“Then perhaps you can find a way for me to see whatever records Parliament also has about that title and estate. I was thinking there may be other information, regarding his family and heir, for example.”
“I can find out if such records exist at the College of Arms. Now, regarding the matter I want to talk about.” He returned to his overture with deliberation. “It has come to my attention that there are suitors attending on you. You almost caused a scene at the theater, where they lined up, and now some are becoming bolder in their attempts to enthrall you.”
“Only two have called, if that is what you mean by bolder. I assumed Mrs. Moffet would inform you about them, but I can’t imagine how you learned about the theater.” Neither caller had been what Davina would describe asenthralling.
“You accepted the introductions at the theater. You received the two who called.”
“Like any woman, I am not opposed to flattery and diversion. Do not be concerned. The calls were after three o’clock and did not interfere with my duties to Nora, nor would I let them.”
“You should not encourage these men. Receive them once and they will return. Keep receiving them and they will form hopes and expectations that will never be realized.” He spoke with surprising force.
“I will take your advice to heart and give it every consideration.”
“Consideration? I am sure you do not entertain the slightest idea of marrying one of them.”
“My dear Mr. Hume, if the notion is as appalling as you seem to believe, I will conclude as much, no doubt.When I consider it.”
Being red-haired, he had snowy white skin. It now flushed a deep pink. “Do you find it amusing to vex me? The notion is beyond consideration. It is impossible. Would you wrest your family lands back from Brentworth only to hand them over to some other Englishman? Would you have yet more tenants answer to a factor who reports to London? Isn’t enough Scottish territory all but annexed to England through the English lords who own it and have absorbed it into their own holdings? With such an inheritance comes a duty, and you must acknowledge yours.”
Davina glanced from side to side to see if anyone was noticing this lecture. Mr. Hume had become the image of a man incensed, and she had become a child being scolded.
“Becalm yourself, sir, or the whole world will know our business,” she hissed. “It is not for you to instruct me, least of all about marriage.”
He caught himself up, looked around, then walked on for five minutes without a word.
“I do not seek to instruct you,” he finally said. “I merely seek to remind you of your duty lest your head be turned by theflatteries, as you put it.”
“My first duty is to my family, past and future. As for marriage, if it gives you any comfort, none of the men who have flattered me are promising in that area. I am not so ignorant as to think their interest is inme.”
He looked relieved. He even smiled.
They walked in silence most of the rest of the way, but Davina felt him there. An energy came from him, one that begged to be released. She feared he would declare himself, or launch another argument, this time about why her duty was to marryhim.
“I will part from you here,” she said when they neared Bedford Square. “I have things I must do at the journal.”
“I will accompany you, and wait in the park so you do not have to make your way back on your own.”
“That would not be wise. This could take me some time. I will be back at the house before dusk, so you need not worry.”
He fished in his waistcoat pocket. “Let me give you—”
“That is not necessary. As you said, nature gave us strong legs for a reason.”
Chapter Ten
“This is all very sly,” Langford said. “I promise you will be impressed. You couldn’t have planned it better yourself.”
High praise indeed. Eric idled in a chair in the library while Langford all but rubbed his hands together. There was nothing Langford loved more than a plot afoot.
This plot was a very small one. In order to speak with Miss MacCallum alone, he had to see her outside Hume’s house. Either he needed to follow her when she left the house and accidentally come upon her on the street, or he needed to arrange to accidentally come upon her somewhere else. Like Langford’s home.
“Your wife is aware, I assume.” Once married, a man’s discretion went to hell, at least when it came to his spouse, and this friend had never been discreet to begin with. Eric pictured Langford and his duchess chatting about everyone’s business over dinner, in bed, in the carriage—all the time, in other words.
“She is. Don’t worry. She can play her role. She and the ladies believe that if you come to know Miss MacCallum better, you will be sympathetic, so she thinks this is a splendid idea.”
Eric wondered who the ladies were. The two duchesses, of course. Others who were involved with that journal perhaps. Stratton said there was a club of some sort at Clara’s house on Bedford Square, though. There might be dozens of ladies offering opinions.
It was exactly the kind of public airing of his affairs that he had avoided over many years. Now, thanks to the king, he could not avoid it.
