A Bright Particular Star (34 page)

“
E
ven if that is so
,
I doubt anything will come of it
.
M
y instinct is to trust him, but h
e is not a man who is easy to know
,
or
to
understan
d
,
”
said Olivia, with a little shrug.

Olivia
dipped
her head
to hide
her
heated
complexion
,
but Sophie
was not fooled.
S
he knew
h
er c
ousin was
attracted to
Grey
.
She could
not blame her.
H
e was a compelling
man
who treated Olivia with respect and admiration
and she, in turn, seemed to grow more beautiful and confident in his presence,
but
knowing so little about him,
Olivia
was right to remain
cautious
.

“S
ir Seymour
did
mention
Mr
Cavanagh
,
”
said Olivia.

“
What did he say?
”
asked Sophie eagerly.

“
He told
Mr
Grey that
Mr
Cavanagh had gon
e to
see his
brother the Earl of Bramwell
at Chenning, the family estate in Surrey
a
nd he would not be back for a few days
.
Mr
Grey
question
ed
Sir Seymour
closel
y
about when Theo would return.
I can
’t
imagine why
.
”

“
Nor I
.
”

“
Could it have
anything to do with the Star?
”

“
I don
’t
s
ee how,
”
said Sophie, with a frown
.
“T
heo advise
d me to be watch
ful, but nothing
has happened since I
’
ve been in London
.
Absolutely nothing.
Those
incidents en route seem like
bad dream
s
now
.
”

“
Well, that is good news at least.
What
do you say
to visiting the wild beasts at the Tower of L
ondon?
The weather is set fine,
”
said Olivia, with a smile.

“
I would like
it
very much.
And as soon as I am able
, I intend to
visit Papa
’s
lawyer
and ask him to or
ganise a house and a suitable
companion
for us.
One t
hing is certain
, Livvy
—
we are neither of us
going back to Ludstone.
”

When
Theo
arrived at Chenning
, he
sought
out hi
s brother
at once
.
He
found him
in the library
,
an
imposing room
at the back of the house.
It
had
always been one of Theo
’s
favourite places
and
when
he walked in,
he
savour
ed
its
unique
aroma of
leather, beeswax and
old
books
.
It was a sober,
masculine chamber
with stone
-
coloured walls and a
plasterwork ceiling.
The p
atina on the
bookcases
glowed richly
in the
afternoon sun
and dust motes danced in the air
.
The battered old
reading chair was
in its usual place nea
r the
window.
The chair
’s
elbow rests and adjustable book stan
d
meant it
had been a
source of fascination for the Cavanagh children and
Theo smiled as he recalled
squabbling with
his sister Julia
over who would sit on it
first.

The
dark-haired,
broad-shouldered man
seated at the
massive
mahogany
desk
in the centre of th
e room
was deep in concentration
.
His hand moved fluidly
across a sheet of paper as he wrote, but
Harry
Cavanagh
,
third Earl of Bramwell, universally
known as Hal among
his family and close friends,
glanced
up and grinned
widely
when he saw his brother
.

“T
heo!
”
He walked
around
the desk
to grip his younger sibling
’s
hand.
“
Why
didn
’t
you tell us you were coming?
Not that it matters, of course.
Glad to see you any tim
e
!
Isabella will be delighted.
Dominic
, too
—
he is forever complaining
you don
’t
visit enough, so expect to be pressed into all manner of games a
nd tomfoolery while you are here
.
Yo
u are staying, aren
’t
you?
”
Hal
chuckled
.
“
I can promise a good
dinner in compensation
for Dominic
’s
attentions
.
”

“
I
’
ll be staying
a day or so
, if that is con
venient?
”

“
Convenient?
Don
’t
talk
moonshine
!
”
chided Hal,
planting a playful punch on Theo
’s
shoulder.
“
You are always welcome
.
Mam
a will be pleased
as well
.
She is coming over fr
om the dower h
ouse
for d
inner.
We have some other
guests, you see.
”

T
heo
’s
face fell.
“
I didn
’t
realize
you were hosting a house
par
ty.
W
ouldn
’t
have come if I had known.
”

“T
hat would have been a pity
since our guests are Freddy and Julia
,
”
said his brother
.

Theo
’s
expression bright
ened
magically
.
E
ve
n before Freddy Isherwood
had
married his
sister
,
he had been well liked by all the
Ca
vanagh clan
.
Freddy had been
Hal
’s
closest
friend
for years
and
their mother,
Marguerite
,
the D
owager Countess
,
had known him
since he
was a child.
He
was
also
a
favourite with the
youngest
Cavanagh
siblings,
twins Lukas and Hugo.

Two y
ears ago,
Fredd
y
had proved
instrumental in
bringing two love affairs
to a happy conclusion:
Hal and
Isabella Vane
,
and Sir
Seymour Dinniscombe and Harriet Forster,
Isabella
’s
aunt.
Freddy
’s
long-standing passion for
Julia
had been
realize
d in the process
.
The
three couples had married soon
afterward
, and the extraordinary events of that summer
were still vivid in Theo
’s
memory.
Freddy and Julia and their baby son
were
now
regular visitor
s
to Chenning to see Hal, Isabella and their children.
So, too, were Sir Se
ymour and his wife
.

“
It will be goo
d to see Freddy and Julia again.
They
’
ve not been
in Town much
lately
.
I’m
hoping to persuade Freddy to join me at the
hunting lodge in Leicestershire
ne
xt month,
”
said Theo, adding with a smile,
“T
hat is,
if
Julia will allow it.
”

“
I’m
sure she can be convinced
,
”
said Hal, with a wink
. “A
lthough Freddy, like me, prefers not to be away from his wife for too long.
”

“D
ash it
,
Hal
—
you, Freddy and Sir Seymour give the male species a bad name
!
”
complained
Theo.
“
Y
ou
’
re all deeply in love with your wives and there
’s
n
o sign of the affliction ending.
In fact
you
’
re
getting worse!
”

Hal laughed
.
“
But w
e have no wish to be cu
red and w
hen Cupid fires
his arrow
you will feel the same.
”

Theo
’s
lips twisted into a rueful smile.
“
Well,
I don
’t
know if
it
’s
the work of
some
half-naked fellow
with a bow and arrow
,
and I wasn
’t
looking for it to ever happen to me,
but I
’
ve been str
uck down with the same sickness.
”
His
expression sobered and he thrust his hands into his pockets
, admitting
in gloom-ridden accents,
“
I’m
in love
.
”

Hal was silent for moment.

“S
o
it
’s
happened at last,
”
he
said
, subjecting Theo to a
searching look
.
“
B
y the
look of you, you
’
ve fallen
as hard
and as quickly
as I did.
But why are you
miserable?
Does the lady in question not return your regard?
”

“
No.
At least, I don
’t
think so.
T
he truth is
I
’
v
e made a
wretched
mess of things and
now I
might have
lost her forever.
”
Sighing, Theo
ran his
finger
s through his
hair and slumped onto a chair
.
“
I had no c
hoice, though.
To
de
clare my feel
ings before she met Verney
would have been wrong
.
”

Frowning, Ha
l sat down
again at the desk
.
“
W
e had better
start at the beginn
ing.
How did you meet
?
”

“S
he dropped
out of a tree
into my arms
.
”

Hal stared at his brother.
“
Indeed
?
”
he
said with
a quiver of amusement in his voice.
“S
he sounds most enterprising!
I approve of her
already.
Tell me the whole
.
”

Theo did and w
hen he had
finished
, Hal
observed
quickly
,
“
Y
ou did not tell
Sophie how you felt
before you left
?
”

“
No.
I reasoned it
was
better
to let matters
with Verney
take their course
, for a
short
while at least
.
W
hat right did I
have to ruin
her hopes by suggesting
they might both have
changed
?
She wouldn
’t
have believed me
,
and
would have thought me
a
brute
and possibly a fortune hunter
to boot.
And
I could hardly have abused my positio
n
by making
love to her.
Not,
”
he added, flushing,
“
t
hat I didn
’t
want to.
”

“S
o s
he has no reaso
n to suppose you are in love with
her?
”

Theo shook his head.
“T
here were times I thought she was not indifferent to me
,
but I could not be certain and, as I said, I was unwilling to take advantage.
”

“
I see.
And what about
Verney?
”