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Chapter One
Lady Graciela Cecilia Serenity Sherton lay in the grass watching the clouds float by. She was trying quite studiously not to think of anything other than what the shapes put her in mind of. That one quite looked like a sheep. The other one resembled a waterfall. The next one reminded her of dancing with Lord Sterling at her sister’s ball.
With a huff of disgust, Grace sat up, bringing an end to her efforts at idyllic cloud gazing.
She couldn’t seem to go longer than a few hours without thoughts of the strange earl flitting through her mind. It was possibly because she had recently spent time with him at her sister’s wedding, but Gracie didn’t think that was it. Merely having been in proximity to someone shouldn’t make them stick so firmly in one’s thoughts. Or rather, such a thing had never happened to her before.
And she quite hoped it never happened again. It was unnerving having the gentleman forever taking up space in her mind. She hadn’t invited him to do so. Really, it was quite rude.
She grinned as she gained her feet, brushing from off her skirts the small twigs and grass particles that couldn’t help but accumulate when one takes to spending time on the ground. But really, how else was one to watch the clouds without getting a crick in her neck. Of course, if she had followed the counsel of her maid, she would have brought a blanket with her, but that had seemed like far too much trouble at the time.
Lady Graciela Sherton was the laziest creature of her acquaintance. Not that she was acquainted with all that many people, but each and every one of her four sisters was ambitious in some way or another. Rosabel, older than Grace by more than ten years, had been most anxious to wed. Now a duchess, she worked hard at raising her increasing number of children and helping her husband run his estate, especially while he was tied up with parliamentary matters. Hilaria, next to Bel in birth order and only a year younger, had been determined to marry a duke but had ended up delighted with her viscount. Her ambitions had been fierce, and she now spent all that energy on her husband’s career even while being heavily involved with the raising of their own small brood. Vicky, the youngest of the older sisters, but still older than Grace by seven years, hadn’t been ambitious in the same way. Instead, she had kept herself busy keeping the peace at home until she had ended up happily married to a lovely gentleman, who had charmed his way right into Vicky’s heart. The happy couple seemed to be ever traveling, dividing their time between various countries.
Grace shuddered at the very thought. If you asked her, they were quite unhinged to traipse about the globe in such a carefree fashion. Grace was well aware that her last sister Felicity would have been pea green with envy of Vigilia’s wanderings if not for her satisfaction with her own duke, who allowed her to pursue her thirst for knowledge without interruption.
Gracie was happy for them all, she truly was, but she had absolutely no intention of imitating any of them in the least. She would be quite content remaining at home on her father’s estate, slowly turning into a spinster. She didn’t even mind the word spinster. Grace quite liked the sounds that went into the word. Her only wish was that she could have it apply to her already. But seeing as she had only just turned nineteen, it was unlikely anyone would accept her as a spinster just yet. Surely though, everyone could see that it was in the family’s best interests for her to remain at home. With the baby viscount, Augustus, not even three years old, she ought to stay unwed just in case he was in want of care at some point.
It wasn’t even that she was opposed to the Season as Felicity had been. Grace just couldn’t see the point. She didn’t wish to wed. It wasn’t that she didn’t want a noble husband, or didn’t want a common husband, as some of her sisters had felt. She just didn’t have a particular use foranyhusband. She was perfectly content with life at Glendale. Since all the other girls had left and their mother was happily preoccupied with her toddling son, Lady Sherton had allowed Graciela to take over some of her duties. Not so many as to become onerous for Lady Grace, but enough that she felt sufficiently occupied and not in the least inclined to leave.
It didn’t even particularly bother Grace that this meant she was the laziest creature in the family. Someone needed to occupy that role. She grinned. Why on earth would she give up a perfectly comfortable existence for the sake of a man?
She had little experience in the matter, of course, having only recently gained a brother. But from what she could see of her brothers-in-law, there wasn’t that much to pull her toward the role of wife, especially not the wife of a member of the upper reaches of Society or a large landowner. Since she was fully cognizant of her laziness, she was also fully convinced that she wouldn’t care for being wed to a poor man, either. Remaining the comfortably pampered youngest daughter of the Earl of Sherton was exactly where she wished to remain.
So, why did that pesky Lord Sterling keep creeping into her mind at the most inopportune times? It was most disconcerting. And it wasn’t just happening while she was daydreaming.
Just that morning while visiting Mrs. Jenkins, Grace had been trying quite diligently to pay attention as the older woman had been explaining her latest ailment, slowly. Grace’s mind had drifted and before she knew it, all she could see in her mind’s eye was Lord Sterling’s amused smile as he had shared a joke with her at Felicity’s wedding. She was quite certain he would find Mrs. Jenkins’s description highly amusing.
In her imagination, Grace deliberately turned her back on Lord Sterling and his persistent appearances in her mind while offering Mrs. Jenkins an encouraging smile. It would not do to offend the poor woman. She was a dreadful gossip and would like nothing better than to tell the neighbourhood that one of the Sherton girls had been rude to her. When the older woman had finally slowed down in her recitation, Gracie had stepped into the conversation.
“I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been feeling poorly, my good woman. I am most certain our housekeeper has the perfect thing for that, as she is forever mixing different tinctures for all our ailments. Would you like me to bring you some tomorrow?”
“Oh, my dear Lady Graciela, that is so very kind of you,” Mrs. Jenkins had said. “I would never want to put you out so, but seeing as you are offering, I would certainly be appreciative.”
Gracie had done her best to hide her amusement, merely smiling and nodding at the other woman. “Of course. I’d be happy to bring it by. Tomorrow, then?”
The memory brought a sigh to Gracie’s lips. She had forgotten to speak to the housekeeper. She had best do that before she forgot again. With one last twitch of her skirts, she righted her appearance and headed back toward the house.
She was just entering the front entry when she encountered the housekeeper.
“Mrs. Williams, I was just on my way to find you. How fortuitous.”
The housekeeper looked a little sceptical about Grace’s word choice, but she smiled and nodded anyway. “Wasn’t that convenient, as I was looking for you.”
The servant’s words hardly registered so determined Grace was to stick to her own purpose, lest she forget.
“I called on Mrs. Jenkins today, and she is in dreadful need of one of your potions. I’m sorry that I committed you without asking, but I told her I would come by tomorrow with something to help her.”
“That’s no trouble at all, my dear. I’d be happy to help. Is it her arthritis acting up again?”
Grace wrinkled her nose. “I believe so, Mrs. Williams, but she had a great many ailments to discuss, so I’m not completely certain.”
The older woman smiled and nodded. “Leave it with me, my dear, and I’ll have something for you to deliver tomorrow first thing. Perhaps, we could mention your visit to Cook, and he can make up something for you to take as well.”
“Oh, thank you for mentioning that. I might not have thought of that on my own. I will speak to him right away,” Grace replied politely but inwardly groaned. She ought to have thought of that. If her mind hadn’t been in the clouds, she might have done so. She was about to hurry away when the housekeeper’s next words stopped her in her tracks.
“Oh, Lady Grace, before you run off, I was coming to fetch you, as you have a caller.”
Grace blinked and blushed, remembering that the housekeeper had mentioned she was seeking her out. Of course, she’d had a purpose for doing so.
