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“Forgive my rudeness, Mother,” he said, approaching the head of the table and leaning over to kiss her cheek. “I had not expected my business to take quite so long.”
“You will join us,” she said, clearly forgiving him.
He looked at me but tore his gaze away. “I am not dressed for it.”
“That hardly matters to us,” Felicity said.
“Come and eat,” James added. “You’ve been away too long, Ben. Surely you’ve missed Cook’s fowls.”
The smile tightened around his eyes, and he looked again at me and then away. Nodding, a slow, wide smile spread over his lips. “As you wish.”
James directed the footmen to bring another place setting and they set it beside me, undoubtedly making an attempt to maintain evenness as best they could. It would have been better to ask me to move over and put him between me and Felicity, but the Bradwells were not so formal unless it was a dinner party.
“Perhaps next to Henry is better—” James began.
Benedict answered that by pulling out his own chair and taking the seat beside me. “We are not children,” he said, though there was an odd bitterness in his tone. “We can sit through one dinner in perfect harmony.”
The eyes around the table looked to me. “Of course we can,” I added quickly. I could prove to them I knew how to act in public. I was only half the trouble, after all, and if Benedict was willing to attempt civility, I could do the same.
Lady Edith seemed pleased by this. “I was saying to Thea we ought to have Lord and Lady Claverley over for dinner next week.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Benedict hesitated only a moment before continuing. “I have just been to see them, actually. I think it would be better to wait.”
Lady Edith’s smile tightened. “What business did you have with your cousin?”
He took a moment to respond, and my fingers tightened around the fork in my hand. Had he gone to void me of the agreement? To keep to his promise? I looked at him and found him watching me. He tore his gaze away, but not before planting the seed of hope in my chest. “I think it would be better to discuss this later, Mother.”
Lady Edith no longer seemed pleased. Her mouth tightened, and her eyebrows knit together in concern. “I put a great deal of effort into forming an agreement with Lord Claverley, and even greater effort in concealing Thea’s recent disappearance so as to keep your cousin from quitting the agreement. There is much riding on his willingness to aid her in finding a match during the Season.”
“I do not see why. We are perfectly able to sponsor her, and Felicity would make a good chaperone.” Benedict looked to his sister-in-law. “You intend to go to London anyway to see your parents, do you not?”
“I do, and”—she took James’s hand on the table as though needing to touch him for support—“we would be happy to help in whatever way we can.”
“It’s settled then,” Benedict said, his wide smile impossible not to reciprocate in even the faintest of ways.
Lady Edith looked thunderous. “Nothingis settled.”
The room fell silent. I was certain my heart was beating louder than the longcase clock at the end of the room.
Benedict cleared his throat. “For Thea’s sake, I think this will be better discussed privately.”
“So long as you mean to include me in the conversation,” I said.
Lady Edith pressed her fingers to her temples. “There is no conversation to have. There is nothing to discuss.”
“Perhaps it is better for us to give you privacy,” James said, rising from his seat. He would certainly learn later of all that had transpired. I could not imagine this family kept many secrets from one another. But the kindness he showed me in not providing an audience for such an embarrassing conversation was greatly appreciated.
Felicity moved to follow her husband, but Benedict shot up from his chair. “If this must be discussed now, then we can leave. You stay and finish your meal.”
Lady Edith appeared to be in agreement and stood from her seat. I had not been invited to join their conversation, but as it centered on me, I felt I had a right to be part of it. I set my napkin on the table and rushed after them. We filed into the parlor and Benedict closed the door behind us.
“I do not like that you spoke to your cousin without consulting me, Ben. You do not know the whole of the situation, and you very well could have jeopardized everything.” Lady Edith paced to the fireplace before facing us. Nothing about her sleek coiffure was out of place, but she appeared disheveled still, somehow. “What shall we do if Lord Claverley refuses to sponsor her?”
“It hardly matters now,” I said, a little surprised by the ferocity of my godmother’s feelings. “I am not going with them to London.”
“Of course you are.”
“No—” I turned to Benedict. “Tell her.”
