An Unlikely Debutante

Lina shrugged. If Lord Whitemore could persuade Raul to let her stay with him for six weeks, then she would be mightily impressed. Many people thought gypsies to have loose morals and easy virtues, but in Lina’s experience the same standards were expected of the young gypsy women as every other young woman. They might not live the same conventional lives as everyone else, but if they wanted to find a decent partner to settle down with, they were expected to be untouched and unblemished on their wedding night.

‘And whilst I am staying with you for six weeks...?’ Lina asked.

‘I will teach you to dance, to converse, how to address people at social functions.’

‘Really complicated skills, then.’

‘I admit you can dance, but can you dance a waltz? You can converse, but can you impress a group of society matrons with your demure manner and correct forms of address?’

Lina shrugged. This was why she had always steered clear of the county dances in the towns and villages they visited. There were so many rules, so many opportunities for other people to look down on her, it hardly seemed worth the effort.

‘These things matter. Don’t ask me why, I happen to agree with you. Life would be much more fun if some of the formalities were dispensed with.’

‘So I’d live with you, have lessons in dancing and how to conduct a banal conversation. Anything else?’

‘At the end of the six weeks we would attend a ball together. That is the test. If you get a full dance card, behave appropriately and are successful at blending in with the other debutantes, then I will win the wager.’

‘And I return to my family.’

‘Exactly, and although I cannot pay you, you will be able to take all the new clothes and gifts with you when you leave.’

It probably wouldn’t be enough to pay off her entire debt, Lina thought, but at least it would be a start. Something to keep Uncle Tom at bay for another few weeks.

‘I will do it,’ Lina said.

She gasped with shock as Lord Whitemore picked her up and spun her round. He looked boyish and carefree for a moment, the frown she had picked up on during his fortune telling wiped from his face.

‘If you can persuade Raul,’ she added.

‘That, my dear, will not be a problem.’

Chapter Three (#u509315e6-ab43-5b1a-9c9f-073f014cab12)

‘You want to do what with my sister?’ Raul asked, his fists clenching although his hands remained by his sides for now.

Alex smiled. It was a well-practised smile that normally portrayed confidence and instilled a sense of trust in the recipient. It was a smile that had served him well over the years, but today it was falling rather flat.

‘I want to turn her into a lady—the perfect debutante to be precise,’ Alex said bluntly, realising a direct approach would be better with the suspicious man standing in front of him.

‘You want to marry her?’

‘Good God, no.’ Alex held up a mitigating hand. ‘I am sure your sister would make any man a wonderful wife, but that is not what I am proposing.’

Quickly he outlined the details of the wager he had accepted and the role Lina would play in the matter.

‘Is this what your lot think of as fun?’ Raul asked, shaking his head. ‘Do you not have better things to do with your time?’

Alex stiffened at the insult.

‘As a matter of fact I do. I run an estate of nearly a thousand acres, with a dozen farms and nearly five times as many residential properties. I employ over two hundred people in various roles and in addition to all that I devote a large amount of time and effort to buying and training racehorses.’ Alex softened his expression and his tone as he saw the respect blooming on the other man’s face. ‘But I also have a sister. A particularly meddlesome sister. And I consider it well worth taking six weeks away from my other responsibilities to ensure I never have to endure her romantic meddling again.’

‘What about Lina’s reputation?’ Raul asked.

Smiling, Alex gave the other man a reassuring pat on the upper arm. He knew he had won this argument already. Lina’s brother would not bother asking about the fine details if he wasn’t going to accept the proposal in principle.

‘Your sister’s reputation is of the utmost importance to me.’ It was the truth. Alex didn’t go around ruining young women’s reputations, whatever walks of life they were from. He doubted this Lina was as pure and innocent as her brother liked to believe, but he would treat her like the most precious virgin for the duration of her stay. ‘My sister is staying with me for the next two weeks. As she is a married woman of good reputation, I trust she will be an adequate chaperone. After that I will arrange for my widowed aunt to visit.’

‘What does Lina get out of this arrangement?’

‘Unfortunately the terms of the wager forbid me to pay your sister for her help over the coming six weeks, but they do not forbid me giving her gifts to reimburse her for her time and efforts.’

‘Lina? Get over here, girl,’ Raul called to where his sister was laughing with some villagers at a nearby table.

‘So, what do you think?’

‘You really want to do this?’ Raul asked his sister.

She shrugged. ‘It’ll make a nice change from dancing and telling fortunes. And I’ll be back with you in no time at all.’

‘Fantastic,’ Alex said enthusiastically, holding out his hand for the other man to shake.

Raul looked at the hand, then slapped Alex on the shoulder in a brotherly way.

‘We don’t shake hands on a deal like this,’ he said, smiling and showing a set of surprisingly white teeth. ‘We fight.’

‘Raul, no,’ Lina protested.

‘Only way to know a man’s character.’

‘You’ll get us thrown out of Pottersdown.’ Brother and sister had huddled together conspiratorially and Alex had to strain to hear Lina’s words.

‘I’m not letting you go without this, Lina,’ Raul said after a hushed but heated discussion.

Lina turned to face him and shrugged. ‘He wants to fight. It’s up to you.’

Alex only deliberated for a second, realising Raul was trying to figure out what sort of man he was entrusting his sister to.

‘Let’s fight,’ Alex heard himself say.

‘Good man. Ten minutes, behind the cider tent.’ Raul left, whistling happily to himself.

Holding out an arm to escort Lina through the fair, Alex felt a rush of anticipation. As much as he knew he should count his blessings, these last few months he’d felt as though he’d been going through the motions and not really living, not really experiencing anything. Only the rush of excitement as he broke in a new horse or watched it cross the finish line with a new personal best speed got his heart pounding and his muscles tensing at the suspense.

This boredom he’d been feeling was entirely self-induced. Alex was well aware that his broken heart after Victoria had left had caused him to push away anything that might hurt him. And it had worked: three years on and his heart was mended, but he’d rather lost sight of the thrills in life that made it worth living.

‘What should I call you, then?’ Lina asked as they walked.

‘You know my name. Lord Whitemore.’