Eventually, Lady Holt grew tired of hearing about the Winslow family’s elderly eccentrics and changed the subject.
“So, Mary, have you found yourself any suitors?” she asked. “Now that you live under the roof of the Duke of Greyhaven, I am sure you will have many social opportunities.”
At that, Patrick laughed and pulled a face.
“Hardly!” he said. “My brother isn’t a great believer in social opportunities, is he, Cecily? That is, he thinks they’re well enough for other people, but he can’t be bothered with them.”
“We live quietly at Greyhaven Park, Grandmother,” Cecily clarified, seeing Lady Holt’s bemusement and impatience at Patrick’s words once more, true though they were.
“Well, maybe that is just as well,” Lady Holt replied. “Remember, you must keep young girls safe and keep them close, or they may lose their bloom too soon.”
“I don’t believe a beautiful woman could ever lose her bloom,” Patrick declared, earning a frown from her and a smile from Mary before both ladies smoothed their expressions. “Not in the eyes of those who love her.”
Cecily was beginning to believe in Lady Jackson’s theory that Patrick and Mary were still in love. Regardless of their frequent tiffs and protestations, he clearly thought Mary beautiful and was prepared to go out of his way to protect her. Mary, in turn, considered him handsome and clever despite his faults.
With Patrick now apparently working so hard to fix his faults, why couldn’t the pair of them settle their differences and admit their feelings?
Cecily supposed it was pride, with neither of them wanting to take the blame for their failed elopement.
“Where is His Grace today, Cecily?” Lady Holt asked, again trying to steer the conversation in a more controlled direction.
“Oh, he said he was going to his club,” Cecily answered. “He is not one for tea shops, I suppose.”
“Leaving you and going off to his club so early in your marriage?” Lady Holt shook her head with a look of concern. “Dear me. Still, that is what husbands are, I’m afraid.”
She looked at Cecily with an expression of pity that was all the more enraging, for Cecily did not know why she was being pitied. She would not give her grandmother the satisfaction of asking.
“Where is Uncle Preston today?” she asked.
“Your uncle has an important business meeting this afternoon,” Lady Holt told her. “He is not a rich man, as you know, and after you left home so suddenly, he has been very busy…”
As Lady Holt kept up a stream of passive-aggressive chatter on the subject of her son’s hardships and hard work, Cecily’s mind drifted back to her previous remark, the only one that had gotten under her skin.
What was Nathaniel doing at his club today, and why should her grandmother think it a pity? Was he meeting someone?
CHAPTER 23
“Your guest is here, Your Grace,” the tall and bewigged footman announced as he showed Lord Holt into the private sitting room where Nathaniel sat reading a newspaper.
Preston Holt was smartly dressed, although his waistcoat stretched tightly over his rounded stomach. The odd little velvet cap on his head did not hide anything of his baldness either. The redness of his nose and his slightly unfocused gaze spoke of drink already taken.
A man too vain to tell his tailor to let his clothes out or to wear his years with pride. A man too weak to face his enemies without strong drink.
“Ah, thank you, Simkins.” Nathaniel nodded to the footman, folding his paper and setting it on the table, but not getting to his feet. Lord Holt did not deserve the slightest respect.
“Will you and your guest be requiring a table for dinner, Your Grace?”
“No, Simkins. That will be all. Thank you.”
Lord Holt came forward to meet Nathaniel, a mix of belligerence and obsequious fawning in his manner. Evidently, neither of them had forgotten the circumstances under which they had last met.
“Your Grace, thank you for seeing me.”
“Your request to come to Greyhaven Park was outrageous. You’re lucky I didn’t ignore your letter,” Nathaniel told him. “I have a long memory, Holt.”
“As I explained in my letter, Your Grace, I wished to apologize and to explain. I am an old man now, and not so healthy as I once was. The estate I inherited from my poor brother is not an affluent one, and I have struggled…”
“It was affluent enough when you came into it,” Nathaniel said coolly. “What happened to all that money, I wonder?”
