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“Not at all. You were remarkably prompt, in fact.” He gestured toward the door. “Shall we go?”
He was surprised to see the usually self assured young woman glance nervously toward her friend. Her step hesitated for the briefest moment before her chin rose and she stepped in front of him, walking briskly toward the front of the house and the footman waiting to open the door for them.
The first genuine smile he had seen from her that day finally graced her face as she quietly thanked the servant. Ash shook his head over the contrary nature of his companion and his own one-sided fascination with her. Perhaps he was the contrarian.
Watching her, though, reassured him that he wasn’t being foolish to find the young woman interesting. Interesting was actually far too lukewarm a word, not that he could think of another one as he watched her climb gracefully into his curricle while accepting very little assistance from him.
He had watched her at countless dances, balls, routs, and so on throughout the few years of their acquaintance. Ash was well aware that she could be gregarious and extroverted, laughing and talking easily with, it seemed, everyone but him. While it was possible that she was turned timid by an attraction to him, Ashford wasn’t so conceited to actually think that was the case. Her gaze, whenever she could be induced to actually meet his, was filled with, he thought, disdain, not admiration. He wondered if he ought to question her on it but didn’t want to actually put the girl to the blush on purpose. Finding out about the house party was perfect. He would bide his time until then. If he couldn’t get to the bottom of her reticence in such an environment, he would return to America to get her out of his head.
“Have you heard from any of your family recently?”
“Do you mean Rosabel?” Her sharply toned question made him long to search her face, but he had already set his team of horses into motion, so he had to keep his eyes on the late afternoon traffic.
“Not particularly her, but if you have news, I’d be happy to hear it.”
He saw her shrug from the corner of his eye while she turned her head away momentarily.
“All the family babies are doing well,” she finally answered. “That’s all anyone wants to talk about, it seems.”
“You don’t seem too excited about them,” he commented. Again, he sensed her shrug. She added a sigh to the mix.
“I am,” she insisted. “Bel is thrilled with her son and while I am not quite as convinced as she is that he is the smartest and prettiest baby ever born, I do think he’s lovely and cannot wait to meet the one on the way. I think they’ll be even more enjoyable and amusing once they’re out of nappies and able to have a conversation that involves more than bubbles and gurgles, but I can see why she’s so excited about her son and the babe on the way. Hilaria having two on the way causes us a little more concern than excitement just because the risks are greater, but I do look forward to meeting them once they arrive. And my baby brother is, of course, a joy and a relief to the entire family.”
“But?” he questioned her gently, prompting an abbreviated laugh from her.
“But it’s so strange to finally have the brother we all wished for now I’m already grown. It turns out, each of us had actually been wishing for an older brother.”
“I suppose older brothers have their uses but as someone with three of them, they aren’t always the greatest joy in life, either.”
This prompted a gratifyingly genuine-sounding laugh from his companion before she nodded. “I can’t say that I know from experience what you’re speaking about, but watching Wexford with his sister, I guess I can see what you mean.” She sighed again. “But I do wish I would actually be able to know him. It’s the strangest sensation to have a sibling join the household just as I’m trying to leave it.”
“Surely, you’ll always be able to visit.”
“A visit isn’t the same,” she persisted after a slightly frustrated sounding breath of air escaped her. “But perhaps, with a boy, it wouldn’t have been the same as with my sisters anyway. By a certain point he’ll surely be going away to school besides, and from what I understand, boys don’t always take too well to their little sisters trying to play with them. And can you imagine, the poor boy, if he had been the older brother we all wished for, having five little sisters? I suppose it would have been a trial for any youngster to bear. Then again, perhaps there wouldn’t have been five of us. I understand my mother was always trying for that elusive heir.”
“I’m certain your brother would be delighted with you whether you’re older or younger than him.”
It was as though she suddenly regretted having shared so many of her thoughts, as she suddenly blushed and turned her attention back to watching the scenery as it passed. Silence grew between them for a time.
“Anyhow, I understand from my younger sisters that both my parents are besotted with him and can barely allow him out of their sight. Felicity and Grace find it vastly amusing, but it makes me worry. I’m torn between the need to set up my own household and the desire to return home.”
Ash frowned, unsure how to respond to what she was suddenly sharing.
“Why does it worry you? Surely, all new parents are equally enthralled with their new arrival. Was your sister not the same?”
He saw her bite her lip, and her colour rose. Ash wasn’t sure what would have caused it. Perhaps embarrassment to be discussing something so personal, but he sensed that it was more like anger, which puzzled him. She quickly blinked it away and, although seemingly reluctantly, finally answered his question.
“I’m afraid my parents might be fearful they’re too old for a baby. And what if something were to happen to them before he’s grown?”
“I would think all parents, whatever their age, might have a bit of this fear. But your parents aren’t actually all that old, are they? While it might be a little irregular for them to be having an infant in the house at their stage in life with all of you grown already, didn’t they actually wed quite young?”
“You’re right. While my mother might not want me bandying about her age, she just turned forty-three, which isn’t a terribly old age, but producing a child at that age is understandably hard on a body. Father is a little older than her, but he hasn’t reached fifty yet. But still, by the time the boy is grown, they will be advancing in years.” She paused for a moment before adding, “But all that is just logic. Fears rarely listen to logical arguments.”
Ashford nodded even though she still wasn’t looking at him. “What do you suppose you could do if you were there, though? What good would be accomplished by your putting off your own future?”
“Well, for one thing, I could remind my father that he has trained both me and Hilaria well in the running of his properties. If the worst were to happen, either of us could surely ensure the boy knew what to do.”
“Did he really? Did you enjoy such an education?”
