The Lady's Second-Chance Suitor

by Scott, Regina

  “I suppose we do.” She settled herself and waited until he had done the same and the coach had set out before leaning forward. “Is she yours?”

  Hester? Most certainly not. Regrettably. Then he realized his sister was thinking of another pretty lady.

  “Rebecca?” he asked, hands braced on the bench. “No. I told you, Hester and I engaged in nothing more than kisses. But if I had had the courage to stay then, she might have been.”

  Some of what he was feeling must have shown on his face, for his sister reached across the coach to touch his hand. “Was it truly a lack of courage that drove you away from her?”

  He sighed. “I have asked myself that question a dozen times over the years. I was young and foolish. I didn’t understand the importance of commitment or dedication.”

  She looked at him askance. “Commitment. Dedication. Such big words, Brother.”

  “I can spell them too,” Rob teased her.

  “You should pursue her.”

  The statement rocked him back in his seat. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re still in mourning. I have much to learn about being a viscount let alone becoming a husband and father. And I’m not sure she’d want me.”

  “She wants you,” Elizabeth said.

  He shook his head, as if that would clear the thoughts swirling through it. “How can you possibly know? You’ve met her all of twice.”

  “And observed her both times,” Elizabeth told him. “At the assembly, you terrified her.”

  Rob snorted. “Well, that bodes nicely for a courtship.”

  “Of course it wouldn’t,” Elizabeth scolded. “But she rallied then, and she rallied today. And, when she thought no one noticed, she looked at you as if you were a lovely bit of buttered toast with jam and she hadn’t eaten in days.”

  “You must stop this conjecture,” Rob warned, heart thumping painfully in his chest at the thought of Hester looking at him with such longing. “You know nothing of what she feels.”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “If she is reticent, which would be perfectly understandable given the circumstances of your parting, you still have your charm. I’ve never known it to fail you yet.”

  It had rarely failed, but then it had never encountered a situation as important as this.

  “I don’t want to cause her any more pain,” he murmured. “She’s been through entirely enough.”

  “Oh, Rob.”

  The admiration in his sister’s voice made him raise his head. She was regarding him with a soft, commiserating smile.

  “This is the most interest I’ve seen you show in anything since the accident,” she said. “We both could use a diversion, and I think Mrs. Todd could use a friend. Think of this as your second chance to court her.”

  “And that went so well the first time,” Rob reminded her.

  She wrinkled her nose at his sarcasm. “This time will be different. This time you have me.”

  He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or leap out of the coach and run as fast as his legs could carry him.

  Chapter Four

  A thousand pounds! Hester knew many families who would not earn as much in five years’ time. As soon as Rob and his sister left, Mrs. Mance grabbed her hands and danced her around the room while the children laughed. Hester’s head was still spinning as she walked Rebecca home mid-afternoon at the end of the school day.

  Oh, what they might achieve with such funds. Heat for the winter. Supplies to teach the children sewing and elementary woodworking. Perhaps a school garden to tend. Rosemary and their uncle had seen them well-supplied in tomes on botany and animal husbandry, but new books on history and art would really round out the curriculum.

  She ought to accept such a gift with grace, but she couldn’t help wondering why he would make such an impressive donation. His family hadn’t shown any interest in civic concerns in either village before, even though they owned half the land in Grace-by-the-Sea and nearly all of Upper Grace. She could not convince herself this generosity stemmed from some guilt over the way she and Rob had parted.

  And if he thought he could buy her good will for a thousand pounds, he was very much mistaken.

  She glanced down at her daughter as they walked past the shops on the main street. Rebecca’s hand was firmly in hers, and she swung it as she glanced in the shop windows. Her daughter might only be six, but she’d proven rather observant in the past. Perhaps she’d noticed something that had eluded Hester.

  “What did you think of Lord Peverell and his sister, Rebecca?” she asked.

  Her daughter screwed up her little face as if thinking took much effort.

  “He’s tall,” she said at last. “And she’s pretty. She looks like Esmeralda.”

  Esmeralda was the latest favorite doll, with flaxen curls and wide eyes painted on her wooden head. She did resemble Rob’s sister a bit.

  “And why did you ask him about being a father?” Hester pressed.

  Rebecca hopped over a crack in the pavement. “I want a father. Everyone else has one.”

  “Not everyone,” Hester allowed as they turned onto the side street that led to her mother’s home. “Your uncle Lark, aunt Rosemary and I spent most of our growing up years without a father.”

  “I still want one,” Rebecca informed her. “So does Jimmy.”

  “Jimmy has a father,” Hester said. “He had to go to Portsmouth for work. He’ll be back before Christmas.”

  “Well, maybe mine can come back then too,” Rebecca said.

  Hester’s heart twisted in her chest. “Your father won’t be coming back. We’ve talked about this.”

  Rebecca sighed as if she remembered the conversation and still didn’t like it. “Then maybe Lord Peverell could be my father,” she said.

  Oh, no. Hester girded herself to explain why Rob Peverell could not be her daughter’s father, but Rebecca gave an extra tug on her hand. “Look, Mama! That’s Lady Miranda’s carriage.”

  The Earl of Howland’s coach was indeed standing in front of her mother’s home. Lacquered to a high sheen, with four perfectly conformed horses standing in the traces, the coach almost made the neat stone house look shabby. Hester hurried Rebecca inside, removed their cloaks and bonnets, and left them on the hall table. They found Rosemary, the earl, and his daughter, Lady Miranda, in the sitting room with Hester’s mother.

  The earl was a tall fellow whose chiseled features and fair coloring made him resemble his cousin, their magistrate. He’d always looked a bit melancholy to Hester, perhaps because of the death of his father earlier in the year. Today it was as if a candle had been lit inside him, glowing and warm.

  As Hester greeted him and her sister, Rebecca went straight to the other girl. “How is your crocodile?”

  “Very well,” Lady Miranda, who was a few years older, told her. “But we have something more important to tell you. Father is going to marry Miss Denby.”

  Hester stared at her sister. Pink spread over Rosemary’s cheeks as she beamed at the earl. He gazed back at her as if she were the sun come out at the end of winter. Hester had seldom seen a man look so besotted.

  “Oh, my dear, how delightful!” their mother cried, hands clasped before her butter-yellow gown. “I’d almost given up hope.” She enfolded Rosemary in a hug. The earl looked as if he were trying hard not to grin.

  Hester didn’t try to hide it. The news was simply too wonderful. As their mother stepped back, she moved in to hug her sister in turn.

  “I couldn’t be happier for you both,” she murmured against her sister’s hair. “This exceeds all my expectations.”

  “Then, perhaps,” Rosemary said as she disengaged, “your expectations are too low.”

  Hester tipped her head in wry acknowledgement, although her sister might not have made the claim if she’d seen Rob at the school today. Best to leave that discussion for another time.

  The next little while was all about the happy couple, and everyone was smiling by the time the trio left to announce their betrothal to the
earl’s family in Grace-by-the-Sea. Though some might say that five months after his father’s death was too soon to marry, it was clear there was no real reason to wait. Hester sent Rebecca up to the nursery, where Nurse Peters was waiting.

  “How very satisfying to have one of you settled,” their mother said, perching on the sofa with a happy sigh as Hester came back into the sitting room.

  Hester refused to wince. “I am happily settled as well, Mother. I have Rebecca and the school. My life is full.”

  Her mother cast her a doubtful look. For years she’d been pushing eligible bachelors at Hester—from squires to those who had risen through trade. The wedding might prove an excuse to double her efforts. And Hester didn’t want to think what would happen once her mother heard about Rob’s generosity to the school.

  Such a gift could not be kept quiet in the little village of Upper Grace. Before the school day ended on Wednesday, the rector, the parents, and even her mother had stopped by to marvel. Hester became accustomed to their wondering why, their suggestions on how to use the funds. She was just thankful the news of Rosemary and the earl’s betrothal overshadowed the donation at the assembly Wednesday evening.

  Grace-by-the-Sea hosted the weekly event in the rooms up the hill from the spa. Her sister-in-law, Jesslyn, served as hostess. Hester, Rosemary, and their mother hadn’t always attended, particularly when the weather was poor, but since her brother Lark had returned to the area this summer, her mother had insisted on going every week, even when her brother’s work as Riding Surveyor took him along the coast.

  “She’ll make a beautiful bride,” their mother commented as she and Hester sat along their usual stretch of wall. “See? Even Lord Peverell looks pleased for her.”

  Hester smiled in agreement, trying not to glance in Rob’s direction. She’d noticed him and his sister, standing with the spa set, as she and her mother had entered. Few looked so well in evening black. If her gaze kept straying in that direction, it was because of an appreciation for beauty. No different than what she felt when she gazed at a rosy sunset or viewed one of her friend Abigail’s landscape paintings.

  She purposely turned her back on him as the musicians tuned up for the opening dance. And there came her first partner, no doubt. Mr. Donner had arrived at the spa earlier this summer and stayed longer than anyone had expected. Tall, dapper, with brown hair, elegant sideburns, and a solid chin, he had persisted in requesting her hand and Rosemary’s at the assemblies.

  “Mrs. Todd,” he greeted her with a bow now, the silver buttons on his dove grey coat catching the light. “Might I hope to partner you this dance?”

  “Delighted, sir,” Hester said, taking his arm.

  She could feel her mother watching and willed her not to comment. Mr. Donner was not an eligible bachelor, to Hester’s mind. He had come from London, and he would return one day. She had no wish to be anywhere but here.

  He was, however, a reliable partner—always remembering the steps, always there to take her hand and lead her when the dance required. They finished the set, and he returned her to her seat. Rosemary slipped in behind him as he left, fanning herself with one gloved hand.

  “I never thought I’d be a seven day’s wonder,” she told Hester. “Nor have to plan a wedding so quickly. Drake is riding for a special license. We’re to be married on the twelfth.”

  “That’s only nine days away,” Hester realized. “Mother will have apoplexy.”

  “We can manage with Jesslyn’s help,” Rosemary assured her. She pressed something into Hester’s hand. “Here. I have a present for you in the meantime. You need them now more than I do.”

  Hester frowned down at the little pair of glasses on the black satin ribbon. “Why would I need your lorgnette? My eyes are fine.”

  “So are mine,” Rosemary informed her. “These aren’t for improving your vision. They are a highly effective shield to keep others from looking too closely.”

  Is that why her sister had used them all these years? The lorgnette had appeared in her sister’s hand shortly after Rosemary had begun helping catalogue their uncle’s collection. Hester had assumed the painstaking work had tired her sister’s eyes. Strange to think of her brave and clever sister needing a shield.

  As their mother returned to her seat as well with a nod to Rosemary, Hester draped the ribbon about her neck. The lorgnette felt odd hanging between her breasts, like a weight on her heart. It didn’t seem like much protection.

  “Pardon me, ladies.”

  That voice. Hester closed her eyes a moment before pasting on a smile and turning.

  Rob stood just beyond, polite smile on his own face. “Would you care to dance, Mrs. Todd?”

  Before she thought better of it, she grasped the lorgnette, lifted it to her eyes, and pinned him through the glass. He shifted on his feet, as if considering running.

  How very marvelous.

  “The last dance tired me,” she told him. “I had thought to sit this one out.”

  “But you are welcome to sit with us, my lord,” her mother put in.

  Rob promptly plunked himself down next to her mother and looked up at Hester expectantly.

  “Keep the lorgnette handy,” Rosemary murmured before taking herself off to join the earl.

  ~~~

  For a moment, Rob thought Hester would find another excuse to avoid him. Then she sighed and sank onto the chair next to his. He caught a hint of spice, like apple cider on a crisp autumn day, before she folded her hands in the lap of her cinnamon-colored gown and pointed her gaze out into the assembly room.

  “There’s Jesslyn,” her mother announced, rising. “I must speak to her. Will you save my seat, my lord?”

  “Assuredly,” Rob promised even as Hester stiffened anew. He draped an arm over the back of the chair.

  The music started. The couples began hopping about. Elizabeth had accepted the arm of a curly-haired fellow who seemed entirely too enthusiastic. Voices hummed all around him and Hester. Crystal chimed as someone must have touched glass to glass.

  “How was school today?” he asked.

  “Fine.”

  “I’ve asked my steward to put the money on deposit at Hazard’s bank in Upper Grace,” he explained. “You can draw on it whenever you like.”

  “Thank you.”

  Why was it so difficult to talk to her? Rob leaned back as far as the chair would allow. “An economy of words, I see. Impressive. What if I were to ask you about your daughter?”

  She eyed him. “She’s fine as well.”

  “Your mother?”

  “Fine.”

  “The tree outside your window?”

  She frowned. “What tree?”

  “The one I imagined you shinnied down to escape your tyrant of a merchant father.”

  Color flared in her cheeks. “I must beg your pardon, my lord. There is no tree in front of my bedchamber window. There are no merchants in my family. My father was a Riding Officer for the Excise Office, stationed in Kent. He was killed by smugglers when I was a girl. Rosemary and I found him in a bed of flowers of all things.”

  He could imagine it, the two girls, their father’s unseeing eyes. The shock would have been as great as learning of his family’s sudden death. He reached out and touched her hand, finding it stiff. “I’m so sorry. That had to have been terrible. Small wonder you made up a fictitious father.”

  She raised her chin, but she did not pull away. He tried to take comfort in that.

  “We came to live with my uncle, Flavius Montgomery. He had rules as to how a lady should behave, and, at times, I felt them too restrictive. Still, I should not have given you a false name.”

  “And I should have given you the correct one,” he acknowledged. “Like you, however, I discovered a certain liberty in pretending to be someone else. My father also had a set of rules I found hard to obey.”

  She dropped her gaze to where his hand remained on hers. “I understand your father, mother, and brother are gone, now. I’m ver
y sorry for your loss.”

  “As am I, more than I can say.” His throat tightened. “It was such a stupid accident. My father was christening a new pleasure craft on the Thames. The ship collided with another attempting to shoot the tide. Everyone aboard was lost.”

  She pulled away as her fingers leaped to her lips. “Oh, how horrid.”

  The blackness threatened. “It was. Elizabeth and I never expected to find ourselves in this position. We were the spoiled younger children, you see. We were supposed to be exempt from such things.”

  Her face was sad. “None of us is really exempt from sorrow, I fear.”

  How well she must know that. “Allow me to express my own condolences on the loss of your husband. He must have been an impressive fellow to capture your heart. A love match, I take it?”

  She lifted the lorgnette, and her gaze speared him through it, the blue-green of her eyes sharpened by the glass. “Why would you assume otherwise?”

  A dozen reasons came to mind, but she wouldn’t like any of them. “I try not to assume. Perhaps you’ve noticed the danger?”

  Too late he realized he had reminded her of the assumptions she’d made about him. He could almost see ice forming on the lens of the lorgnette.

  “Did you sit beside me with the goal of asking impertinent questions?” she challenged.

  “No,” Rob said. “Though I’ve always been told I’m rather good at them, so I’ll thank you not to impugn one of my few useful skills.”

  “And I’ll thank you not to trouble me again.” She stood, forcing him to his feet, then dropped her lorgnette and swept away from him.

  Nicely done, Rob. And you’re supposed to have a silver tongue.

  He rose and strolled in the opposite direction, trying not to look as disappointed as he felt. What had he expected, that a gift to the school and a few kind words would have her falling back into his arms? She had been, and still was, a diamond of the first water. If he wanted to restore himself in her good graces, he’d have to work harder.

  The curly-haired fellow deposited his sister back at Rob’s side after the dance had ended. She didn’t seem the least upset when he took himself off.