‘I’m not needed here anymore. Your sister now takes precedence over me, and she will see to the running of the household.’
‘But she’s only seventeen. She doesn’t know anything about running a household of this size.’
A small smile played at the corner of Isabel’s lips. ‘She is a fast learner, and it’s not as if I will be far away if she needs advice.’
He cleared his throat. ‘Is there anything I can do to assist you with the move?’ he asked.
She shook her head. ‘No, thank you. It’s all organised.’
‘You will need transport. Please take the small coach and the bays.’
‘Sebastian, that is too generous...’ she began, but he waved away her protests.
‘Call it an indefinite loan,’ he said.
‘I will send for my saddle horse and Millie and the foal once I am settled,’ she said.
He nodded. ‘Whatever you wish, Isabel. You just have to ask.’
‘Thank you.’ She turned to go. As she opened the door, she stopped and turned back to look at him. ‘We have all received an invitation to attend a supper at Lady Kendall’s tonight. What shall I reply?’
Sebastian hesitated. If it were up to him, he would decline, but he thought about Connie and Matt and said with a heavy sigh, ‘I suppose we should accept.’
Isabel nodded. ‘I will send a response. The invitation includes Freddy and Fanny as well, but I will send my apologies. It would not be appropriate for me to attend while I am still officially in mourning.’
Sebastian gave her a sharp glance, but she schooled her face to complete impassivity.
It would never be appropriate for her to enter the home ofLady Georgiana Kendall. The period of deep mourning would end in a few months, and Isabel would be breaking it with the Brantstone ball. For now it served as a useful excuse to escape an awkward situation.
Sebastian said, ‘May I call on you when you are settled, Isabel?’
She turned to look at him and smiled. ‘You will always be welcome, Sebastian.’
As she closed the door behind her, she paused with her hand still on the latch. She had anticipated the move to the dower house for so long but now the moment had come, she felt an unexpected sense of loss. Brantstone had been her home for ten years. There were memories here. Mostly unhappy memories that she had sought to escape but, since Sebastian Alder had come to Brantstone, the ghosts had begun to fade.
You are being ridiculous, she told herself.
Straightening her shoulders, she strode towards the stairs.
There could be no looking back, no regrets. The time had come for her new life.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
‘Very fine, if I say so myself.’ Pierce stood back from the mirror and looked admiringly at his handiwork. ‘Don’t you agree, Mr. Bennet?’
‘He looks like a right toff,’ Mr. Bennet agreed.
This was Sebastian’s first foray into full evening wear, and he ran a finger around a stock so high and stiff that it almost grazed his ear lobe.
‘It’s very tight,’ he complained.
‘Meant to be, my lord. Meant to be! And, might I say, my lord, a very fine figure you cut. While his late lordship cut a dash, er… He didn’t have the attributes you possess, my lord.’
Sebastian cast a nervous glance at his reflection in the mirror, in particular the tight white satin breeches, and hoped that the man referred to his shoulders and not other attributes.
‘A more slender gentleman, his late lordship,’ Pierce continued, happily expanding on his theme, ‘suited to an altogether different style to yourself, my lord. Now if I may venture so bold, my lord, your stance...’
Standing in the properly affected manner, all the better to show off his attributes, Sebastian allowed himself the luxury of a last long look in the mirror. His own mother would havedifficulty recognising her scruffy and disorganised son in the elegant figure that he now presented.
