These people were all crazy… Eden
CHAPTER 7
“Welcome to London, Lillian and Juliana! We are blessed to have two such lovely young women join our ranks.” The Duchess of Norfolk wasted no time in calling on her old chum, the Dowager Marchioness of Lancaster.
Eden had tried every excuse imaginable to avoid attending her mother, but to no avail. She had found herself prettied, powdered, and promptly delivered to the carriage on time. Despite her reluctance to barge into Phillip’s home, she had to admit that she was somewhat curious about the décor. For all she knew, rakes could have stacks of nude portraits in the hallways and naughty fornicating statues in every corner. She was sadly mistaken.
That isn’t to say that it wasn’t beautifully furnished and immaculately kept. He was a marquis, after all, but it was sadly boring to the point that it even could have been the ducal mansion. Eden felt terribly let down. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t that he was so terribly normal.
Phillip’s sisters were nothing like him. Both were blessed with chestnut brown hair, currently fashioned in a low bun, with a few ringlets to frame their faces. The eldest, Lillian, was a few inches taller than her sister and had deeper brown eyes. Juliana’s were almost hazel, and she seemed almost shy; it was a puzzle how she could have ever shared the same womb as the womanizing rake Eden had come to know.
Juliana was speaking with her mother now about sights that they had been visiting since arriving in town, for neither of the girls were out yet.
“Are you both to be brought out next year then?” Eden blurted out and was immediately embarrassed by interrupting their conversation.
The Duchess frowned at her lack of manners, but Eden wasn’t sure what she had said incorrectly.
Lillian smiled kindly, “I will have my first season next year. I will be eighteen in two months. Juliana is sixteen, and Mother is planning on waiting. Isn’t that right, Julie?”
Juliana nodded, “I feel no need to rush things. I will see how things go before getting my feet wet.”
The Duchess shook her head, “I do apologize. Eden, I’m not sure where you head is sometimes.”
Eden flushed, “I am terribly sorry, Lillian and Juliana. I did not mean to intrude where I shouldn’t.”
The Dowager Marchioness spoke up, “No need to fuss, Eden dear. I was hoping that you would take my girls under your wing. I want them to get a bit of town polish before they are officially launched into society.”
The girls looked at her expectantly.
Lillian spoke first, “I would like that ever so much! We haven’t any friends here in the city.”
“It would be a delight if you would,” Juliana added.
Eden felt a little conflicted. On one hand, she knew that she would love to have some new friends. On the other hand, she felt that their brother was something of a mortal enemy. However, she decided, he should not have the power to dictate who she was friends with.
“I should like that above all else,” Eden grinned at them. “I have been a bit lonely since my best friend Sophie Torrington married Elias, Baron Mangrove.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Dowager Marchioness covering a smile. Thinking that a bit odd, she filed that away in the back of her mind.
“It is settled then,” the Duchess announced. “Well, we had better be on our way - we have kept you long enough.”
Eden rose to leave, but then, at the last minute, she turned around and threw out an impromptu invitation.
“I would love to take you both for ices tomorrow at Gunter’s, if you are free?”
The sisters looked to their mother who smiled benevolently, “Of course you may.”
They settled on a time and bid each other farewell. As Eden and her mother were putting their pelisses on for the carriage, the front door was opened by their astonishingly young butler.
“I don’t suppose I’ve missed them?”
His deep voice, which gave her shivers as is, danced across her skin, drat that man. She immediately frowned.
She had to hand it to Joseph. He didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
“The Dowager Marchioness and daughters have been entertaining guests in the parlor.”
“There are more of them?” The panic in his voice was clear. “Give me my hat, man. I’ve got to escape while I can.”
She couldn’t help but poke the bear, “Always so welcoming and kind! That’s what they say about you, you know, Phillip.”
He stopped dead in his tracks, for he obviously hadn’t noticed them. It was a moment before anyone spoke. Eden honestly wondered if her mother would be the first, and if it would be to reprimand her. She had not only spoken out of turn, but she had used his given name. Ladies didn’t use a gentleman’s given name unless they were on very familiar terms. As far as the Duchess knew, they hardly knew each other. And, truly, they did hardly know each other.
He rotated slowly, the color leaching from his face. She couldn’t quite hear what he muttered, but it sounded like: “Not with your mother here!”
She gave him a confused look, pursing her lips a bit. “Are you ill?”
The Duchess came alive, “Eden Norfolk, whatever has gotten into you? I am so very sorry, Lord Randall! She is terribly outspoken. I blame her father. He lets her get away with far too much. Please, forgive her impertinence.”
But Phillip didn’t heed what the Duchess was saying - he just continued to stare at Eden, who in turn continued to stare at him.
When the Duchess would have interrupted again, Phillip finally snapped out of it. He shook his head, “Your Grace, Eden and I are good friends. It was an effort bringing our best friends into holy matrimony. Pray, do not you worry overmuch about our light-hearted banter.”
The Duchess looked mollified, but Eden continued to look at him confused. He was not at all acting like the Phillip she knew.
He looked at her again for a long moment, “You look well, Eden, very well. It is good to see you here.”
Seeming completely befuddled, he made a bow with a wave before exiting.
“What was that?” Lillian gasped from the doorway, clearly eavesdropping.
Eden looked up to see the sisters looking at each other in confusion while the dowager marchioness was smiling happily. She decided, right then and there, that these people were all crazy.