could sort that out with the schoolmistress when she arrived at the schoolhouse. She would probably say that the children needed their minds challenged more than usual, and this was a good way of doing it. Amelia agreed with that, but at the same time, she didn’t want to exhaust them. These children were gifted, but even then, they needed rest.

Her parents may have been over-protective toward her to the point Amelia wanted to scream, but they were good people overall. They had set up a charity in recent years, Amelia being the driving force behind it, so it was up to her to bring it to fruition. Which she had done over the last couple of years.

Another reason she didn’t want to have a Season and enter the ton . This charity was more of her focus, and Amelia didn’t want to neglect it by entering Society, which would take up a lot of her time.

Besides, she found that talking about the charity and helping those less fortunate to her fellow peers didn’t always go down well. It felt like they were looking down their noses at the children who showed some talent and affinity for education and could do well in life. Amelia didn’t know why this was, and she was rather protective of her charges.

She had no time for snobs. These children deserved her attention more. If they increased their literacy levels or showed how good they were with numbers, they would get more of an education, funded by the charity, so they could go on to achieve greater things, including scholarships at university.

Others would be put into decent apprenticeships that paid relatively well for their position, so they were able to have a trade. She and her parents were helping a lot more than the Marquess and Marchioness of Downe had anticipated.

Amelia was proud of the charity. Her mother was the one who had set it up, but Amelia was the person who looked after it. It was her pride and joy, and she was happy with how things were going.

Her stomach was feeling a little off, and it was beginning to become distracting. Amelia could feel it churning. It was probably leftover nerves from the night before. She had really not wanted to go to the ball, and the aftereffects were still making her feel nauseous. Putting her pencil down, Amelia stood up and went over to the window, looking out over the garden.

Living where they did in London, they had a good-sized estate with a big garden. It was better than living in a townhouse closer to everything. It would probably make it easier to get to places if they lived in the residential streets with everyone else, but Amelia liked the solitude of the house in Harrow. They were away from other neighbors, and the schoolhouse they set up for the children was nearby, within walking distance. That was ideal.

And you couldn’t get a garden as nice as this in London, either. Not with the horrible smells from the factories dotted around the city wafting past their noses. Much as Amelia loved London, she couldn’t do that to herself. She hated the smells, and that made her more determined to give these children who had to work in horrible conditions a better life.

At least she got a good view of the stretched expanse of grass, the rose garden, the huge oak with its massive boughs, and the rock garden, not to mention the multiple colorful flowers the gardeners had taken great pain in planting. This was her favorite room in the house. Not only because of the view, but because it was for her alone.

There were so many rooms in the house, and there were plenty that weren’t being used. When she came of age, Amelia had asked her parents for a private room of her own, a bit like a study. She had managed to get them to agree when she said, just to pacify them, that it would be her place to entertain her own guests, with a chaperone, of course. Surprisingly, they had agreed.

The idea of Amelia having distinguished guests had swayed them, which Amelia found bizarre. She didn’t really care about having something like that, but at least it got her what she wanted.

A knock at the door drew her attention, and Amelia turned away from the window.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Sebastian, the butler, came in. He gave her a bow.

“Forgive me for bothering you, my lady, but your father is asking to see you in the study. He wants to talk to you about something important.”

“Did he say what this important thing was?” Amelia asked.

“I’m afraid he didn’t. He just wanted you to join him.”

Amelia didn’t like it when her father did that, and he was perfectly aware of it. But she couldn’t refuse, not when he said it was important. There was a good chance that it wasn’t important, either; it was just to get her attention.

Sighing, Amelia headed toward the door.

“I’m coming. Can you ask Taylor to bring in some tea for me afterward? I’ll have it in my parlor.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Amelia went from one side of the house, away from everyone else, to her father’s study. Her parents were surprised that she wanted just one room that was tucked away from everyone else, but Amelia didn’t care. She liked her solitude. It wasn’t up to them how she preferred to spend her time.

Hopefully, the conversation with her father wouldn’t take long, as she needed to get back to the lesson plan. She would be going to the schoolhouse the next day, and Amelia wanted everything sorted today.

Her father was sitting at his desk when Amelia knocked and entered. He didn’t look up as he scrawled carefully across the letter he was writing. Amelia knew that this was a tactic that he often used to make people wait for him, including her. It was annoying when she had other things to do.

So she wandered over to the bookcase by the window and began to peruse the titles there. She didn’t need to; she had done this so many times that she could practically recite the titles by heart from top to bottom. Nothing ever changed on it. But her father would make her wait, and she wasn’t about to stand in front of his desk twiddling her thumbs like a naughty child waiting to be scolded.

What did he want with her today? Was it because of her behavior yesterday? Amelia knew that she had been incredibly cold to everyone around her, to the point she was resistant to dancing with anyone her mother had managed to get to agree. She didn’t want to do it, and after the way Edmund treated her, Amelia certainly didn’t want to be responsive to anyone.

She was still upset about how he had behaved. How could he be so cold toward her after the way they interacted before? It was like looking at two different people, and yet it wasn’t. Edmund had been warm and friendly with her, and last night was like they had never met before.

He had been with a young, beautiful woman who seemed to be hanging off his arm as if she owned him. Was he trying to impress her and focus his attention solely on her? Or was he ashamed that he was associated with an outcast like Amelia?

She was aware of what people called her, but while it smarted a little, she didn’t care. They were too pretentious for her liking, and treating her the way they did proved her point. She didn’t want to be around people who were rude toward her because she chose to be her own person.

“I heard about what happened last night from your mother,” Downe said, his voice making Amelia turn. He had put his pen down and was sitting back in his chair, watching her with a blank expression.

Amelia sighed.

“I did warn you two that forcing me wasn’t going to go well for anyone, Father.”

“All you need to do is dance with the gentlemen. What’s wrong with that?”

“You mean I have to interact with people.”

Downe sighed.

“You’re the daughter of a marquess, Amelia. Do you know how embarrassing it is when you treat everyone like they’re beneath you?”

Amelia snorted.

“Nothing of the sort. If you hadn’t restricted me on what I could and couldn’t do, then maybe I’d be more open to talking to the snobs of the city.”

That got a disapproving frown in response.

“You shouldn’t be so rude about your peers. And we did things for your own good.”

They were going to go around in circles again. Amelia knew that would happen. It was something they did quite often now. But she saw it as her parents’ fault; they had stopped her from doing much of what she wanted to do, which had resulted in Amelia having no time for anyone else. She found people to be irritating and disrespectful, so she didn’t want to deal with any of them. Her parents thought that she was just stubborn and rebellious, whereas Amelia saw it as being her own person.

She knew that her mother and father were annoyed at how standoffish their daughter was, but she wasn’t going to change herself into someone who wasn’t true to her personality. People had to take her as she was, and if they didn’t like who the real Amelia Everly was, that wasn’t her problem.

“Anyway,” her father said as he got to his feet, “there’s a visitor for you in the morning room. He’s waiting to speak to you.”

“A visitor for me? And did you say he?”

“I did.”

Amelia almost asked why she didn’t get sent to the morning room immediately, but she knew the answer: if she had seen that there was a gentleman waiting for her she would have walked straight out again. She had more important things to do. Doing it this way was so her father could tell her to do as she was told.

She folded her arms.

“What makes you think I’m going to attend this, Father? I never agreed.”

“You’ll do as you’re told, Amelia. You’re not a child anymore.”

“I wish I was at times, and then you wouldn’t be doing this.”

Downe shook his head and headed toward the door.

“You are going to come in with me, and you are going to do as you’re told. No walking out saying you have something better to do, no being rude and sarcastic. You’ll sit and be as polite as you can be.”

“And you think I’m going to comply with that?”

Her father shot her a sharp look.

“Don’t behave like that. You’re already embarrassing me, and I don’t want to deal with any of that today. Especially with the kind of guest we have.”

“Who is it?” Amelia asked. “Do I know him?”

“According to him, you do.”

Amelia hoped that it wasn’t Lord Sutton. That man was too arrogant for his own good. If he thought that she would agree to being around him in any capacity after the way she told him to get lost, he had to be mad.

Why would he want to approach her again when Amelia had made it clear that she didn’t care for him at all? They would not get along at all; Amelia was not someone who would let anyone get away with poor behavior like she had faced from Sutton.

So, who was it that had come to visit her? Who was it that her father wanted her to behave for? It had to be a gentleman because Downe wouldn’t go to these lengths to tell his daughter how to behave. It couldn’t be anyone else.

Sighing, Amelia held up her hands.

“Lead the way, Father. But don’t take up too much of my time. I’m busy.”

“I’m the one in charge here, Amelia,” Downe said briskly as he opened the door. “Don’t forget who you’re speaking to.”

“I’m sure the children the charity is helping will be delighted to know that my attention has been taken elsewhere,” Amelia replied, following him out of the room. “We don’t want to disappoint them, do we?”

Her father didn’t answer, but Amelia saw his shoulders tightening. She knew that she was being rude toward him, and that she should give him some respect. But when she didn’t know what was going on, and her father wouldn’t tell her everything, it was hard to do that.

They entered the morning room to find a gentleman there, pacing around near the window. He stopped and turned when they entered, his eyes going straight to Amelia.

And Amelia almost tripped over her own feet. It was Edmund.