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Kathleen tried another tack. “Sweetheart, do you really want to spend the entire winter in a musty old manor house? It’s bound to be dreadful. We’d probably hate each other by the end of it.”
“It’s only three months. I heard you talking to Papa.”
“You mean you were eavesdropping.”
“Papa said that if you stayed out of trouble for that long, then you could return to London.”
Kathleen had wangled an even bigger promise out of her father, of which Jeannie was unaware. After an embarrassingly frank discussion about her utter ineptitude on the marriage mart, they’d reached an agreement. If she willingly spent three months at Lochnagar, scandal-free, Papa would let her return to Ireland for a trial run at pursuing a quiet life at Greystone.
But he’d emphasized thestaying out of troublepart, or their gentleman’s agreement would be off.
“Jeannie, how do you think Helen would react if I were to whisk you off to Scotland?”
“All Mamma cares about are Cara and Richard, and getting them leg-shackled. I’m just in the way.”
Sadly, there was more than a nugget of truth in that assessment.
“But there’s your coming out in the spring to plan for. You don’t want to miss that,” Kathleen said with an encouraging smile.
“I don’t care,” Jeannie flatly said. “And I swear I’ll run away again if you make me go back. I know how to do it now.”
Kathleen’s heart lurched. “That would be a terribly foolish—not to mention dangerous—thing to do.”
“I think you don’t want me along because you’re afraid I’ll make trouble for you.”
When Jeannie suddenly looked down at her lap, her defiance crumpling as she blinked back tears, Kathleen wanted to cry, too.
You’ve made an epic mess of everything, Kath, old girl.
“No . . . nobody wants me,” her sister gulped. “And I don’t know what to do.”
Kathleen slid out of her chair and went down on her knees, pulling Jeannie into a tight embrace. “Darling, I love yousomuch, and I would happily keep you with me if I could.”
Gillian leaned forward. “Might I make a suggestion?”
Kathleen glanced over with relief. “Please.”
“Allow me to send an express post to my husband, explaining the situation. I’m sure he can speak with your parents and smooth things over.”
“B-but I still don’t want to go home,” Jeannie quavered. “Please don’t make me, Kath.”
“Kathleen, I suggest Jeanette come to Glasgow with us,” Gillian said. “It would be the best way to avoid scandal, for one thing, since Charles and your parents can put it about that she joined us at the last minute. Then she can return to London with me at the end of my visit.”
Jeannie turned a teary, pleading gaze on Kathleen. “Please say yes, Kath.Please. At least let me stay for a visit.”
Kathleen wavered, unsure whether Gillian’s solution made sense. Jeannie was a handful at the best of times. “Well . . .”
“You’ll have both meandLady Arnprior to look after Jeannie,” Gillian said, clearly reading her mind. “Vicky used to be a governess, and knows all about entertaining, er, active young ladies.”
Jeannie bounced in her chair. “I’ll be good as gold, I promise.”
Kathleen mentally rolled her eyes. “The duke would truly be willing to explain all this to our parents?”
Gillian twinkled at them. “I won’t give him a choice.”
Kathleen recognized the desperate eagerness in her sister’s expression. It was a need to be loved and accepted, to know she was truly wanted. She’d felt the same more times than she could count.
How in God’s name could she say no?
