Miss Westlake's Windfall by Bárbara Metzger

opportunities there will be for the chit to be unavoidably compromised? Do you know how good a swordsman the Earl of Ravenshaw is?”
    “Do not be more of a fool than you have to, Charles. Lord Ravenshaw is an old friend of mine. Of course I know that having Lady Esther here on her own would appear as if you were singling her out for your attentions. That is why I have invited the other young ladies and their families.”
    “Others? You are filling my house with a gaggle of schoolgirls? I refuse. I will leave, go up to London.”
    “I never thought I would live to see the day that any son of mine turned craven. Besides, the party will not be all that large, not with the autumn Season in swing. And you can invite whatever gentlemen you like.”
    “Leo Tobin.”
    “Excuse me, I do not know any — ”
    “Of course you do, Mother. That’s my price. I will stay and play host to your children’s party, and you will invite Leo to the occasional dinner, to any dancing parties, to tea.”
    “When I am dead and buried.”
    “Which will be about when I return from London. I’d better go tell Purvis to start packing for an extended stay.”
    “The ball only. I can make it a masquerade.”
    “The ball and two other invitations.”
    “Very well, the ball and two of your gentlemen’s pursuits. You can take him hunting or whatever.” If Leo got shot, her tone implied, that would add to her entertainment. “I do not wish that person in my home.”
    “Well, I sure as Hades am not looking forward to turning the Meadows into a Marriage Mart.”
    The viscountess bit off a thread with her teeth. “Then you should have done your duty and taken a bride years ago. Which reminds me, if you are not going to marry the Westlake girl, what do you mean by still hanging about her skirts? The servants are talking.”
    “We are old friends. It would cause more gossip if I suddenly stopped visiting. I merely go for tea.” And kisses. He’d kissed Ada good-bye again, and she had melted in his arms, again. This kiss hadn’t been as cataclysmic as the first, not with old Cobble waiting to hand over his hat, but she hadn’t boxed his ears. That was something he could cling to, if he could not cling to Ada. Rumors of those kisses would tangle his mother’s yarns for sure.
    Lady Ashmead put down the cloth she was currently working on, another seat cushion. “You aren’t calling on that widow of Sir Rodney’s, are you?”
    “Good grief, no.”
    “Heaven be praised for small blessings.” She went back to her needlework, then paused once more. “Egad, it’s not the attics-to-let sister you go to see, is it?”
    “Tess is merely eccentric, Mother, in an artistic way. When I go, I visit with the entire household.” When he could not get Ada alone.
    “Then stop. People are talking and it will hurt Ada’s chances.”
    “Ada’s chances of what, pray tell?”
    “Her chances of not leading apes in hell, you ignoramus. Ada won’t have any reputation left if people start whispering that you two are having an affair instead of a wedding.”
    The next person who suggested such a thing had better be prepared to meet his maker.
    * * * *
    As if the day wasn’t bad enough, Chas had to spend the evening crisscrossing the countryside, looking for the local riding officer. In the rain. His Ada thought she’d return the unpaid customs taxes to the excise men in the morning.
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    Ada’s day had gone very well, she reflected as she readied for bed. She’d received her second proposal in a sennight, and Chas was jealous.
    A lady did not boast of her conquests, not even to herself as she brushed her hair, but Ada could not help being pleased. Reverend Tothy had offered because she would be a worthy wife, not because he had known her forever, or because he felt sorry for her. The vicar thought of her as a possible helpmate, a potential partner in his life’s work, which was not to be scoffed at. Ada liked being needed, enjoyed