“Yes. I’m abysmal at sums. Financial matters make my head hurt.”
“Which is why you hired Hayworth.”
“Exactly. But by marrying you, I can save the expense.” He grinned as he spun her about. “I jest, my lady. Your dowry should allow me to keep Hayworth on, leaving you free to spend your time as you please. Just like I do.”
Lord help her, this was a nightmare!
As soon as the dance was over, Louise excused herself from Nigel’s company under the pretext of needing to visit the ladies’ retiring room. What she really required was a key to Windham’s liquor cabinet and a ticket to China.
Since neither would be easy to come by at present, she chose to seek out the only person with whom she believed she might make the progress required if she was to find a way out of this mess.
“I need to know where your brother lives,” she told Lady Windham ten minutes later. She’d managed to extricate her hostess from the group of people she’d been chatting with by saying something completely incoherent about women’s issues and needing to speak in private.
Now here they were, in some small parlor and with Louise feeling much like a burglar plotting some heinous crime.
“Have a seat, my lady. Before your nerves get the best of you and your legs give out.”
Louise did as Lady Windham suggested and sank onto the nearest settee.
Lady Windham selected a decanter and poured a measure of brandy into a glass which she handed Louise.
“Thank you.” Louise sipped the drink and sighed in response to the soothing path of warmth it forged as it slid down her throat.
“Now then.” Lady Windham lowered herself to an adjacent armchair. “Why don’t you tell me why you need to see my brother with such apparent urgency.”
“There’s something I need to explain.” Louise took another sip of her drink.
“I trust the matter has nothing to do with your eyes?”
“No. I…” Louise shook her head and finished off her drink. She set the glass aside and folded her hands in her lap. “It’s regarding what happened this evening. Mr. Berkly was here. He witnessed the proposal and I just… I must speak with him.”
“Because you worry he might misconstrue the situation?” When Louise nodded, Lady Windham’s expression grew pensive. “Because you care for him and fear he might think you have chosen Mr. Fairbanks instead?”
“I do not wish to marry Mr. Fairbanks. That is to say, I used to want that more than anything in the world, only then I met your brother and it is as if Mr. Fairbanks has lost his luster completely. If that makes any sense.”
“Good heavens.” Lady Windham leaned forward in her seat. A wry smile touched her lips. “Whatever happened between you and Marcus while you were sequestered in the country?”
“We were never alone,” Louise blurted. “My maid was there. And the Winterlys too.”
“Of course.”
Louise took a deep breath and met Lady Windham’s gaze head on. “Will you tell me where I might find your brother so I can explain what has happened?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Louise’s heart plummeted.
“You’re a young unmarried woman. Encouraging you to meet with a bachelor in his home would be irresponsible on my part. What I can do is arrange an encounter between the two of you here. I’d invite you for tea, let’s say, and allow you a moment of privacy with my brother.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.” A mixture of appreciation, relief, and nervousness assailed her. This would be her chance - her only one perhaps - to convince Mr. Berkly that they could have a future together.
Provided he wanted such a thing as much as she did. Because lord knew it wouldn’t be easy. They’d have to overcome a number of seemingly insurmountable odds. But Louise believed they could do so, as long as they were prepared.
And since Lady Windham was a duchess, Louise’s parents could not insist she turn down the invitation to tea she received three days later, no matter how much they disapproved of her being Hedgewick’s daughter and the former Scoundrel of St. Giles’s wife. For once, theton’ssnobbery was working in Louise’s favor, and so she and Hannah set off for Windham House on Wednesday afternoon without anyone raising a finger to stop her.
“Thank you for facilitating this meeting,” Louise told her hostess as soon as the butler showed her into the parlor. “I am in your debt.”
“Oh no. I won’t have you thinking that when the truth is I’m doing this out of sisterly love.” Lady Windham’s eyes twinkled. “My brother has not been himself since his return from Dorset. Everyone who sees him regularly has taken notice, including the Duke of Redding, who even managed to figure out what the issue was.”
