Beatrice busied herself pouring tea. ‘Please be seated again, if you wish.’ Suddenly voices in the hallway drew her attention. ‘The vicar’s wife and daughter are leaving...’
‘I’m sorry I kept you from them,’ Hugh murmured, choosing to prop himself against the mantelpiece rather than take a chair.
For the first time since he’d arrived they exchanged a proper smile.
‘Please don’t apologise, sir, for their company was no loss on my part, I assure you.’ Bea put a cup of tea near the five bronzed fingers splayed on the mantelshelf.
‘I’m certain your father and sister did sterling work on your behalf.’
‘They are both protective of me and will see off the tattlers.’ Beatrice sipped tea, placing down her cup with an unsteady hand that rattled together china. ‘Mrs Callan and her daughter wished to let me know how shocked and sorry they are to hear I’m to remain a spinster, so are bound to be disappointed to have lost my company after just a few minutes. But I would not have our neighbours...or anybody for that matter...think that I am hiding away, embarrassed and heartbroken, so must go over to the vicarage later in the week to allow their sympathy full rein.’
Hugh smiled. ‘And are you? Heartbroken, I mean? You’re too fine to allow that dolt Burnett to embarrass you...’
‘Why bother asking how I feel now? You didn’t care before!’ Bea cried, before sinking her small teeth in her lower lip to stem the list of accusations ready to be launched at him. Abruptly she turned and snatched up the plate of treacle biscuits, bitterly regretting that she’d let her suppressed anger at
his
defection, rather than Colin’s, simmer and boil over. ‘Please, have a biscuit. Betty would like you to...’ She slid the plate next to his untasted tea on the oak mantel.
‘Of course I damn well cared!’ Hugh gritted out, curving his fingers over her forearm to keep her close when she would have swished away. ‘Did you believe me that callous?’
Bea prised away his fingers from her body, flinging him off when he would have kept her hand imprisoned in his. But there was a smile pinned to her lips when she said, ‘I’m sorry, sir...please think nothing more of it. I’m just a little on edge after recent events or would not have spoken so.’
She made a concerted effort to still her madly drumming heart. She would not allow him, or any man, to make her act like a hysterical harpy. She had, just an hour or two ago, felt relatively at peace with the prospect of returning to her life as a spinster and living at home with her father. Now, since Hugh Kendrick’s arrival, old yearnings and emotions that she’d thought she’d successfully conquered were again pricking at her mind, making her feel restless.
‘I must not keep you any longer,’ she blurted. ‘I expect you will want to speak to Alex before he heads off to see his mother...’
A skewed smile was Hugh’s reaction to being summarily dismissed. ‘Perhaps I should not have made my presence known to your guests earlier,’ he said quietly. ‘Will our absence from the parlour have given rise to more speculation and added to your troubles?’
Bea had been occupying her nervous fingers by shifting crockery to and fro on the tray. Now she turned about with a frown. ‘I admit I had not thought of that...’
And I should have
. The phrase rotated slowly in her mind. She’d concentrated on the Callans being absorbed by her jilting, but of course they’d also be intrigued to have the details of what had kept Miss Dewey and Mr Kendrick elsewhere in the house during their visit. Mrs Callan was renowned for an ability to craft a salacious rumour from little other than her own imagination...
‘Your family are sure to have explained the situation,’ Hugh reassured her. ‘It would indeed be a travesty if you were to be the subject of conjecture because of me when nothing at all exists between us...does it?’
‘Nothing at all,’ Bea fervently endorsed. ‘And, as you say, my sister and father would have made that quite clear when explaining that I was attending to your needs...your hospitality,’ she quickly amended, managing a fleeting smile despite his amused expression acknowledging her infelicity. ‘Besides, in a short while people will no longer be interested in me but chasing new and more interesting tales.’
Unfortunately Beatrice knew that was not strictly true in this neck of the woods: London might boast fresh scandals every week, but in the sticks it might be six months or more before the old biddies found something as entertaining as Beatrice Dewey’s being jilted to chew over at their afternoon get-togethers. They’d also be intrigued to know that soon after the cancellation of her wedding to Dr Burnett she’d been having a private talk with a handsome stranger.
Bea raised a hand to her throbbing brow, realising she was not quite as indifferent to cruel gossip as she’d believed herself to be. If a rumour started, and travelled to London, that shortly after being jilted she’d tried to charm Hugh Kendrick, she’d be mortified...especially if he got to hear of it...
‘I’m setting off in a moment. Do you fancy a lift back to town? You can tether your mount to the curricle.’ Alex had given a cough to herald his arrival before fully entering the morning room and addressing his friend. Behind him came his wife, using a knuckle between Adam’s soft lips to pacify him.
‘He is hungry, and wet too. I shall take him upstairs.’ Elise gazed into her husband’s face. ‘Promise you will come and say goodbye before leaving.’
Alex cupped his wife’s cheek with a loving hand. It was answer enough for Elise and she went off, content.
‘So...you are still here, Mr Kendrick.’ Walter limped into the room. ‘I believe I mistook the reason for your arrival, sir. I’ve learned you have done my son-in-law a good deed and for that I’m grateful.’
Hugh bowed, accepting the oblique apology for his host’s earlier brusqueness.
‘Drink your tea, then, and stay to dine if you wish. I can see that Beatrice has been keeping you company and holds no argument with you. So I cannot either, I suppose,’ Walter grumpily concluded.
‘Thank you, but I am setting on the road again.’ Hugh graciously declined Walter’s off-hand invitation.
Walter shrugged and ambled off towards his study.
‘I shall also take my leave,’ Beatrice said. ‘I wish you both a safe journey, and please give the dowager my best wishes for a speedy recovery.’
Her brother-in-law received a spontaneous hug, Hugh a formal bob. A moment later she was slipping from the room, only fleetingly hesitating at the door to discover if Hugh was watching her.
He was. And it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Alex either.
‘Don’t even
think
of a dalliance there, or you’ll have me to answer to this time, not her father.’
Hugh dispassionately met his friend’s steady gaze. ‘I get the distinct impression that Miss Dewey finds it difficult to tolerate my company. There’ll be no repeat of what went on, trust me.’ He hesitated, then strolled to the window. ‘Does she know about my life in India?’
‘I’ve not had reason to tell my wife all of it, so I doubt Bea knows much at all other than that you’re now rich from your Indian mines. Neither, I hope, is she interested in any of it.’
Hugh nodded slowly, lips thinning in a grim smile.
‘Are you thinking of cutting off your ties abroad?’
Hugh’s sharp glance answered Alex before he heard his friend’s reply. ‘My ties in India are permanent and non-negotiable.’
‘That’s what I thought...’ Alex said deceptively mildly. ‘So I repeat...stay away from my sister-in-law or suffer the consequences...’
A moment later it was as though no tense exchange had taken place between them.
Alex said, ‘I want to get going. Norman Francis will bring your horse round from the stable and we can be on the road in ten minutes...’
Chapter Six
‘W
hy don’t you come with me to London?’
While speaking Elise continued folding a lawn petticoat, then packed it away in readiness for departure later that morning. Her maid was attending to the baby’s things, neatly piling them alongside her mistress’s garments in the travelling trunk.
When Beatrice continued cooing at Adam, Elise renewed her effort to persuade her sister to have a sojourn in town. ‘You’ll enjoy the shops in Oxford Street and I’ll introduce you to some nice people.’ She waved aside Bea’s dubious frown. ‘There are some nice ladies, I swear. In fact I’d say some of the matrons in this neighbourhood are worse tattlers...’
‘I can’t think who you might mean,’ Beatrice replied drolly.
‘In any case it is high time you said hello to the Chapmans. Verity would love to see you. She’ll tell you all about the babe she is expecting...’ Elise bit her lip, realising it was insensitive to enthuse over another woman’s marital bliss to a dear sister who had recently been jilted. ‘Fiona is naturally still at home with Mr and Mrs Chapman, and I’m sure she’d adore having your company.’
‘There’s no need to fuss over me, Elise.’ Beatrice raised her eyes from the baby’s rosy face to give her sister a serene smile. ‘I’m better now, honestly, and will bear up here with Papa.’ She held the baby aloft, rolling him to and fro and making him giggle. ‘The shock of it all has been short lived, I assure you. Isn’t that so, Master Adam?’
‘The shock of what, exactly?’ Elise quipped. ‘Seeing Hugh Kendrick or losing your fiancé?’
‘I no longer think of Colin as a loss but as a hazard I avoided.’ Bea got up from the clothes-strewn bed where she’d played with her nephew and handed him to his nurse. Helpfully, she started to assist her sister with packing. She felt her profile growing warm beneath Elise’s determined stare. ‘Oh, all right, I admit Mr Kendrick’s appearance did shake me up a bit. But I’m over that too.’
‘I wasn’t hinting that you should come with me so you might see Hugh again,’ Elise fibbed. She had seen the way the couple had reacted to one another yesterday and it had stirred in her an idea that they might still harbour feelings for one another. Hugh had not taken his eyes off her sister and Bea had certainly not seemed indifferent to him in the way a woman should if an old flame—now completely forgotten—turned up out of the blue.
Following his upturn in fortune Hugh was highly sought after by top hostesses and fond mamas with debutantes to settle, but Elise knew he wasn’t courting any well-bred young lady. Of course she heard the gossip, like everybody else, and knew he associated with female company of a very different class. Although Elise liked Hugh, he was an unashamed philanderer, and that fact dampened her enthusiasm for Beatrice again falling for him. The last thing Elise wanted was for her beloved sister to again have her dreams shattered by a man.
‘I suppose I ought to tell you that Hugh is known as an incorrigible rake who keeps company with demi-reps. I have to admit, though, that Alex’s reputation was vastly embellished upon by excitable ladies before we were wed.’ Elise smiled wryly; she’d not forgotten how jealous she’d felt, hearing about Alex’s paramours.
‘Thank you for the warning,’ Bea said mildly. ‘I’m not surprised to know it; he seems very different now from the man I once knew. Anyhow, his sordid habits and so on are of no interest to me. I don’t care how he spends his time.’
Elise gave her sister an old-fashioned look. ‘You might have sounded a little more convincing, my dear.’
Beatrice raised her eyes heavenward, miming exasperation, making her sister chuckle.
‘Papa won’t mind at all if you stay in town with me for a week or two. Mr and Mrs Francis attend to all his needs—’
‘No...’ Beatrice interrupted, giving her sister a winning smile. ‘But thank you for the invitation.’ She knew what Elise was up to: finding her a replacement for Colin. Although Bea was swayed by an offer to visit dear friends in the metropolis, the idea that Hugh Kendrick might believe she’d followed him home to put herself in his way was terrifying enough to quash the temptation to accept.
Elise huffed in defeat. ‘I don’t know what you are afraid of. I have told you that Papa and I fielded every question that Mrs Callan batted over about your association with Hugh. I made a point of letting them know he had courted our friend Fiona Chapman to put them off the scent.’
‘And I do thank you for it. But I am not afraid, Elise, of gossip or of Hugh Kendrick.’ Bea knew that was not quite truthful and hastened on. ‘So, I will remain here, quite content, though I pray your mother-in-law will recover.’ Bea looked reflective. ‘She was very kind to us at your wedding reception and made sure Papa and I had servants dancing attendance on us. She introduced us to so many people, and Papa was glad to renew his acquaintance with her that day. He told me he had liked her late husband too.’
‘Susannah is a dear soul...’ Elise frowned, folding linen with renewed vigour. ‘I must quickly get back and visit her. I’m sure the doctor is right, though, and she’s already on the mend.’
Beatrice comforted her sister with a hug. ‘She will be fine, Elise. The dowager will be up and about again in no time...’
* * *
‘I should like to attend.’
‘Are you feeling up to the journey, Papa?’ Beatrice asked in concern.
The post had arrived just ten minutes ago. Alex’s bold black script had been on one of many letters Bea, with heavy heart, had brought to her father’s study. Walter had opened it at once. There had been a note for her too, from Elise, but Beatrice had slipped that into the pocket of her skirt and would read it later.
The other letters, she surmised, were replies from the guests who’d been informed by her father last week that the wedding would not be taking place. She recognised Mr Chapman’s hand, and also that of her Aunt Dolly on two of the five sealed parchments. Bea felt sure all would contain messages of sympathy and encouragement for her, but she didn’t yet want to know about any of it.
Neither did Walter, it seemed. Bea’s father left untouched the pile of post and continued sighing and polishing his glasses with his handkerchief.
‘Are you sure the journey will not excessively tire you?’ Beatrice rephrased her question in an attempt to draw her father’s attention.
‘I will bear a few discomforts to pay my respects to Susannah Blackthorne.’ Walter dabbed a handkerchief at his watering eyes. He put his glasses on, then held up Alex’s letter so he might again scan the sad news that his son-in-law’s mother had passed away. The funeral was to be held in a few days’ time and Alex had offered to send his coach for Walter and Beatrice so they might join the mourners at Blackthorne Hall. He had added that he hoped very much they would attend as his mother had enquired after the two of them only recently.