AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course, but she is also well connected and has many important friends in the Ton,” she sipped her tea. “Not to mention she is beautiful.”
Simon snorted. His mother was right; Lady Henrietta Terrell was indeed beautiful. She was classically lovely in a way that men fawned over, with flaxen-blonde hair and doe-blue eyes, but it was nothing that appealed to Simon. He had always been drawn to more striking women than simpering ones, and Lady Henrietta’s attempts to flirt with him had always seemed girlish and endlessly boring.
“Beauty is not everything,” Simon said. “You know she is a hideous gossip.”
“Oh, that!” His mother dismissed his words with a flap of her hands. “It is the foible of a younger woman. She will grow out of it when she has her own children to worry over and something important to talk about. Like raising a young earl, for instance.”
Simon couldn’t deny his mother’s endless insistence. She was persistent to a fault, and he could see how she truly believed that she was honouring his father’s memory by trying to get him married at whatever cost, but it was unsettling that his mother could not see the faults of Lady Henrietta.
His mother didn’t realise that men talked too. Simon had known the Lady Henrietta’s late husband, Lord Terrell, and he had often complained that his wife was uninterested in domestic life, preferring balls and city gatherings over time at home with him, and free-spending with his money. These were not the qualities that Simon would ever want in a wife, but it was hardly prudent to tell his mother this. The best thing to do was to let her think what she wanted, and then quietly let Lady Henrietta down on his own time.
“Well, the ball sounds like it will be lovely,” he said, “I am looking forward to it.”
Simon was slightly ashamed to see how his mother’s eyes lit up with the possibility that he would consider Lady Henrietta, but was grateful for the fact that she settled back in her chair, clearly comforted and pleased with herself. Simon sighed inwardly, knowing deep down that Stella was the only woman for him. It would take a rare lady to divert his affections, and he doubted such a woman would be found at his friend’s ball.
Chapter Two
“Marion, where is Edward’s stocking?”
“It’s here, Ellie!”
Marion Laurie held up the infant’s small blue stocking as her best friend, Eleanor Reynolds, Countess of Brixton looked around at her with a harassed expression.
“How did it get over there?” Eleanor snatched it up, trying to wrestle the stocking back onto the foot of the next Earl of Brixton whilst his brother, Jason, squalled and wriggled beside him.
“God save me, why did I marry a man with twins in the family?” Eleanor muttered, quickly handing baby Edward over to Marion who took him, clucking gently and bouncing the baby softly.
“Because you loved him.” Marion laughed, smiling at her friend’s grumpiness. Though Eleanor grumbled about the twins, Marion knew that she was besotted with her boys and already hoping for more.
“Still, what possessed me to hold a ball for them?” Eleanor exclaimed. “They shall be asleep!”
“Because Nathan desired to do it for you,” Marion reminded her friend gently. “And he loves you and wants to give you a lovely treat.”
“But it is so much to organise,” Eleanor groaned. “And you know I’ve never had the head for such things!”
“Which is why it is all in hand,” Marion laughed, stepping forward and kissing Eleanor’s cheek. Marion had a list four pages long in her diary concerning the ball tomorrow evening, and she had been working with Nathan on making it special and superb for their Eleanor.
“All you have to do is take care of your boys and make a grand entrance,” Marion assured her. Eleanor squeezed her hand tightly.
“Yes, well, I couldn’t do even that without you.”
Eleanor flashed her best friend a quick smile, and then lowered her freshly dressed son into the bassinet. The truth was that although Eleanor and her husband Nathan could easily have afforded the best nursemaids and governesses, Eleanor would only trust Marion with her children. Marion was proud to be so highly thought of.
“You do that so well,” Eleanor sighed, watching as the determined, grumpy baby Edward, named for his imitable grandfather, began to blink sleepily in Marion’s arms.
“Well,Mamantaught me everything she knew about babies,” Marion winked at Eleanor. “So you’re in luck!”
“I wish she were here now!” Eleanor looked wistfully at her sons. “What would she think?”
Marion’s mother had been Eleanor’s own governess and as good as a second mother to Eleanor. The two girls had been raised together, even if Eleanor had been raised for a good marriage and high society while Marion had been prepared for a future of companionship and servitude. When her mother had died, Marion had grieved and so had Eleanor, since she had loved Marion’s mother like she was her own.
It had been a blessing for Marion to have someone else to share that pain with, and now she could smile bravely, and say to her best friend, mistress and heart-sister, “She would think you were doing a very fine job, Ellie. She would be very proud, and a little jealous.”
“Jealous?” Eleanor laughed, shaken out of her wistful thoughts as she smiled at Marion.
“Oh yes,” Marion smiled as she rocked Edward. “Mamanwould have loved to see these raucous little boys! How much fun she would have had!”
“Oh, she would have kept them on their toes.” Eleanor laughed. “Do you remember how she used to surprise us in lessons, bringing in grasshoppers and adder snakes to teach us about nature, and we would climb on our chairs and squeal!”
