Page 12 of An Heiress and An Astronomer (Gentleman Scholars #3)
P ierce was embarrassed to admit how nervous he was. He was slightly surprised when Lucy had agreed to host his astronomy party. He hadn’t seen Miss Billingsley since that disastrous evening when he had revealed so much that should not have been said. He had struggled with the decision of whether or not to tell Lucy but finally he had laid bare his conscience.
“I don’t know what came over me,” he repeated into the stunned silence that followed his confession. He was taking tea with both Lucy and Roderick Northcott in the small salon at Everleigh House in London two afternoons after that fateful evening.
Roderick continued to stare at him with an inscrutable face but suddenly Lucy put her teacup down with a clatter and burst into raucous laughter much to the gentlemen’s surprise. It took her a moment or two to regain her control but once she had quieted down and wiped the tears that had gathered on her face, she turned her usually sunny smile upon Pierce.
“Oh, Pierce, my dear boy, you’ve gone and done it now, haven’t you?”
He hung his head in his shame, but Lucy was quick to reassure him.
“Don’t trouble yourself, Pierce. It has been exceedingly foolish of me to refine so upon Roddie’s list, hasn’t it? Now that we have our darling daughter, I have finally had my senses sufficiently rattled back into place. But you weren’t wrong about Miss Billingsley. I would like to do her a kind turn. And it seems to me she quite needs the assistance.”
Lucy waved away Roderick’s attempts at protesting. “I doubt she’ll go bandying it about that the Northcotts are this unhinged, but even if she were to do so it would look far worse on her than us, so try not to let it trouble you. Yes, it is possible it hurt the poor woman’s feelings in some way, so you will now have to join forces with me to ensure she has a good outcome.”
She reached out and patted Pierce’s hand. “But don’t feel badly about us. It is our own faults for allowing it to be known. Roderick started it with his dratted list, and I carried it on with my silly reaction to the entire thing. Yes, I’m besotted but that’s no excuse for foolishness, is it?”
Roderick grinned at his wife’s tirade and didn’t bother piling any more recriminations onto his friend’s head, a fact for which Pierce was eternally grateful. It was going to be bad enough having to submit himself to whatever Lucy decreed was his penance.
“What else did you tell her?”
“I suggested we might consider hosting a star viewing with some of my new lenses,” Pierce admitted, ashamed at having been bragging about his developments.
“Oh, but that’s a delightful idea. I feel you ought to be punished rather than rewarded, but perhaps your conscience smiting you has been punishment enough. Except that now you shall have to help me with the planning and execution of said plans for the event. And then we won’t hear another word about lists and what I may or may not have stolen from my fellow debutantes. Have we a deal?”
Pierce, of course, had eagerly agreed, relieved to have been let off so easily. It turned out planning a party wasn’t nearly so easy as he had thought, but Lucy was well trained and kindly directed him in all matters, so it was quickly settled.
And now here he stood at a window upstairs at the Alldred estate that housed their Scholarly Society, waiting anxiously for their guests to arrive. He ignored the fact that he was most anxious for one guest in particular.
Really, all their guests were worthy of worrying over. He wanted his first entertainment to be a success. Not that anyone would know that it was his entertainment, aside from the astronomy portion of the event.
They had agreed it would have to be a short house party. While their estate was conveniently enough located to make travel to and from Town reasonably easy, a star viewing would have to be late enough after dark that they couldn’t expect people to travel home afterward. So, there would have to be at least one night of accommodation offered. Once you offered one night, you might as well offer two or three, Lucy had decreed, so now they had a handful of guests coming for a three-night visit to the Society.
The other scholars had entered the excitement and also wanted to display their fields of study in some way. Lucy took it all in good stride but wasn’t sure how that could happen.
“How are you going to demonstrate botany to my guests, Lincoln?” she asked with a frown. “I suppose you could take us to your gardens and maybe on an excursion through the countryside to identify various flora.”
She shook her head firmly at another fellow. “But, no, Chester, you cannot demonstrate anything about anatomy to our guests. Sidney, if you think you can take us through your map room and show the guests how you create maps, some might find it fascinating, but I hope you won’t be terribly offended that some may not.”
There was laughter and commotion around the table as the scholars all mocked and jested with one another.
“What made you decide to feature Pierce, then?” Chester called out, obviously disappointed that his idea had been rejected. “Is he your favourite now?”
Pierce flushed over the surgeon’s question, thinking to plant the other man a facer.
“No,” Lucy laughed. “You are all each in your own way my favourites and well you should know that, Chester Franklyn. Please don’t ever ask such a terrible question again.” When the gentleman appeared suitably chastened, Lucy continued. “The star viewing party was Pierce’s idea, and Roderick and I thought it was a brilliant idea of an entertainment we could host without too much difficulty. We thought of having everyone to Everleigh but then realized it might be nicer to have it here. That means it has to be a smaller party but that might make it more enjoyable for everyone, too. It will, though, mean that you all have to make room for our guests, I’m sorry to say.”
“Mayhap I’ll go visit my family. If I can’t even share my studies, I don’t reckon with having a bunch of Society matrons racketing about the place,” the denied anatomist complained.
“Oh, no, Chester, don’t feel as though you’re being pushed out. You know you’re a much-valued member of our family here. Just because I don’t think it would be suitable to demonstrate any anatomy lessons for our guests doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be here to enjoy the company.”
The bristly young scholar seemed to settle down and his ruffled feathers were soothed, but he still seemed inclined to depart.
“I haven’t visited the homestead for months now, and it will give you more room for your guests. I swear I don’t mind, Lucy, and I’m not having a snit.”
The rest of the room erupted in laughter once more and the difficulty was soothed. The others tried to come up with suggestions for accommodating their guests.
“Should the lot of us make up a room in the hayloft?” the botanist asked with a grin. “It’ll be like when we were boys.”
Pierce could see that Lucy appreciated the offer and yet didn’t want the men to feel as though she were evicting them from their chambers. “Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to plan this entertainment,” she said, sounding dismayed.
“This is entirely my fault,” Pierce exclaimed. “I certainly don’t mind giving up my room to the guests, but the other fellows needn’t do so.”
After that, all the other gentlemen were clamouring to volunteer their rooms. Before they knew it, there was plenty of space.
“And if worse comes to worst, we’ll have the footmen join you in the stables,” Lucy said with a giggle. “But I don’t know where we’ll put everyone at mealtimes if I end up with that many guests on the way.”
That was all a few days ago. Now Pierce was in the front upper room hovering near a window waiting for their guests to drive up their lane. He should have paid more attention to who Lucy had invited.
He couldn’t even remember how many or who the individual invitees were. Except for Greta Billingsley and her aunt. That too embarrassed him. He was both looking forward to and dreading seeing the strange heiress again.
He had been insensitive the last time he had spoken with her. Pierce assured himself that was the reason for his current obsession with her. His grandfather would be disappointed were he to know. Pierce had not behaved in a manner befitting a member of the Marquis of Ingleshire’s family.
But that wasn’t it. Pierce knew he was trying to delude himself. He wasn’t sure what exactly it was. Or perhaps he was just refusing to acknowledge that he actually liked the woman. His attraction to her was highly inconvenient.
He had absolutely no interest in pursuing marriage at this time. He wasn’t a renowned scientist yet. He wasn’t considered an expert at anything, and he hadn’t yet gained the respect of his peers. Until that happened, he couldn’t lose his focus. He had to prove to his family that his extended studies were worthwhile. Without marrying a fortune.
Still, he hovered.
Finally, the carriages began arriving.
First was Miss Lily Cavanaugh and her mother Lady Mary. Pierce stood far enough back from the window so as not to be seen as he watched Lucy gracefully and graciously welcome their guests. The two women had brought Lily’s brother and father with them, riding postillion.
Had they thought of all the horses they would need to stable for these days? Pierce thought with a frantic start. Surely Lucy was sufficiently knowledgeable that she would have made arrangements, but this was the first time they were hosting any sort of entertainment besides a couple guests for tea. It wasn’t likely she had thought of everything.
Ought he to go down and see what sort of assistance he might offer? He wondered briefly but then rejected the thought. He wasn’t ready to face the fray.
And wasn’t that the most mamby pamby thing he’d ever thought? His grandfather would think less of him for certain. As would the scholars. If he could face the professors at Oxford and convocation, he could face anything High Society might care to throw at him.
Even if he didn’t consider himself a candidate for the Marriage Mart, surely, he could face the Season and this small entertainment. He ought to be better equipped than some of the other fellows he could hear were already greeting the guests.
With a sigh, Pierce forced himself from his hiding place, entering the chaos that had erupted with the arrivals.
After greetings were distributed and servants dispatched with the luggage, Lincoln was tasked with offering a tour to the first arrivals, giving Pierce a moment to approach Lucy.
“I didn’t think about all the horses,” he told her in a low but urgent voice prompting her bright laughter.
“That was one of the first things Roderick thought of, have no fear, Pierce. Everything is going to be perfectly fine. Cook has brought in enough food for twice the number of people we’ve invited so we shan’t go hungry, and the groom did similarly for the stables. He had a lad from the village come out and help him build a small shelter so that if we get too many horses to fit in the barns and sheds, they will at least have a roof over their heads.”
Lucy took a close look at Pierce and chuckled again. “You are more nervous than I’ve ever seen you. What seems to be the problem?”
Pierce wasn’t going to admit to what he suspected was the real problem, so he told her peripheral problems instead.
“I feel this event is my fault, therefore my responsibility. And I’ve never entertained before.”
“There is no fault, Pierce. Yes, we are entertaining. And to be frank, it’s the first time for all of us in certain ways. None of us have entertained here at the estate.” Lucy swallowed suddenly and her eyes widened as though she hadn’t actually realized how new this all was.
Then she brightened, much to his relief. “The fact is, though, I’ve been training for this my whole life. And I have entertained some at Everleigh and in Town. So it will all be fine, stop worrying,” she chided. “And don’t forget, some of the guests might be in a position to assist some of the gentlemen with their pursuits.”
Pierce frowned at Lucy. “I thought we all agreed no sponsors, isn’t that what you and Roderick are for?”
“You are absolutely right, no sponsors. We are family. We don’t need outsiders meddling in your studies. But don’t you agree that everyone needs friends who understand them?”
When Pierce still frowned at her, Lucy continued. “Someone in the same field, perhaps, or connected to someone of note. I don’t really know what I’m talking about, Pierce,” she concluded with a laugh and a shake of her head. “But I tried really hard to make this small event as interesting as possible.”
“So, Miss Cavanaugh is connected to which field of study, then?” Pierce asked with a laugh.
“Oh, she’s just sweet and pretty,” Lucy replied promptly. “But her father is a member of the Royal Society of Surgeons.”
Pierce’s eyes widened. “Truly? Does Lincoln know? Chester will be furious that he left if he finds out.”
“No, and don’t tell him. I don’t want either of them to know or think this has been a forced encounter for either of them. It would be lovely if they each came to whatever conclusions they might come to on their own, don’t you think?”
“You are a true matchmaker at heart, aren’t you Lucy? It isn’t just the dratted list.”
“Well, if I’m swearing off trying to find husbands for Roderick’s list, I need to turn that energy somewhere, don’t I?”
Pierce was feeling much more lighthearted about the entire event by the time his conversation with Lucy was over. And in any case, even if the event was truly a disaster, it was only going to be three days of their lives. It surely wouldn’t create a scandal and they could all go on about their lives afterward.