Jack of Hearts (26 page)

They all laughed and agreed that the Faringdon coach could accommodate the six of them. The conversation then turned to the recently announced engagement of Hairston’s daughter. Anne was relieved, for she had been led into a far more intimate conversation than she had meant to have with Jack Belden.

When she was lying in bed later that night, she realized that of the three men she was considering, Jack Belden seemed most in sympathy with her concerns. As a practical woman, she did not think she had viewed any of her candidates through rose-colored glasses, but she had to admit that before this, she had seen nothing to criticize in Lord Windham or Baron Leighton. Now she felt a little disappointed in both of them.

Were they so important to her, then, these questions about the mills? Could her decision about a husband hinge on them? After all, there were likely to be many areas of disagreement between a husband and a wife.

But tha whole life has revolved around tha father’s business, she reminded herself. Indeed, her life and the life of the mills were interwoven in such a way that she did not see how she could ever be free from them, even if a husband took control out of her hands. What she was struggling with was a reevaluation of her connection to her father’s business and her father. For if the mills were so important to her life, it was because of her father. Making any changes would be painful. Had already been painful, because changing something that her father had established seemed almost as much of a separation from him as his death.

But she couldn’t turn back now. She was not a young girl anymore. She was a grown woman who had to make her own decisions—about the workers, the mills, and a husband.

“It would be so much easier if tha was choosing for love,” she told herself, and with something between a laugh and a sob, she blew out her light and lay there in the dark, trying to banish her memories of the interest and sympathy on Jack Belden’s face.

* * * *

She would have been amused to know that Jack was having just as much difficulty getting to sleep as she was, and for a similar reason. Oh, he was thinking of how it felt to have his hand around her waist and the curve of her breast, which had called out for his hand to caress it. But most important was how much her willingness to open up to him had touched him. She had allowed him a glimpse of her struggle to work out her beliefs about personal and societal responsibility. He had wanted to say, “Marry
me
, Anne, and we will take on these problems together.”

In the beginning, he hadn’t thought much about marriage except as a means of relieving his financial dilemma. Then, of course, he realized that he was attracted to Miss Anne Heriot. Was falling in love with her. But until tonight, he hadn’t thought much about what he wanted from marriage. He wanted a partner, he realized. A woman who would open her heart and one to whom he could open his. He wanted Anne Heriot in his bed, of course. But more than that, he wanted her by his side, working out their own concerns, as well as assuming the responsibilities of what they had both inherited.

What happened to her mills was important to her. He would have a place in Parliament, a certain amount of power that he had never had before. He hadn’t thought much about taking his seat in the House of Lords, but with Anne by his side, he could imagine a life filled with challenge. Not the same challenges he had faced as a soldier, but in some ways even more important ones.

He was convinced marriage to Anne Heriot was what he most wanted and needed. Now all he had to do was convince her!

* * * *

Lady Lydia, Jack’s younger cousin, was thrilled by the plan to visit the Tower, but Lady Helen, having already been to the Tower several times, thought their day would be dull beyond words. She was eager, however, to meet Miss Heriot, the young woman in whose hands their future rested. Without Anne Heriot’s money, she and her sister might never have a Season or find a husband.

When the Faringdon coach arrived, Liddy jumped in, and after shyly acknowledging Anne, began chatting excitedly to the Astons. Helen gave Anne a friendly smile, but was careful to maintain her air of sophistication as she complimented Anne’s walking dress and commented upon the weather.

When they arrived, Liddy put her arm through Elspeth’s and Val’s and pulled them along, leaving Jack and Anne with Helen.

The guard who was to guide them through greeted them unenthusiastically but became much more animated after Val slipped him a few coins. By the time they got to the courtyard where beheadings had taken place, Anne was ready to swear he had been on the stage at some point in his life. She was amused to note that Lady Helen had slowly lost her air of indifference and had tears in her eyes as they heard the story of the little princes.

“What an evil, evil deed!” she exclaimed. “I am glad such a monster died so ignominiously.”

“Richard was a Yorkshire man, and I have never believed he had anything to do with the murders,” Anne declared.

“Mr. Shakespeare is quite clear about it,” protested Helen.

“Ah, but he would have to be, wouldn’t he?” Anne replied. “Given that his queen traced her ancestry back to Henry Tudor.”

“Why, I never thought of it like that. In school we were only taught that Richard got what he deserved.”

“I don’t think any man deserves to be hacked to death,” Anne said, a note of sadness in her voice.

Helen’s eyes opened wide. “Why, that is horrible!”

“War is always horrible, no matter if it is justified or not,” Jack interjected somberly. And then, in an instant, his tone changed. “But I brought you here so that you could enjoy yourself, Helen. We need to find those lions.”

But the mangy, sad-looking, smelly lions to whom Liddy threw scraps she had brought from home only depressed Helen more.

“Would you like to step out with me, lass? I need a breath of fresh air,” Anne suggested. “My father brought me here when I was your sister’s age,” Anne told Helen when they got outside. “I was just as excited as she is, but it all looks very different now.”

“My father brought me here four years ago. I enjoyed it then, but the stories seem so much sadder to me now.”

“Aye, and perhaps you were thinking of your father? I know I was,” Anne told her, taking Helen’s hand and giving it a sympathetic squeeze.

Helen’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Thank you for understanding, Miss Heriot,” she said quietly.

“I don’t know what else your uncle has planned,” Anne said briskly, “but I think we should take you girls for an ice at Gunther’s.”

Helen smiled. “I would like that very much.”

When Liddy came bouncing out with Jack and the Astons, Anne and Helen walked over to them.

“I know you were thinking of taking us to a tearoom, Lord Aldborough, but I have developed a sudden craving for a lemon ice,” Anne told him, her eyes twinkling.

“Then Gunther’s it is, Miss Heriot.”

* * * *

They were all settled at a window table and had given their orders when Anne looked up and saw Steven Leighton and a young woman who was obviously his daughter sitting across from them.

He smiled and nodded, and when they had finished their ices and cakes and were on their way out, he stood and approached them.

“I am sure you saw that I am with my daughter, Miss Heriot. I had hoped to introduce you to her in more formal circumstances, but would you come over now?”

“Of course.”

Anne stepped over to their table.

“Eliza, I would like you to meet a lady of my acquaintance, Miss Anne Heriot. I have told you about her.”

Eliza Leighton looked up and, giving Anne a cool nod, said, “Yes, but I understood you to say that Miss Heriot is not a lady, Papa.” Lady Eliza made her statement with an air of innocence, but it was so obviously an insult that Anne caught her breath.

“Eliza! You will apologize to Miss Heriot.”

“Have I said something wrong? Oh, dear, I suppose it might have sounded insulting. I am sorry, Miss Heriot, of course I did not mean that you are not respectable. Merely that you are not a lady by birth. I am sure you told me, Papa, that Miss Heriot is the daughter of a mill owner,” Eliza said plaintively.

“I am sure he did, Lady Eliza, for it is true,” Anne said coolly. “It is a pleasure to meet you after hearing so much about you from your papa. He is very proud of you.”

“I know,” said Eliza, giving her father a dazzling smile.

“I will call on you soon, Miss Heriot.”

“I look forward to it,” Anne replied.

After she left, Leighton looked over in shocked anger at his daughter. “I am not proud of you this afternoon, Eliza. That was a very insensitive comment.”

Eliza reached across and grabbed her father’s hand. “I
am
sorry, Papa. I truly didn’t mean it as an insult.”

“I admire Miss Heriot very much, Eliza, and I am hoping you will come to like her too.”

“I am sure I will, Papa, if you do,” Eliza said softly.

* * * *

Anne’s cheeks felt as warm as if she had been physically slapped. Indeed, Lady Eliza’s words were a virtual slap in the face, she thought, as she rejoined her party outside.

Jack couldn’t help noticing what appeared to be a becoming flush, and he took Anne’s quietness on the ride home as a sign that she was still pleasantly distracted by their chance meeting with the baron. He felt his heart sinking. Perhaps she had more feeling for Leighton than he had thought. He had been viewing Windham as his chief rival.

Jack’s mood, which had been optimistic earlier, changed suddenly, and it took all his energy to nod and chat and smile a good-bye when they dropped Anne off.

* * * *

Sarah, who had stayed home for the day, was reading in the morning room when Anne arrived home.

“How was your day, Anne? Do you want some tea?”

“No, thank you, Sarah. We stopped at Gunther’s and I am full,” Anne replied with a quick smile. “As for our little excursion, I enjoyed it very much…” Anne’s voice trailed off.

“You don’t sound that enthusiastic.”

“Our visit to the Tower was delightful—well, perhaps ‘delightful’ is not the right word,” said Anne, correcting herself with a smile. “After all, the Tower is dank and cool, and I doubt anyone has had a moment of happiness there in the last few hundred years, including the lions! But Aldborough’s cousins were very sweet. The younger, Lady Lydia, was enthralled by our guide, and the bloodier his tales, the more she liked them. And of course, she brought scraps for the lions.”

“I remember when you insisted collecting leftovers for them yourself,” Sarah reminded her.

“Yes, the Tower brought back memories to me and to Lady Helen. She is lovely. I’m sure she’ll be a big success her first Season.”

“If she has one.”

“Now, Sarah, don’t try to make me feel responsible for her. It is not my fault that her uncle inherited a bankrupt estate,” Anne was quiet for a minute. “We met Steven Leighton and his daughter at Gunther’s.”

“How lucky. You have been wanting to meet her.”

“And now that I have, I am not sure I want to again,” Anne said with her characteristic dry humor. “She was very frank about my lack of birth.”

“She insulted you!”

“Oh, all very innocently and subtly. ‘Why, Papa, I did not mean to be insulting…’ And pigs fly,” Anne said flatly.

“What did the baron do?”

“He scolded her, of course, and she apologized. But I did not detect an ounce of sincerity in her words. Of course, it must be difficult to think about having a new mother, especially when you have had your father to yourself all these years. I know I would have been very angry had Papa remarried.”

“I suppose you are right. You will have to give her a chance to get to know you.”

“I just wish she were Lady Helen and Lady Helen were the baron’s daughter, if you know what I mean,” said Anne. “I liked both of Lord Aldborough’s cousins so much.”

Sarah sighed dramatically. “It is too bad, isn’t it, that you are not drawn to Lord Aldborough in the least, then.”

Anne laughed. “Oh, Sarah, I am willing to admit he is a very attractive man. And I am not impervious to his charm.” Anne reconsidered. “No, that is not quite true. It is not his charm that has affected me, but other aspects of his personality. He has been very understanding about my concerns around the mills.”

“The Aldboroughs have been Whigs for generations, so it doesn’t surprise me. Captain Scott is a great admirer of Lord Aldborough. He says that no one has fully appreciated the part the
guerrilleros
played in the war. And that when Aldborough came home, his opinions about this were frowned upon, for they seemed to take away from Lord Wellington’s glory.”

“Surely he wasn’t speaking against Lord Wellington?”

“Of course not. Merely pointing out that he had some help from the Spanish peasants. So, clearly, he would be sympathetic to the plight of workers.”

“Be that as it may, I am resolved to resist him, for I still think that Windham or Leighton would make a better husband.”

The next evening, at the Suttons’ musicale, Leighton approached Anne as soon as she arrived.

“Miss Heriot, I am very glad to see you. I wish to apologize again for my daughter’s behavior.”

“There is no need, my lord,” Anne assured him.

“I do want the two of you to become better acquainted and was hoping you could join us for a stroll in the park tomorrow?”

“I would love to.”

The baron cleared his throat. “I know we have not spoken directly about our mutual purpose in coming to London. But it is very important to me that you and my daughter form a friendship.”

“As it is to me, Lord Leighton,” Anne reassured him.

Oh, dear, thought Anne as the baron left, looking very satisfied with himself, I hope he doesn’t take that as some sort of admission that I prefer his suit above any other.

Lord Windham arrived late that evening, but he made sure to seek Anne out after the musicians had retired.

“Did you enjoy the concert, Miss Heriot?”

“I always enjoy Mozart, my lord. The pianist was very talented and made my attempts at playing seem quite infantile.”