Gayle Buck (13 page)

“So I thought, which is why I have taken it upon myself to come to you,” Lady Eddington said. She hesitated a moment, her speculative gaze upon Lady Caroline’s careful expression. “It is not my direct wish that you remove from Berwicke Keep, Lady Caroline, and I do apologize for my own defensiveness this evening. However, I shall not disguise from you that I should prefer to be the only mistress in residence. That circumstance would be of such help to my being able to establish a proper relationship with the household staff.”

“You are brutally honest, my lady,” Lady Caroline said quietly. She managed to summon up a small smile.

“I did not believe that you would respect less,” Lady Eddington said.

That elicited a reluctant laugh from Lady Caroline. She regarded her sister-in-law with a degree of warmth that had not been present a moment before. “Indeed, I would not. In return, I shall be equally frank. It would pain me to leave Berwicke behind, but I do not think it will crush me to do so. My childhood memories are here, and in recent years, too, I have called Berwicke home. However, I have thought very recently that I have stayed overlong. I did not see it in the beginning, as I accepted more and more of the responsibility for the estate, but I realize now that my brother has become too dependent on me.” She paused a moment before she smiled at her companion. “There are other reasons why I stayed, of course, but time has a way of showing one that some reasons become outdated and should be discarded.”

Lady Eddington regarded her for a long moment. “I shall not ask you now what you mean. I do not think we are such good friends that I may do so. However, it is my hope that I shall one day be able to call you ‘sister’ in all truth.”

“As do I,” Lady Caroline said. She hesitated, then said, “I wish to ask you a most telling question at this time, my lady. Do you indeed love my brother?”

A flash crossed Lady Eddington’s eyes. “Do you doubt it, then, my lady?”

“Perhaps I wish only to hear it from your own lips.’’ Lady Caroline held up her hand, palm out. “Pray do not take offense, Lady Eddington. It is only that your manner has surprised me. You see, I recall you during your visit here with your stepmother as a retiring young woman, seemingly uncertain and untried. You gave no indication then of the purpose that I see in you now.” She did not say so, but she was also curious how Mrs. Burlington might fare once she herself was no longer at Berwicke Keep.

Lady Eddington smiled. “That puzzles you greatly, no doubt. It is easily explained, Lady Caroline. My stepmother was not one to encourage any expression of opinion but her own. I discovered that it was much easier to get what I wanted when I played the mouse that she wished me to be. Do you find that reprehensible?”

“I know only that I could not have done the same,’’ Lady Caroline said, thinking of her own girlhood and her constant struggles to deter her aunt’s encroachments. She thought now she could understand how Mrs. Burlington could have been led to believe that in Lady Eddington she had discovered a malleable and powerful ally.

Lady Caroline looked at her sister-in-law and said slowly, “My mother was generous and loving to a fault. She was made unhappy when others whom she loved took advantage of her good nature. Whenever it happened, she chose not to acknowledge it so that her unhappiness would not spoil the way that she looked upon the world. I was not made from the same mold, which is perhaps why my aunt and I clash so frequently. I prefer to face my world as I find it and deal with whatever circumstances are given me.”

“Whereas Lord Eddington prefers to believe in all that is good and turns a blind eye to the imperfections,” Lady Eddington said, nodding. “Yes, that explains much that I had wondered about. In answer to your question, Lady Caroline, I do love your brother. More than you could possibly guess, for I shall do everything possible to enable him to continue to believe in the good nature of the world. It is his weakness and his flaw, but I find it an endearing quality as well, and I will not willingly see it destroyed.” Unspoken and yet understood was Mrs. Burlington’s name.

“You have greatly relieved my mind, Lady Eddington,” Lady Caroline said. She smiled in earnest and stretched out her hand. “I could not have asked for a better wife for my brother.”

Lady Eddington joined her hand to Lady Caroline’s for a brief moment. “Thank you, Lady Caroline.’’ She rose and walked to the door. Before she opened it, she said over her shoulder, “Lord Eddington has told me that you were greatly courted once. It is a pity that you did not find a suitor to your liking.” One last swift glance from those deceptively mild blue eyes was bestowed upon Lady Caroline before the countess quietly left the bedroom.

Chapter Fourteen

Lord and Lady Eddington left Berwicke Keep shortly after dawn.

Lady Caroline, rising an hour or so later, was not altogether disappointed to have missed their departure. She was grateful to have some peaceful time to herself before her next discordant meeting, for she had not forgotten that she had granted an interview to Lord Hathaway for the same morning.

Lady Caroline sighed over the teacup she had lifted.

“My lady, do you wish anything else?”

Lady Caroline glanced down at the virtually untouched plate that she had pushed aside. She shook her head. “I have no appetite this morning, Simpson.” Shortly thereafter she left the breakfast room.

Lord Hathaway presented himself promptly at eleven o’clock.

Lord Hathaway knew that Lady Caroline was not one to sleep until luncheon. He knew, of course, that Mrs. Burlington would not yet be downstairs, since that lady was of rather indolent habits in the morning, and so he expected to find Lady Caroline alone. He was not mistaken.

Lady Caroline received Lord Hathaway in the drawing room. She awaited him standing near the settee, appearing elegant in an ivory day dress trimmed in brown velvet ribbons. As she took note of Lord Hathaway’s austere expression, she was glad that neither her aunt nor her brother would be privy to this meeting. In particular, she was glad that Lord Eddington had already left and therefore would not be informed of an interview that she suspected must be uncomfortable at best.

She held out her hand to his lordship in a civil fashion. “Lord Hathaway.”

Lord Hathaway bowed over her fingers in an excruciatingly correct manner. He did not linger over the salute as had formerly been his wont, but released her hand at once. “My dear lady, you appear in looks this morning.’’

Lady Caroline thanked him quietly for the compliment. She gestured to the wing chair opposite her own. “Pray be seated, my lord. Would you care for refreshment?”

“No, nothing.” Lord Hathaway settled heavily into the chair, being careful to spread his coattails before he sat down.

Lady Caroline nodded to Simpson that he could leave them alone. The butler did so with an unusual show of reluctance, but the door eventually closed and Lady Caroline and Lord Hathaway were left staring at one another.

Lord Hathaway cleared his throat. “I have come this morning to state my thoughts to you, my lady, upon the unfortunate incident that occurred in this very room a few days ago.” He paused to wait for her encouragement, but Lady Caroline merely lifted a slender brow.

Lord Hathaway puffed out his cheeks in faint annoyance that his hostess apparently did not mean to make the thing any easier for him. “I shall come to the point, my lady. I have come to apologize for my behavior and to beg your forgiveness. I might have done so earlier, on that very day, but for the unexpected interruption that we suffered. Lord Trilby’s surprising appearance, however, put all such noble thoughts to flight. I assure you, it was not my intention to put either of us in such an ignoble position.”

Lady Caroline saw that Lord Hathaway was not suffering embarrassment over making his apology to her, but rather his lordship was feeling the still-ripe indignation that he had been found in such awkward and questionable circumstances. Therefore her response was drier and far less conciliatory than she had originally intended. “Your lordship’s apology is acceptable to me, for what it is worth. However, I do not believe that I shall be able to return to our old friendly ways, my lord. It was made painfully obvious to me, through the incident that you have referred to, that your lordship has not taken in a serious light anything I have tried to impress upon you these last months. I ask, therefore, that you do not consider yourself as my admirer in any regard, for I shall not receive you as such.”

Lord Hathaway stared at her in a disbelieving way. He could scarce credit his ears. He had difficulty containing his feelings, and his voice reflected his internal struggle. “Am I to understand that you will no longer receive me, my lady?’’

“Not at all. Of course you will be welcomed at Berwicke as a good friend and neighbor, as always. I think what I am trying to convey to you, my lord, is that I will not entertain any longer your determined suit,” Lady Caroline said quietly.

She gestured gracefully, regretfully, with her hand. “I trust that I do not give you pain, my lord, but—”

“Pain!”

Lord Hathaway’s heavy countenance flushed dull red. The tenor of his voice was colored with outrage. “My dear lady, you greatly overrate your power over my heart! I am not so much pained as I am incensed by your selfish arrogance. I have taken care to illustrate to you the advantages of a marriage between us. I have endured your coquettish reservations, believing they were but the product of an unordered mind and would with time dissipate. I have proved to you, albeit in circumstances that in retrospect proved highly embarrassing to myself, that I am capable of harnessing your deplorable waywardness. I do not believe that I deserve this flippant dismissal.”

Lady Caroline was taken aback by his lordship’s unexpected and full-blown wrath. It was borne in on her suddenly that Lord Hathaway was incensed because she apparently regarded him in a lesser light than he did himself. She had not intentionally set out to insult him, and so she tried to minimize the blow. “Your pardon, my lord! I had no notion that you felt so strongly. Believe me, I do not regard you with the least degree of flippancy.”

Lord Hathaway was not to be mollified. His ego had been cut to the quick. He got up from the chair to take a hasty turn about the room.

Lady Caroline watched his perambulations with astonishment as she realized that his lordship was operating under the influence of more powerful emotions than she would have believed him capable of sustaining. Perhaps she had misjudged him to a slight degree.

“My lady, I must tell you! Yes, I feel that I now have no alternative but to be brutally frank with you.” Lord Hathaway turned to face her, and for the first time in their acquaintance he seemed to regard her with dislike. “Lady Caroline, I am aware that you do not often go to London or entertain extensively. I have observed that you do not have a court of several gentlemen about you, despite your beauty and birth and portion. I had thought myself eminently positioned to win your hand, in part because there was no one else to rival me. In short, my lady, I represent your one and your best opportunity to escape the fate of spinsterhood.’’

Lady Caroline rose in her turn. The sympathy she had felt for his lordship evaporated. His discourse was beyond what she would tolerate. She said coolly, “I think that will do, my lord. My fate is my concern. What I make of it is also my concern.”

“Ah, if I but had the handling of you, my lady—”

“But you do not, nor ever shall,’’ Lady Caroline said. Now at last there was the glitter of temper in her eyes. She went to the bell rope and tugged it. “I shall bid you good day, my lord.”

The door to the drawing room opened instantly and Simpson stood waiting, his expression inscrutable.

Lord Hathaway recognized that unless he wished to make a scene, he had no choice but to make his adieus. He bowed stiffly and stalked out of the room.

Lady Caroline did not watch him go, but walked to the window, which framed an autumn day that appeared as bleak as her feelings.

The butler closed the door softly, leaving her to her thoughts.

Lord Hathaway had scarcely departed the house when Lord Trilby rode up to the door. The earl cast a glance after the rolling carriage and his brows knit thoughtfully. He bounded up the front steps to use the brass knocker, and was swiftly admitted.

“Is Lady Caroline in, Simpson?” he asked, handing over his low beaver and crop.

“Indeed she is, my lord. You will find my lady in the drawing room,” Simpson said. “I shall see that your horse is attended to, my lord.”

Thanking the butler with a smile, Lord Trilby crossed the entry hall and opened the drawing-room door. He stepped over the threshold, announcing himself cheerfully. “Good morning, Lady Caroline. I hope I am not again
de trop?

Lady Caroline, who had been staring pensively out of the window with her back to me door, turned swiftly. “My lord! Pray do not be idiotic. I am always happy to see you.”

As Lord Trilby closed the door behind him, he took swift note of her heightened color and the glitter in her eyes. He knew the signs well enough, and despite his own preoccupations, he asked, “Now what has put you out, my dear?”

Lady Caroline managed a short laugh. “Am I so transparent?”

“Like glass, my dear Caro. I observed Lord Hathaway’s carriage leaving the drive as I rode up. What has his lordship done to have merited such a blaze in your eyes?” he said, going over to her and lifting her hand. He smiled down at her questioningly.

Lady Caroline sighed. “It is my fault, I suppose. I have been very irritable these past several days. My patience has been rubbed thin, and what has just passed between myself and Lord Hathaway . . . well, I shan’t bore you with it. You have not come to listen to my complaints after all.” She smiled up at him and gestured to the settee. She very much wanted to confide in someone, but it would be humiliating in the extreme to disclose to the earl all that Lord Hathaway had said to her.

Lord Trilby saw that she preferred not to go into the cause of her unusual discomposure, but he accepted her less-than-revealing explanation. “The Worthy sets up my back, as well. I don’t wonder at your annoyance.” He waited until she sat down before he did likewise. He regarded her expression thoughtfully. “Hathaway is still hanging on your sleeve, complacently expecting you to accept him, is he?”