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“I suppose I shall not need to do so now, however,” Matthew continued, with a small shrug. “You have told me so much about Lord Fitzherbert that I shall need only to organize a quick introduction, and thereafter, tell Miss Williams precisely what you have said about him. That should push her away from him, do you not think?”
Lord Stevenson shrugged, his eyes a little distant as his gaze returned slowly to Lord Fitzherbert who was now rubbing the back of his head with one hand as he sat in the now-righted seat.
“Unless,” Matthew continued, feeling a little desperate given that he had not managed to get a single word from Lord Stevenson in the last few minutes. “Unless I encourage Miss Williams towards him so that she does not return to me.” He forced a rueful laugh to spring from his lips, only to have it pulled from him by the horrified expression on Lord Stevenson’s face as the man turned his head back sharply towards him.
“No, indeed not, Lord Watt!” Lord Stevenson exclaimed, with a good deal more fervor than Matthew had ever expected. “You cannot do such a cruel thing!”
Matthew blinked in surprise, all the more intrigued by the gentleman’s reaction.
“If you have any regard for Miss Williams, Lord Watt, then surely you would not want to push her into the arms of someone such as Lord Fitzherbert, particularly not after what I have told you about him,” Lord Stevenson continued, waving his arms about in a most agitated manner. “You cannot do that to a lady, especially if you consider her to be a close acquaintance.”
Matthew hid his surprise as best he could, tilting his head and pretending to consider what Lord Stevenson had said. There was such a great astonishment in his mind over Lord Stevenson’s reaction that he had to take a few moments to gather himself.
“We may not be very well acquainted, Lord Watt, but I did not think you a cruel fellow,” Lord Stevenson finished, when Matthew did not say anything. “He is not the sort of fellow to take a wife and be faithful to her.”
Matthew sighed heavily. “I see,” he muttered, shaking his head as though Lord Stevenson had brought him a good deal of trouble in insisting that he behave in such a way. “I suppose I am not cruel, no.”
“Good.” Lord Stevenson appeared, at the very least, to be satisfied with this, which, in turn, gave Matthew yet more to consider.
“I shall have the introduction to Lord Fitzherbert, and thereafter shall make it quite clear to Miss Williams that I consider him entirely unsuitable,” Matthew confirmed, as Lord Stevenson rested his head back against his chair, his features returning to the somewhat incongruous yet foreboding expression that had been there at the first. “And I shall have you to thank for it.”
Lord Stevenson studied Matthew for a moment, then sniffed, lifted one hand and snapped his fingers once. The footman was there in a moment.
“I can drink to that,” Lord Stevenson said, ordering two more glasses of brandy. “At least someone is taking my advice for once.”
“Indeed,” Matthew agreed pleasantly, his mind whirling furiously with a thousand different thoughts. Lord Stevenson’s remarks sparked a good many queries about the gentleman and what he meant by such a statement, on top of which Matthew also wanted to find out more about the relationship between Lord Stevenson and Lord Fitzherbert. There was so much yet unknown, but Matthew felt as though he had achieved a good deal already. With any luck, Lord Stevenson might allow Matthew to converse with him again very soon, and from that, Matthew prayed he would be able to deduce a little more about the man
. The progress he had made thus far was, he considered, quite good indeed given that Lord Stevenson had appeared so unwilling to speak to him initially, and Matthew knew he would have to play his part with the introduction to Lord Fitzherbert very carefully indeed if he was to keep his new acquaintance with Lord Stevenson secure.
“To good advice,” he said, accepting the glass of brandy from the footman and lifting it in a toast.
Lord Stevenson’s lips twisted, but he did not disagree. “To good advice,” he muttered, before lifting the glass to his mouth and taking a sip.
Chapter Nine
“You have a visitor, Miss Williams.”
Daisy looked up in surprise, only to see her sister’s face light up with an excited smile. “I do?” she said, as the butler handed her a card bearing the name of her visitor. She had not had any afternoon calls arranged today and certainly had no intention of going out to make any, despite her sister’s pleas to the contrary. “Oh. I see,” she stated as she glanced at the name on the card. Her stomach twisted this way and that as a sudden nervousness flooded her, making her heart quicken suddenly. “Then, of course, I will receive him.”
“Who is it, Daisy?” Susanna got to her feet and reached for the card, which Daisy, somewhat reluctantly, handed to her. She watched as Susanna read the name, only to see the smile fade from her sister’s face to be replaced with a small, flickering frown.
“Lord Watt?” Susanna asked, looking at Daisy carefully. “He was a gentleman with whom you had once formed a close attachment, had you not?”
Daisy nodded slowly. “I had, yes,” she admitted, knowing that she could not tell Susanna the truth as to why Lord Watt had come. “We recently became reacquainted.”
Her sister’s eyes narrowed. “And you think that he has come in order to further that reacquaintance?”
“I…” Daisy trailed off, wishing she had thought of something to say by way of explanation long before now. “If he has, then I will accept him.”
The way the frown lifted from Susanna’s face, only to be replaced with a wide, dazzling smile, was so unexpected that Daisy found herself thoroughly confused by her sister’s reaction. It was not until Susanna clasped her hands together and twirled about the room that she began to understand what her sister thought of this sudden reappearance of Lord Watt.
“He is unmarried still, is he not?” Susanna trilled, clasping her hands together. “And you are contented to see him again, it seems! Surely this might mean that one could hope that…” She trailed off, sitting down in a flurry of skirts and sighing heavily with evident delight burning in her eyes. “Then, of course, I will encourage this reunion all the more, Daisy!” Glancing at the butler, she waved a hand. “Have Lord Watt brought at once, and ensure a tray is sent for. Tea and cakes. He will want to stay for a short while, I am quite certain.”
Daisy shook her head. “You are being a little overeager, Susanna,” she said, trying to encourage her sister to consider things a little more carefully. “He is just come to call upon me, that is all. We have only greeted each other on occasion and not spoken at length. You must not think that—”
“But you are eager to see him again, are you not?” Susanna interrupted, clearly believing that this could return to the state of joy and contentment that had once been so very near to Daisy. “You are glad to know that he has called upon you.”
Daisy opened her mouth to protest but found that the words dried on her lips. She did not want to lie, it seemed, not even to herself. She did not want to pretend that she was not glad to know that Lord Watt had come to call on her, even if it was for reasons to do with their investigation as opposed to delight over seeing him in himself as her sister might think. She swallowed hard as Susanna laughed softly, feeling herself torn in two different directions. One part of her wanted to go back to the past, to remember all that she had felt and all that she had longed for, whilst the other part of her told her to forget all that had gone before and to try and find that lack of concern for him and for the state of her own heart that had been with her the last two years.
