3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3:

The rest of Lady Danbury's ball passed in a pleasant blur that Kate was thankful contained no more Bridgertons. She was happy to simply watch Edwina pass the hours dancing to her hearts content. If Kate's thoughts turned to her dance with the elder Bridgerton son every once in a while, distracting her from Edwina's suitors, who was to know? The men of the ton were certainly grateful for it, as Kate already had somewhat of a reputation. It did not help matters when Edwina announced that she couldn't possibly marry someone Kate did not approve of.

A lot more feet got trodden on after that statement as the prime sons of London tried to curry the elder Miss Sharma's favor.

And if her thoughts turned to warm eyes in a ballroom after she returned to her room, well…

Who was to know?

The next morning brought the first round of suitors and Kate already despaired of finding her sister a match amongst this lot.

"It is amazing some of them can even string a sentence together." She hissed to Mary as one of the idiots tried to read poetry to poor Edwina. "I thought they were supposed to be well educated!"

"Kate!" Mary hissed back, smiling encouraging at Edwina. "Be kind, dearest."

Kate huffed and turned her eye to the masses of flowers that had arrived this morning from all over London addressed to Miss Edwina Sharma. Kate rather thought they could leave off the 'Edwina' part, but she supposed they wanted to be sure they got to the right Sharma sister. Not that anyone was sending her flowers anyway.

As her mind started to slip back to the night before, to the man she rather hoped might have wanted to send flowers, she shook herself.

No. I have a plan. Edwina is what is important.

As the next suitor started to expound on the virtues of a well-tended garden, Newton gave a huff and rolled over at Kate's feet. She shook her head at the rotund corgi and reached down to rub his stomach as he had intended for her to do.

The next of the band of idiots, as Kate had started thinking of them as, got to his feet and announced that he would be performing a monologue from Romeo and Juliet, causing Kate to scoff loudly and Edwina to giggle in return. The man turned bright red before bowing quickly and leaving.

"One down, a hundred to go." Kate bemoaned, glaring at the rest of the men. Several wilted under her gaze and made their way to the door as she smiled triumphantly.

"Kate!" Mary hissed again as Edwina frowned at her.

Kate sighed and moved to sit next to her sister, completely ignoring the last of the suitors.

"You deserve the best, Bon." She told Edwina.

"How will we know the best if you frighten them all away, Didi?" her sister shot back.

"The best won't be frightened away." Kate replied softly. "We'll keep looking until we find them."

The last of the suitors scoffed and stormed off.

"I mean, seriously, is this the best the ton have to offer?" she demanded to the room.

"While I hate to encourage Miss Sharma's behavior, today's offerings were less than stellar." Lady Danbury told them. "If we want the best, the Queen must name Edwina the Diamond."

"Who else would she choose?" Kate scoffed. "Edwina was clearly the most beautiful lady in the room last night."

"Kate." Edwina admonished, embarrassed. "All the ladies were beautiful, I thought."

"That's because you didn't see Cressida Cowper's hair." Kate muttered.

"And you yourself danced with both Bridgerton brothers!" Edwina said over her.

"They were just being kind." Kate said, looking away for a moment before turning back to her sister with a bright smile. "They were probably just trying to learn more about you, Bon. Everyone knows Lord Bridgerton is looking for a wife this season. Not that he is at all acceptable."

"And what, pray tell, is wrong with Lord Bridgerton?" Danbury demanded. "He's handsome, rich, titled…what more could you want for your sister?"

"He is also the worst sort of rake." Kate shot back, ruthlessly forcing down the fluttering in her chest at the mention of Anthony Bridgerton. "At least if we're to believe Lady Whistledown. Edwina deserves a love match. Do you really believe he can give her that?"

"My Lady?" a footman interrupted, carrying a silver tray over to Lady Danbury, who took the letter upon it and quickly opened it.

"Lady Bridgerton has invited us to tea." She announced. "I, unfortunately, am already promised to the Queen and will have to send my regrets, but you three will attend. Lady Bridgerton is a powerful ally that we cannot afford to alienate."

Kate certainly was becoming adept at shoving down the feelings that rose at any mention of the Bridgerton name, if she did say so herself. She made her face carefully blank as she turned back to Lady Danbury.

"If we must." She said blandly.

"You must." Danbury confirmed, effectively ending the conversation as she swept out of the room.

"Well," Mary said after a moment of silence, "I suppose we should get ready for tea."

She got up from the couch and left the room, leaving her daughters no choice but to follow.

~.~

Anthony was no stranger to sleepless nights. He had been woefully unprepared to become Viscount and those first weeks as he tried to learn everything and anything he needed to know to protect his family had set the pattern of sleep he still followed. But while it was usually ledgers and papers delaying his sleep, tonight brought new and strange problems.

He could barely understand his behavior at Lady Danbury's ball.

He had one plan. Marry a young, pretty, capable woman who would bare pretty, capable children and be the utterly perfect Viscountess.

She would be someone he could never love.

Even after he met her in the woods, Miss Sharma had not altered his plan.

But that scent…he couldn't shake it.

His mind was full of the way her eyes sparked when she argued with him, the way her hand fit in his, the sound of her laughter. He had danced and spoken with almost every debutante in the ton, not one of them had affected him the way she had. He could see the moment her hood had fallen back like it was a loop in his mind, her dark eyes sparkling. If he were more like Benedict, he might have thought she was some wood nymph or even goddess sent to torment him.

She's going back to India.

Anthony growled and rubbed a hand across his face. He should just stick to the plan. He didn't want what his parents had. He didn't want or want to cause the pain he had watched his mother live through, not ever. No, one of the pretty jewels of the ton would do him just fine. He just had to stick to the plan, which now included staying as far from Miss Sharma as he could.

When he finally made it to Bridgerton House hours later, he was in a truly miserable mood. The only bright spot was that he had managed to avoid Eloise's singular suitor. If her utter lack of care for what the modiste was saying was any evidence, the meeting hadn't gone well and that suited him just fine.

As he sat at the table, reading the paper, he saw Benedict stop Madame Delacroix and speak with her for a moment before heading over to bother him.

"Are you and the modiste still, uh, making a stitch?" Anthony inquired as his brother sat.

"Apparently not." Benedict shot back. "Have you visited your future wife yet today?"

Anthony glanced at their mother quickly, who was speaking to Eloise about something to do with fabric, before glaring at his brother.

"I have no idea of who you speak."

"You don't?" Benedict seemed genuinely shocked. "I seem to remember you being particularly enamored with Miss Sharma the elder last night…or did I hallucinate the damage inflicted on my poor toes?"

"You said she was bound and determined to return to India." Anthony replied shortly. "Seems rather like a waste of time."

Benedict leaned forward and studied his brother closely for a moment, making Anthony severely uncomfortable, before grinning.

"Is mother aware?"

Anthony narrowed his eyes.

"Aware of what?" Without waiting for an answer, he got to his feet. "I'm off to deal with our solicitor. Have fun with your pretty pictures, brother."

Violet noted her son's exit and followed him out.

"Anthony?"

Her eldest sighed as the door closed but turned to face her.

"Are you not staying for tea?" she asked him, and he shook his head.

"I have several matters I need to attend to." He told her. "My apologies."

"There were some lovely ladies in attendance last night, were there not?" she asked him, stepping closer. "Lady Delilah has beautiful manners, and I hear Miss Goodrum is very accomplished in her needlework. Perhaps you shall get to know them better soon."

"Lady Delilah can barely string a sentence together, and Miss Goodrum thought that Napoleon fights for the Spanish." Anthony told her, annoyance clear in his voice. "As for every other eager chit you pushed in my direction, I'd happily never lay eyes on them again."

"Anthony…"

"I am looking for perfection." He interrupted. "And you should be too. The woman I marry should be too. The woman I marry shall be the Viscountess Bridgerton, the lady of this household, responsible for launching my sisters and bearing my children. Do you desire them to be raised by a woman who does not know how to so much as hold a map right side up?"

Violet didn't answer him and he sighed deeply.

"This is the duty I must fulfill." He told her.

"You will end up alone with such expectations." She replied softly.

Anthony was still for a moment.

"Good day, Mother."

He turned and strode out the door only to be brought up short by the last woman he wanted to see on the Earth stepping out of the carriage in front of his family home.

~.~

Kate was uncharacteristically quiet on the way to Bridgerton House.

She did not want to see him. She did not want to be in his home, she did not want to think well of his mother and sister, she did not want to think well of him.

He had said they'd see each other again.

She hated that it had hurt that he hadn't even sent flowers. She had let him distract her from Edwina, even if it was only for a dance, and now she was furious at herself for hoping. He was a rake, she should never have forgotten that. Even if he was looking for a wife, he was far more likely to offer for Edwina than he was to ever offer for her.

Not that she wanted him to offer her anything!

Kate could cheerfully kill Lord Anthony Bridgerton for doing this to her. Surely anyone who met him would understand and not judge her too harshly.

Before she even realized it, they were pulling up to a beautiful house that somehow made her even more angry. Of course his house was beautiful.

Mary and Edwina, who had chatted cheerfully the whole way over oblivious to her mental spiral, were suitably impressed by the annoyingly beautiful house. As the footman opened the carriage to help the ladies out, Kate considered how much of a scene it would cause if she just refused to get out. Deciding it wasn't worth it, she allowed him to hand her out of the carriage right as the door to the obnoxiously beautiful house closed. She looked up and had to resist the urge to swear.

There he was. The rake himself. Of course he was here in his stupidly beautiful house.

She should have stayed in the carriage.

~.~

She was here.

That was quite literally the only thought he was capable of making at that moment. She was here and he was staring like an idiot.

He cleared his throat and stepped down the stairs to greet the ladies.

"Lady Mary, Miss Sharma, Miss Edwina." He bowed as they curtsied. "I wasn't aware you were paying call today."

His eyes met Kate's and couldn't look away.

"Your mother was kind enough to invite us for tea." Lady Mary was saying and he forced himself to look away from Kate.

"Will you be joining us, my Lord?" Edwina asked brightly.

He briefly wondered how much he would suffer if he went back inside and begged his mother to let him attend tea. Surely it wouldn't kill him.

"I'm sure his lordship is far too busy to take tea with us, Bon." Kate told her, making his eyes snap back to her.

The plan. He needed to remember the plan.

"Your sister is correct." He forced out. "I was just on my way out. Please, don't let me hold you up."

He stepped to the side, allowing the women to pass, and caught that scent once again that almost brought him to his knees. He caught Kate's eye as she passed, and he was surprised to see clear annoyance. Maybe she had wanted him to stay? Maybe he could stay.

No.

No, he had a plan. He was sticking to the plan. He was getting the hell away from her.

"Miss Sharma."

"Lord Bridgerton."

And she was gone, inside his house. And with more self-control than Anthony had known he possessed, he walked away.

~.~

Tea was lovely. Somehow this also made her hate him.

Violet Bridgerton was the perfect hostess, the food was perfect, the beautiful house was even more beautiful inside…all of it was perfect.

Eloise Bridgerton seemed reluctant to be there in the beginning, but soon seemed to thaw as she and Kate struck up a conversation about women's role in society.

"You really were allowed to hunt?"

Kate nodded as she took a sip of her tea.

"The royal family were very kind to us." She confirmed. "They allowed me to learn and play alongside their own children."

"I love to shoot but none of the boys will ever let me go on the hunt." Eloise complained. "I think their just afraid I'll show them up!"

"Eloise." Her mother chided her outburst before turning back to Lady Mary, with whom she had struck a fast friendship.

"It is supremely unfair." Eloise groused quietly, making both Kate and Edwina smile.

"Kate is an excellent shot." Edwina told her. "I never had the stomach for it."

"None of my sisters have ever cared to try." Eloise replied. "Us Bridgertons are very competitive, though, so when we shoot, they are our judges."

"It must be nice to have so many siblings." Edwina said. "It's always just been me and Kate."

"Be careful what you wish for." Eloise told her. "Most days I would trade them all for a pound. They can be incredibly annoying. It's like it's their one purpose in life. You should hear what Anthony did to Daphne last year. I really thought she was going to kill him."

"What did he do?" Kate asked despite herself.

"You know Daphne was declared the Diamond last year?" Eloise waited for the girls to confirm before continuing. "Well, to start with she had plenty of suitors. So many it was frankly embarrassing, but Anthony managed to drive basically all of them away in about a week flat."

"What did he do?" Edwina asked, sneaking a glance at Kate.

"Just basically was his normal terrifying self." Eloise replied with a shrug. "Anthony loves us but he wouldn't be a Bridgerton if he didn't try to meddle in our lives. Finally, all that was left was Mr. Berbrooke. Daphne was distraught, especially when she found out Anthony had agreed to his marriage proposal."

"What did she do?" Edwina breathed.

"She fell in love with the Duke." Eloise shrugged. "Anthony wasn't happy because Simon had something of a reputation, but anyone with eyes can see he and Daphne love each other, so it all worked out in the end."

"I find myself sympathizing with your sister." Edwina muttered into her teacup.

"Are you implying that I would try to trap you into marriage with someone you didn't love?" Kate demanded, shocked.

"Of course not, Didi." Edwina soothed. "But surely you must be aware that you seem to have the same protective nature as Lord Bridgerton? I'm sure he thought he was protecting his sister, too."

Kate glowered at her sister, who just giggled.

"I am nothing like Lord Bridgerton." She said, annoyance seeping into her voice.

"Please don't get the wrong idea." Eloise told her. "Anthony is an excellent older brother. He's basically the only father the younger ones have ever known. He takes his duty to the family very seriously. It's just that that same duty rather makes us want to beat him at times. He does love us, though."

"I'm sure he does." Kate told her. "I can appreciate the desire to do your duty to your family."

As Eloise moved on to other humorous stories about her siblings, Kate fumed inside. Why couldn't he be an ogre? A hideous monster who tortured his younger siblings and ran his family into the ground? Why did he have to seem so nice?

She needed to remember the plan. Edwina had to marry. Everything depended on it. And then she could return to India and forget the name Anthony Bridgerton. That was the plan. It was a good plan.

So Kate took a deep breath, put on a smile, and swore to herself she was never coming back to Bridgerton House.