Page 13 of The Lady Who Said No to the Duke

T hea smiled at Hal’s nonsense and went to open the gate. ‘Listen, I hear the distant sound of retreating carriage wheels. We are saved.’

They went inside to find their godmother standing in the hallway looking distractedly around her. ‘There you are! Thank goodness. I was in dread that you would come in and I would have to explain what the pair of you are doing here.’

‘That was somewhat early for a social call,’ Hal remarked as they followed her into the drawing room.

‘They are leaving for London and Lady Chesford wanted to return a shawl I had left at Chesford Manor last week. At least, that was her excuse. Actually, she wanted to look at my new winter garden and ask if her head gardener could come and view it. The poor creature—Lady Chesford, not the gardener—is terrified of being behind the trend in anything. Perhaps I should have encouraged her to have an Italian garden instead.’

They laughed and she said, ‘And where were you both?’

‘Oh, in the gardens,’ Thea said. ‘We heard voices and thought it best to stay out of the way. We, er, hid.’

Hal sent her an appreciative look, presumably for an explanation which was perfectly truthful and perfectly deceptive. Godmama would have kittens if she knew they had been hiding together under the dustsheet in the summerhouse.

If she had been concerned that Thea might develop a tendre for Hal Forrest, then the discovery that they had been positively entwined like that would probably have had her packing Thea off back to her parents within the hour.

And she didn’t want to go, not because she feared her parents’ wrath, but because she didn’t want to leave Hal. But she didn’t want to stay either, because otherwise she might find herself falling…

No.

Thea took a deep breath. Feeling , that was the word. Feeling more for a man who was not a suitable match for the Earl of Wiveton’s daughter, with her magnificent future already lying before her.

On the other hand, Hal Forrest gave her no indication that he felt anything for her but friendship and the kindred spirit of being one of Lady Holme’s godchildren.

He behaved impeccably, even when stretched out over her body in pursuit of that spider, a most improper position to be in and one which had caused decidedly disturbing sensations in parts of Thea’s body that she tried not to think about too closely.

But there had been that moment by the pond… Yet with the passing of time, she became less and less certain that there had been anything, that Hal had frozen into stillness too, that his breath had caught, as hers had. Had she imagined it?

‘Thea dear, have you been listening to a word I have been saying?’

‘No, Godmama,’ she admitted honestly. ‘Not a syllable, I’m afraid.’

‘I was asking if you would go and see what flowers and foliage Fosket can spare us for the house. He behaves as though I expect him to sacrifice his own blood when I want to pick anything, but at this time of year with less in flower, he is even worse. Perhaps you can charm him.’

‘I will try after luncheon, Godmama. He may be mellowed by his own meal.’

Her smile faded as Fenwick entered, a silver slaver balanced on one hand, its surface covered in paper. ‘The second postal delivery, my lady.’ He placed it on the side table next to Lady Holme’s chair.

‘Thank you, Fenwick.’ She gathered a handful up and began to scan them. ‘Two…no, three for you, Hal.’

Thea began to rise to help, but Hal was before her. He took his post and tucked it into an inner breast pocket without a glance.

‘One for me, and this, and this. Ah, this is for you, Thea. From your father, I imagine.’

Hal took it and handed it to her.

Thea looked at it as it lay in her lap. Pandora’s box: What would she discover if she opened the lid, broke the seal?

Abruptly she ran her finger under the red wax. The letter was a single sheet and she looked first at the end.

Wiveton. Her father had signed it simply with his title and no words of affection.

Braced now for the worst, Thea made herself read from the beginning.

She had almost been the death of her poor Mama. Her father, scarce able to believe such undutiful behaviour, hardly knew what to write. But her godmother’s letter had provided him with some hope that all might not be lost, that the honour of the family, and Thea’s reputation, might yet be saved.

She took a deep breath and read on. Lady Holme had graciously suggested that they tell their acquaintance that she was suffering from a mild infection and had asked that Thea visit for a week to cheer her.

She, Thea, would then Return Home and do her duty by accepting the Duke if she wished to retain the affection of her deeply distressed parents.

Godmama and Hal were waiting silently, she realised when she looked up.

‘It is all right, I think. Godmama’s letter has helped, because it gives them a more believable excuse for my absence from London than the suggestion that I had some illness myself. But I am to return within the week and accept the Duke’s hand.’

‘So what will you do?’ Hal asked.

‘I will return as they wish, but I will do as you suggested and explain my feelings to the Duke when he calls. Goodness knows what will happen if he then refuses to offer for me, or I decide I simply cannot live with the man. I will have to think of another eligible gentleman and fix my interest with him very rapidly, I suppose.’

‘And do you have anyone in mind?’ Hal asked, his voice exceedingly dry, it seemed to her.

‘I do not, unfortunately. London is full of highly eligible men, many of whom I find perfectly pleasant and agreeable, and none of whom I have the slightest desire to spend the rest of my life with.’

And certainly none I desire to be in bed with. Unlike—

‘Difficult,’ he said.

‘Not necessarily. The Duke might prove to be perfectly amiable,’ she said, without a great deal of hope. ‘I will reply to Papa’s letter immediately and, I suppose, I must set out for London soon.’

‘The day after tomorrow?’ her godmother suggested. ‘You may use my own travelling carriage, Jennie can accompany you and Hal escort you.’

Startled, Thea stared at her. ‘But is that entirely proper? And it is a very long way to ride.’

‘I shall travel with my own carriage,’ Hal said.

‘And I will appear to be simply another traveller taking the same road to London. But at the same time I can keep an eye on you and will be at hand if you encounter any difficulties. I only rode the day I arrived here because I felt the need for the exercise.’

‘That would be reassuring, thank you,’ Thea said.

What else could she say? Please do not. I find you quite disturbing enough as it is ? Please do, because then we will have a few more days together ?

‘Ring for Fenwick if you will, Hal,’ Godmama said. ‘We must alert the coachmen and grooms, make certain the carriages and horses are ready, and Jennie must begin organising your packing, Thea.’

‘But what about Juno?’ Thea asked Hal. ‘It is too far for her to keep pace with the carriages and their frequent change of horses.’

‘Jessup, my groom can ride her down. In fact,’ he said, pausing on his way to the bell pull. ‘He can start this afternoon.’

‘There, everything is settled,’ Godmama said after Fenwick had received his instructions and Hal had gone off to the stables. ‘Most satisfactory.’

‘Indeed, yes,’ Thea agreed with a determined smile.

Settled? Once one of her brothers had described the sensation of being tossed in a blanket by some of his friends and her insides felt just as though that was happening to them.

* * *

The moon was full the next evening, breaking through the ragged clouds that threatened more rain to come.

‘Autumn is truly upon us,’ Hal remarked, making her startle as she stood at the drawing room window, the curtain held back by one hand. ‘I’m sorry, I did not mean to alarm you.’

‘No alarm, just a little jump,’ Thea said, making light of it. ‘I was thinking what a striking effect the moonlight is making on the wet garden.’

‘The rain under moonlight is like snow,’ Hal said, ruefully.

He reached up to pull the curtain wider, his fingers warm over hers.

‘It looks delightful now, but it makes the journey tomorrow a great deal more unpleasant. I told Jessup to make certain he was well wrapped up and to take shelter whenever he began to feel chilled. He likes to pretend that he’s a youngster still, but he’s far from it. Not that I can get him to admit it.’

‘An old family retainer?’ Thea said, aware that she was fishing. Subtly, she hoped. Of course, she could just ask, or consult the Peerage and the Landed Gentry , both on the shelves in the study. But she found herself reluctant to do so.

What if Hal was in neither? Or the Landed Gentry revealed that he was the son of some country squire who had just happened to deserve Lady Holme’s patronage as godmother to his son?

Then there was no chance that she would encounter him again in London, no likelihood that he would consider calling—not when he had proved so reluctant to intrude on Lord Brownlow, or to encounter the Chesfords.

‘Yes, he worked for my father,’ Hal said. ‘There’s the dinner gong.’

He offered his arm and Thea took it, remembering his voice when he said he had met Penelope Chesford. There had been something there that had made her wonder under just what circumstances, then events had driven the query from her mind.

Penny always cut a swathe through any gathering of men with her blond hair, big blue eyes, petite, curvaceous figure and her apparently irresistible flirtatious technique. She always made Thea feel like a skinny beanpole.

‘We have elegance,’ she’d said consolingly to one of her friends who had just seen her beau stolen from her.

‘So we do,’ Maria had replied bitterly, ‘but now she’s got my James and she’ll drop him tomorrow. Not that I’d want him back if he is such an idiot as to fall for her.’