A Lord Rotheby's Holiday Bundle (112 page)

Oddly, that was true. There wasn’t. He
had manhandled her and pulled her away without even a
by-your-leave, yet she wasn’t upset. Rather, she worried what had
caused him such a great distress.

He answered her question before she
could even give it voice. “Utley and I have a history. Not a very
pleasant history, either.”

“
Oh. So you were displeased
to see him this evening, then?” Perhaps, if they talked enough, he
would relax again. She had so wished for a pleasant evening instead
of the tension of the afternoon.

“
I’m always displeased to
see him,” he growled. “The man is a scoundrel of the first order, a
man thoroughly unfit to be in the company of ladies. Especially my
sisters and those in my care.” Peter released his grip on her elbow
and smoothed his hand along her gloved arm, guiding her hand into
place on his arm. The tension she felt there, while tangible, had
begun to lessen.

“
What did he do? If he is
such a scoundrel, why doesn’t the rest of society shun him as you
seem to do?”

His pace slowed to almost a crawl and
eventually came to a complete stop, staring off into the trees. “He
ruined Mary.” His arm shook beneath her, the tension building
within him anew.

Jane stared up at him—at the
silhouette of his face, at his thinned lips and the pulsing vein in
his temple—searching for something unknown. “Mary was your
wife?”

“
Yes.” His jaw barely
opened to allow the word to escape.

“
What—what did he
do?”

Peter pulled his arm free and stalked
away from her, rubbing a hand absentmindedly over his square jaw
and shaking his head. His eyes were empty. She wanted to hold him,
soothe his pain, but knew she shouldn’t.

“
He trapped her. Mama threw
a ball at Hardwicke House, celebrating Sophie’s come-out. Utley had
been invited. We’d known his family for years—my brothers and I had
played with him and his brothers as children. Utley had only just
inherited the title from his father a few months before. He was the
newest peer on the marriage mart.”

Peter looked at Jane, as though he
only then realized she was with him, even though she’d been there
the whole time. “You should sit. We should sit.” Trembling, he took
her hand in his and led her to a bench beneath the trees and away
from the lights.

“
Mary attended the ball as
well. She was the daughter of Lord Throckmorton. Mama had hopes
that I might offer for her, even though we really had no attraction
to each other. But I was the most eligible bachelor of the
ton
at the time, and Mary
was one of the most respected candidates for marriage amongst the
young ladies.” His eyes closed for a moment.

“
You...you did not love
her, then?” Her hand was still fully ensconced in his, the heat
radiating from him urging her closer.

“
Love Mary? No.” Peter’s
head dropped to his chest for a moment. “I wish I could have loved
her. She deserved that, at the least.”

“
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t
have interrupted.” Jane squeezed his hand, hoping he would
continue.

“
He lured her away from the
crowd that night, out into the gardens. And once Utley had her
alone, he—he put her into a very compromising situation.” Peter
looked up at her, as though calculating her reaction before
continuing. “Sinclaire encountered them on their way back into the
ballroom, and alerted us—Mama and I—to the circumstances. We rushed
outside, but the damage had already been done. Utley had gone. He
left Mary there, alone, crying.”

“
What did you
do?”

“
I offered for her. Mama
sent Sinclaire to find Lord and Lady Throckmorton, and they arrived
shortly after we did. Throckmorton agreed there was no better
solution. He wanted retribution from Utley, but he wanted his
daughter’s happiness more.”

“
And she could never be
happy with Utley,” she said.

“
No. I only wish I had been
able to make her happy. She didn’t deserve to be tossed into a
marriage she didn’t want, simply because of one man’s
vengeance.”

Jane started at the idea of vengeance.
She looked up into Peter’s eyes, which were cold and hard. Now
wasn’t the time to press him. “But you weren’t cruel to her, were
you? You treated her well. I know your family must have adored
her.” How could anyone be unhappy living with the Hardwickes?
Preposterous. They were as lively a bunch, and as loving, as any
she had encountered. “And then there were the children. She must
have loved your children.”

“
I suppose she did. But I
didn’t fulfill my obligation to her. I promised to love her, and I
couldn’t bring myself to make it happen.”

“
Peter,” Jane said, her
voice gentle, “you did all you could. You protected her from shame.
You gave her a family, a home. You provided for her needs. If she
was still unhappy, you can’t continue to blame
yourself.”

“
But didn’t she also need
love?” He choked out the words.

“
Didn’t you? Did she love
you, Peter? Did she give you all that you needed?”

He shot up from the bench and spun
around on her. “How dare you? Mary was the perfect duchess. She was
an excellent mother to our children.” Jane followed, placing a
tentative hand on his arm. He pulled it away as though she’d
scalded him.

“
But did she love
you?”

His eyes bored through her. “You could
do no better. No one could fulfill her role in my life better than
she did. Mary was born to be a duchess.”

“
No. I don’t imagine I
would be a very good duchess at all. Certainly not for you.” The
idea of being Peter’s duchess was almost laughable. She could never
conform to his expectations. Still, the scorn in his tone
hurt.

They stood in the dim light of the
garden walk, staring at each other, silent. Breathing. He smelled
of firewood and soap, with the faintest hint of port.

“
We should return,” he
said, his brusque manner fully returned. “Supper will be served any
moment.” Again, he placed her hand against his arm and started
walking, leaving her little choice but to go with him. Her skin
tingled everywhere he touched.

“
You haven’t answered me,”
she said as they hurried along the pathway. “Did Mary love you?”
She might never understand why it was so important to her to know,
but the need burned within her.

Minutes passed without a word. He
likely would never answer her.

They drew close to the Veazeys’ supper
box, where most of their party had already reconvened, save a few
stragglers. Lord Utley was amongst the missing.

Just before they entered the gate,
Peter leaned down near her ear. “No,” he said so softly she almost
missed it.

Jane faced him, hoping the lighting of
the box would illuminate his eyes enough she could interpret his
meaning. The only thing she read in them was need.

Chapter
Twelve

Sophie had been right. Mr. Selwood,
Jane’s new solicitor, was the perfect man for the task.

On her first meeting with him, which,
it should be noted, had been difficult enough to carry out without
alerting Cousin Henrietta to any mischief being afoot, they had
arrived at an agreement for the terms of their business
relationship. They also arranged for a second meeting—one which
Jane was altogether uncertain how she would bring about, seeing as
it was to be held on Thursday afternoon.

Thursday, of course, being the very
same day of Charlotte and Jane’s come-out ball. Not the sort of
afternoon Cousin Henrietta was likely to allow Jane to scamper off
and do Lord only knew what.

But she had to find a way to meet with
Mr. Selwood then, because he planned to show her a few storefronts
which could possibly become her new modiste shop should she find
the terms acceptable.

She couldn’t very well open her shop
without a shop to open, could she?

Somehow, she simply must
find a way out of Hardwicke House without alerting Cousin Henrietta
to the fact that she was gone. And then get back to the house in
time to prepare for the ball. A minor snag in the
plan—nothing
too
serious.

Thankfully, Sophie was fully committed
to the entire plan. The two of them had stayed up quite late
several nights, planning the best ways for Jane to accomplish her
preparations for the shop without raising the dowager’s suspicions,
discussing what the décor should be and how the shop should be
organized, debating prices and services and various other ways
Sophie could become involved.

While Sophie was by no means a
seamstress herself, the eldest Hardwicke sister had an excellent
eye for fashion and was always ahead of the rest of society when it
came to the current trends. Not only that, but she had a head for
figures and loads of creative ideas for drumming up
business.

It didn’t hurt matters either that
much like Jane, Sophie was in no rush to find herself at the altar.
Marriage, while not an entirely unattractive concept, was not an
area in which Lady Sophia Hardwicke ever intended to settle. Her
husband would be perfect or he simply would not be.

Much to her mother’s
chagrin.

She had never told her mother in quite
those precise words, at least not while Jane had been present, but
both Sophie and Jane had every reason to believe the Dowager
Duchess of Somerton had surmised as much.

And while Cousin Henrietta was
currently spending much of her match-making focus on Jane and Peter
(separately, of course), she consistently sent noticeable nudges in
her eldest daughter’s direction as well.

She’d made it abundantly clear:
Sophie’s prospects would not be overlooked.

Despite her mother’s best, if
misguided, intentions, Sophie would be quite content to remain an
aging spinster. She had an ample fortune, so she need never work to
support herself. Nor would she need to become a pariah to one of
her siblings, forcing them to eternally provide for her, as long as
she managed her fortune wisely.

Still, the prospect of
working for herself, earning her keep, doing something with herself
other than living the idle life of a
Lady
rather appealed to her. Indeed,
as they sat in Jane’s chamber after the rest of the house had
retired, poring over their notes, she heaved out a sigh and set the
sheet of foolscap she was studying down on the bed between
them.

Jane glanced up and couldn’t help
lifting a brow at the look of sheer determination on Sophie’s face.
“Yes?” she prodded.

“
You know, dear, having a
solicitor to handle certain aspects of your business will not quite
be enough. Mr. Selwood is a dear man, and he’s rather more than
capable, too. But will he be responsible for collecting payment for
your services? For ordering materials and ensuring their delivery?
I hardly think so.”

“
I hadn’t thought of that,”
Jane responded. For that matter, she’d thought little beyond the
actual work of sewing and designing gowns. Oh, dear. “I’m more than
confident in my abilities to do the actual stitching, the
designing...anything where I can get my hands on the fabric and
create or decide how best to work a gown for a particular effect on
my clients. But sales?”

Sophie winked at her. “That’s why you
need me.”

“
But what would your mother
say? She would never in a thousand years stand for it. Even Peter
would throw a fit if he thought you were going to
work
.” It would be
difficult enough to convince them to allow Jane to run her own
business. How laughable—run her own business, indeed. She hadn’t
the slightest idea what she was getting herself into, at least in
terms of London society and not simply selling her work to the
ladies of Whitstable.

“
I’m unconcerned about what
they would say. Why, I’ll be five-and-twenty in October. I believe
it’s high time I decide what I want out of life, if you ask me.”
Sophie pushed the pillow between them out of the way and looked
straight into Jane’s eyes. “You need me. I know who you want as
customers, and I can convince them to give you their business. I
can handle the bookkeeping while you focus on the creative aspects.
Admit it, Jane.”

And so she did. In fact, they decided
to become partners in the business. Everything would be split
equally. When she really thought about it, having Sophie working
with her was a relief.

Then the conversation turned to how
they could go about sneaking Jane out of the house to meet with Mr.
Selwood again. The first time, Jane and Sophie had gone out for a
walk through the park. Since they were together, Cousin Henrietta
had not insisted upon sending a maid to chaperone, so they had gone
alone. They’d met Mr. Selwood at Gunter’s, and Sophie sat with some
acquaintances and enjoyed an ice while Jane handled her business
matters.

This time, however, would be far more
complicated. Sophie had already promised to spend the afternoon
with Charlotte visiting the Marlborough sisters. Jane was expected
to attend the outing as well, but Char would surely ask far too
many questions if she took off for a bit instead of remaining by
their side for the visit. She wasn’t ready for anyone else to know
her plans. Not until her plans were more tangible, at the very
least.