‘What’s the plan? What’s devil’s brew?’ Matilda scowled, interrupting Phoebe’s daydream. ‘And why won’t anyone tell me what gentlemen are born with?!’
ChapterSeven
Nine weeks and one Bath escape until the wedding
‘Harriet was the fiercest I’ve ever known her!’ Sophie confided mischievously. ‘She just hissed at Thomas, and flapped on about you looking pale and needing convalescence andgentle diversionuntil he looked as though he might just agree to anything!Honestly, Phoebs, she was about as protective as any mama goose could be, without actually popping you under her wing!’
They all started to laugh.
Phoebe gazed around the Fairfax family chaise, which was making light work of the miles to the City of Bath, on this bright spring day. Thankfully the twins, Edward and Henry, had already returned to school, which meant they didn’t have to put up with their amphibious entourage; and while Thomas had read them all the longest lecture about family reputation, and how they were all to be paragons of virtue while staying with their relatives, nothing could dampen Phoebe’s spirits.
Her shoulder, while not fully healed, was feeling a lot more comfortable, there had been only the sparsest of references to her impending nuptials, and she had nine whole weeks to call her own.
Things could most definitely be a lot worse.
‘I wonder if we can persuade Aunt Higglestone to take us to the Assembly Rooms?’ Sophie mused. ‘I remember Mama saying she and Aunt attended no end of Assembly Room gatherings during their season, and that it was the very best place to see – and be seen.’
Aunt Higglestone was a beloved relative who, much against family wishes, had made a scandalous love match with ambitious banker, Horace Higglestone. Yet what Uncle Higglestone lacked in social connections, he more than made up for in dividends, thanks to a long career at one of the most profitable banks in London. Happily, their aunt was not shy in sharing the fruits of his success and this generosity not only helped to redeem herself with the family, but also benefitted her elder sister’s large progeny enormously.
Coincidentally, her aunt’s story also confirmed Phoebe’s growing suspicion that the universe favoured younger siblings as a rule, and she made a silent vow never to elevate the expectations of any child above another, should she ever have the misfortune to find herself a mother.
‘We none of us are out yet, remember?’ Josephine sniffed, her nose buried in a smuggled library edition ofSense and Sensibility.
‘And I expect Aunt Higglestone will have had strict instructions from Thomas to march us directly to the Tap Rooms and back again, without so much as a nod at any ancient Roman ruins!’
Her tone was so indignant they all laughed, but Phoebe had the feeling that Josephine wasn’t far wrong. Thomas considered Aunt Higglestone a safe relative, not only because she was childless – meaning she was ready to lavish all her attention on her marvellous nieces and nephews – but also because she was bourgeois enough not to attract the attention of any of the rakish inset, who could distract or lead them astray.
‘Pooh! You can keep your Assembly Rooms and ancient Roman ruins, I just want to see if there are anyextremelynaked statues!’ Matilda pronounced, pushing her nose into the air.
‘Matilda Fairfax!’ Sophie remonstrated in a scandalised tone.
‘Well, if you won’t tell me what men are born with…’
‘Even if there are anyextremelynaked statues,’ Phoebe intervened, feeling the heat of Sophie’s glare, ‘who’s to say if they’re any reliable guide? Most Roman statues are depictions of gods, and there’s nothing godly about any living man I know!’
‘Goodness, Phoebs, you sound just like dear Harriet,’ Sophie laughed.
‘Well, I think we should prevail upon our aunt to take us on as many outings as possible,’ Josephine declared, oblivious to the conversation around her. ‘After all, there’s absolutely no point in going to Bath and not seeing the sights! I, for one, have been reading up on The Old Temple, and where the ancient Romans used to worship the goddessSulis Minerva, who believe it or not…’
‘I believe it! And there’s absolutely no point, whatsoever,’ Phoebe agreed swiftly, lest her beloved bookworm sister describe every historical sight she’d already bookmarked for their trip.
‘We’ll persuade Aunt to take us to all the importanthistorical sights while we’re there – anyextremely naked statuesa bonus!’
Matilda giggled as Josephine settled back to her book, leaving only Sophie’s purposeful stare.
‘You wish to see extremely naked statues as well?’ Phoebe quizzed.
‘I was just wondering the same of you?’ Sophie retorted, resting her head back.
‘Happily, I think Josephine has enough historical sights planned to entertain us all,’ she added, a mischievous sparkle creeping into her eyes, ‘I was thinking rather of a certainrakish member of the tonsights.’
Phoebe rolled her eyes to cover the surge of feelings she always felt whenever her sister brought up the viscount. She’d expressed her avid dislike several times since her return, and been vague enough about her stay at Ebcott Place to close the subject forever, but she could tell Sophie wasn’t convinced.
To be fair, neither of them had stayed away from Knightswood without the other before, and there was no denying the viscount had a certain wild attractiveness – when he wasn’t glowering. But there was something more, too, something that had garnered Sophie’s suspicion. It wasn’t the first time her sister had been suspicious, of course – she was born that way – but it was the first time Phoebe couldn’t convince her otherwise. Unlike Thomas, who hadn’t askedanyquestions about her time away, whatsoever.
Phoebe’s throat tightened as she stared out at the disappearing countryside, thinking of that brief moment in the viscount’s library. It had been such an intimate act for a man who barely knew her, one who most definitely didn’t respect her. And yet it had burned itself into her head, as though she’d never truly been alive before.
How had he made her feel such violent emotion, when she disliked him so intensely? It didn’t make any sense.
