Well, thank God for that since he had no intention of telling. “Pray, let me get up and dressed. I have an appointment.”
“Yes. To luncheon with the Smitherbees. There must be some eligible lady—”
“No, Mother. I never said I’d go as I am promised to walk with an entirely different lady.”
If his head weren’t throbbing, he wouldn’t have made such a grievous error. Never would he have spoken of any lady at all, but he had, and now his mother pounced on the word as if it were a prize horse for her to examine before a race.
“What lady is this? Where is she from? Do I know her? How could you not tell me of this earlier? I insist on meeting her.”
“She is not a marriage prospect,” he said with some exasperation. “She is assisting me with a…a political matter.”
“Everywoman is a marriage prospect,” she said with equal exasperation.
Now that was patently untrue. Except looking at his mother’s face, he realized that she was indeed becoming desperate, though about what he couldn’t fathom. Their finances were in decent shape, her health was good as was everyone else’s in the household, and they were heading toward spring, the most robust time of the social season. She ought to be in a fine state, but something had turned her into a nervous woman who burst into his bedchamber unannounced.
“Mother, what is going on?”
She exhaled in a dramatic rush, then raised a handkerchief to her eye to wipe away a pretend tear. “You never listen!”
He had to give her that one. He’d ceased listening to her years ago. “Enlighten me, Mother. I am paying attention.”
“You need to marry, so there is someone to help Gwendolyn!”
Off all the people in this house, Gwen was the most self-sufficient. Give her a book on some rare plant, and she was happy for days, if not weeks. “Lilah is here to give help and whatever companionship Gwen needs.”
“A companion cannot make her attend parties! Or meet a husband! I have given up asking you to help.”
Oh, good.It had only taken four years for that message to get through.
“—Diana cannot leave her husband’s side.”
More’s the pity, and may the old bastard die soon. Diana will very much enjoy being a widow.
“—And so, it must be your wife, as Gwen will not listen to me.Nobodylistens to me!”
He couldn’t argue with her there, either. Only that she had created this very problem with her endless sense of dramatics.
Elliott rubbed a hand over his face, trying to focus his thoughts even as he scratched at his growing beard. “This has been true for years now,” he finally said as gently as he could. “Why the hysterics now?”
She glared at him with true hatred in her eyes. It was clear that his question was a grievous mistake, but he couldn’t fathom why. In the end, he had to mollify her with an apology he didn’t feel. “I am terribly sorry. I am feeling particularly obtuse this morning—er, today. Please explain this to me again?”
She rolled her eyes but obliged. “It is Gwen’s birthday next month.”
Yes, he knew. “I have specially arranged a visit to the royal botanical gardens for her as a present. She will—”
“Did you make sure there would be eligible bachelors there?”
Elliott frowned. “She despises eligible bachelors. Why would I give her a present she would despise?”
“Because she is turning nine and twenty! You cannot want to have an ape leader as a sister. Think of the humiliation.”
As much as he knew that his mother was thinking of her own humiliation, Elliott had to acknowledge that she had yet another point. The title of spinster (he would not think the other insulting phrase) would not help his sister come out of her shell. Though she might appear to be content with her current, insular ways, he did believe she was lonely. And he did not like to think of her as unhappy, so he conceded his mother’s point.
“I shall find someone suitable to join us at the royal gardens.”
His mother rolled her eyes. “That’s all well and good for you. I’m sure whomever you pick will have excellent financial prospects, a level head, and probably an interest in science.”
“Exactly,” he said.
