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Sissy had never felt so judged in her life. She waited, her heart thundering, for that inevitable insult.
Morgan felt the atmosphere shift as more people came to the doorway to see her. Sissy’s hand trembled on his arm but he refused to lead her into the sitting room. This was his house. He saw no reason to hide her away as if he was ashamed of her. Instead, he remained where he was and met Charlton’s gaze head on.
‘But I thought-’ Charlton murmured as if confused. He stared at Morgan then Sissy and then Morgan again until he seemed to come to some sort of decision. ‘Ah! I
get it now. Of course.’ He nodded, and then raked another assessing look down Sissy, as if sizing up the attributes of a horse at market. Pursing his lips he made no attempt to introduce himself. Instead, he returned to the library and headed straight over to the brandy decanter Morgan knew he had already half emptied.
‘Mariette, I think it is time for your guests to leave now,’ Morgan growled, glaring at Doralee who was elbowing Mariette as if trying to get her attention.
But Mariette was too busy staring hard at Sissy to notice. The malice in her eyes was enough to make Morgan relieved that Mariette was going off to Scotland. Hopefully, if she returned to the estate, she would be at least old enough to behave with a modicum of civility.
‘Excuse us,’ Morgan replied without bothering to introduce Sissy to the rest of them. Instead, he led her into the morning room.
‘Sir.’
Morgan sighed and turned to glare at his butler. ‘What is it, Boris?’
‘I have Simons here. There is an emergency,’ Boris replied.
Morgan glared at the butler but refrained from snarling at the man. ‘Tell him I will be there in a moment.’
‘It’s fine. You go,’ Sissy murmured with a brave smile she really didn’t feel.
Morgan nodded and led her into the room only to sigh in consternation when he found it empty. Rather than try to find Alicia and Norma, he turned to Sissy. ‘I am sorry about them,’ he said with a nod to the door and the guests who were all murmuring in the hallway.
‘There is nothing to apologise for,’ Sissy assured him with a smile. She wanted to cry but knew that with Mariette around it was the very last thing she should do. Showing that woman any kind of weakness would undoubtedly make Mariette worse. ‘You go on. I am sure my aunt is out in the garden with your mother. I will go and find them.’
Morgan nodded.
‘Sir,’ Boris prompted.
With a heavy sigh, Morgan bit back a curse and turned to leave. At the last moment, he slid a gentle finger down the soft silk of Sissy’s cheek. She didn’t move, or blink. Sissy merely stared at him as if she had never seen him before in her life. He sensed a distance between them. Had the farmer’s problem not been an emergency he would have sent the farmer on his way and dealt with Sissy’s upset there and then but he couldn’t.
‘I will be back soon,’ he promised before quietly taking his leave.
Closing the door behind him, Morgan paused for a moment. He wondered if he should leave her alone, especially with Mariette nearby, but seeing as she was busy with her friends doubted that she would bother to give Sissy a second thought. Shaking off his doubts, Morgan stalked toward his office at the back of the house to deal with the farmer’s emergency instead.
Sissy stared at the closed door. She had to work especially hard to keep her outwardly calm demeanour in place. She ambled over to the open French doors and stared outside. Her aunt and Alice were wandering around the rose garden again, deep in conversation. It didn’t seem right to go outside and interrupt them.
Besides, the last thing I want is to end up trailing behind them as if I am an accessory there as well.
In fact, over the last few moments she had received a stark warning that she truly didn’t belong in any part of the house. She didn’t belong in the dress she wore, the library with Mariette and Morgan’s friends, or out in the rose garden in conversation with her aunt and Alicia.
I don’t belong in the morning room either.
That much was evident in the fact that while Morgan had indeed told everyone that she was to be his future wife, he hadn’t gone so far as to introduce her to anyone other than the fop who had come to the library doorway first. It was as if Morgan hadn’t wanted to introduce her to the society he usually moved about in. Was that because he was embarrassed about being with her? If so, why had he told them that she was to be his wife? The more Sissy contemplated that the more she realised it was most probably because Morgan hadn’t wanted to give the guests the impression that he had been caught with his mistress in his house. That was deeply embarrassing. So much so, Sissy looked at the clock and wondered how long it would be before she could go home. She hoped that Norma and Alicia would be back soon. Then she could make her excuses and be on her way and put it all behind her for one day. All she had to do for now was wait and hope that whatever business had taken Morgan away would keep him away for now, at least until she had a chance to escape.
With nothing to do, Sissy ambled back to the tea things but truly didn’t want anything to eat or drink. Bored, she headed over to the shelves beside the fireplace and busied herself for several minutes reading the titles. At first, she didn’t realise that the door behind her had opened. It wasn’t until she heard a quiet click of it being closed, and whirled around to see what had caused it, that she realised she was no longer alone in the room.
It wasn’t Morgan, though. The new arrival was the young fop: Charlton.
Even from across the room she could smell brandy on his breath. He stared at her, but not spitefully. He raked her with a look that was assessing, but more leering than any she had ever received before. Sissy eyed the French doors beside her.
‘Well, he hid you away nicely, didn’t he?’ Charlton drawled, his words slurred, his stagger a little unsteady. He ambled over to her and slumped onto the chaise between them. ‘Come and sit down. I won’t bite you.’
‘I am fine, thank you,’ Sissy murmured politely, her heart racing with growing unease.
‘What’s wrong? Am I not good enough for you? I suppose when there is Morgan in the house you are kept busy enough,’ Charlton murmured.
