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“It is my mother, the dowager,” he replied quietly.
Petal gasped and looked around for a way to escape but, unless she was going to jump out of the window, there was nowhere she could go.
“Quick, get me a blanket,” he whispered, motioning frantically toward the chaise beside them.
Petal shot to her feet and snatched the cover.
“I will bring you something to eat when they have gone,” she murmured as she tucked it around his legs.
Aidan didn’t appear to notice. His attention was focussed on the slight altercation at the door where Edwards was trying to back into the room burdened with a heavy tray full of tea-things. The dowager was trying to push past her to get into the room.
They are causing trouble even before they are in the room, he mused as he watched and waited to see who would win.
“I have to say that your servants in this house are shockingly inept, Aidan," his mother griped as she stalked into the room.
“What are you doing here, mother?” Aidan sighed dourly.
He watched the snooty young woman accompanying her glare around the chamber as though finding it too menial to accommodate her. His temper began to boil. Jerry had said that the dowager had promised to stay away for at least a week to allow him time to settle in. Why had she turned up so early? He had only been home a few days.
“It is highly inappropriate for you to be in here, and you know it,” he declared with a scowl.
“Oh, tosh. I am your mother. How can it be inappropriate?” the dowager demanded.
“Because I am not a child in the nursery anymore,” Aidan snapped. “I am a grown man; an eligible bachelor. It is not appropriate. How dare you stalk into my bedchamber like this?”
“Oh, don’t be so pompous,” the dowager said piously.
Aidan stared at her. If there was one person who was the epitome of pomposity, it was the dowager. To hear her accusing him of her primary fault just stoked his temper even further.
“It is not pompous to expect you to preserve my privacy. Get out!”
He directed this last aside to the companion, Theresa Hornsby, who had yet to do anything other than glare evilly at everything, and everyone. She didn’t seem to notice, however, because she was too busy running a gloved finger across the mantle to check for dust.
“Is there a problem?” Aidan demanded, his eyes daring the companion to raise an issue with the cleaning.
Miss Hornsby jumped when she realised his demand was meant for her. She glanced cautiously at the dowager, but remained silent.
Aidan turned his attention to the dowager. There had never been much love lost between mother and son. Both Jerry and Aidan had been raised by nannies rather than parents for the most part, and it had resulted in a distance that neither had been able to bridge. That showed in the lack of cordiality between them that lowered the temperature within the room to near freezing.
“Leave us,” the dowager snapped at Petal.
“Petal was just reading to me,” Aidan announced to nobody in particular, then cursed himself for his need to explain her presence in his room. Even though he had done it instinctively to protect Petal rather than keep his mother informed, it galled him that he had been forced to.
“That pie would be lovely,” he murmured gently to Petal.
In contrast to the menacing scowl, he landed on the dowager; he turned to Petal and issued her an almost loving smile that made the dowager freeze. She looked at Petal, a mixture of thoughtfulness and horror on her face.
“Petal? What on earth is Petal?” She glared around the room as though expecting one to pop up beside her.
Aidan knew it was a ruse, though. The dowager knew exactly who Petal was because he had been looking at her while he spoke. The dowager was waiting for him to explain her position in his house, but he didn’t oblige. Instead, he watched Petal bob and hurry toward the door without a backward look.
“Before you go,” the dowager called after her.
Petal froze and turned to look at the rather formidable woman whose dark attire was as black as the scowl on her face.
Dragging her stole off her shoulders, the dowager hung it limply from the hand she held out to one side.
“Take this,” she ordered without taking her eyes off Aidan.
