Even when his arm had ceased its aching, his mood remained sour. After pacing the halls of Grenville Manor for some time, he finally went to his sister-in-law.
“I am concerned for Miss Haverley. What if Lady Lindsay has terminated her employment? What if she has taken a chill and is on the road somewhere in a Mail Coach on the confounded way to Kent?”
Felicity looked up from the child’s garment she was embroidering, a frown on her face. “That is an alarming thought. Shall I pay a call on Lady Lindsay? Perhaps I can put both our minds at ease.”
“If you could do that, maybe I would stop this fretting. I do not like Lady Lindsay, Felicity. I never have. I cannot imagine the perdition of being in her employ.”
“I agree with you there. If the twins were older…”
“You need not go to the extreme of employing Miss Haverley. I only wish to determine whether she is well or whether she is likely to die somewhere on the King’s Highway. She is quite a fragile little thing.”
Felicity put down her embroidery. “I shall call there immediately. Do not expect me back any time soon, however. I shall have to slip my inquiry in most deftly amid County gossip. It would not do for her to suspect the reason for my visit.”
“I shall occupy myself in patience. You are a saint, Felicity.”
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
“Where is my brother, by the way?”
“Closeted in his library with the bookkeeper, going over the estate accounts. I imagine they will be finished up shortly.”
John hesitated and then chose to wait in the morning room until he saw the bookkeeper leave. He was not estate agent yet. When he went to his brother, he noticed that Alex looked particularly content this morning.
“When would you like me to begin as your estate agent?” John asked.
“Are you feeling fit? Did your impromptu swim have any repercussions?”
“I am quite recovered from that little dip. The wound is healing nicely, but I need something to do. Inactivity is not what I am accustomed to.”
Alex studied his brother. John felt his scrutiny and looked out the window at the tall white hollyhocks in Felicity’s flower garden. The view refreshed him.
His brother spoke. “You are not the brother I sent off to war. But then, I suppose that is hardly surprising. The thing is, you were such a sunny lad, and now you are grown so solemn. Is there anything I can do to help you recover your spirits?”
John knew the inquiry was genuine and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He sought a change of subject. “Felicity tells me you have not always been as fond of her as you are today. I find it difficult to imagine your not being in love with her.”
Sighing, Alex said, “The problem was not that I was not in love with her. The problem was that I did not understand the true nature of love.”
He was intrigued. “Will you tell me about it?”
“When you were at Harrow, I thought myself very much in love with another lady—Lady Elizabeth Whitby.”
“Blonde? Petite? Cool as a cucumber?” John could not imagine a creature more different from his sister-in-law.
“You remember.”
“Christmas hols. You showed me the ring you ought not to have bought her. Sapphire. Proclaiming eternal love. Why did you not marry her?”
“We each of us had to marry a fortune. We thought of ourselves as star-crossed lovers. Her father contracted her to marry Lord Beaton. Felicity’s father then approached me about a contractual marriage to her.” Alex drummed his fingers on the desk, a reminiscent smile upon his face. “I accepted, since Elizabeth was promised elsewhere, but I was very young, and thought myself a very romantic chap. With Elizabeth unattainable, she became more desirable to me than ever. I longed to stir the fires and warm that coolness in her. I became unhealthily obsessed by the idea.”
“So when you married Felicity, you didn’t love her?”
“So I thought. But what I felt for Elizabeth was not love. It was an adolescent drama. Suffice it to say, dear brother, by the time I realized I was in love with Felicity, it was nearly too late. I had behaved so badly, she actually left me and I had to do quite a bit of work to find her. Then I had to convince her to come back to me.” He frowned. “Those days still haunt me.”
“When was this?” John asked.
“When she was carrying the twins. Our reconciliation was complete by the time of her confinement, and the twins set the seal upon it. Little Henry is the star on the top of our family tree. I have a good life, John, but I came demmed close to ruining it all.”
What an extraordinary story. John found it difficult to imagine that Alex had married for money and found such a strong, passionate connection. He also found it telling that it had taken him over five years for him to realize it. He loved his sister-in-law with new respect.
“I think I have a head start on you, Alex. I know I do not want an ethereal ice princess to conquer. But it troubles me very much to know that I must marry money in order to remain a gentleman. Unless my wife is willing to live on my income as an estate agent, which just barely qualifies me for the gentry since I am doing so as your stand-in. Is there enough land somewhere about the park where my wife and I could build a house?”
“Yes, but if you marry Miss Lindsay, you will have money and land and can manage your own property. There is nothing that says you must be a man of leisure. The thing you will have to determine here is whether Miss Lindsay’s childhood passion is for you or for some ideal she has built up in her imagination over the years.” Alex rose and paced around his desk. “She seems very young to me. I do believe she thinks she will get you to London, which is not where you want to be.”
“Well, I, at least will try not to fall into your pitfall. I am determined to have my own particular version of Felicity. The kind of love that exists between you is the only thing that will heal my blistered soul.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “If you are feeling the thing, there is an assembly above the King’s Arms tonight. Felicity and I are planning to frivol the night away. I know you used to love to dance. Why don’t you join us?”
John lifted his sling in answer.
“I don’t think that ought to concern you over much. You will contrive. There are no waltzes allowed, and Farmer Johnson dances the reel and the minuet with only one arm. People are amazingly accommodating.”
“I will give it consideration,” John said.
If he wanted to get on with his life and get out of the dark morass he was sinking into, he realized he needed to mount an offensive. The only diversion available at the moment was the village assembly.
When Felicity returned from her errand to the Lindsay’s she was able to reassure him that Miss Haverley was well and still employed, as well as relating the interesting fact that Miss Lindsay, Miss Leticia, and Lord and Lady Lindsay would be in attendance at the assembly that evening.
“They really are better than your average village dance,” Felicity told him. “Alex and I always try to attend. They have an excellent fiddler, and the neighbors about here are some of our dearest friends.”
So it was that at half past six, Alex’s valet attended John. Once he was decommissioned, he would have to see about having his tailor make him some evening clothes, but for now, his scarlet regimentals would do. Richards drew him a bath, barbered him, helped him into his clean dress uniform, and fashioned him a fresh sling.
After family dinner, the Grenvilles took the carriage to the King’s Arms. He had never been in the upstairs assembly room before. Its overhead beams were set at only about eight feet off the wooden floor. Despite the four opened windows, the room was close with the large number of people crowded into the space.
The neighbors John had known since he was a boy were happy to greet him. Squire Higby wanted to know the details of Waterloo, while his wife wished to introduce her niece, a tall, blonde young woman with an unfortunate squint.
“She is a very good pianist,” Mrs. Higby informed him. The niece, a Miss Forest, blushed.
John asked, “Do you think you could contrive to dance with a one-armed man?”
“I should be delighted,” she said.
The dance did not go too awkwardly as far as his arm was concerned; however, the niece was unable to overcome her shyness and had little conversation. Unfortunately, John’s attempts failed to put her at ease. Perhaps his conversational skills were not the best—a result of having been in the company of subordinates for so many years.
Following the dance, he escorted Miss Forest back to her aunt, where Lord Lindsay approached him.
“My lady wants to be assured that you did not further injure your arm yesterday.”
“It has taken no harm,” John said. “Does Miss Haverley continue well?”
“Ah. The governess. Yes. She seems to have an excellent constitution for such a small dab of a thing. She and the girls went walking today.” He furrowed his brow. “She is a bit of a mystery, that one.”
“Oh, yes?” John asked.
“Doesn’t seem to have the makeup of an ordinary governess.”
“Not servile enough?”
“Exactly. Think she has only recently come down in the world.”
“I received a like impression,” John said.
“Doesn’t know much about Kent, either.”
“Hmm.” Was there really a mystery surrounding the petite woman? John found himself intrigued by the idea of solving it.
“Wouldn’t do to mention it to Lady Lindsay. Want to keep the gel. Good for my younger ones.”
John was unaccountably glad to hear this.
Miss Lindsay looked very elegant in an evening gown of lilac and silver. When he asked her to dance, she said, “I am so glad you came tonight. I thought perhaps you would not on account of your wound.”
I am ready for a spot of gaiety, though it be a village assembly,” he said.
Their dance went as well as could be expected, considering his injury.
“I hope you are settling in well with Lord and Lady Grenville,” she said. “I do so adore your sister-in-law.”
“Everyone loves Felicity,” he observed. “She has made a haven of Grenville Manor. I am settling in nicely, but I do not have enough to do.”
“Do you miss your command?”
He was agreeably surprised by her insight. “I do not miss the war, but I miss my men. We fought together for a long time.”
“Surely you have friends! Perhaps in London?”
John did not miss the note of hope in her voice. Did she really think she could relocate him? He had best make his stand on that right from the start.
“A few. Chaps I knew at Harrow, mostly. But, as I mean to live here rather than there, I doubt I will see them much.”
She was silent for several measures. “Whatever do you find so appealing about Lincolnshire?”
“I grew up in London. I was much happier on the few occasions we came to the Manor. I think this is the perfect place to raise a family. And I wish to raise my children alongside their Grenville cousins.” Could he be any plainer? He didn’t think so.
“Maybe if you had grown up here, you would feel a pull toward London as I do. Life can be very dull here, you know.”
He thought about her words. Could his be a case of his merely wanting what he never had before? Remembering the coal dust of London together with the stark poverty that lived nearly cheek by jowl with the opulence of the nobility, he did not think so.
“We never stayed here long enough for me to tire of it when I was growing up,” he said.
“To my sorrow,” Miss Lindsay said with a coy smile. “You know I suffered a bad case of hero worship when you rescued me from that hive of bees. You have a very heroic nature, you realize.”
Embarrassed, he became gruff. “What were you doing to those bees anyway?”
She laughed. “Trying to get honey for my tea!”
The dance came to an end. John had the feeling that all the eyes in the room were upon them. Suddenly uncomfortable, he asked Miss Leticia to dance next.
She proved to have grown up to be a very forward young lady. “Is there any way at all I can convince you to offer for me instead of my sister?” she asked, dimpling at him. Auburn-haired like her father, she had a gamine face and saucy expression.
“Who said I was going to offer for your sister?” he asked, deciding to match her in boldness.
“She is all but certain. So is the County. There are bets being laid, you should know.”
“How disconcerting. Perhaps you and I should run away together and prove them all wrong.”
She laughed with gusto. “Marianne would put poison in my soup.”
He decided this was probably close to the truth, which was unfortunate. He liked Leticia, he was finding.
“Now I suppose there is nothing for it but that I must marry Mr. Aldershott,” she said in a resigned little voice.
“And who, pray tell, is Mr. Aldershott?”
“The saintly man who moved into The Elms last year. He is a middle-aged widower, but I won’t mind. He has a precious little girl and a monkey.”
John laughed at her downcast eyes and the self-righteous pout on her face. “I can see that the monkey might be irresistible, but why must you marry Mr. Aldershott? You will doubtless have a string of admirers in Town.”
“None who are interested. The men are all mad for Marianne. She is the family beauty. Mr. Aldershott is the only one who has paid me the slightest mind, but everyone knows he is still grieving for his wife.”
“What are you, my dear, eighteen? You have several years before you could be considered on the shelf.”
“But I weary of London. Once Marianne is married, it will be no fun at all.”
He laughed again. “Your trials are indeed sore.” He looked down into her face. “Now, let us change the subject from your impending nuptials. Your father tells me there is a mystery about Miss Haverley. As I recall, you were very good at charades and guessing games. Have you made up a history for her?”
“Yes, I have as a matter of fact. She is like my favorite fictional heroine—vastly rich, but will not have control of her fortune ’til she marries. She has run away from an evil relation who happens to be her guardian. Of course, her close family is all dead.”
“Do you have any basis at all for your theory?”