Page 19 of An Heiress and An Astronomer (Gentleman Scholars #3)
L ucy was disappointed about their house party and moped around the house for days. Pierce feared it was somehow his fault. If only he hadn’t been so strange about the other fellows talking to Greta about their search for the treasure.
It might not have changed anything, though, considering her aunt’s obvious disdain for everything they’d had to offer. Even when Greta had been obviously enjoying herself, she had always seemed to keep her eye on her aunt.
Was the older woman mistreating her niece?
That thought seized Pierce for a moment. He wanted to deny it was even possible. Greta’s acerbic personality didn’t strike him as the sort who would tolerate any sort of mistreatment. But she obviously lacked the kind of confidence required to protect herself, at least in certain situations. And seeing as she was alone in life, she might be that desperate for family that she would ignore mistreatment.
He should have been kinder to her. Why hadn’t he been? She was lovely in a quiet way that grew on him, rather than being outrageously beautiful. Her appearance would clearly age well.
She was both interesting and interested. Those were rare traits, he knew, amongst the ton . He had almost never encountered them in a debutante. The scholars thought Lucy was the only one who existed, but Pierce suspected Greta was of the same cloth despite their very different personalities.
But it mattered very little or not at all.
He was a man of science. He didn’t have time for matters of the heart. He certainly wasn’t going to court a woman at this juncture in his life. And that’s what would happen if he allowed Greta to involve herself in their treasure hunt.
Pierce needed to complete his research. His lenses were nearly perfect. He was almost finished chronicling his findings on the various stars he had found with the greater magnification. He was so close to gaining the respect he craved.
Now was not the time the distraction of a pretty woman.
But he couldn’t stop thinking about the expression on her face when he had admonished the other fellows for talking about the treasure. He was a cad. His grandfather would be appalled.
Even sitting by himself in his room, hunched over a pile of papers, Pierce couldn’t prevent a flush of dismay when he thought of his grandfather’s disappointment if he were ever to find out just how ungentlemanly he had acted. Surely the old man would box his ears.
That thought helped dissipate some of his discomfort as amusement swept the regret to the rear of his mind. But it continued to niggle there as he worked.
Greta said she had a clue. Was it even possible that her poem could actually relate to their search? The mathematician would have been able to calculate the odds of that possibility but Pierce knew, even without an exact calculation, that it was an extremely low chance.
Almost as rare as there being two gently bred females interested in their science.
With a sigh, Pierce shoved his papers away. He wasn’t going to be of any use with his research today. He ought to go to Town, offer the woman his apologies, and see if he could take a look at the poem that could possibly be a clue she had discovered.
~~~~
“You did what?”
Lucy didn’t screech at him when he told her about his rudeness, but it was close enough.
“We are returning to Town by the end of the week,” she told him. “You can go earlier if you’d like. Everleigh House is always at your disposal, if you’re comfortable there without us.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy.”
“I know, Pierce, and I don’t mean to ring a peel over you. It’s just that I was so determined that everyone enjoy the science, I was surprised there was a lack of enthusiasm. I should actually be thanking you for telling me,” she added with a small laugh. “At least that tells me that it wasn’t all my fault.”
Pierce laughed too. “Of course, it wasn’t your fault, Lucy. You were the perfect hostess. But some of our guests had other reasons for discomfort. It had nothing to do with you. Greta’s aunt was determined that they not enjoy themselves. And then I made Greta less than welcome.”
“Do you know why?”
“Which part?” Pierce asked, trying to buy some time on his own defence.
“Both, I suppose. Why was Lady Gertrude determined not to enjoy the experience? And why were you unwelcoming to Miss Billingsley when it was your idea to invite her in the first place?”
Pierce groaned, running a hand through his hair. “I cannot even begin to fathom the answer to either question, Lucy. I think Gertrude is one of those strange individuals who is determined to be unhappy. As for Miss Billingsley, I think perhaps I panicked.”
Lucy’s smirk and nod told him she agreed.
“Do you think you might pursue her?”
“Of course not,” Pierce replied immediately, ignoring the pang his own words caused in the region of his heart.
“Why so adamant? There’s nothing wrong with the woman.”
“No, no, it’s not her,” Pierce acknowledged. “She’s lovely and intelligent and easy to talk with,” Pierce said, causing another smirk to appear on Lucy’s face.
That brought Pierce to his senses, realizing he was saying way too much. “I am not available for courtship, Lucy, and well you know it. I have my lenses to complete and my research. I cannot court a woman when I don’t yet have the circumstances to support her. And you know I cannot sit in someone’s pocket, not after the dust-up with my family, so finding an heiress isn’t going to do me any good.”
Lucy only stared at him. “Don’t you think a wife, particularly a wealthy one, would be of assistance, rather than a detriment to you?”
“No,” Pierce said immediately, again feeling a tug of dismay within his midsection letting him know he was lying both to Lucy and himself. But it didn’t matter. Wedding now would be a distraction he couldn’t afford. He was so close to reaching his goals and intentions. He couldn’t stop now.
“Well then, mayhap you ought to remain here and not go up to Town at all,” Lucy said. “I wouldn’t want you unintentionally cultivating expectations in a young woman’s heart.”
Pierce quailed at the thought of hurting Greta in such a way. But he couldn’t remain secluded at the Scholarly Society. “I have requested meetings with the Royal Society,” he protested.
“They can be rescheduled, can’t they?”
It was now Pierce’s turn to stare at Lucy as though she had lost her mind. “I don’t think you understand just how important this is.”
“I understand that you have insulted my friend, Pierce. I understand that you haven’t been the most gentlemanly gentleman. I understand that my friend might get hurt by your hot and cold behaviour. And I’m reasonably sure that taking a little more time isn’t going to change much of anything.”
“Well then you don’t understand much at all,” Pierce growled as he stood and swept from the room just as Roderick Northcott, Lucy’s husband, was entering.
“What is going on here? I could hear your voices all the way down the hall.” Roderick glowered at his astronomer.
Pierce didn’t stop to apologize. He was too angry and dismayed to do so at the moment. Lucy was wrong. His science was too important.
Wasn’t it?
Of course, it was. It was what he had been pursuing his entire life. It was going to finally get him the respect he craved. His family would be forced to acknowledge that he hadn’t been wasting his time, or their money, all his life, that his pursuits were worthy of consideration and interest.
His friends would understand. The other scholars would do the same thing were they in his position.
Except Sean had left the institute to marry and was now pursuing commercial gain with his science. And Ellis had already found his success before he wed and left. Neither of them seemed as intensely occupied with their studies anymore. Pierce had to admit that they both seemed more than content with their choices.
But they were both sporting very deep pockets now. Sean Smythe the mathematician married a very wealthy woman and Ellis Dorval invented an extraction process that helped him support perfumiers as well as other applications like medicine. And then he inherited an earldom. Pierce wasn’t in the same situation by any stretch of the imagination.
He didn’t want to marry into money. Well, he wouldn’t say no if a wealthy woman offered to wed him, he thought with a dry grin. But he didn’t have time to spend with her or to pursue her. He needed to find his own place in the world before he allowed his head to be turned. He didn’t care what Lucy said on the subject.
But he did owe Greta an apology. There was no getting around that.
And there was no true reason why the woman couldn’t be involved in their treasure hunt. If it was something like the lost library he was hoping for, there wasn’t truly financial gain to be had, and the respect of the community could surely be shared.
Lucy was wrong, he needed to return to Town as soon as he possibly could.
But first, he had to complete the compilation of his research.