Page 27 of Surrender to the Earl (Brides of Redemption #2)

She considered the piano, so neglected, the perfect thing to occupy her mind.

Seating herself on the bench, she lifted the cover and played several chords.

The instrument wasn’t exactly in tune, but close enough.

She started playing, and lost herself in the beauty of such pure, blissful sound.

She didn’t know how long she played, but when at last she paused between songs, she heard soft clapping.

“As beautiful as always,” Blythe said.

Audrey heard honesty rather than jealousy, and smiled. “Thank you. Before he left, Robert mentioned I had not played since we arrived.”

“And it’s obvious, because as I came downstairs, Mrs. Sanford and both her children were standing in the hall, entranced.”

“Oh.” Audrey bent her head, surprised. Music had always separated Blythe and her.

“And then I stepped inside, and for just a moment, I saw you as others must when you play, because it seemed as if you were not blind.” And then in a contemplative voice, “I have no real memory of that.”

“You were but two when we both took ill.”

“I remember being very, very hot.”

“I, as well. What else do you remember?”

Blythe said nothing for a moment, and Audrey wondered if she’d gone too far. Her sister was always a woman who lived for the future, and what it might hold for her.

“Nothing,” Blythe said woodenly. “I was two, as you said.”

But for a moment, Audrey thought she’d been about to say something else.

When Robert arrived at Rose Cottage midmorning the next day, Francis told him that Audrey and her sister had gone to Hedgerley.

Robert couldn’t be surprised that Blythe would need something to do.

Why hadn’t she escorted her sister to their own village?

Audrey seemed to want to put it behind her and start anew, but Robert wasn’t so forgiving.

He worried that Miss Collins would fall into her old family patterns and try to control Audrey’s every move.

Gray clouds overhead threatened rain, but that didn’t stop him from leaving Rose Cottage.

As he rode down the country lane, the dark clouds scudding away, he remembered the sweet smell of Audrey’s neck, the blush that had swept her face and down beneath her bodice.

He’d longed to explore, though one touch of the forbidden had made her stop.

But he’d gone a step further, and if he’d been patient …

He urged his horse into a trot, the better to put such rousing memories aside.

He was almost relieved when it was difficult to find the sisters. No crowds gathered somewhere to stare, no fuss being made. But the first time he’d escorted Audrey there, he’d seen the looks, heard the whispers, and worried that it would be far worse when he wasn’t there to deflect it.

He found the women at the millinery, where Miss Collins was trying on hats, looking in a mirror and discussing a purchase with the fawning owner, an older woman corseted into too tight a gown.

As Robert closed the door behind him, he saw Audrey seated on a stool, her face lifted to the sunlight streaming between parting clouds through the plate-glass windows. Her fingers touched a selection of ribbons.

She cocked her head toward the door, and as he walked toward her, her expression brightened. “Lord Knightsbridge.”

It wasn’t a question.

He grinned and lifted her gloved hand to kiss the back. “Mrs. Blake.”

She blushed prettily and drew her hand back as if their affection should be private. “I am surprised you joined our ladies’ shopping expedition.”

He glanced at her sister, who gave him a polite smile, then returned to the adoration of her mirror. To Audrey, he said, “I was concerned Miss Collins might fall back on old habits in the village and forget all about you. Is she helping you to select a bonnet, too?”

“She asked, and I said she could go first.”

He released the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Very well, then.” It seemed positively unmanly to be concerned that a woman might not be able to shop.

Audrey smiled at him, then, a secret smile that said she understood him. He felt revealed to her in a way he’d never expected with a woman—especially a blind woman. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

“I admit,” Audrey continued in a lower voice, “that I have been using this day to see if my sister really means to change her treatment of me.”

“And so far?”

“So far, so good. We do have firm disagreements on how a lady should spend her day. I delayed our departure this morn so I could consult with Mrs. Sanford, leading my sister to say I am too concerned with details rather than enjoyments.”

“You spent your life concerned with the details she ignored,” he said stiffly.

Audrey sighed. “Managing our household gave me some measure of control in the little world I had been permitted. Now I have the freedoms of a larger world, and I find I still fall back on my old, managing ways. But I am coping. You are not to worry about me,” she admonished in a mock stern voice.

He had made it his duty to see her happy and contented, and he was concerned that the arrival of her sister would make things worse.

As Audrey took her turn trying on bonnets and hats, Robert watched her force happiness on Miss Collins, who still seemed reserved and tenuous, as if she expected people to shun them because of Audrey’s debility.

Late morning, he escorted them through a stiff wind to a coffee house that faced the village green. While their hands curled around steaming cups of coffee, warming them from the inside out, Audrey smiled at her sister.

“Thank you for helping me to choose a bonnet. I do believe a new one makes me feel prettier.”

“You’re very welcome,” Miss Collins said, her gaze contemplating her coffee.

Audrey took another sip and let out a sigh. “That tastes good. I like the fact that I can come into the village and enjoy such things. Blythe, since you think my concern for charity is too obvious, can you think of other ways I could better involve myself with the village and its people?”

Miss Collins set down her cup and it rattled the saucer. She glanced at Robert a bit wide-eyed, obviously surprised and flustered.

“I imagine,” she said slowly, “that you should entertain. And then they will reciprocate.”

“Very true,” Audrey mused. “Once they get to know me, my opinion will have more merit. I would really like to discuss housing. From speaking with my tenants, I do see a need for more building of humble, yet sound, housing.”

“Audrey, we are women,” Miss Collins said, her expression bewildered. “Why would you think the men would care about our opinions on anything other than dinner parties and children and the running of households?”

Robert could tell Audrey hesitated to say the truth, that she’d spent too many years powerless in her home, and wouldn’t live that way any longer.

“Blythe, I am a landowner now, and my concerns are for many more people than myself. I know this world is slanted toward men, but if I have good ideas, why should they not listen?”

“Speaking as the only man at this table,” Robert said dryly, “I find myself understanding Miss Collins’s concerns. Many men do not want a woman’s opinion.”

“And are you one of them, my lord?” Miss Collins demanded.

A little protective toward Audrey. A good sign. “I should hope my assistance in escorting Mrs. Blake to her home, and being available for support rather than domination, has proven my restraint.”

Miss Collins didn’t look reassured. So she didn’t trust him, and he didn’t trust her. Interesting.

He turned to Audrey. “I did learn something from my steward this morning. While I was gone, there was a need for humble cottages for short-term agricultural workers. Because of this, some cottagers were forced to move into the village and are now living in the close quarters of rooming houses. I know this is the way of the world, but I don’t like it.

Perhaps we can discuss the building of more cottages with parish magistrates. ”

Audrey smiled. “I’d like that!”

He thought Miss Collins might have wanted to roll her eyes.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Blake?”

A matronly woman with a reticule clutched beneath her ample bosom approached. Robert rose, and when she looked up at him, her lips parted until she collected herself.

“Lord Knightsbridge,” she said, giving a little curtsy.

He bowed. “Ma’am.”

“I feel very forward introducing myself to you.”

“Oh, allow me,” Audrey said. “You’re Mrs. Edgeworth, are you not?”

“I—you remember!” Mrs. Edgeworth said, her expression one of surprise.

“I remember meeting you at the grocer’s. You have a distinctive voice, ma’am. Please allow me to introduce you to Lord Knightsbridge, and to my sister, Miss Collins.”

“Your sister! How wonderful to have family nearby.”

“If only she could be closer, but I am happy regardless.”

“Well, Mrs. Warton mentioned visiting you, and I thought how wonderful it would be to introduce you to more of our parish. Might I send you an invitation to tea?”

“I would love that.”

“Then I will not keep you. It was a pleasure meeting you both, Lord Knightsbridge and Miss Collins.”

And with a little bobbing nod of her head, she turned and left the coffee house.

But after she’d gone, Audrey’s smile faded.

“Is something wrong?” Robert asked.

“I hope her invitation is for after Molly is well. I don’t wish to inconvenience Mrs. Edgeworth by making her have to take care of me.”

Miss Collins looked troubled, and Robert was glad she didn’t speak and reveal that to Audrey.

“It will work out,” he insisted. “I will go with you if Molly cannot.”

But it was the wrong thing to say.

“I do not want people to feel beholden on my behalf,” she said, frowning. “Soon they will all treat me like an invalid, if I cannot be seen to stand on my own.”

“Maybe you’re expecting too much of yourself,” Miss Collins said at last.

Robert grimaced, even as Audrey reddened.

“I expect much of myself, Blythe,” she said coolly. “If I didn’t, I would still be sitting with a blanket on my lap in the corner Father put me in.”

“I didn’t mean …” Miss Collins trailed off.

Robert thought that she did mean it but hadn’t quite understood how it would hurt Audrey.

“I think it’s time to go home,” Audrey said, carefully placing her napkin beside her coffee cup.