Page 11 of Once Tempted

“After the house party, when the weather clears. But I won’t be going with you. I’ll be in London for the season, of course. Perhaps I’ll join you for a few weeks in the summer if my schedule permits.”

“But I hoped to come to London with you this year, too. Have another season,” she protested. “We could go there together in the summer instead.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Humphrey said slowly. “You in London, I mean.”

“Why?”

He reached for her hand and drew her to her feet. “Minnie, London and a husband… Neither one is for you, I’m afraid. I remember how badly your first and only season went.”

She stared at him in confusion. “My first season did not go badly at all, but Papa died, and it had to end abruptly because you declared two years of mourning.”

He scoffed. “Still, you did not receive one single offer of marriage in your first season, or even come close to it.”

“Because you scared my suitors away,” she said through clenched teeth, refusing to accept the blame. “If you had stayed out of it, I might be married with a home of my own and children by now.”

He shook his head. “I hardly said anything to anyone about you. But a determined suitor will stop at nothing to win the woman he wants. Take Stonebeck, for example. Now there is a man who gets any woman he wants. He can always find a way to stake his claim, and everyone knows it. Since not one gentleman has expressed an interest in you for even a casual discussion in years, I consider the effort of another season to relaunch you an uphill battle,” he said gently, patting her hand. “It’s not your fault you’ve aged. Time marches on for all of us. But some women are just not meant for a great marriage. I know it’s hard to hear, but let’s face facts—you were never what a gentleman looked for in a wife. A man wants excitement, youth, and beauty on his arm these days. And you are… Well. Another season will only prove my point.”

He might as well have slapped her across the face for the hurt he caused with those careless, callous words. He was saying she wasn’t pretty enough or exciting enough to catch any man’s interest, while he wagered on and chased after a woman two years her senior.

The injustice of that rocked her to her core.

Humphrey was stubborn once he’d made his mind up, like a dog with a bone. If he said he would never take her to London for a second season because he was embarrassed by her shortcomings, he never would. “What do you expect me to do? Hide myself away here for the rest of my life.”

“Heavens, no.” He laughed. “The Cornwall estate currently lacks a housekeeper. She died. Very inconvenient.”

She gaped at him. “You’re going to employ me as a housekeeper now?”

“Of course not. You’re m’sister. But you’ve done sufficiently well with this larger household, and I think you are capable of overseeing the handful of servants there without me, or until a new housekeeper can be employed to take over.”

“But—”

“I’ve already appointed an estate manager, and he will report directly to me. The house and immediate grounds will be sufficient for your needs. You won’t have the inconvenience of having to make conversation with my friends. It’s clear you’re trying to avoid everyone. Even Stonebeck asked where you’d gone.”

She was surprised Stonebeck had missed her, but the bitterness of her brother’s words and decisions were all she could focus on. He was sending her away because she was boring.

Her legs were shaking, but she was unable to find the right words to express her outrage and hurt and give him a piece of her mind. A tear trickled down her cheek. She deserved better from a brother she’d always done her best for. She had managed this large household for two years without any help from him, while he’d been carousing in London with his friends. And she had planned his party in meticulous detail, learning the habits and needs of his friends so nothing was forgotten to please them.

And he termed that effort as “sufficiently well”?

Humphrey had already turned his back and didn’t see how he’d upset her. “Good, then it is settled,” he said. “I’ll make all the arrangements, and you’ll be on your way by the first thaw.”

He sat down at his desk again and spread his papers across the polished mahogany, bowing his head to read them.

And just like that, she was dismissed.

From him, the party, from the home she loved. But it was not her home at all now, never had been, according to Humphrey. Not if she could be sent away without any consideration for her feelings.

Minerva stumbled out of Humphrey’s study and the door fell shut behind her with a heavy thud. She was being set aside so he and his friends could continue their scandalous ways without a plain, embarrassing, unfashionable spinster spoiling their fun.

Minnie charged outside into the snow-covered grounds, snatching up her coat and scarf from the closet near the door on her way out. She had to get away from everyone before she screamed out loud and drew unwanted attention to herself. She had to go where no one would find her, especially not Humphrey.

Because all the resentment, the hurt, the disappointment of her last years could not be explained to anyone at this party. None of them were her friends. She’d been denied the privilege of inviting anyone she was close to.

Everyone here probably thought her plain and unwanted too, but Humphrey and grief were the reasons why she’d remained unmarried and buried in the country these last years. She should have gone back to London last year, when their mourning ended, but Humphrey had said no then, too.

A blast of cold wind hit her hard as she stepped out of the walled kitchen garden. She strode out in a straight line, blindly, heading into the wilds of the estate. Due to the falling snow, there should be no one to see her go or even miss her.

Finally, she spied a ramshackle woodshed, somewhere no one should be at this hour, and sped toward it for protection from the wind and cold.