David leaned over to glance through the arched doorway that led to the kitchens. When he didn’t spy the housekeeper, he turned his attention back to the farmer. “Why ever not? I thought you two would be wed by now.”
Frank’s eyes rounded as his face took on the color of a beet. “Oh, well, I told her I intend to, sir,” he said. “So as she doesn’t go acceptin’ someone else’s suit ’afore mine.”
Angling his head to one side, David prompted, “And?”
“She sounded disappointed but not surprised, sir.”
“So... what has you looking so glum?”
Sighing loudly, the farmer pulled out a few missives from his coat pocket and held them out to David. “Oh, it’s just the infernal weather, sir. Although it has given me the chance to sharpen the blades and do some indoor repairs.” He forced a grin. “The mail coach stopped in the village, and seein’ how I was there, I told the driver I could deliver these here letters to you.”
“Thank you,” David replied, rifling through the envelopes. Nothing looked important, but he recognized the writing on one as belonging to a good friend in London. “How are the greenhouses working out?”
“Oh, very good, sir. The stuff we planted is startin’ to come up just fine, and those lemon trees you gave us from your orangery are looking right as rain.” He winced. “Pardon the pun, sir.”
David chuckled. “Well, see to it you get some luncheon before you head back out there,” he said, glad when the cook appeared with a steaming cup of tea and set it on the trestle.
“Afternoon, my lord,” she said as she dipped a curtsy. “Would you like tea?”
“It’s why I’ve come,” David acknowledged.
“I can bring it to your study, sir,” she offered.
“I would prefer to drink it where it will stay warm,” he replied, setting the missives on the table so he could remove his coat. “If Mr. Tuttlebaum doesn’t mind a bit of company.”
Franks’ eyes rounded again. “Oh, I don’t mind at all, sir,” he said.
“I’ll see to it right away,” Margaret said before she turned to Frank and added, “I’ve got some cheese and a dish of beef soup about ready for you.”
“Much appreciated, Margaret,” Frank replied.
“Soup sounds good for me, too, if there’s enough,” David said, his stomach growling despite the breakfast she had made for him earlier that morning.
“Of course there is, sir, although you’ll be having it again with your dinner tonight,” she warned. She disappeared into the kitchens as David broke the wax seals from his letters.
As he unfolded the one from his friend, a pasteboard cream calling card fell onto the table. He picked it up and studied the engraved script. The words “Soho Club” and its address were printed on one side along with the words “Show for admittance” in much smaller print at the bottom.
Curious as to why his friend would send the card, he took a moment to read the letter.
Dear Lord Engleston,
I hope this letter finds you high and dry. I understand you have suffered as much rain as we have here in the capital. Glum weather begets gloomy friends, hence I have decided it is time we hole up at the Soho Club for a few days of games and dancing.
You’re not that far away, there is nothing of importance happening with this much rain falling, and you are not wed, so you have no excuse not to join us. The games begin Tuesday afternoon. Bring your pennies, and we may even play for money. Oh, and bring the card. You’ll need it for admittance to the club and your room.
Sincerely yours,
Dicky
Post scriptum. If you’re still unwed, perhaps we can find you a suitable bride here in London before you return to Engleston Park. About damned time you be betrothed. You’re not getting any younger.
Chuckling at the insistent tone of the letter as well as by Richard Copper’s postscript, David was at first tempted to send his regrets. Although he really should be on the hunt for a bride, he had thought to put it off until the next Season started. The reminder of rain in the capital had him reconsidering. If other aristocrats were suffering crop losses due to all the rain, they might not have the funds to offer decent dowries. Given his dwindling bank account, David was afraid he would require part of a dowry to get by until the weather improved.
He once again glanced at the Soho Club card as he considered his decision. Richard, Earl of Penhurst, had a point. The weather had made him glum. Perhaps a trip to London would do him some good. Give him an opportunity to pay a call on his tailor and visit his favorite stationer. Mayhap take in a show at one of the theatres with his mother. Enjoy some cards and dancing at the Soho Club. If he wasn’t happy with the accommodations, he could always stay in his rooms at the Cleveland Row townhouse where he lived during the Season.
When Margaret delivered a tea tray complete with biscuits and cake along with bowls of soup for both him and Frank, David felt decidedly warmer.
The two men enjoyed their luncheons in relative quiet, each lost in their own thoughts about their immediate futures as unmarried men.
David was quite sure Frank Tuttlebaum had some experience when it came to women. When he was younger, the farmer had been a strapping lad, attracting the attention of the girls in the nearby village. He continued to enjoy female companionship throughout his middle years. Now that he was older, he was finally of a mind to take a wife.
As for David, painful shyness and a gangly body had prevented him from enjoying those same attentions. By the time he had inherited the barony, though, his frame and face had filled out so he looked more like his father had at that age. Taking his place in Parliament had forced him to speak with the other lords. Forced him to learn the basics of conversing with his peers.
However, if a woman so much as looked at him, other than in a dance where the moves prevented easy banter, he glanced away or hurried off. The alternative—to stand his ground and actually carry on his side of a conversation—wasn’t something he could abide. As a result, David found himself at the age of thirty-three not only unmarried, but inexperienced when it came to bedding a woman.
The Rt. Honorable Lord Engleston, sixth baron Engleston, was still a virgin.
