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Chapter 16
Wednesday afternoon, Lord Kerridge calledupon Louisa, as he’d promised he would. Louisa was in the drawing room with Mama when he arrived, so he was invited to join them there. Wednesday wasn’t one of Mama’s receiving days, so they’d had no previous callers all afternoon. It had been a blessedly quiet afternoon thus far, and Louisa had been grateful for it. Mama had done needlework while Louisa had read. They’d occasionally chatted but then had fallen into comfortable times of silence.
“Lord Kerridge, how kind of you to call,” Mama said. “What a welcome diversion you are! Louisa and I have been sitting around all day like a pair of lazy cats. Please have a seat and join us.”
“Thank you, Lady Ashworth. I would like nothing better.”
Lord Kerridge’s arrival was not a welcome diversion, as far as Louisa was concerned.
“How is Aylesham?” Mama asked him, setting her needlework aside. “I haven’t seen him about much this Season. Is he well?”
“Quite well, Lady Ashworth, considering his age. Great-Uncle Aylesham spends most of his time at the House of Lords during the Season, pestering everyone there to agree with him politically. When he’s at home, he’s pestering me—but only in the best of ways.” Lord Kerridge smiled at his little jest.
Mama chuckled. “I can envision him in just such a manner. What a dear man he is, the rogue; I always enjoy his company. You will be sure to tell him hello for me and that I look forward to seeing him again soon.”
“I certainly shall,” he said. He cleared his throat, and Louisa held her breath. “If your ladyship doesn’t mind, I wonder if I might be so bold as to invite Lady Louisa for a ride in my phaeton to Hyde Park. It would be a shame to waste such fine weather.”
“I do not mind at all; I am content to do my needlework, and Ashworth will be joining me shortly,” Mama said.
He stood and extended his hand to Louisa, intent on assisting her to her feet. He hadn’t even asked her if she wished to ride in his phaeton or go to Hyde Park where all and sundry would be out walking and riding and seeing and being seen. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be seen in Lord Kerridge’s company so soon after . . .
So soon after William had torn up the vowel and told her she was free.
Louisa didn’t feel particularly free at the moment.
She allowed him to assist her to her feet, all the same. “I think I should prefer to stay here, if you don’t mind, Lord Kerridge,” she said. “Perhaps a walk in the garden instead.” She didn’t ask him but intentionally phrased it as a statement.
“Very well.” He strode to the door and opened it for her. “Good afternoon, then, Lady Ashworth.”
Mama nodded her farewell to the earl and picked up her needlework.
When the two of them were in the corridor and alone, Lord Kerridge suggested once again that they go for a ride in his phaeton. “The ponies are quite new; handsome creatures, they are, and longing for a bit of exercise. They would relish a turn about the park. What do you say?”
“I say thank you, but I would prefer not to go to Hyde Park today.”
He looked puzzled. “If that is your wish. I must confess that I do not understand. Come, then; we will walk in the garden.”
They were silent until they reached the garden, and Louisa was sufficiently satisfied that no servants were nearby to eavesdrop. She had things she needed to say to Lord Kerridge, and they needed to be said in private.
Eventually, they ended up in the rose garden, near the bench where William had agreed to give her the three weeks needed to read banns rather than use the special license he’d procured.
He could have forced the issue. He could have demanded they marry using the special license. She would be a married woman by now if he had, and he would have his marriage settlements and the income they would have provided. But he had relented and given her those weeks. He’d known it was a risk to do so—she knew him well enough now to know that he understood wagering and the odds involved.
“You seem far away at the moment,” Lord Kerridge said.
She sat on the bench, and Lord Kerridge sat next to her. “Jane Purnell is not William’s mistress,” she said. She didn’t explain who Jane Purnell was; Lord Kerridge was intelligent enough to figure it out for himself.
“She’s not? I’m glad to hear it.”
“Are you?”
“Of course I am. It is one less thing to explain away when the dust settles. I am a fairly patient man, Lady Louisa, as I’m sure you’ve discovered by now. I have not pressed you for an answer to my proposal, you know. Most gentlemen of my rank and position would be more demanding.”
“Thank you, Lord Kerridge,” she said. “I believe I am prepared to answer you now.”
He smiled, obviously fully expecting an answer in the affirmative.
“I am aware of the great honor you previously bestowed upon me and extended to me again,” she said, “and I thank you most sincerely for it—but I’m afraid I must respectfully refuse.”
