Page 12 of Wedding the Widow

The girl smiled knowingly, then beckoned Elizabeth into the room before shutting the door. “No one knows but Papa, Mama, and Dotty.” She drew Elizabeth down onto the chaise before the fire, hands fluttering, smiling like a china doll, as she bubbled with excitement. “Last evening, quite out of the blue, Lord Haxton proposed to me!”

“Goodness, Bella.” Elizabeth blinked in astonishment. “Has he courted you since the end of the Season?” Mama had not said a word about such a thing; at least Elizabeth didn’t think so. She’d been so distraught over Dickon’s death and Charlotte trying to bring her out of mourning, she might have missed something.

“Not since the Season, no, but we did see one another during the Season’s activities, and we went to Vauxhall twice with a large party.” Bella’s cheeks had turned quite as red as the room’s Turkey carpet. “But nothing was ever spoken between us, although I did think him quite handsome and dashing.”

Yes, Lord Haxton was both of those things; so Elizabeth had heard. She’d also heard from Jane and Fanny of his interest this past summer in the Marquess of Theale’s daughter, Lady Anne Tarkington, while at the summer house party. Lady Anne, they’d told her, had led Haxton a merry chase the whole Season long, then accepted the heir to the Duke of Armondy, with her proud papa’s full blessing. So if the Earl of Haxton could find solace with the daughter of a viscount instead, perhaps there was something to be said for him.

“Well done, my dear.” She hugged her sister, praying for her happiness. “I wish for you all the happiness I had with Dickon.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth. I’m sure we shall be very contented together.” Bella beamed at her. “He’s coming to dinner tonight.” She fussed with her dress, smoothing its sleek lines. “I couldn’t wait to dress for dinner, so I made Weller dress me ahead of time.”

“Very ahead.” Elizabeth rose, her weariness suddenly pressing upon her. “I must go see the children, then rest at least a little before dinner. Especially now that I am to meet your betrothed.”

Grinning, Bella rose with her. “I do hope you approve of him.”

“I am sure I shall, my dear,” she said, taking her sister’s hands and giving them a squeeze. “At least I will try very, very hard to do so.” She laughed and hugged Bella. Only one more sister to wed now. The thought that both her younger sisters would soon have husbands and she none made her suddenly sober.

“You never said if Lord Brack was at Charlotte’s party.”

Her sister’s words brought her up with a jolt. “Did I not? I am sorry. Yes, Lord Brack was in attendance this weekend.” Heat rushed to her face as a vision of the two of them locked in a passionate embrace in her bed sprang up before her eyes.

“And . . . ?” Bella cocked her head, inquisitive as a sparrow. “Did he make his intentions apparent to you?”

Her head spinning, Elizabeth clutched the doorway, concentrating on remaining standing. “We . . . we spent quite a lot of time together.” Dear Lord, what could she say? “But he made no formal declaration.” That much was true at least.

“I am sorry, Elizabeth. I thought you said you liked him after your meeting in August.” Bella’s eyes held a touch of sadness. Was she sorry for her? “So why did you return early from this party? We certainly did not expect you home until Tuesday at the earliest.” The girl sniffed. “I should have stayed and tried to bring him up to snuff.”

So might she have done, and with very little insistence been successful, had she not fled like a thief in the night—or morning, as it turned out. She could not think of that. Would not think of Lord Brack in her bed. Nor of the horrible indiscretion she had committed.

“I fear I found myself poor company for anyone. I missed Colin and Kate so dreadfully, I simply had to come home. I really must go see them before they go to bed.” Three steps down the corridor, and she had almost escaped. “I’ll see you at dinner, and you can introduce me to your Lord Haxton,” she called over her shoulder. Waving her hand, she fled down the corridor, only to realize she’d turned the wrong way. Well, she wasn’t going back to be pulled into conversation again with Isabella. She took the servants’ narrow staircase at the back of the house and climbed the steep stairs to the third floor. Drawing in deep breaths, she continued upward, panting as though she’d been running a race. Running away from memories she couldn’t face. Not yet. Perhaps never.

As she neared the third-floor landing, she could hear squealing laughter from the nursery. Good, they’d not gone to bed yet.

“Good evening, my darlings.” She swept into the nursery, catching the twins chasing one another around the nursery table.

“Mama, Mama!”

“Mama! You’re home, you’re home.” Kate crashed into her left leg, just as Colin swarmed onto her right.

“Goodness! I left my two good children here and return to a brace of wild savages.” Elizabeth knelt down and gathered them into her arms.

“We’re not wild savages, Mama.” Kate snuggled against her neck. “We were playing a game.”

“A game? What game? And where is Nurse?” She looked about, but the new nurse her mother had engaged was nowhere to be found. Such a pity her own nurse had retired before the twins had been born.

“She tucked us into our beds, Mama,” Colin spoke up. “But then she was called away. One of the maids came and fetched her.”

“So you took the opportunity to pop out of your beds like two jack-in-the-boxes?” Elizabeth gave her dark-haired son her sternest look.

“We’ve done it before, Mama.” Without a hint of remorse, Colin looked her squarely in the face. “It does no harm, and Grandmama said exercise is good for us, didn’t she, Kate?” He poked his sister in the arm.

“Oh, yes, Mama. She said we should run about, so now Colin chases me all the time.” Kate’s bottom lip stuck out.

“Do not poke your sister, Colin, and while exercise might be a good thing, running about just before bed is not part of any healthy program I’ve heard of.”

“But, Mama . . .” Colin frowned, his small brows brooding, drooping over his eyes, darkening his face into an unbecoming countenance. She must nip this right in the bud.

“No, Colin, I am the one who says what you may and may not do, not Grandmama.” Elizabeth took them by the hands, steering them back toward their beds. “Up you go, darlings.”