“Am I suffering from amnesia?” he asked her. “Did I marry you and forget all about it? I seem to recall thatIamLordBarclay. The Viscount of, to be exact.”
“If you had married me,” she said, “which, heaven be praised, you have not, then I would have introduced myself as the Countess of Hardford, would I not? Youarethe earl, I presume?”
He turned to face her more fully. She had a low, velvety voice—which overlay venom. And her teeth didnotprotrude. It was just that her upper lip had a very slight upward curl. It was a potentially interesting feature. It might even be a beguiling feature ifshewere beguiling. She was not, however.
He was not accustomed to feeling animosity toward any woman, especially a young one. It seemed he was making an exception in this woman’s case.
Understanding dawned.
“You are the widow of my predecessor’s son,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows.
“I did not know he had one,” he explained. “A wife, I mean. A widow now. And you live here?”
“Temporarily,” she said. “Usually I live in the dower house over there.” She pointed in what he thought was roughly a westerly direction. “But the roof is being replaced.”
His brows snapped together. “I was not informed of the expense,” he told her.
Her own brows stayed up. “It is not your expense,” she informed him. “I am not a pauper.”
“Youare spending money on a property that presumably belongs tome?” he asked her.
“I am the daughter-in-law of the late earl,” she said, “the widow of his son. I consider the dower house mine for all practical purposes.”
“And what will happen when you remarry?” he asked her. “Will I then be asked to reimburse you for the cost of the roof?”
And why thedevilwas he getting into this when he had scarcely set foot over the doorstep? And why was he being so abominably ungracious? Because he found marble women offensive? No, not plural. He had never met one before now. Her eyes, potentially lovely, were absolutely without warmth.
“It will not happen,” she told him. “I will not remarry and I will not ask for a return of my money.”
“Will no one have you?” Now he had gone plummeting over the edge of civility. He ought to apologize abjectly and right now. He scowled at her instead. “How old are you?”
“I am not convinced,” she said, “that my age is any of your concern. Neither is the list of my prospective suitors or lack thereof. Mr. Crutchley, I daresay the Earl of Hardford would like to be shown to his apartments to wash the dust of travel off his person and change his clothes. Have the tea tray brought up to the drawing room in half an hour, if you please. Lady Lavinia will be eager to meet her cousin.”
“Lady Lavinia?” He drilled her with a look.
“Lady Lavinia Hayes,” she explained, “is the late earl’s sister. She lives here. So, at present, does Mrs. Ferby, her companion and maternal cousin.”
His eyes drilled deeper into her. But there was not the smallest possibility that she was teasing him. “Not at the dower house when it sports a roof?”
“No, here,” she said. “Mr. Crutchley, if you please?”
“Follow me, my lord,” the butler said just as Percy heard the rumble of wheels approaching outside. His curricle, he guessed. For a brief moment he considered bolting through the door and down the steps and vaulting aboard with the command on his lips that his groom spring the horses, preferably in the direction of London. But it would be a shame to leave his favorite horse behind.
He turned instead to follow the butler’s retreating back. Watkins and the baggage would be awhile, yet. Lady Barclay and Lady Lavinia Hayes and Mrs. Ferby would have to take him in all his dusty glory for tea.
Three women. Marvelous! A sure cure for boredom and all else that ailed him.
This would teach him to make impulsive decisions while he was three sheets to the wind.
3
“Ifelt the sheets with my own hands,” Aunt Lavinia said. “I am quite sure they were well aired. I do hope he will not get the ague from sleeping between them.”
“Of course he will not,” Imogen assured her. All the linens at Hardford were well aired, since they were stored in the airing cupboard when not in use.
“Unless he is an elderly man and already has it,” Aunt Lavinia added. “Or the rheumatics.Ishe elderly, Imogen?”
