The Fortune Hunter Page 0,62

one and sent it over, along with a spare pair of boots. We always were of a size, except for a couple of inches of height.

Please, please, please agree, Amy.

Your dearest friend,

Clyta.

Amy sighed.

"Bad news, dear?" asked Nell Claybury as she entered. Amy feared her tears had left a mark.

"Not really," she said with a smile. "It is just Clyta Ashby asking me to join a riding party. Or at least, forewarning me that Rowanford is going to invite me."

Nell looked unconvinced that this was the whole story but said, "That is wonderful, Amy. Just what you need."

"I told you I have no wish to move in high circles," Amy said. "And I may have other invitations."

"If you mean Sir Cedric," said Nell, causing Amy to blush, "did you not hear him say that he will be out of Town for a few days?"

That must have been while she was daydreaming. Amy felt a mixture of frustration and relief at the news.

"So there is no reason," Nell continued, "for you not to enjoy yourself. What harm can it do if you spend a pleasant afternoon with your friends?"

None at all, thought Amy, except that she feared Harry Crisp would be one of the group.

But she wanted to go. It was over two years since she had ridden a decent horse. Why the devil should she let Harry Crisp keep her from such a treat? He could stay home if the situation bothered him.

"Lord save us!" declared Nell, startling Amy out of her thoughts. "Do you mean the Duke of Rowanford is going to come here?"

"I think so," said Amy. To her amazement, sensible Nell Claybury was transformed before her eyes into a bundle of anticipation and nerves, dashing around to make sure every corner of the house was perfect, and lamenting the fact that she did not keep a butler who would be knowledgeable about wines.

In the end she sent the footman to her friend, Jerome Irons, the wine merchant, begging him to send over a selection of fine wines suitable for immediate drinking. Within half an hour four clerks arrived bearing the bottles with great care, so as to avoid disturbing them, and left them along with careful instructions for their correct handling.

"Bertie always looked after the wines," said Nell nervously. "I have no palate at all - the cheapest wine tastes as good as the most expensive, so I don't bother myself over much. Am I acting the fool?" she asked ruefully.

Amy smiled. "Not at all. A duke is a duke, after all. I just hope you don't mind him coming here. I'm causing you a great deal of bother."

"Not a bit of it," said Nell. "I was bored to death before you came. I'm having a wonderful time."

And indeed, thought Amy, that was surely the truth. Nell was looking brighter and younger day by day. Amy told her so, adding, "I expect we will have your suitors beating down the door as well as mine." She was amused when Nell blushed, and wondered just who the promising gentleman might be.

Francis, the footman, looked puffed up with pride when he ushered the duke into Nell's drawing room, and the maid who helped bring in the tea tray appeared ready to drop it with nerves. Aunt Lizzie had the complacent look of one who says to herself, "I told you so."

Rowanford must be aware of the effect he was having - Amy wondered if he found it tiresome to be set apart so young merely by a title - but he put on no airs and graces. He soon had Nell at her ease. He was a thoroughly pleasant man.

Again the thought came to Amy that she could surely induce the appropriate degree of warmth for him in her heart if she tried, and she certainly wasn't above the idea that marrying the duke would be a glorious triumph. But then she remembered Clyta. It wouldn't do. And the simple fact was that it might be possible to make oneself fall in love, but only when the heart was free.

Amy was having to accept that her heart was not free.

Rowanford turned to her and delivered the expected invitation. Amy hesitated. Her acceptance might encourage him, and she knew she was going to be thrown together with Harry. Perhaps it might be wiser to say no.

On the other hand, she wanted to go, and perhaps she could find a way to promote Clyta's cause. Sir Cedric would be out of town,