“Thorton,” he said, addressing his butler. “Where is her ladyship?”
His butler bowed. “We are very happy to see you home, my lord. Her ladyship is in her parlor.”
“Thank you.” Taking the steps two at a time, he quickly caught up with Theodora’s much slower progress. Matt flung her over his shoulder and finished climbing with her giggling in his ear. He set her down on the stairs to the school-room. “There you go, little one, up to the school-room with you.”
He stood watching her until she was at the top and then turned toward his stepmother’s apartments. After knocking on her door, he entered.
His father had married Patience barely a year after his mother had died in childbirth. Matt had learned of the marriage from one of his schoolmates. At first he was inclined to be resentful, but when he went home for the long summer holiday, he found his father’s new bride was a shy, scared seventeen-year-old. A mere five years older than he and she already breeding.
His father had stayed around long enough to introduce them and left for Bath, where he spent the remainder of the summer before decamping to Town for the Little Season. The new Lady Worthington didn’t see London again until one year after her husband had died.
Although he had encouraged her to re-marry, she would not. Patience truly loved her daughters and, as Matt was his sisters’ sole guardian, re-marriage would mean leaving them at Worthington Hall.
She glanced up, set aside her embroidery, and smiled. “Worthington, I’m so glad you’re home. The girls have missed you horribly.”
He gave her a peck on the cheek. “How have you been?”
“I’m well. We are all excited about Louisa’s come out. Do you need anything?”
He’d known she would ask. “Yes, I’ve fallen in love. The only problem is I can’t find her.”
Patience went off into a peal of light laughter. “Mattheus Worthington, what will you say next? Isn’t this rather sudden? Did you meet her in Town?”
“It may be, but it’s true, and I wouldn’t be the first man to fall in love at first sight. I met her at an inn during a storm. She left before I could discover her name. I need your help finding her.” He described in careful detail his love’s most important features.
She pressed her lips together as if she would argue, then her countenance softened and she nodded. “Very well, but my dear, why do you not draw her for me?”
“That’s a good idea.” Why hadn’t he thought of it? Ever since he’d discovered she had left him, his brain had stopped working. Matt took his leave going immediately to his studio.
Using a pencil, he sketched his lady’s face and hair, careful to use the style she had when it was up, and colored it in. Once he was satisfied, he took it to Patience. “What do you think? Do you recognize her?”
Patience squinted over the drawing and tapped her cheek. “I have seen her. I just don’t know when. It must have been a few years ago, because her cheeks were rounder. Like that of a younger lady, still”—she held the paper up to the light—“I am sure it’s her.”
He was so close. He tried not to dance a jig. His breath caught. “Who? Who is she?”
Her brows drew together. “That’s the problem, I don’t remember her name. May I keep this? When we get to Town, I’ll ask a few discreet friends.”
“Yes, of course. Though I don’t want her name bandied around.”
Her eyes twinkled in amusement. “I shall be very careful. I am leaving for London with the girls in two weeks to purchase Louisa’s clothing. When will you join us?”
“I’m off to Leicestershire hunting, but I should arrive in Town around the same time you do.” He paused for a moment. “If you need to hire an additional maid to keep Theodora under control, you have my permission.”
Patience pulled a face. “Cant again?”
“Yes.” He frowned. “I hope I have impressed upon her that if she cannot control her tongue, I’ll have to dismiss her groom. I’ll have Mac speak to the lad as well. I’ve no objection to her learning the words. But she doesn’t have the discretion not to spout them out at the wrong times.”
“How extremely large-minded of you,” Patience replied sarcastically. “You may not care that she learns such vulgar language, but I certainly do. What do you think will happen when she comes out, pray?”
His mouth twisted into a grimace. “Let’s get through the other three before we worry about Theo. I’ll see you at dinner.”
Matt went back to his studio and sat at his drawing table. Again putting pencil to paper, he drew his love’s perfect oval face and long, curling hair, her slim, elegant neck and slightly sloping shoulders. Once he allowed his memory to take him back to the feel of her full breasts, his pencil reverently made them appear. By the time he was done, carefully leaving her facial features blank, he’d drawn his lady naked, the way he remembered her as she waited to give herself to him. He would have liked to have drawn the passion in her beautiful blue eyes and the smile of delight on her lips when he kissed them. But if anyone found the picture it would ruin her, and she was his to protect.
* * *
Excitement over Louisa’s come out turned dinner into a raucous affair causing him to threaten to leave the younger girls at home with an army of servants to watch over them. “I will not have my sisters acting like a bunch of sad romps. In two days, I shall depart to go hunting.” He fixed the three younger girls with a firm look. “If your behavior has not improved by then, only Louisa will go to Town.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Patience’s lips twitch and had to clamp his own tightly together. “Louisa, you may excuse yourself and take your sisters with you.”
