Peter shook his quill, surprised at the interruption, splattering ink across the page.
“Yes, Burnsey?”
“Mr.and Mrs.Clarke have come to welcome you back to Surrey Hills.”
“Shouldn’t they have left a calling card or something to announce themselves in some way?”
“Perhaps they disregarded such things due to their familiarity with the family in your youth.”
Peter sighed.The Clarkes were a very well-meaning family, and friends of his mother’s, but they certainly had a tendency of being nosy.What could he expect from this visit?
“Very well.Will Mrs.Ashmore be welcoming them with me?”
“Mrs.Ashmore is taking hersiesta, which you have instructed me to never interrupt.I am afraid you will be facing off this...battle, shall we say...on your own.”
“You are correct.Never disturb the lady’ssiesta.”Peter sighed again.It appeared his fate was sealed.“And Burnsey?That is quite enough talk of war.”
“Very well,” Burnsey replied with a chuckle.
Peter straightened his shoulders, snapped his heels together, and practically marched into the drawing room where his neighbors were awaiting him.
“Ah, Peter!That is, Mr.Peter Ashmore!What a pleasure to see you again!”
“And you, Mr.Clarke, Mrs.Clarke.”He bowed before Mrs.Clarke wiggled her way into his arms in an insistent, too-familiar embrace.“Please, do sit.How do you like your tea?”
Peter waved to Mrs.Thompson, who was waiting at the door, for a tea tray to be brought in.After pouring two cups, spooning in a shocking amount of requested sugar into the tea, and relinquishing the teacups to his neighbors, Peter settled back into his seat.
“Now, to what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Of course, we were anxious to see you when we heard tell that you had returned to Abbeygate,” Mr.Clarke said, holding his hand out to his wife.Whether he was attempting to stay her tongue or reach for her hand, Peter wasn’t sure.If it was the first option, it did little to silence Mrs.Clarke.
“I simply cannot wait to meet your wife,” she said exuberantly.“A number of neighbors in town have mentioned that she is foreign, correct?Is she French?”
Curiosity was apparent in the lightness of her tone, but a certain criticism and fear caused creases in her brow and around her mouth.Anger began to boil in Peter’s stomach at the assumptions she was surely making solely because of his wife’s birthplace.He opened and closed his mouth, shock making him entirely incapable of finding the words to respond to her question.Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Mrs.Clarke continued.
“I also am most curious about your time in the army.You were abroad in Spain, were you not?There have been whisperings about a number of misdeeds that have occurred recently in Spain.A city called San Sebastián.Can you tell us what occurred there?”
The words crashed through the illusion of peaceful conversation that Peter had created.
“She is correct,” Mr.Clarke grumbled.“There is quite a bit of talk about this San Sebastián in the game rooms in London.I heard tell there was quite an uprising in the army, even some soldiers fighting against their superiors and the sort.And something about the city burning.”
“Although it could have been made up entirely by those French,” Mrs.Clarke interjected.“You can never be sure what is gossip and what is truth.”
Blood roared in Peter’s ears, almost too loud for him to hear the Clarkes’ continued prying, and he had to clutch the arms of his chair to keep from bursting from his seat.
“Mr.and Mrs.Clarke, I would be delighted to visit further with you at another date, but I have some very pressing responsibilities that I really must be taking care of.”
“Has the army called for you?”
Peter stood, motioning for them to do the same, regardless of how Mother would scold him for the rudeness of such actions.
“I truly apologize.I will write to you and invite you another day.For tea, shall we say?And we will see you at the services on Sunday, I am positive.”
“But we were not able to meet your new wife!I so looked forward to meeting her!”Mrs.Clarke pouted, her bottom lip puffed out dramatically.
“I promise you will have the pleasure another day.But for now, I must wish you good day.”
Peter practically shoved the couple out the door after assisting Burnsey in fetching their coats, then nearly collapsed against the door as it was shut behind him, silence finally enveloping him.His heart was pounding as if he had just been running across a battlefield.Once again, the need to provide Ana with safety and privacy overwhelmed him, just as physically and literally as the need to breathe.He had to protect her.And for now, the way to protect them both was to protect their secrets.
