AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 19
Lady Balfour was more than pleased with just how well her plans were going. Her daughter, Bertha, had been quite pleased with the time she had spent at the theatre beside Lord Philip. That much was clear from how she laughed and smiled at everything the earl’s son said.
Even more exciting was how smitten Lord Lloyd Bessington appeared to be with her husband’s daughter. Though it was clear that Daisy Lockhart would take a little more convincing to truly get her out of the way, Lady Balfour was certain that if she tried hard enough and worked on the finer details, somehow she would manage to get everything she desired for her family.
The baron himself was quite easy to manipulate, a few words here, a gentle nudge there. Even Daisy appeared quite happy to go along with things, walking the gardens or even taking tea in the parlour with the nobleman whenever he called. But it wasn’t their actions that concerned Lady Balfour anymore.
No, it was Lord Philip that concerned her now. So far, the earl’s son had not been for another tutoring session, but Lady Balfour was well aware that it wouldn’t be much longer before he arrived to open up his medical books once more and fill Daisy’s head with further nonsense.
He may be very intelligent when it comes to medicine, but he is entirely clueless about what is good for him,Lady Balfour told herself as she removed herself from her bedroom window where she had been watching over the gardens.
Daisy and Lord Bessington were currently walking through the rose garden below her, accompanied by one of the maids and looking quite content as they walked arm in arm. All that was left to do was ensure that it remained that way, that Lord Philip would not come rushing in and spoil everything at the very last moment.
Dropping down onto her desk stool, she pulled out a piece of paper, a quill and some ink, and began to write. Having managed to intercept a few of her stepdaughter’s outgoing correspondence letters, she found it quite easy to forge Lady Daisy’s signature, sitting back to admire her handiwork for a moment before telling herself that she was doing what was best not only for her own daughter but for her husband’s too.
Though Lady Daisy Lockhart was willful and sometimes quite scornful, when she was older and wiser, Lady Balfour was certain she would thank her for all she had ever done for her.
It is my right as their mother to ensure that they both get what they deserve,Lady Balfour told herself, gritting her teeth against the small part of her that wondered whether she should go in a different direction. She would not allow anything to change her mind. She had waited long enough to see her own daughter married and truly happy; she would not wait a moment longer than she had to.
“Girl, have this sent directly to the Radcliffe residence and ensure that you keep a keen eye out for any correspondence coming in for Lady Daisy Lockhart,” Lady Balfour insisted to her maid, glaring at the young girl to ensure she knew the weight of the order. “Do not mention this to anyone. Do you hear me?”
The girl looked quite frightened, and even before she started to nod frantically, Lady Balfour was certain that her orders had been heard.
Chapter 20
When Philip received the first letter from Lady Daisy Lockhart requesting they cancel their tutoring session, he was disappointed. But as the letters continued to arrive, he became more and more distraught.
Each day he would awake with the hope that a letter would arrive in which the beautiful noblewoman invited him to join her for a tutoring session or even just a cup of tea, maybe even a walk in the meadow, but each day, if a letter came at all, he found that she was coming up with some excuse for him not to visit.
Is it because I was so kind to her sister at the theatre?Philip asked himself, pacing up and down his father’s library, trying to explain why the young lady’s mind might have changed so suddenly. Yet when he thought about it like that, Philip quickly decided he had to be wrong. Daisy was not the kind of woman to get jealous, especially not without speaking about it to him first.
She was a level-headed and mature woman with a good head on her shoulders and intelligence far beyond her years. And yet the letters declining his invitations to come for another tutoring session continued to arrive no matter how many letters he sent regarding such matters.
At first, he had merely tried to brush off his feelings, deciding it was best to give the lady what she wanted. But the more space he gave her, the more she seemed to push him away until finally he could take it no more.
I shall go and ask her for myself why she has suddenly declined even to see me,he decided, having paced one step too many. It would not be the first time he had arrived at the Lockhart residence unannounced to speak with her and remembering the last time and how well it had turned out, he couldn’t resist doing so again.
Wasting no time in waiting for a carriage, Philip grabbed his jacket from where it hung beside the front door of the townhouse and headed out of the front door, ignoring the questions called after him by his father’s butler, who wished to know what to tell the earl if he asked where he was going.
It was certain that if he stopped to answer such questions, he might lose his nerve and decide not to go at all. It had been more than a week since he had last responded to one of Lady Daisy’s letters. He was irritated at her failure to return his efforts.
She had not even offered a short explanation, and he found he was more than ready to receive one. If arriving unannounced and demanding an explanation face-to-face was what it took, then that was what he would do.
The walk from his father’s townhouse to Lord Balfour’s seemed far longer than usual, and he was quite out of breath when he arrived upon the porch. With one hand clutched to his chest, trying to suck air into his lungs, he used his other hand to knock loudly upon the door.
His stomach clenched tighter the longer he waited for an answer, and just when he was about to turn around and head back home, fearing that he might have missed them all somehow, the door finally opened to reveal the Lockharts’ butler.
“Lord Philip, forgive me for making you wait,” the butler gasped the moment he saw him, dropping down into a bow. “I was not aware that we were expecting you. Lady Daisy did not mention that you would be coming for a tutoring session.”
“I am not here for a tutoring session,” Philip said a little harshly before he quickly corrected his tone and added more calmly, “Though I am here to see Lady Daisy.”
The butler started to look abashed then, and he lowered his gaze once more, sucking in a deep breath before he explained to the earl’s son, “I am afraid Lady Daisy is not in residence at the moment.”
Philip’s stomach clenched further. He couldn’t help feeling as though there was something that the butler was refusing to tell him, something important about the young lady that he ought to know.
“And may I ask where she might be at this time?” Philip asked when the butler did not elaborate. He lifted his eyebrow, glaring at the elderly man, refusing to back down for as long as it took to get an answer.
“I am afraid that Lady Daisy is walking out with a Lord Lloyd Bessington,” the butler explained, and even as he spoke, Philip felt his stomach growing so painful that he struggled to stand still. Clenching his teeth and pursing his lips, he breathed deeply through his nose.
