‘But I would never assume a man was right for me without even meeting him,’ Hope said, staring down into her plate and trying to contemplate the magnitude of the mistake she had made. ‘He might be miserly and foul tempered,’ she added. ‘He might not care about our family at all.’ He might not be the sort of man she could love as she’d thought she loved the silent Gregory Drake.
‘On the contrary, he is the kindest gentleman in the world.’ Her grandmother was near to simpering over the newly arrived Comstock, who was, apparently, exactly the man Hope had expected him to be. ‘Miles greeted me as long-lost family and expressed his intent to see that there is a settlement in place for the repair of the dower house and my expenses. I took the liberty...’ She spun to display her new gown.
‘You went shopping with his money,’ Hope said with a sigh.
‘He encouraged me to do it. He is writing a letter this very afternoon to thank Mr Leggett for his help in settling the family. And he enquired after you and your little sister. He did not say as much, but I am sure he means to see the both of you are well settled.’
‘He does?’ Her plan might not have been wise, but it had not been hopeless at all. Instead, she had abandoned it and thrown herself away on a man who did not want her until she had all but forced herself upon him.
‘I think he was asking about you girls with a particular reason in mind.’ Her grandmother giggled again. ‘It is too late for you, Hope. But perhaps Charity...’
‘Do not involve me in your schemes,’ Charity said, without looking up from her book. ‘I have no intention of marrying a man I have not met. And any man I do want to marry will have to fit certain criteria before I consider him a suitable husband.’
‘He is young, rich and an earl,’ the Dowager said. ‘How much more can you expect from him?’
‘Stop!’ Hope rose so quickly that her chair tipped backward, hitting the carpet with a thud that echoed her word. Her napkin, still clutched in her hand, waved like a flag of surrender as she pointed to the shocked faces around the table. ‘Stop it this instant, both of you.’ She turned to Charity. ‘Not another word of this nonsense about standards so high that a peer will not suffice. If he offers, you will marry him and that will be that.’ Then she turned to her grandmother. ‘And not as much as a breath about it beingtoo latefor me.’
‘But I assumed that you and Mr Drake...’
‘You assumed incorrectly,’ she said, glaring across the table at the man who had let her ruin herself. ‘Mr Drake is nothing to me. And I am nothing to him. Once he has finished his job for our family, I never want to see him again.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘If he were in any way decent, he would be gone already.’ Then she threw her napkin to the ground and ran from the room.
* * *
Was he a fool or a coward? Gregory could not decide how to explain what had just happened to him. He’d sat in silence and let Hope do all the talking, amazed that she was so quick to deny him. After swearing there would be no one but him, it had taken one censorious glare from her grandmother to turn her mind and her future back to a marriage with her cousin.
Now that she was gone, the room fell silent. Charity returned to her book as if nothing had happened. The Dowager stepped forward and took an empty seat at the head of the table. At a glance in the direction of Jenks, the footman, a cup and plate appeared in front of her. Tea was poured and food offered.
She sipped, then looked over the rim of her cup at Gregory. ‘Young man, I must know one thing before I decide what to do with you. You will answer in honesty. I will know if you do not.’ She stared at him.
He nodded.
‘Did you break her heart intentionally, or was it accidental?’
Charity looked up from her book. ‘Grandmama, he—’
‘I did not ask your opinion, girl.’
He gave her a brief nod of thanks, then turned to the Dowager. ‘If I hurt her, it was without intent. Since we met...’ How could he explain what had happened when he did not understand it himself? ‘I have not been myself.’
‘And who are you, when you are at home?’ the old woman asked with the glare of a countess addressing someone of insignificance.
‘Before I met your granddaughter, I thought myself a man of honour, good sense and moderation,’ he admitted.
‘And since?’
‘I have been both better and worse than I ever thought I could be,’ he said. ‘I thought she had committed her heart to me. I had intended to speak to you about her future, as soon as we returned to London. But I had not thought it would be over breakfast.’
The Dowager relaxed and took another sip of tea. ‘Your explanation is sufficient. I will tell neither Mr Leggett nor Comstock what has happened, unless Hope requests it of me. You have one week to either settle the situation with my granddaughter, or settle the matter of the entail. If either is incomplete at the end of seven days, I expect you to disappear from our lives, just as quickly as you arrived. Is that understood?’
‘Yes, your ladyship.’ As he stood and left the table, he could already feel the clock ticking.
Chapter Fifteen
Hope sat on the edge of her bed, waiting for the clock to strike one so she could return to London. At all costs, she avoided her own reflection, afraid to see the change that everyone else had noticed in her own face. She had considered and rejected the idea of staying behind in the country to lick her wounds and sending Mr Drake back with Charity. Though it might be more pleasant to avoid confrontation, it did not change the fact that this house no longer belonged to her.
And there was still the matter of the missing diamonds. Mr Drake’s promise of help was likely as fleeting as everything else about last night. That left her with explaining their loss to the new Earl of Comstock. She could not imagine he would have been as personable as Grandmama thought him had he known the truth.
There was a knock on the door.
