“No, indeed, I have not.”
“Jamie and I do not, as a rule, leave home together but since the duke is in town, there is little need for a secretary at Staineybank. Of course, Jamie could have done all that needs to be done in Oxford without me, and had matters been well between you, I should not have dreamt of coming between a couple so recently married. But I sense that all is not well, and therefore—”
“It’s good of you to take an interest in our affairs,” Georgie said sharply, “but quite unnecessary.”
He tilted his head to one side. “Jamie is very fond of you, Georgie.”
“Is he?” she said, ire rising within her. “How do you know that? Has he told you so?”
He laughed. “Well, no. He is not a man to show his inner feelings, not in the general way, but he must have expressed his affection toyou.I never thought he would work up the courage to propose marriage to a woman, but you enticed him to that point, my dear.”
She jumped to her feet. “I know you mean well, sir, but you shouldn’t meddle in matters you know nothing about.”
“I know my own son, I think,” he said.
“Apparently not. Mr Hammond, have you any idea why Jamie and I got married?”
He frowned, clearly puzzled. “Because of mutual affection, why else?”
“I was upset one night, and Jamie brought a bottle of brandy to my room to console me. We ended up drinking the whole bottle, and woke sometime later stark naked in my bed, after which I discovered I was with child. And now there is no child and no reason for our marriage, and you wonder why we are not behaving as you would expect of a newlywed couple. Naturally he resents me, what man wouldn’t?”
She turned to the door, but he was on his feet and there before her, his expression shocked.
“Georgie… my dear… I had no idea! I am so sorry! I never meant to upset you, as I am sure you know.”
“Well, you have,” she said, dashing tears from her eyes. “Youhaveupset me.”
“Please forgive a foolish old man, but I had such hopes for a grandchild.”
“As I had hopes for a child. I don’t think you understand… for no man can ever understand what it is to lose a child. To feel this life growing within you, to feel your body changing to nurture it, to feel it moving inside you and know that it lives… and then to have it swept away as if it never existed. Hardly anyone even knew of its existence, and now they’ll never know. ButIknow… I remember… I feel the aching, the emptiness inside that only a child can fill.”
“But Idoknow,” he said softly, wiping away her tears with a linen handkerchief. “A man feels the loss too, Georgie. I have felt it, more than once, and Jamie feels it now, you may be sure. It is not the same, of course… not so physical, perhaps, not quite as deep a cut, but a man grieves for his lost child too, and it is a grief that should be shared, not suffered in lonely silence. Do not shut him out of your life.”
But Georgie could not bear to listen to him, so she fled back to her room. It was some time before she could compose herself sufficiently to wash her face, change her gown and go down to the parlour for dinner. Jamie and his father were both there, the dinner was on the table, and in the business of eating and discussing the arrangements for the following day, the worst of the awkwardness evaporated and she retired to her bed later that evening, if not entirely calm, then at least not wanting to strangle her father-in-law.
***
However much Lance might protest to Denny that he had done nothing to raise expectations of marriage in Charlotte, his denials rang hollow. He was aware that he had grown too close to her, and since he had no intention of offering for her, it was unkind in him. He had been drawn in by her amiable nature, and if there was a need to keep himself at adistance from another young lady, he tried not to think of that. Lily was not for him!
Now he felt it circumspect to withdraw from Charlotte, too. He began to absent himself from some engagements where he knew the Merrington ladies might be. A ball was reasonably safe, since he could dance with several other young ladies, and a rout or simple evening party presented no difficulty, but he avoided card parties, the theatre or outings to such places as Vauxhall’s, where he would be expected to spend the whole evening at her side.
He was also wild to get back to his easel and paints, so when Lily paid a morning call in Mount Street and mentioned to him that they were getting up a party to drive to Richmond for the day, he said, “Thank you, Duchess, there is nothing I should like better, but I cannot, not on Thursday.”
“Cannot? Even to oblige me?”
“Obliging you must always be an object with me,” he said, making her a small bow, “but I have a prior engagement that will not wait.”
“If you have already engaged yourself to another hostess, then I must give way, for I would not use my rank to tempt you to break your word. But I do not know of any other event of significance on that day, apart from Mrs Wilshaw’s Venetian breakfast, which I would not have suspected to be an attraction for you.”
“It is not Mrs Wilshaw to whom I am promised, and not even a lady. It is no one of any standing in society at all.”
She laughed. “Now I am intrigued, but you mean to tease me, I can see, so I shall thwart you at once by asking no more about it.”
He smiled at her. “I do not mindyouknowing about it. If you wish to uncover my secret, I shall be seeing the same persontomorrow, so if you come to this address at around four o’clock, you will discover all.”
Retrieving a pencil from a pocket, he scribbled a direction on the back of one of his cards and handed it to her.
“You had better bring your maid with you, but no one else. This is not for the whole world to be discussing over the teacups. I have the greatest dislike of such tittle-tattle, and most people will not understand, butyouwill, I am persuaded.”
