“Why didn’t you bring Louis with you?” she asked as she took her seat again. “I’m sure Papa wouldn’t mind.”
Evangeline, still gazing at the door, started at Joan’s question. “Why, my dear, it would be the height of rudeness to bring a dog when one is a guest! Louis is well settled with Sir Richard at his house in Chelsea; he can run in the garden and not be chased by geese, who frighten him to no end. Sir Richard nearly had to carry Louis in his coat pocket when they met a pack of geese on the way to market this morning.” She smiled and reached for the teapot. “Can you just picture it? Louis’s head peeping from Sir Richard’s greatcoat pocket, yapping frantically at a marauding goose?”
Joan buttered her toast with great care. She had told enough evasive truths in her life to recognize one when she heard it. Evangeline had given up her dog and her companion to come play at chaperone, and there was no mystery why. It was surely no accident that both had come very early, before Joan was expected to rise, before the neighbors would remark a man or dogs visiting. Joan couldn’t see her father protesting the dogs, but now that she thought about it, her mother disliked animals in the house. And she could only imagine what Mother would say about the gentleman.
She waited until the maid had left the room with the tray of dishes. “Are you going to marry Sir Richard?”
Evangeline’s eyes flew to meet hers, wary and unreadable.
Joan bit her lip and forged on. “I know it’s rude to ask, but ... well, I could see you care for him, very much, and he must care for you to bring your dog to visit so early in the morning. My mother keeps assuring me that I’ll find a man who cares for me and then marry him, so I only wondered why, when you’ve found a man who cares for you, you haven’t married him.”
Evangeline slowly set down the teapot. She added sugar to her tea and stirred it, then added more sugar, all without looking at Joan. “It’s not as simple as that. Sir Richard ... I ...” She took a deep breath and seemed to give herself a tiny shake. “The truth is I don’t want to marry again. I’ve buried two husbands already.” She smiled ruefully. “It’s bad luck to marry me! Everyone who’s done so has died within ten years of the wedding. The poor man is better off as he is.”
“Did you care for your husbands?” Joan asked softly.
Her aunt took a long sip of tea. “No. The truth is, Joan, you are very fortunate your parents want you to find someone you care for, who cares for you in turn. Not everyone views marriage so tenderly.”
“It sounds so simple when you say it that way—find someone you care for who returns your regard—but it really isn’t,” she said with a sigh. “My mother wants me to find a man who cares for me ... who also has the right breeding and manners, good connections, and with some fortune of his own. While I—“
“Yes?” prodded Evangeline gently when she stopped speaking. “What do you want?”
Joan shrugged. “What every girl wants, I suppose. A man who is kind and considerate, handsome and graceful, tall and strong. There seems to be a terrible shortage of such men in London at the moment, sadly.”
“And Lord Burke is none of those things ... ?”
She nibbled at her toast, trying to pretend she had never thought of him. “Lord Burke? Well, he’s tall, I’ll grant him that.”
“And very handsome,” added her aunt. “He moves like a pugilist; so light on his feet. I daresay he’s an accomplished dancer. And a man who boxes is often quite strong.”
Joan threw down her toast. “He’s not considerate, and he’s been downright rude to me. He told me I looked like a half-opened umbrella.”
Evangeline’s eyebrows went up. “Indeed! When he was here for tea?”
“No,” she said, aware that her face was flushing. “At a ball a fortnight ago. He asked if I had something against flattering fashion.”
“I expect his opinion changed,” murmured her aunt. “He seemed very struck by your appearance in that lovely green frock, my dear.”
Yes, he had. The memory brought a small smile to Joan’s face in spite of herself. “Perhaps a little,” she allowed. “But I heard something of him the other day ... Were you ever acquainted with his aunt, Lady Burke?”
“Oh, Lord. Her.” Evangeline took a deep breath. “Very slightly. What did she tell you about him?”
“I’ve never met her,” Joan hastened to say. “But I heard he’s been rather callous to her, and I wondered if it could be true. A man who is cruel to his aunt and cousins cannot be considered kind, can he?”
“Callous!” Evangeline gave a cynical snort. “Mary Burke is a prickly woman, and always has been. She was a beauty in her day, but her manner turned off the most eligible men. She married Edward Burke, who was a handsome fellow even if the dullest man in Christendom, which was a step up for her family. You may recall what I said about the current Lord Burke’s father?” Joan nodded. “He was as charming and gregarious as his older brother was reserved and staid, and Mary disapproved mightily of him. She made no secret of the fact that she thought he would come to no very good end ...” Evangeline’s eyes grew shadowed. “And I suppose she was right. But the worst thing Colin Burke did, in Mary’s eyes, was wed an heiress. Most of young Burke’s fortune comes from his maternal grandfather, not from his father.”
“Which means he was wealthier than his uncle even when he was a small boy,” said Joan slowly. “And his aunt ...”
“Lord Burke is very like his father, so she was bound to dislike him anyway. But yes, I’m sure the money stung her pride as well.”
“So you would discount her words about him?”
Evangeline made a face. “If anything, I’d credit the exact opposite of her words about him, or anyone else.”
That cast a completely different light on things. Not only had Lord Burke lost his parents when he was practically an infant, it appeared he’d been right when he said his aunt and cousins hated him. Joan fiddled with her spoon. Surely if they had treated him so coldly, a little callousness on his part could be forgiven. If Miss Burke’s manner in the millinery shop was any indicator of the way they treated him, he was probably justified in hating them. Still—to turn them out of their house?
“Is Lady Burke in dire straits?” Miss Burke’s costume had been exquisite, but it could have been bought on credit. If they had been left without a place to live, that would seem very hard.
“I doubt it,” said Evangeline in surprise. “The Burkes have always had money, and I never saw a less likely spendthrift than the late Lord Burke.”
