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Kate was, in her opinion, doing a rather good job of not hovering over her sister. Yes, they were in the same room, but it was a rather large room with quite a large number of people in it. And Kate was on the opposite side of it with her mama while Edwina was speaking with the Prince. Lady Danbury was allowed to stand near Edwina, but she was never accused of hovering. No, Lady Danbury was merely keeping a watchful eye over the youngest Sharma. As if Kate had not been doing the very same the entire season!
And, really, Kate had never been too overprotective when it came to Edwina. She could have been worse. She could have been as bad as a certain viscount had been. Edwina had always had suitors this season, whereas the diamond nearly had hers all dry up until her brother finally learned to relinquish some control.
So Kate was not hovering close by to Edwina. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t trying to keep an eye on her.
“Kathani,” said Mary warningly. Kate was jolted out of her attempt to read Prince Friedrich’s lips by her mama. Mary arched her brow at her eldest daughter. “Edwina is perfectly alright. Lady Danbury is keeping an eye on her. You could take your time here to actually enjoy yourself. Even look at some of the art.” She gestured to the large painting in front of them. It was filled with demure-looking, half-dressed women. Another painting by yet another man.
“I am enjoying myself,” Kate insisted. She turned fully toward the painting and gave it an inquisitive look as if she really did think the painting in front of her was a work of art and not a mediocre imitation of earlier, greater art.
“I could introduce you to some gentlemen, too, while we’re here,” Mary offered. Kate held back a groan. “We’re not just here for Edwina to find a husband. We’re looking for you, as well.”
“You’re looking,” Kate corrected. “I have told you I am only interested in finding a match for Edwina. It will be much easier to find her a match than to find one for an old maid of five-and-twenty.”
“Old maid my foot!” Mary scoffed. “You’re just as accomplished as your sister, if not more so. And if the men of the ton can’t see just how talented, intelligent, and beautiful you are, then they are all fools.”
Kate felt her face grow warm with her mother’s praise. “They’re men. They’re fools by default,” she quipped.
“All I’m saying is that there are plenty of men who have noticed you. And they would like to show interest in you if they thought you’d be more receptive to their attentions,” Mary sighed.
“And where are these supposed interested parties?” Kate asked, craning her neck to look about the room. “Are they hiding behind a vase or have they been conjured up by your imagination?”
Mary looked at her, unamused. “If you promise to be pleasant, I may introduce you to a few of them in due time.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “They’re imaginary.”
“They’re real.”
“They’re not .”
“Lady Danbury and I have been keeping a list of them.”
That got Kate’s attention. “A list? What list?”
Mary smirked at her. Smirked. “I thought you weren’t interested in finding a match for yourself.”
Kate scoffed. “I’m not. I merely wish to know what gaggle of idiots you and our host saw fit to pen down.”
“They are not idiots,” insisted Mary. “One of them may very well end up being your future husband. Only after you marry him will the other men on the list realize what fools they were to let you slip through their fingers.”
“If you say so, mama,” Kate allowed, knowing it would be fruitless to try and argue this point any further. Mary finally changed the subject, and the two spoke for some time about the artwork on display before Kate finally caught sight of Edwina leaving the prince’s side and crossing the room to them. She sighed in relief.
“Edwina, dearest,” Mary said when her youngest daughter joined them. “How was his highness? Did you enjoy yourself?”
“I did,” answered Edwina with a smile. “I’m surprised Kate didn’t come running over.”
“I promised I would not,” Kate said grumpily. Mary smiled at her daughters in amusement before excusing herself to go and speak with Lady Danbury.
“How was your time with his highness, truly?” Kate asked once their mama was out of earshot. They strolled arm in arm through the exhibit.
Edwina smiled as she thought about her answer. “He is very kind. Intelligent. Charming. He is much like the princes in my stories, come to think of it.”
“Do you like him?”
“I do,” answered Edwina but there was some hesitancy. “However, her majesty seems set on having her nephew court the diamond.”
Her majesty must have failed to notice that the diamond’s affections lay with the Duke of Hastings and not her nephew.
“And I suppose, right now, I see his highness more as a good friend. But a loving marriage can grow from a friendship, can it not?”
Kate squeezed her sister’s hand reassuringly. “It can . But do not try and force something that is not there. If it does not happen naturally, it will not happen at all.”
They paused in front of some of the sculptures and gazed up at them together.
“His highness did invite me to see a lecture put on by an archaeologist friend of his at the British Museum,” Edwina informed her sister excitedly. “He thought I might like it more than a boxing match.”
“Oh?” Kate said interestedly. “Is he still looking for someone to escort to the match? I’d quite like to go.” Edwina giggled. “How on Earth has the prince become friends so quickly with an archaeologist? He has scarcely been in the country for a week.”
“I believe he said the archaeologist was visiting a university near his highness’s home last year and they met by chance. But Prince Friedrich is such an amiable person. He makes friends wherever he goes. It would not have surprised me if he had told me that he had only met the archaeologist after his breakfast this morning.”
Kate smiled at her sister’s description of the prince. She would need to speak with him, but if he wished to court Edwina, Kate had no objections so far.
“How did you go from speaking of archaeology to boxing?” Kate asked curiously.
“Oh, we bumped into Lord Bridgerton and his highness asked if he would be attending the match,” Edwina explained. The smile slipped from Kate’s face and was replaced with a grimace. “He will be. With his brothers. The elder two, I mean.”
“Hm,” said Kate. She didn’t trust herself to say much more than that where the viscount was concerned.
“He was rather amiable when speaking to his highness and myself,” Edwina continued. “Charming, too. Not at all like you have described him.”
Kate bit her tongue.
“It’s such a shame that Lord Bridgerton isn’t seeking a wife on the marriage mart,” Edwina lamented with a sigh. “I’m sure he’d be quite a catch with all of the young ladies.”
Kate couldn’t help herself any longer. She rolled her eyes. “Please,” she scoffed. Edwina turned to her sister.
“Well, it’s true, ” Edwina insisted. “Just because you don’t get along with him doesn’t mean he wouldn’t get along with someone else. And besides, he has many admirable qualities.”
“Many admirable qualities?” Kate echoed skeptically.
“He’s funny. Charming. Fiercely devoted to his family and their happiness,” Edwina listed. She bumped her elbow lightly against her sister’s side. “Not to mention rather handsome .”
Kate sighed, wishing to be speaking on any other topic.
“Oh, come on, didi,” Edwina goaded. “You can’t disagree with me on that .”
No, she couldn’t, but Kate was stubborn. “I’d find him ten times as handsome if he would get a haircut and a shave.”
“Kate!” Edwina gasped. Kate did not back down.
“Well, I would, ” she insisted.
“What’s wrong with his hair?”
Kate sighed. “Nothing’s wrong with it, per se. It’s just not right for him .”
“Thought a lot about it, have you?” Edwina said with a mischievous grin.
“Only when the viscount is being particularly vexing,” Kate replied, glaring at her sister. Edwina nodded in understanding.
“Oh, so quite often then,” she said. “Weekly? Daily? Hourly?”
“In your dreams .”
“No, I rather think he’s been in yours .”
Kate counted to three and wondered if anybody would really blame her if she strangled her sister right here in the gallery.
“The viscount is only eight-and-twenty,” Kate continued through gritted teeth, “and by having those…those… lamb chops on his face, it makes him look much older.”
Edwina looked puzzled over her sister’s words for a moment. Then, she realized what Kate had meant to say. “Mutton chops, didi,” she corrected. “They’re called mutton chops.”
“Oh, yes, that was it. Well, anyway, I still think he could do without them. Or at least shorten them significantly. The mutton chops make him look older, but his hair, by contrast, makes him look quite young. The curls are becoming, I will grant you that, but it’s much too long. Even if he was seeking out a wife, it’s not as if he would be able to see them through all of the hair blocking his view.”
“Kate, don’t be unkind,” Edwina gently admonished her.
“I don’t hear you disagreeing with me,” Kate pointed out.
“Mutton chops are the fashion for men,” Edwina argued. “Prince Friedrich has them. Though with his complexion and his hair color, they do tend to blend in and you don’t notice them so much.”
Kate smiled triumphantly. “You don’t like mutton chops.”
“That’s untrue. They can be quite becoming on some men.”
“Some men.”
“You cannot deny that the viscount is handsome, mutton chops or no,” Edwina insisted. “And he is rather engaging.”
Kate shook her head. “I never said he wasn’t handsome. I may find fault with him, but I am not too proud to admit that much. I believe I said he would be ten times as handsome if he would only trim the whiskers on his face as well as get a haircut. It all obscures too much of his head and face at present.”
Edwina’s eyes lit up and she smiled knowingly at her sister. “Oh!” she said. “I see what this is truly all about.”
Kate looked at her sister questioningly. Edwina looked curiously like a cat that had successfully cornered a mouse and Kate did not like it one bit.
“Kate,” she began in a sickly sweet voice that only meant trouble. “Is it possible that the viscount’s hair is long enough to cover his ears and that’s why you are so vexed about it?”
“His ears ?” Kate echoed. She tried to sound nonchalant even as she felt her face grow warm.
“Yes, his ears,” Edwina nodded. “They look quite boyish, the way they stick out just a little, and I know that you have always found that a rather endearing feature in handsome men.”
Kate scoffed. “Don’t be absurd,” she muttered. The problem was, of course, that Edwina was not being absurd. Some women waxed poetics about a man’s eyes. Some women melted over a man’s smile. Kate, on the other hand, could not help the butterflies that erupted in her stomach whenever she first met a man with a handsome face and a pair of ears that stuck out just so. And to her utmost vexation, Lord Bridgerton was in possession of both.
“You’re just cross because I’m right, didi,” Edwina smirked triumphantly.
Kate shook her head. “You’re not right if you think that is the reason I think he should cut his hair. I just think that the hair is too much. It’s too heavy over his brow, not to mention the mutton chops are all but consuming his face at this point. And besides, you can see his ears just fine.” She nodded to a point across the room. Edwina followed her sister’s gaze. They could see Lord Bridgerton in profile and his ears were perfectly visible. In fact, the one good thing Kate could say about the viscount’s hair was that it framed his ears rather nicely.
Not that she would ever say that aloud. If anyone knew she had even had the thought, she would have no choice but to throw herself off the nearest cliff.
“It’s not as if I am the only one who thinks he should get rid of the mutton chops!” Kate added. “Miss Eloise has made comments on how much she despises them. I would be surprised if any Bridgerton liked them.”
Edwina giggled again. “Imagine how the ton would react if he were to cut his hair!” she said with some excitement. Kate noticed that she didn’t disagree with her on the probable feelings the rest of the Bridgertons had about their older brother’s hairstyle choices.
“That would be quite a sight,” agreed Kate. “The men would drop their brandy glasses in shock. The women would faint dead away. There would be a shortage of smelling salts throughout London. Lady Whistledown would rake in a fortune writing just a single sentence about the event.”
Edwina was amused. “I’d expect nothing less if an already handsome man became a hundred times more handsome overnight.”
“I said ten times . And besides,” Kate sighed heavily, “I doubt Lord Bridgerton will be making changes to his appearance any time soon. Mamas might start flinging their daughters at him left and right. But a change in his appearance, no matter how drastic, would not come close to making up for the deficiencies of his character.”
Now it was Edwina’s turn to sigh heavily. “I know the two of you got off on the wrong foot, but I wish you could start all over again. You have more in common and are more alike than you would ever be willing to admit.”
Kate glared at Edwina. “You take that back.”
“And perhaps the two of you would be more receptive to each other if he got that haircut. He would finally be able to see you clearly without all of his hair in the way. And you would finally have an unobstructed view of his ears-”
“One more word about his ears in public and I will throw you into the Thames,” Kate warned. Edwina hid her giggle behind her hand.
One Week Later
Gasps rippled through the ballroom. Fans clattered to the floor. Gentlemen gawked. Ladies whispered. Pleas for smelling salts could be heard. One young lady fainted dead away onto the floor and the gentleman with her was in such a state of shock, he failed to catch her or even notice her state for quite some time.
Edwina Sharma nearly choked on a delicate sip of her lemonade.
“Bon? Edwina? Are you alright?” Kate asked worriedly. Prince Friedrich, ever the gentleman, offered up his handkerchief to Edwina immediately.
“I’m fine!” Edwina insisted. “I’m perfectly alright! It’s just–! It’s a bit startling–but–! Oh, didi, just look!” Edwina nodded at a point behind Kate’s shoulder. Prince Friedrich’s eyes lit up in recognition.
“Ah!” he said. “Lord Bridgerton got a haircut.”
Kate whirled around. What? No! It couldn’t possibly be true!
And yet, it was.
Lord Bridgerton had cut his hair. Lord Anthony Bridgerton had cut his hair! Half of it seemed to be gone! Though not so much of it that there was not still a little bit of a curl to it, Kate couldn’t help but notice. She chastised herself a moment later for noticing at all. He was an infuriating man. He didn’t deserve her noticing anything about him.
And the mutton chops were nearly gone! There was some hint of them there, to be sure, just at his temples. But now his face was not being swallowed by them.
And damn it, he looked even more handsome than before. Not just ten times as handsome, but twenty times or fifty times. Hell, it might even be a hundred times as Edwina had suggested.
And she could see his ears much better now without all that hair in the way. Damn. She would have to avoid him until she was sure that she could say something to him without getting distracted by his ears.
As if reading her thoughts, Edwina nudged her sister and whispered in her ear, “You’ve got your wish, didi. You can see his ears much better now.”
“Quiet,” Kate hissed.
Edwina giggled. “It is quite a becoming look on him, I must say,” she said at a normal volume so that all in her party could hear her.
“I think I might have to agree with you, dear,” said Mary.
“I wonder which one of the Bridgertons won the wager,” Lady Danbury mused. Before Kate could inquire further as to what Lady Danbury meant, Edwina nudged her sister again with more force.
“Kate, he’s coming this way,” Edwina said urgently. Kate looked back up in alarm. It did seem that Anthony Bridgerton was crossing the ballroom and headed directly toward their group. But he couldn’t be. That was ridiculous.
“He’s probably looking for the drinks table,” Kate reasoned. “Or the card room.”
“Didi, he’s looking right at you,” Edwina insisted.
No. He couldn’t be. “Perhaps he’s looking at Lady Danbury. Or his highness.”
“No, I must agree with your sister,” said Prince Friedrich. “I think Lord Bridgerton is looking toward you. Do not look so surprised, Miss Sharma. You look exceptionally lovely this evening. Your gown is exquisite.”
One day, Kate was going to sit down with the prince and teach him other adjectives to describe a lady’s gown besides “exquisite.”
Kate did not like to be seen as a coward, but she really must get away, now and before Lord Bridgerton reached their party. Edwina, enjoying her sister’s torment far too much to be smiling so sweetly, had a fierce grip on Kate’s arm, preventing her escape. Kate was trapped. And Lord Bridgerton was closing the distance between them.
Across the ballroom, Benedict Bridgerton turned to his younger brother and sister with a smirk. “I believe the two of you owe me money,” he said in triumph.
Daphne, the elegant diamond of the season, stomped her foot petulantly. “That’s not fair! I had next month! He couldn’t have waited another month?”
Colin glared. “I smell a cheat,” he accused.
Simon looked warily between each of the Bridgertons in front of him. “What’s all this about?” he asked.
Daphne nodded her head toward the viscount crossing the ballroom. “Anthony. We all made bets on when he would cut his hair.”
Simon looked affronted. “And I was not informed? I’ve known him for ages. I could have won that wager.”
“I’m afraid it was limited to the Bridgerton children only, Hastings,” Colin said apologetically. “And it came with very strict rules. Chief among them is that no one is permitted to outright suggest a haircut to Anthony. This brings me back to my main argument: Benedict is a cheat .” He glared at Benedict again.
“I did not,” insisted Benedict. “I never said anything to him. I just came in possession of some valuable information and made sure that said knowledge got back to him. Knowledge that will, I hope, yield results. Ah, and it looks like it already has.”
Colin, Daphne, and Simon all nearly snapped their necks to look at the impossible scene unfolding in front of them.
Anthony “I-shall-be-nowhere-near-that-damned-dance-floor” Bridgerton was leading Miss Kate Sharma to the floor.
“...and what results are you hoping to achieve, exactly?” asked Simon.
Benedict crossed his arms and shrugged. “It’s quite simple, really,” he said. (Knowing his brother, it would quickly become not simple, but Benedict was too busy enjoying his victory to focus on that.) “If Anthony and Miss Sharma can stop arguing for five minutes, they can see that they’re perfect for each other, and they can be married.”
Daphne blinked at him. “You’re…trying to get Anthony married?”
“On purpose?” added Colin.
Benedict nodded. “Yes. And if they’re married, they can have children. Sons, hopefully. And I will no longer be in danger of inheriting the viscountcy.” His companions were still staring blankly at him. “Do either of you honestly want the title to fall to me?”
“Absolutely not!” Colin and Daphne shuddered.
“I don’t think one dance will lead them toward matrimony,” Simon pointed out to the Bridgertons.
“Well, of course not,” agreed Colin. “That’s why we must help nudge them in the right direction.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” said Benedict, nodding.
“We’ll have to plan carefully,” counseled Daphne, “and we’ll have to be subtle about it.”
“You can’t be subtle. You’ve never been subtle. There are eight of you,” Simon pointed out. Daphne smiled sweetly up at him.
“Perhaps you could gather some intel for us from your godmother?” Daphne suggested as she fluttered her eyelashes. Damn it, how was that ridiculous move working on him?
Simon swallowed. “I’m not sure I want any part of this,” he said hesitantly.
“And yet you complained moments ago that you were not able to partake in our wager?” countered Benedict. Simon sighed in resignation.
“Very well, I will speak with her tomorrow,” he promised. Satisfied, the Bridgertons all resumed their whispered scheming and Simon turned back to watch his old friend dance. He thought the Bridgertons might have the right idea about Anthony if the look in his eyes as he held Miss Sharma was anything to go by.
Dearest Reader,
This season has been in desperate need of more excitement and surprises to liven things up. And one recent event has left the ton in what seems to be a semi-permanent state of shock...