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“Have done what!?” Jemima asked, her voice abruptly loud.
“Calm yourself, love,” Noah pleaded across the room. “We were hardly completely appropriate before we were wed, were we?”
“They are not getting married yet,” Jemima said pointedly.
“We are not getting married at all,” Luke said, looking between Noah and Jemima in amazement that the conversation had turned this way.
“Do you wish to?” Noah’s question left Luke completely still, stunned and unable to answer the question.
“Do you?” Jemima asked, hurrying him on.
“No, I…I don’t know. I’ve never considered marriage.” Luke sat forward in his chair. “All I know is that I have never cared for anyone the way I do, Miss Storey, but I can do nothing about it, can I?”
“Why not?” Noah asked.
“Because any lady that is associated with me ends up with a tarnished reputation, do they not?” Luke looked between his brother-in-law and his sister, watching as neither of them made an effort to deny such a statement. “How could I do that to Miss Storey? Besides which…I do not think she would ever give me that chance. She said from the first night we met that she was impervious to me, that she wanted nothing to do with a rake.”
He thought back to that kiss and the way she had kissed him. It certainly felt as if she was willing to risk much for the chance of being with him, but would she ever want him past one night? Or was this just a brief indulgence for her?
“Why wouldn’t she consider a courtship, Luke?” Jemima asked, her voice gentle.
“Every event I see her at, she is on the arm of another.” Luke felt the jealousy ripple through him. “She is on the arm of Mr Knight, a respectable man, highly proper and appropriate, well respected, many things I am not.”
“These things are not the summary of a man, Luke,” Noah said quietly across the room.
“Yet they are the things that make a lady such as Miss Storey decide whether to marry or not, are they not?” Luke felt his despondency grow. “No, I do not think Miss Storey would ever consider courting me.”
“Perhaps there is something we could do,” Jemima murmured, sitting forward.
“You are more optimistic than I,” Luke said with a laugh, though he felt no real humour. He finished what was in his brandy glass and patted his sister’s hand beside him. “Thank you for your kindness, sister, but there is little anyone can do.”
“There is something we can do.” Noah stood to his feet. “Spend the night here with us. We’ll distract you to think of something else. In the meantime, give me that glass. It looks like it needs topping up.”
***
“Lady Shrewsbury has arrived, Miss Storey.” The butler’s announcement of their caller had Annie looking up in surprise from the tea table she had just set. With her mother out, she had requested the maid arrange tea for a visit from Peggy, but it seemed an unexpected visitor had arrived before Peggy could.
“Lady Shrewsbury!” Annie said, stepping forward and hurrying to curtsy as Lady Shrewsbury moved into the room. “What a surprise this is.”
“I hope you will forgive me coming uninvited, Miss Storey,” Lady Shrewsbury said with an eager smile. “I have come to speak to you in private, and I did not want to delay.”
“There is no need to apologise. It is lovely to have you here. Come, sit down. I am expecting my friend Peggy soon for tea, but it is the work of a moment to have another cup brought up.” Annie beckoned for Lady Shrewsbury to sit at the table prepared for tea at the end of the parlour. As she took her seat beside Lady Shrewsbury, it did not take long to notice the lady’s smile vanished.
Perhaps this is more than just a social call.
“Here, let me pour you some tea. How are you, my lady?” Annie asked, pouring the tea for the two of them.
“Well, but I could be better. I have a confession to make, Miss Storey.” Lady Shrewsbury turned a little in her chair, clearly eager to give Annie her full attention. “My brother arrived at my house last night, late indeed after the ball he had attended at Mr Knight’s house, and I can barely remember a time when I’ve seen him so sad.”
At these words, Annie slipped with the teapot, sloshing some of the tea on the table between them.
“I’m sorry.” Annie struggled for words as she reached forward for napkins. Lady Shrewsbury kindly helped her mop up the tea. “What upset him so?” Annie tried not to sound too eager to know the answer, though deep down, the prospect of Lord Yeatman being sad made her stomach knot.
“I believe it to be you.”
“What?” Annie nearly dropped the teapot entirely this time, prompting Lady Shrewsbury to smile and take the teapot from her.
“Allow me. You look as if you have had a shock.” She finished pouring out the tea for the two of them as she spoke.
