He laughed, settling her on a chair, and fetching wine and a selection of edibles. By the third cake, she was definitely looking happier.
“I am so sorry about your cravat,” she said, waving a hand at it. “Your valet will be very upset.”
“It is not of the least consequence,” he said, smiling. “A small price to pay, if it brings you some comfort.”
“You are very good, Osborn, and just the person I needed to cheer me up, although I am not at all sure how you came to be here. How did you find this place? I had to ask four footmen — four! — before one of them would tell me the way. Were you following me… or Lord Embleton?”
“I was looking for you. I gained the impression that you were in here with Lord Grayling, so I came here to rescue you from his importuning. Miss Grayling showed me where this room was hidden. I was sitting in the corner behind the fire when you came in.”
“And I thought he was in here with Effie… Lady Euphemia, that is, but we were both wrong.”
“No, you were right. Hewasin here with Lady Euphemia, but they left just as I arrived.”
She laughed. “So I was right about them all along! That is one in the eye for Lord Disbelieving Embleton.”
“Why was he so cross with you? It almost sounded as if… well, that he distrusted your motives for some reason.”
“Oh…” She looked sheepish. “I made a mistake. When he came to dinner at Corland, I… I tried to get him alone, I confess, but not to trap him into marriage! Never that! Such a despicable thing to do, and who would want a reluctant husband anyway? Not I! No, I thought if I could kiss him, then he might fall in love with me and that would make everything easy, but he did not give me the opportunity. He refused to enter the library with me, and got very huffy about it, so I have never repeated the exercise. But today, when I truly thought Effie was in some danger from Lord Grayling, Lord Embleton would not believe me! And I was right! Oh, he is the most provoking man!”
Robert chuckled. “I have never seen him angry before. He did not stutter once, did you notice?”
“Oh, yes! It was the same at Corland. He was cross with me there, too, and the stammering quite went away. How strange that is! But what do I care, for he is nothing to me now. I wish I had never, ever thought of him.”
“Yet you seemed to be getting on so well in the dining room. He looked engrossed in what you were saying.”
“So he was, and yet I cannot tell you what we were talking about. Oh, I remember — Yorkshire, and how beautiful it is. And I was telling him about Corland, the old castle that was knocked down, or fell down, more likely, for it was very dilapidated, and the new, modern one. And I talked a little bit about Howland Manor, for I have looked it up in all the guide books, and it sounds very much like the old Corland Castle… or like this place, all odd rooms and twisty stairs and draughty windows.”
“And smoking chimneys,” Robert said, as a gust of wind filled the room with choking smoke. “Shall we find somewhere more salubrious to sit? We can take the cakes with us, if you wish.”
She giggled. “No, I think I shall last until dinner, now. By all means let us leave, for here we are, quite alone in a room which is hidden away, and that is exactly the situation from which I was trying to rescue Effie. But of course, I am in no danger fromyou, am I? You may be a flirt, but you are not an untrustworthy rake like Lord Grayling.”
“I thank you for the compliment,” he said lightly. “You are indeed quite safe with me.”
But oh, if she only knew the effort it took to maintain the proprieties, when every bone in his body wanted to sweep her into his arms and kiss her thoroughly. He ached to hold her again, to whisper sweet words of love into her ear, to never let her go.
Instead, he smiled, held open the door, lifted the tapestry to allow her to pass and then offered her his arm, every inch the chivalrous gentleman.
16: Hot Milk At Bedtime
Olivia passed the rest of the day without straying far from Osborn’s side. If he drifted away from her, she found that she rapidly sank into a melancholy over her falling out with Lord Embleton, but his cheerful company always raised her spirits again. He seemed to have an inexhaustible reservoir of light banter that never failed to amuse her, and she could not be sad when he made her laugh so much.
They caught the end of the musical performances, although the instruments were in such poor condition that she was glad she had missed most of the hour. Lady Esther and Mr Franklyn found her there.
“So, you have been with Lord Kiltarlity, have you?” Lady Esther said, smiling on them both. “We soon came across Lady Euphemia, so that was all right, but you were gone so long we began to wonder if we had lost you, instead. This is such an odd, rambling sort of house, there is no knowing where an unwary wanderer might end up. But I had no need to worry after all, for you are quite safe with Lord Kiltarlity.”
It being still too wet to venture into the gardens, the card tables were brought out, and Olivia settled down to whist with the Franklyns and Osborn for an hour before the carriages began to be brought round and the visit was over. She saw nothing of Lord Embleton, and he did not dine at Briar House that evening, so perhaps she had made him so cross that he could not bear to be in the same room as her.
But Osborn was there, with his jokes and his smile and a warmth in his eyes that stirred her heart just a little. Of course he was a wicked flirt, and he only saw her as another Izzy, but it did her so much good to be admired by him. Without him she would have hidden in her room and wept all night, but in his company she could hold her head high and pretend that she had not quarrelled violently with the marquess.
Effie was unusually subdued that evening.
“Are you tired?” she said, when she and Olivia made their way upstairs at the end of the evening. “I confess, I am exhausted after the excitements of the day, but my mind is too active to sleep. I shall send for some hot milk, I think. Should you care for some? It is most efficacious after a busy day, I find.”
Olivia agreed to it, for hot milk always reminded her of her childhood, sitting in bed in the night nursery with Tess, sipping milk and nibbling a biscuit while Mama or Josie or the governess read a story to them. Such a comfort, hot milk! So when it arrived and Effie had stirred some sugar into it, she drank it swiftly, and was soon fast asleep.
***
Robert had hoped to see Embleton again that day so that he might explain that all Olivia’s fears had been well-founded, and Lady Euphemia had indeed been hidden away in the secret room with Grayling, and who knew what might have happenedwhile they were alone? Embleton’s anger had not been justified, not in the slightest, and Robert could not bear Olivia to be upset by such unwarranted criticism. How maddening the man was! So seemingly sober and gentlemanlike, yet so swift to think the very worst of such a sweet innocent.
