Web of Love (24 page)

Dominic's voice. It was Dominic. And she had fainted! She was sitting on the second stair in the hallway, the butler hurrying up with a glass of water, and Dominic down on one knee in front of her, taking the glass in his hand, covering her own cold and shaking hand over it, and helping her to lift it to her mouth.

She had fainted. She did not think she would ever be able to raise her head.

“How foolish of me,” she said. “I am quite all right now.”

But a firm hand on each of her shoulders held her down when she would have got to her feet.

“Just sit there for a moment,” he said.

And then the front doors were being opened and Dorothy and Jennifer were there, and her humiliation was complete.

“My lord?” Jennifer said. “And Ellen? Whatever is the matter?”

“She has fainted,” Lord Eden said. “But I believe she has almost recovered now.”

“Ellen!” Dorothy said, hurrying over to her. “One of those dizzy spells again, dear?”

Don't say anything!

“I am fine,” Ellen said, trying again to rise, and feeling those strong hands close again about her shoulders, holding her down. “I cannot think what came over me. Please forgive me. I shall go up to my room.”

“I shall carry you there,” Lord Eden said.

“Yes, you must lie down,” Lady Habersham said. “You really should be resting more, dear.”

Don't say any more. Please don't say any more!

“Thank you,” Ellen said, “but I have quite recovered now, my lord. I do not need your assistance.”

“I shall come with you, Ellen,” Lady Habersham said. “You must lie down until luncheon time. And I shall send for my physician. It is high time you consulted him.”

Please, oh, please, don't say any more!

Ellen collapsed facedown on her bed a few minutes later and stayed there as her sister-in-law removed her slippers and tiptoed from the room.

If she tried very hard from now until doomsday, she could not possibly think of a greater humiliation than what had just happened. He had appeared again, and she had swooned—literally swooned—at his feet. Whatever would he think? He was bound to draw all the wrong conclusions.

She had been feeling dizzy before she left the morning room. She had not been expecting him. She had not had time to prepare herself for that first face-to-face encounter. If only she had known, she would have received him with admirable coolness. He had taken her by surprise.

And she had swooned!

How would she ever be able to face him again? As if it had not been hard enough to do so anyway. But would she have to face him again? Would he not now realize that she just did not want to see him?

Or would he feel obliged to come back to inquire after her health?

Lord Eden, downstairs with Lady Habersham and Jennifer, was expressing concern about Ellen's health.

“She has been feeling indisposed for some time,” Lady Habersham said. “It is doubtless no more than the stress caused by my brother's death. I will make sure that she sees a physician and rests more.”

“I did not know that Ellen had been feeling unwell,” Jennifer said in some distress. “She has not said anything to me, Aunt Dorothy. I have been selfish, as usual, have I not? I have been thinking about only my feelings.”

“You are absolutely not to blame, my dear,” her aunt said briskly.

Lord Eden got to his feet. “I was hoping that you and Mrs. Simpson would be free to walk with me this afternoon,” he said to Jennifer. “But I will, if I may, call tomorrow to see how your stepmother does.”

He made his bows and took his leave.

Had he done that to her? he wondered as he rode away. Had she really been unwell, as Lady Habersham had said? Or had it been a sickness that only the sight of him had brought on?

Should he call the next day? Would it be kinder and more honorable to stay away? But he would have to go. He would have to assure himself that she was feeling better.

He had dreaded making the call. He had dreaded that first moment of looking at her again with all the necessity of appearing cool without seeming careless, of appearing friendly without seeming heartless. He had dreaded having to form those first words to say to her.

But he had thought it was possible. He had rehearsed the meeting many times, expecting that it would be in the presence of other people. He had not expected to stare dumbly at her, his mind paralyzed so that no words had come at all, except her name.

He had behaved like a schoolboy with his first infatuation. It was quite ridiculous, especially when he had had more than two months in which to recover from their liaison. Especially when he had convinced himself that she did not mean any more to him than any of the other several women who had been his mistresses for varying lengths of time.

He would have to do much better the next day.

 

L
ADY
H
ABERSHAM SUGGESTED
a short walk in the park in the afternoon. If Ellen was feeling well enough, that was.

“Of course I am feeling all right,” Ellen assured her. “I had been bent over the desk writing for an hour this morning and jumped to my feet too quickly. That was all. It was very foolish of me to faint in the hallway.”

“And there was the shock of finding that young man there,” her sister-in-law said with a nod. “He was a very close friend of Charlie's, was he not, Ellen? It must be hard for you to know that he survived when Charlie did not. But he is a very amiable young man, and very handsome too. You were quite right about that, Jennifer.”

The girl blushed.

Five minutes after they had entered the park, a curricle drew to a halt beside them, and Jennifer recognized Anna and Walter Carrington.

“Do join us in a turn about the park, Miss Simpson,” Anna said after introductions had been made. “The seat is narrow and we will be horribly squashed. But you will be doing me a great favor. Walter declares that I have not a word of sense to say, which is very nasty and ungentlemanly of him, and no other gentleman of my acquaintance has ever said such a thing. But Walter is my brother and thinks it quite unexceptionable to be as rude as can be to a mere sister.”

She laughed gaily while her brother looked indignant and jumped down to the ground to lift Jennifer up.

“You would be doing me a kindness too, Miss Simpson,” he said, “by rescuing me from a shrew. With your permission, ma'am?” He did not seem to know whether he should look to Ellen or Lady Habersham for permission, so smiled at both.

“How pleasant for her,” Lady Habersham said a minute later as the curricle moved away along one of the carriage paths. “I am glad to see her make some friends, Ellen. And they seem like very pleasant people indeed.”

“Yes,” Ellen said. “But I am not surprised, you know. Jennifer was very popular in Brussels.”

Lady Habersham linked her arm through her sister-in-law's. “I am glad we have a few minutes together,” she said. “I have talked with Papa. He wants you and Jennifer to take tea with him two days from now. Phillip and Edith will be there too. You will come, Ellen?”

Ellen smiled brightly. “Jennifer too?” she said. “He has changed his mind about her? Oh, yes, Dorothy, of course we will go. I am so very glad. And thank you for speaking up for Jennifer.”

“Well,” Lady Habersham said, squeezing Ellen's arm, “I think Papa would have accepted any conditions at all as soon as he heard the news.”

“The news?” Ellen felt herself turn cold.

“About his expected grandchild,” her sister-in-law said. “I don't recall ever seeing Papa quite so excited about anything, Ellen.”

“You told him,” Ellen said, closing her eyes briefly. “Dorothy, I asked you not to tell anyone else yet.”

“No, dear.” Lady Habersham stopped walking. Her voice was full of concern. “No. You asked me not to tell Jennifer. I did not realize that perhaps you would wish to be the first to break the news to Papa too. But of course. It was thoughtless of me, wasn't it? Of course you would want to tell him yourself. And now I have spoiled it for you. Oh, I am so sorry, Ellen.”

“No.” Ellen put one hand over her face and shook her head. “No, it is not that, Dorothy. I am sorry. I'm not angry with you. I am just being silly about this whole thing, I suppose. I want to keep it a secret, when it will be quite obvious to anyone who cares to look within the next month or two.”

“It is just that you are so very alone,” her sister-in-law said. “If Charlie were only with you, Ellen! Oh, I can imagine just how proud and happy he would be. But we are your family too, dear—Papa and Phillip and I. And Jennifer, of course. We will help you to feel the happiness of the event, even though, of course, there is bound to be a great deal of sadness for you too.”

“You are so kind to me,” Ellen said, looking up at Lady Habersham. “I really don't deserve…Oh, dear.”

“Well,” her sister-in-law said, “in two days' time you will meet Papa and Phillip. And all will work out well, you will see. Papa is not a monster, you know. Not at all. And he is going to love you. And Jennifer too.”

“Has he agreed to receive her only because he wants to meet me?” Ellen asked.

Lady Habersham squeezed her arm again. “Never mind about motives,” she said. “It is the results of the meeting that will be important, Ellen. He will not be able to help loving her once he sees her.”

“So he will meet the grandchild of questionable legitimacy in order to be sure of meeting the one of whose birth there can be no doubt,” Ellen said quietly.

Lady Habersham patted her arm. “Ah, here they come again,” she said. “And all laughing merrily, as young people should. Is not Anna Carrington a very pretty young lady, Ellen? Her hair is as dark as Jennifer's, but cut very short, if I am not mistaken. And Mr. Carrington is a very presentable young man too.”

 

M
ADELINE RODE BESIDE
her brother during the carriage ride to Bedford Square.

“I really appreciate this, Mad,” he said. “I owe you a favor.”

She grinned at him. “I shall not forget,” she said. “But this is no burden on me, Dom. Allan was tired this morning when I went to read to him, and decided that he will rest this afternoon. And I wish to see both Mrs. and Miss Simpson again. I liked them both in Brussels.”

“When is Penworth going to admit any visitors but you?” he asked. “And when is he going to venture outside?”

“It will take time,” she said. “He will do both eventually, Dom. Have patience with us. Please?”

“I want to talk to him,” he said. “If he is to be my brother-in-law, I want to get to know him. And he should meet Mama and Edmund.”

“He will,” she said hastily, laying a hand on his sleeve. “He will, Dom. Do try to put yourself in his place. How would you feel?”

He looked at her silently for a few moments and then turned to look out the window at the passing streets. “Probably much the same,” he said. “Except that I don't think I would have betrothed myself to anyone.”

“Only because there are not as many women who are as impudent as I,” she said. “It quite puts me to the blush to know that I proposed to my future husband. But if I had not, he would never have married me. So I am not sorry. Will Mrs. Simpson receive you, do you think?”

“I don't know.” He grimaced. “And I don't at all know if I am doing the right thing, coming here again like this. But I have to make sure that she has recovered.”

“And you really feel nothing for her, Dom, beyond the concern you would naturally feel for your friend's widow?” she asked.

“No, nothing,” he said. “I have known her for several years, remember. That foolishness lasted only a few days. I just need to make this one visit. Then it will all be over.”

“Oh, liar, Dom,” she said, settling her shoulders against the corner of the seat and looking steadily at him. “I am Madeline, remember? Your twin.”

He glared back. “I brought you with me for moral support,” he said, “not as father confessor. And on this one you are wrong anyway.”

She shrugged and said nothing. But she made him feel uncomfortable all the rest of the way by sitting sideways and staring at him.

She still said nothing as they waited for Lady Habersham's butler to take Lord Eden's card upstairs. But it most certainly helped to have her with him when they were shown into an upstairs salon. He could collect his breath and his thoughts while presenting his sister to Lady Habersham and while waiting for the effusive greetings Madeline exchanged with the other two ladies.

He bowed over Jennifer's hand and acknowledged Ellen's curtsy with a nod.

She sat down with a straight back, not touching the back of her chair. She folded her hands quietly in her lap. Lord Eden took his courage in both hands and crossed the room to take a seat beside her. Madeline began to talk with animation to the room at large.

Her face was thinner and had lost color. Her gray eyes, by contrast, looked larger and more luminous as she rested them steadily on Madeline's face. Her fair hair, smooth and shining, was drawn back from her face in the old simple style, resting in a knot at the back of her neck.

Unbidden memories came to him of her face flushed and animated at a ball and heavy-eyed with passion on a pillow, that hair framing her face like a shining halo.

“I trust you are feeling better, ma'am?” he said. Words of ridiculous formality. He had murmured love words into her ear, against her mouth.

“Yes, I thank you, my lord.” She lowered her eyes away from Madeline and looked to the side. But not at him. “I was very foolish. I had been bent over a letter for more than an hour.”

She had cried out her love to him, murmured his name over and over again.

“I hope you have recovered thoroughly,” she said. “You are looking well.”

How did she know? She had not looked at him.