by Brenda Hiatt
"I fear I am partly to blame, with my insistence on regarding your marriage as a love match, despite what you both told me. Perhaps if I hadn't extracted that promise from him last night—"
"Pray do not blame yourself, my dear," said Lord Rumble soothingly. "He likely would have gone anyway, as it's still the height of foxhunting season. When have you ever known him to stay at home during the month of December?"
Dina, however, felt sure it was not merely the lure of foxhunting that had spirited Thor away just now. That kiss last night, so much more passionate than either of them had expected— This must mean he regretted it, and had seized on this way of avoiding any awkwardness as a result. Her spirits, which had been so high upon awakening, plummeted through the floor.
"Did he say when he meant to return?" Lady Rumble asked Dina then —the very question Dina herself had meant to ask.
She shook her head. "I, ah, no. I don't recall that he did." Somehow, she could not bring herself to admit that he had not even told her he was leaving. It was too humiliating.
"No matter. He'll be home for the Christmas Eve ball, at the latest, and that is but a fortnight off. This will give you time to settle in here and meet the neighbors, and for Violet to take you round to an assembly or two." Lady Rumble spoke with rather forced cheerfulness, Dina thought.
For herself, she was finding it difficult to discover a bright side to Thor's absence. Last night, they had seemed to be making progress toward a real friendship, if not more. By the time he returned, they would be strangers again— which he apparently preferred.
"That sounds like fun," she forced herself to say, though in truth the prospect of being dragged round the neighborhood and introduced as Thor's new bride, facing the unspoken questions about why her husband had abandoned her so quickly, sounded quite the reverse.
She had promised Thor that she would not interfere in his usual pursuits, she reminded herself sternly. She had no call to be upset simply because he'd taken her at her word. Indeed, she thought drearily, she should consider it a compliment.
Though her appetite had fled, she picked at her food while Lady Rumble's chatter flowed over her, contributing only the occasional nod or murmur of agreement when her opinion was solicited. Lord Rumble soon left them, and a few minutes later, Violet arrived at the dining room.
"I see I am the last one down, as usual," she said brightly. "Or am I? Where is Grant?"
"Gone," her mother responded mournfully. Then, glancing at Dina, she smiled again. "But as I've been telling Dina, it is no matter, for we will contrive to keep her quite busy, between us."
Violet's gaze was sympathetic, almost pitying, Dina thought.
Defiantly, she lifted her chin and smiled. "Yes, Lady Rumble has been outlining all manner of plans for the next two weeks. I daresay I'll scarcely notice Th- Mr. Turpin's absence."
"I daresay you're right," Violet agreed, though her eyes searched Dina's face with disconcerting perceptiveness. "Still, I confess to a tiny bit of disappointment, for I looked forward to teasing him about that good-night kiss last night. Was it . . . romantic?"
"Violet," Lady Rumble remonstrated, but then looked curiously at Dina herself. "Was it, dear?"
Though she could feel a prickling in her cheeks, Dina did her best to appear calm and disinterested. "Not particularly," she lied. "We both regarded it as the mere fulfillment of a promise, I'm afraid, so it was rather perfunctory."
She now wished that had been true. Perhaps then Thor wouldn't have felt it necessary to leave.
Both mother and daughter seemed disappointed. "Ah, well. These things take time." Lady Rumble spoke philosophically —an attitude Dina wished she had evinced the day before. "Now, Violet, what think you of taking Dina for a fitting at Mrs. Hibble's once you've breakfasted? I'm sure she'd like a few new gowns for the assemblies."
It was with a sense of relief that Thor went up the front steps of Ivy Lodge. Once with his friends, he would no longer be alone with his thoughts —which had been unsettled in the extreme during the day's drive. The Seven Saints Club was just gathering for dinner when he walked into the parlor.
"Why, look, it's Thor," exclaimed Sir Charles Storm, better known to his intimates as Stormy, upon his entrance. "Wondered when you'd be back. You missed a fair run of the Quorn today."
Thor realized with a start that it had been exactly a week since he'd left to prevent Violet's marriage. It seemed a month or more, so much had happened since then.
"I must hope the Cottesmore tomorrow is at least as good, then," he replied.
The others came forward then with greetings and a few frank questions as to the reason for his absence. He glanced at Rush, who gave a quick shake of his head to indicate that he'd told them nothing. Just as well. To divert his thoughts from more disturbing matters, Thor had spent much of the day concocting a reasonable tale to account for both his sudden departure and his newly wedded state.
"I do apologize for leaving so abruptly last week," he began, "but a note from home forced a sudden change in my plans. You all recall, do you not, that I was engaged to marry Miss Moore, from Staffordshire?"
An outcry greeted these words, as he'd known it would, and he did his best to appear surprised and confused. "I could have sworn I told you," he said once their protests subsided.
"Shouldn't think we'd forget a thing like that," little Lord Killerby said accusingly. "All the times we talked about Anthony leaving the ranks of us confirmed bachelors, and you never said a word."
"Sorry, Killer, I never meant to be secretive, but I just never thought about it much. It was one of those longstanding arrangements —old family friends, you know —so I just assumed you all knew."
The viscount appeared somewhat mollified. "So what was in that note that necessitated you missing a week of the season? The weather's been unusually fine, too."
"I know." Not that the weather had been particularly fine up north, of course. "There was some concern that Miss Moore's brother was dipping into her funds, so the families thought it best if we go ahead and tie the knot before he could do more damage."
He'd decided it would be safest to stick as close to the truth as possible, at least when it came to those details that could easily be verified by anyone interested enough to do so.
"Then you're to be married right away?" Stormy exclaimed in horrified tones. "Sounds like a story cooked up by the girl's mother to keep you from slipping the noose, if you ask me."
"Her mother is dead —as is her father," Thor replied, effectively quenching his friend's indignation. "That's why the brother is a threat, being her guardian. As for the wedding, it's done. You see before you a married man."
He forced a grin, and in fact found himself rather enjoying their combined astonishment. Even Rush looked stunned.
"So, when do we get to meet the new Mrs. Turpin?" his erstwhile commander asked, his eyes sharp and curious.
"I, ah, you're all welcome to visit at Plumrose. My mother is throwing her usual Christmas Eve ball."
Thor hadn't considered his friends actually meeting Dina, though he supposed it was inevitable. If not in the Shires, they would surely see her in London after the first of the year. As most of them knew his usual taste in women, they would no doubt think his choice in a wife deuced odd. Perhaps he could convince them he and Dina had been betrothed in the cradle?
Probably not.
"Perhaps we'll take you up on that, at least for a day or two," Rush said, his expression telling Thor that he had no intention of waiting that long for an explanation. "But now, it appears dinner is ready. Shall we, gentlemen?"
It was a lively meal, the conversation, to Thor's relief, centering more on the day's run than on his own remarkable news. Not until the port was being passed did Killer bring it up again.
"M'mother will be sorry she missed your announcement, Thor," he said. "She only went back to Nottinghamshire two days ago. I've no doubt she'll return soon enough, though. Else I'd have to write her with the news."
"I notice you're hobbling around much better," Thor commented, as much to divert the subject as out of concern for his friend.
Killer had broken an ankle after a nasty fall from a horse some weeks since, and his mother, Lady Killerby, had briefly taken up residence at Ivy Lodge to nurse him— and to manage all their lives. He'd been rather relieved to discover her gone, truth be told, for next to Rush, she'd have been the most likely to see through his fiction about his marriage.
"When do you expect her back?" he asked then.
"She said something about Christmas at Wheatstone, because I'm not able to comfortably travel all the way home," Killer said, "but I suspect it has more to do with Sir George's inability to travel so far than my own."
Sir George Seaton of Wheatstone was a widowed local squire, wheelchair-bound after a hunting accident some years since. He and Lady Killerby had rekindled a prior friendship during her recent visit to Ivy Lodge.
"I've promised my parents —and my new bride, of course —to return to Plumrose before yuletide, but you can pass along my news to Lady Killerby, should I miss her." He was determined to do just that, as Killer's mother was too inquisitive by half.
Rush, however, deserved an explanation, and when they all left the dining room an hour or so later, Thor made no effort to avoid accompanying him out to the stables, ostensibly to take a look at Princess's litter.
"I confess I can come up with no likely scenario that would have you marrying to rescue your sister from a fortune hunter," Rush said without preamble as soon as they were out of earshot of the house. "Pray assuage my curiosity —or is it all a bam?"
"No, it's the simple truth— except for the part about Miss Moore having been an old family friend. I met her the very day we married."
Quickly, he filled Rush in on the essentials of the past week, concluding with his mother's delight at the match.
"So you needed to get away from such maternal exultation for a bit, did you?" Rush grinned. "I'm glad Miss Moore was able to delay Miss Turpin's marriage to Plunkett until you arrived. Your sister's too much the innocent to be left in the hands of such a man."
Dina was too much an innocent as well, Thor thought, remembering that kiss last night. Surely he'd done the right thing by preventing her marrying Plunkett. He shuddered to think what might have happened had he been an hour later arriving at Gretna Green.
"I'm still a bit unclear on why you felt it necessary to marry Miss Moore, however," Rush continued. "Very gallant, of course, and it's true she'd done your sister a great favor, but still, it's quite a step."
Thor nodded. "I know, but no other solution presented itself. She did promise not to interfere in my life, so that marriage would be as small a burden as possible."
"Not interfere?" Rush laughed aloud. "That's rich. I've never in my life heard of a wife not interfering in her husband's life. You can't think she meant it?"
"Actually, I believe she did." He wasn't certain she still felt the same, but he had no real doubt she'd meant the words when she'd said them. "She even promised that I could keep any mistresses I had," he said with a grin. "Pity I don't have one at the moment."
Rush's eyes widened. "The devil, you say. I know men who'd kill for that kind of permission from their wives, sparing them all the trouble and expense of sneaking about. You should hold her to that one, Thor. It's not as though she knows you haven't a current mistress —does she?"
"No, of course not. She didn't ask and I didn't offer."
"There you go, then. Unless Miss Moore —Mrs. Turpin, I should say—has charms enough of her own to make a mistress irrelevant?"
Thor shrugged with careful nonchalance. "She's well enough, but not in my usual style. Besides, we scarcely know each other."
He would give his friend's suggestion some thought. Perhaps if he had some strapping woman on the side to slake his passions, Dina would be safe from him. Odd how important Dina's safety had become to him in only a week.
"Let's take a quick peep at the pups, then head back to the house," Rush suggested. "Though if there are any more details you'd care to share, I'm all ears."
"Nothing of any importance."
Thor hurried over to Princess's box to check on the litter —the overriding concern in his life a mere week ago. The pups had grown noticeably already, beginning to look a bit more like dogs and a bit less like rats. Princess thumped her tail when he spoke to her, and he bent down to pat her head.
"Sorry to disappear on you like that, old girl, but I'm here for the next two weeks, at least. Maybe you'd like to come to Plumrose with me for Christmas, with your brood? My sister would love to see them."
It was not Violet he was thinking of, however, but Dina.
Yes, he definitely needed a mistress —or something —to take his mind off of her. Tomorrow's hunt should do the trick.
"I vow, Dina, Grant will scarcely know you when he returns," Violet exclaimed, her hands clasped before her in a rapturous pose. "What a difference that hairstyle makes. And in a few days your new gowns will be ready, as well."
Dina turned from her sister-in-law to the mirror the coiffeuse held up for her inspection and nodded her agreement. Certainly, the new style became her, her unruly red curls thinned and tamed so that they framed her face and trailed down her back, rather than springing wildly in all directions.
She had insisted on keeping much of the length, so that she would still be able to pull it back with a ribbon or twist it up into a bun when she exercised —not that she'd explained her reasoning to Violet or the coiffeuse, of course. Still, the change was remarkable.
"Have you something suitable to wear to tonight's assembly?" Violet asked then. Just as she'd said she would, Violet had managed to wheedle her mother out of her punishment so that she could introduce Dina to all of her friends. "Or would you like to borrow something of mine?"
Dina had to laugh. "Anything of yours would be almost a foot too long for me. I'm sure I can manage with something of my own. My lilac silk, perhaps, if I add some fresh trim?"
"Oh, yes, that would do nicely, the color is so scrumptious," Violet agreed. "Let's go to Tesseyman's to see what pipings and laces they have."
They thanked the coiffeuse again, then headed down the street to the dry goods store. As they passed the quaint shops on Alford's main street, Dina wondered whether Violet was right, that Thor would notice a change in her upon his return. And when would he return? He'd been gone nearly a week now, and she found herself missing him far more than she'd have expected.
Not a good sign.
Between them, Violet and Lady Rumble had kept her fairly busy, what with shopping expeditions and tours of Plumrose and its grounds. She had been delighted to discover that the house boasted both a gymnasium and a small indoor swimming pool, both put in by Lord Rumble's father, who had apparently been as much a physical fitness enthusiast as Dina herself. Not that she'd had opportunity to use either one as of yet.
"This will do nicely, don't you think?" Violet held up a length of purple piping. "Sewn into the high waist and about the sleeves, it will quite bring your old lilac into fashion."
Dina agreed with her choice, and after selecting a few pairs of gloves and stockings, they were ready to head back to Plumrose for a late luncheon.
"I vow, I can scarcely wait to see everyone's faces when I introduce you as Grant's wife at the assembly tonight," Violet said as the carriage bore them homeward. "Missy Fiskerton has been so certain this past year that he would offer for her. What a mercy he married you instead, for I should have hated having her as a sister."
"Did he, er, give her reason to think he would offer?" Dina hadn't considered any other marital prospects Thor might have had when she demanded he marry her.
Violet shrugged. "Not really, though both her mother and mine have persisted in throwing her at his head. He danced with her twice the last time he was at home, and paid her a compliment or two, but he did the same with two or three others. Come to think on it, Rose Nesbit menti
oned something about expecting his addresses as well. Honestly, these country girls will get their hopes up for the slightest of reasons."
Dina tried to hide her amusement. "Do you not consider yourself a country girl?"
"In the strictest sense, I suppose I am, but I've had part of a Season in Town, which gives me a different persepective," she answered with a lofty air that made Dina chuckle in spite of herself.
After one startled glance, Violet joined in her laughter. "That did sound rather snobbish, didn't it? I'm sorry. There is nothing wrong with being a country girl, of course, so pray don't take offense at my foolishness."
Dina was able to assure her that she was not offended in the least. Indeed, it was nearly impossible for Violet to give offense, with her eager, open air. "What shall we do after luncheon?" she asked then.
"I'd thought I might go for a ride before changing for this evening. You are welcome to join me, of course. I'm certain we can find a good mount for you."
Riding was one exercise Dina had never had much opportunity to pursue. Though she hoped to remedy that lack eventually, she asked, "Is it possible to swim this time of year? I confess I've been longing to ever since you showed me that lovely pool."
"Oh, yes. Did I not tell you? The pool is built upon a natural hot spring —the reason my great-grandfather purchased this land, actually. He apparently had hopes of building a resort to rival Bath, though of course that never materialized."
"Indeed?" This was news to Dina.
"Yes, he was quite the entrepreneur, I take it, but when he was made Baron, he gave up all association with trade and turned his energies toward building the house instead. Then my grandfather, as I think I mentioned, extended the house over the hot spring, incorporating it into a pool, and added the gymnasium.
"Now I think on it, I believe I'll join you for a swim, for it's been quite a long time since I've done so. I hope my bathing costume still fits me. Have you one of your own?"
