“Sitting in the sun gave me a headache.”
“Would you like some feverfew?”
Lucy sank into an armchair. “No thank you, Aunt. It has gone now.”
Her aunt’s gaze lifted from her needlework. “Did Mr. Rattray do, or say, anything to upset you?”
“No. He is ever the gentleman.”
Aunt Mary’s tight shoulders appeared to ease. “He is to join us at the Williams’ affair.”
“He seems to enjoy your company, Aunt Mary,” Lucy said carefully.
Her aunt nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. I thought so.” Her gaze flickered back to Lucy’s face. “But I am not as young as I was when I met your Uncle Peter.”
As Lucy had nothing to say to this, she greeted Jane with relief when she walked into the room, and the conversation soon turned to books and the latest gossip.
Jane accompanied Lucy up to her bedchamber with an offer to advise her on what she might wear to the Williams’ card party.
Lucy thought it strange, because Jane, while she enjoyed the freedom to choose what suited her, wasn’t nearly as interested in ladies’ fashion as Anabel.
When the door had shut behind them, Jane plopped down on the bed. “This bedchamber reminds me of all the painful problems I had growing up within these walls,” she said. “Marriage is so much nicer.”
“If you are happily married,” Lucy said, taking her white muslin with the lilac ribbons and another with primrose embroidery from the wardrobe and holding them up for Jane’s inspection.
“Wear the muslin with the primrose embroidery,” Jane said. “Mm. I doubt Anabel is happy. She says her husband is angry because she hasn’t given him an heir. And there’s gossip that he has taken a mistress.”
“Oh, I hope not. How awful.”
“It is common practice among gentlemen who enter arranged marriages,” Jane said.
“I will only marry for love,” Lucy said with fierce determination.
Jane tilted her head and smiled. “Love doesn’t always go so smoothly. How many can claim they found the one they love more than anyone else?”
“And I suppose finding that special love doesn’t guarantee a happy future together,” Lucy added glumly.
Jane turned to look at her. “Quite so,” she said after a pause.
It made Lucy wonder if Jane loved her husband, because her marriage had been arranged as well. Could one have a happy marriage without love? She didn’t think she could.
*
The guests playedcards at the tables set up in the Williams’ drawing room. The weather was unseasonably warm and in the confined space, the heat rivaled any ballroom Hugh had been in. Ladies put down their cards to fan their hot faces, while footmen moved among the tables serving cool drinks and wine.
Sarah played whist, while Hugh sat in on a game of faro. He was placing a card down when Mrs. Grayswood entered with Miss Kershaw and two other young ladies. The brunette was exceptionally tall.
Miss Kershaw saw him and nodded. Her aunt murmured something to her, which made her frown and shake her head.
Prompted to make a play, Hugh examined his hand. When he looked up again, Miss Kershaw had disappeared, while the three women had settled at the various tables.
As soon as the game had ended, Hugh rose and went in search of her. He found her trailing along the shelves in the musty, book-filled library.
“What are you doing here by yourself?” he asked as he entered the room. A thought struck him. Had he intruded on her awaiting someone for a clandestine meeting? The possibility of a rival and his dismay made him draw breath.
She turned to him, aghast. “Oh, Lord Dorchester. Why have you come here?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “Is the library barred to gentlemen?”
