Page 38 of An Unlikely Debutante

She opened her mouth to protest, to try to argue a case for love matches, but Alex had already left her, stalking off through the house into his study and closing the door firmly after him, their lesson for the day apparently forgotten.

Lina prowled through the downstairs rooms, trying to find something to occupy herself with. Eventually she settled into one of the comfortable leather armchairs in the library, a stack of books by her side. She opened the first and tried to concentrate on the words, but found she was reading each sentence two or three times and it still wasn’t going in.

‘Silly man,’ she murmured to herself. Alex might think he was unaffected by the sudden appearance of his ex-fiancée, but his reactions suggested otherwise. He had loved Victoria very much, that was apparent, and Georgina had confirmed that he’d been devastated when his fiancée had called off the wedding and left to marry his best friend. No one could go through such heartbreak and be completely unmoved the next time they saw the woman they used to love, not even someone as strong as Alex.

She also hated the way he was talking about marriage, about the benefits of taking love out of the equation. Lina might only have known Alex for a few weeks, but she could see such a union would only make him unhappy. Seeing the sag in his shoulders and frown on his face made her want to shake him, to grab him by the arms and shout and scream that just because he had been hurt once didn’t mean he couldn’t love again.

‘A happy man is a reasonable man,’ Lina said out loud, one of her mother’s phrases popping into her head. If she could distract him from his worries, take him out and cheer him up, then he would be in a better frame of mind to be challenged on his views of marriage. There was a chance she could just plant the seed that one day he might be ready to love again, because she couldn’t bear the thought of him being unhappy for ever.

Slowly she replaced the book on the top of the pile and stood, gazing out over the beautiful gardens illuminated by brilliant sunshine. August was almost over, but every day the weather seemed more glorious than the last. Perhaps she could provide the distraction Alex needed and get to spend the day out in the fresh air rather than cooped up learning how not to disgrace herself in the ballroom.

Before she could change her mind, Lina hurried out of the library and downstairs to the kitchens. It was like a maze underneath the house, corridors running for what seemed like miles in different directions, nooks and crannies filled with mops and buckets and assorted cleaning equipment. Lina had ventured downstairs a couple of times, but had received a cold reception from most of the staff. She knew her encounter with the butler on her first day at Whitemore House would have been exaggerated and retold many times until she was a rude gypsy criminal, out to con and deceive their beloved master.

With her head held high and her expression flinty, Lina entered the huge kitchen. The cook and a solitary kitchen maid were kneading dough, whilst Jim, the young lad who did the odd jobs around the house, was lugging bags of flour from one side of the big room to the other. For the size of the house Alex had relatively few servants, but Georgina had explained that he rarely entertained and as such only needed the bare minimum for himself and his infrequent guests.

‘Can I help you, Miss Lock?’ the cook asked, after eyeing Lina suspiciously for a few seconds.

‘I would like a picnic packed for this afternoon. Lord Whitemore and myself are going for a ride out and will not be back for the midday meal.’

‘This is the first I’ve heard of it.’

Lina smiled sweetly. ‘I’m sure it is, we only decided a few minutes ago.’

‘What about the beef I’ve got in for lunch?’ the cook asked stubbornly.

‘I could put it back in the cold storage, Mrs Witherly,’ the eager, young kitchen maid suggested.

The cook uttered a noise that was halfway between a sigh and a growl.

‘I’ve got this dough to see to,’ the cook said, kneading the floury lump with her reddened fists. ‘And now you want me to make up a picnic, as well?’

‘I’m happy to do it, Mrs Witherly,’ the kitchen maid said, flashing Lina a conspiratorial smile.

‘No, you’ve got your work to see to.’

‘Lord Whitemore will be disappointed,’ Lina said, turning as if to leave. The cook and other senior staff might dislike her, but they were devoted to their young master and never wanted to disappoint or inconvenience him.

‘I suppose I could put together a few cold cuts and some bread,’ Mrs Witherly said slowly.

‘Thank you.’

Before the cook could change her mind, Lina left the kitchen and hurried back upstairs. Now came the difficult part—persuading Alex that they could take time away from practising polite conversation and forms of address to go on a ride to lift his spirits.

* * *

With a groan Alex stretched his neck from side to side, feeling the crack at the extremes of movement and the wonderful release that came afterwards. The pile of papers in front of him hadn’t seemed to have diminished at all and for once he couldn’t concentrate on the intricacies of running the large estate. He also had Mr Tobias Tomlinson visiting tomorrow to discuss which horses to enter into which races over the coming year and to go over the jockeys he had hired. Tomlinson was a talented horseman and was better at picking out a winning racehorse than anyone else Alex knew. He worked solely for Alex and together they made a formidable partnership in the horseracing world. Normally he would be excited by the prospect of planning out the racing calendar, but this morning he couldn’t get the discussion with Lina about marriage from his head.

He knew he was likely never to marry. He’d gone down that path before and it had led to heartbreak and destruction. If he did ever decide to find a wife, it would not be a love match. Desire and a little affection were fine feelings for a mistress, but they were not enough to base such a momentous decision on.

Still, he felt unsettled by the conversation. Once he had been so idealistic. He’d been determined not to follow his peers into loveless marriages, certain that there was more to life than seeking a wife with the largest dowry. This loss of innocence pained him.

‘Can I come in?’ Lina asked. She moved so quietly sometimes that he was surprised to see her holding the door half-open.

‘I’ve got some papers to finish dealing with,’ Alex said. It was true, although he doubted he would make any useful decisions whilst he was in this mood.

‘I’m sorry if I said something to upset you earlier. Sometimes I speak before I think through what I’m saying. Raul always tells me I need a filter as the words come out of my mouth.’

‘Nothing to apologise for,’ Alex said.