“I must apologize, my lady,” she said, her eyes downcast. “I told the lord you had left.”
“You could not have known,” Rosalind assured her. “All is well now.”
“Oh, my lady, you look a fright!” she said, then clapped a hand over her mouth as she realized what she had said. “That is — I mean —”
Rosalind gave a soft laugh. “Not to worry, Patty, I know how I must look. Thank you for helping me.”
“Of course,” the girl said with a nod before reaching behind her to help her out of her dress. “Unfortunately we canno’ bring you a bath without attracting much attention, but we’ll wash you up as best we can.”
“Thank you Patty, I appreciate it,” said Rosalind with a smile as the girl helped her wash and change.
“If that will be all, my lady?” Patty asked and turned to go.
“One other thing,” Rosalind said, holding up a finger. “Can you have Cook prepare something for Lord Southam?”
She proceeded to outline what she could remember from her nursemaid’s concoction, and while the girl looked slightly puzzled, she agreed with a nod and slipped out of the room.
Now, thought Rosalind, she just had to wait.
After speaking with Roberts and his steward, directing them as to where to find Templeton, William cleaned himself up best he could and took a long drink of brandy before joining his guests in the drawing room. After the hunt, many of the men had deeply entrenched themselves in card games while the women were in the drawing room or the conservatory as they did whatever it was women did to while away the time. William would have liked more time to himself to try to recover from his pounding head, but he couldn’t afford to miss his window of opportunity.
He found the person he was looking for in the conservatory, and he breathed a sigh of relief that his plan would hopefully fall into place. It was a bit wicked, he had to admit, but it was nothing short of what was deserved and would ensure the happiness of the person he loved more than any.
“Lady Diana,” he said, greeting the woman where she sat with her mother in the drawing room. “May I speak with you a moment?”
“Of course,” she said with a smile, and rose to follow him. He walked her out of the room to the conservatory, strategically positioning them on one side of a large statue.
“Lady Diana,” he began. He felt slightly boorish for having this conversation with her to so conveniently suit his agenda, but at the same time he would have to speak with her either way. Everything he said to her would be the truth. “Over this past weekend, it has not been lost on me that many, including our own mothers, would like to see us matched with one another.”
“I would agree that would be the case, Lord Southam,” she said with a bit of a laugh. “Your mother in particular.”
“Yes,” he said ruefully. “She is not particularly tactful. I should have spoken to you of this some time ago. The truth is, Lady Diana, that while you are a delightful young woman who I do enjoy spending time with, my heart has been otherwise engaged. I am not sure if the lady will have me, but I must do what I can to make it work with her.”
She nodded, a knowing smile on her lips. “I understand, Lord Southam, and I cannot say that I have been completely oblivious to your affections. I have enjoyed my time here, however, and have found all to be quite pleasant company.”
“I am glad to hear so,” he said. “I value your friendship and appreciate your presence.”
“I do appreciate your straightforwardness,” she said with a smile. “Most men would not be so truthful, and I must say it is refreshing.”
“Thank you,” he said, feeling relief flood through him that she would hold no ill will toward him. “I wish you the best in your pursuit of happiness.”
“And I you, Lord Southam,” she said. “Oh, and best of luck with your mother. I feel you will need it.”
He laughed at that. “I feel you are right.”
As she walked away, William didn’t let himself become too satisfied with himself. The first part of his plan had worked. But there were pieces that had yet to fall into place.
25
William did a bit of a turn about the conservatory, and as he returned to the location of his original discussion, he pretended to be shocked when he came upon Lady Hester and Lady Frances on the other side of the statue.
“Oh, Lady Hester!” he said, hoping he was able to properly conjure surprise on his face. “You are just the person I was looking for.”
“Me, my lord? Oh, how lovely,” she said with a bit of a catlike smile and a knowing look at Lady Frances.
“Might I have a moment?” he asked, inclining his head toward her.
“Of course,” she said as Lady Frances rose and gracefully walked away.
“Lady Hester, I know we have not had ample opportunity to come to know one another well,” he began, and she smiled, placing a hand on his arm.
“Do not worry yourself about it, my lord,” she said. “You have been the host of this party and therefore your attentions have been engaged elsewhere.”
“That is true,” he said. “As you may know, I have been urged to court another young woman. I have found, however, that I cannot control what — or who — my heart longs for.”
His conversation with Lady Hester would not be quite as truthful as that with Lady Diana.
Her eyes narrowed. “I have seen your private conversations with Lady Templeton.”
“Lady Templeton?” he repeated, as if the thought had not occurred to him. “We are old friends, through the Duchess of Breckenridge.”
“Ah, I heard that to be the case,” she said, cautiously. “How well are you currently acquainted with the Duchess?”
“We were friends as children, but I have not spoken with her in ages,” he said waving a hand, to which Lady Hester seemed relieved to hear. William knew the woman had tried to come between Olivia and her duke, and he imagined Lady Hester rather hoped he didn’t know the details of the situation.
“So the woman you are so enamored with…” she began, and William smiled. Good. She had heard his conversation with Lady Diana, as he had planned.
“I must not speak of it here,” he said, looking around him furtively. “Perhaps — would you meet me in the woods shortly? Just on the edge of the woodland, past the creek — do you know where I mean?”
“I do, my lord,” she said, a sly grin crossing her face. She leaned toward him, purposefully showing him an ample amount of cleavage. “I shall see you shortly. Allow me to leave first.”
“Absolutely,” he said with a nod. As he watched her leave, he crossed the room to the servant’s galley. “Roberts,” he said to the man waiting. “It’s time.”
“Very good, my lord,” said the man. “Also, Cook has prepared something for you, according to the wishes of Lady Templeton.”
“Oh?” He asked, curious as he stepped into the room.
His man brought him over a tincture, “It smells rather strongly, my lord, would you like me to apply it as directed?”
“Might as well try, Roberts,” he said, and the man used a handkerchief to apply it to his forehead and the back of his neck. William had to admit the smell wasn’t altogether vile, and even on first sniff, it seemed to relax him somewhat.
“Thank you, Roberts,” he said. “Now, on with it, man!”
“Very well,” said Roberts, and quickly walked out the door to follow through with his portion of the plan.
“Ladies, gentlemen,” William called out to gather the attention of his guests who were located in the adjoining rooms. They were not all present, some taking the time to prepare for the evening meal, the final one of the party, but there were still enough people to serve his purpose. “It is such a lovely afternoon. Might we take our refreshments outdoors and enjoy the fresh air?”
He saw a few quizzical looks, but Merryweather clapped his hands and told him what a fine idea it was, and the group followed him out the doors of the conservatory to the gardens beyond.
William was pleased to see the parents of Lady Hester were following him, although they looked curious as to where their daughter may be.
They exited the house and gathered in the gardens, which were beginning to look slightly more manicured under William’s attention while still maintaining the natural charm. William tried to remain at ease, and he did have to admit that his headache was somewhat subsiding, a fact that shocked him, as nothing else had ever seemed to work. A flurry of color caught his eye, and he turned to see the woman he was looking for ascending the hill out of the woods.
“Lady Hester!” he said as the woman approached, a furious look on her face. Her eyes widened as she took in the group assembled in front of her. “And … my, is that Lord Templeton?” The man crested the hill after Lady Hester, his face an equal mask of rage. He looked slightly worse for wear, which was to be expected after he had been stabbed with a knife, hit with a tree branch, and then held by William’s steward for a couple of hours.
“Hester?” The woman’s mother stood and approached. “Where have you been? And why were you with Lord Templeton — unchaperoned?”
“I was not with Lord Templeton!” Lady Hester cried. “At least, I didn’t mean to be. Why, I was … I was….” she looked over at William, who maintained a look of innocence on his face. She couldn’t very well say she had gone into the woods to meet with another man, now could she? One who had remained at the house the entire time she had been gone.
“Lord Templeton?” Lady Hester’s father rose now as the man approached. “What is the meaning of this? What were you doing with my daughter?”
“Your daughter? I was not … that is to say I was in the woods because … because,” he looked around wildly, his true intentions, of course, nothing he could ever share with any other soul. “I was simply getting some air,” he finished.
Hester’s father did not seem to accept the story, shaking his head slowly as he looked from his daughter to the man.
“Hester, Lord Templeton,” he said. “Perhaps we had best discuss this inside. Lord Southam, may we have use of your library?”
“Of course,” William said, opening the door to the house and leading them inside, not missing the furious glares bestowed upon him by both Lady Hester and Lord Templeton. Templeton had come here for a bride. Well, now he was going to find himself with one. William felt a twinge of guilt at what would, likely, be a lifetime of unhappiness for the two. And yet, he thought with a shrug, stranger things had happened. Perhaps they would find something with one another, an attachment that might make them happy. One never knew. They had worked hard to create unhappiness between others, however. Lady Hester had gleefully seized the opportunity to drive him and Rosalind apart when his brother had presented her with the note, despite the fact she knew Rosalind had not left the party — at least not willingly. And Templeton, well, he only wished there was more he could do to give the man the fate he deserved.
He turned back to the party, re-engaging with his guests. He saw both Merryweather and Lady Diana give him questioning looks as if they suspected something more at play, but of course nothing could ever, nor would ever, be proven. He smiled at them in return. The first part of his plan had been a success. Act two would begin shortly.
“To a happy future together!” William said in congratulations, raising his glass to the newly betrothed couple, who looked strained as waves of discomfort and perhaps a bit of embarrassment emanated from the pair. “May you find all you are looking for together.”
He sat down, and his mother looked at him with narrowed eyes, as if she knew he was up to something. He was aware that until Lord Templeton had emerged from the woods, she had thought the man was with Rosalind, hopefully quite far by now, and upon his return she seemed on edge. When Lady Southam had come downstairs to find the man in the drawing room, a look of shock had crossed her face, although she hid it quickly.
“Mother,” he said, leaning over to her, aware that the rest of the table was fairly quiet. “Have you seen Lady Templeton this afternoon?”
“Lady Templeton?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “I, ah, believe she … left. I told you this, William, this afternoon.”
“But did she?” he asked, and he could feel all of the eyes at the table on him.
“Of course,” she said with a bit of a nervous laugh, her eyes flitting around the guests who had begun to stare. “In fact, she said something about returning home. I believe she had enough of the party.”
“Did she tell you of this?” he asked, spearing a potato.
“She did,” his mother said, grasping onto the out she had provided him. “We all know that Lady Templeton wasn’t particularly … fond of gatherings such as this, now was she?”
“That’s interesting,” said a voice from the doorway, and Rosalind walked into the room, taking her place at the empty seat that William had ensured his staff knew to place for her. “I do not recall such a conversation, Lady Southam.”
“Oh, but it was just this morning,” William’s mother said quickly, trying to wave off Rosalind’s words. “And where have you been all afternoon, then, Lady Templeton? I … I was under the impression that you had decided to return to your betrothed.”
“I have no betrothed, Lady Southam. And I was in my room,” she said. “I was feeling rather ill, and so I decided to take to my bed.”
“Ah,” Lady Southam said, raising her wine glass to her lips. “I am so … thrilled … you are feeling better.”
Rosalind smiled at her, and the guests murmured to one another in slightly softened tones, as if feeling the tension in the air, though no one was able to put any word to it.
William looked over at her, catching her eye and smiling at her. The ache in his head had eased, Lord Templeton didn’t appear to be much of a problem anymore, and Rosalind … well, Rosalind seemed to have found a strength within herself that William had been hoping she would come across in due time. There was only one thing keeping him from what he truly desired — to know of what feelings she held. Did she truly feel something for him, or had they simply come to be friendly with one another? He had to know … and he wasn’t sure how he would cope were her answer the latter.
26
Rosalind’s heart beat wildly. On her way into the drawing room after dinner, Patty had slipped a note into her hand, and when she read it, she wasn’t sure what to think.
Before you retire for the evening, meet me where we discovered your ability to swim. Do not bring company. —W
The hours had stretched intermediately long after she’d read William’s missive, and she had worked herself into something of a state, unsure what William would have to say to her. Now that the danger seemed past them, what could he feel about her? It wasn’t as if his mother and brother were gone from his life, and she didn’t see how it would be possible to live under the same roof as them. And as truly awful as they were, she could never ask him to choose her over them. They were his family, his blood, and she knew that would still mean something to him.
She wished she was wearing boots as she trekked through the somewhat long grass that evening, but there had been no opportunity to return to her room after dinner. The full moon lit her path to the small pond, and she heard the water before she saw anything.
“You came.”
His voice, a husky baritone, cut through the sounds of the night air, and she turned to it, its warmth softening all of the tension she carried.
“Of course I did,” she said, and he closed the distance between them, running his hands down her arms, leaving goose flesh in their wake, and not because of the temperature, for the evening was still warm.
“Rosalind,” he said. “I am so sorry for all that has happened to you. So much has occurred that has seemed to keep us apart, and yet….”
“Here we are,” she finished, looking up at him, at the way the moonlight played off his cheekbones, as his deep blue eyes, nearly black in the moonlight, looked down at her, turbulent in emotion. She wished she knew th
e thoughts and feelings behind them.
“I—”
“You—”
They started at the same time, and both laughed a little self-consciously.
“Perhaps,” he said softly, “words are not the place to start.”
He leaned in and kissed her then, his lips moving over hers slowly to begin, tasting her, as if asking a question. She responded, finding herself melting into him. At her apparent answer, his arms came around her, and as she felt the planes of his hard chest against her, and she sighed a little bit into his mouth. Here was a man she could live with, a man who was worthy of love, and who would, she now knew, treat her well. She had doubted she could ever trust another, but William had proven to her time and again that he believed in her, that he put her first, that he never wavered from who he was and who he had always been.
He finally broke the kiss, pulling back slightly as he looked at her, running the soft pads of his thumbs down the side of her face to her jawline.
“Rosalind,” he breathed. “You are the loveliest thing I have ever seen in all my life.”
She laughed a little. “I highly doubt that.”
“No more of that,” he said with a shake of his head, and Rosalind nodded. After all that had transpired over the past few days, she felt surer of herself than she ever had before. She knew she had to continue to believe in herself, that she deserved more of life than she had previously allowed herself, but changes were, quite often, slow to come. But come they did.
“Rosalind,” he repeated, a serious countenance taking over his face. “I asked you this before, and you did not have an answer for me. So much has occurred since then, though it has been but a few days. I must, however, ask you again. Do you love me?”
She swallowed, looking down at her hands. Why must he ask her this? She would so prefer to know his own feelings first. To confess her love would be a risk she wasn’t used to taking. And yet, she had vowed to herself that she would put her own happiness first and, as Tillie had told her, be true to her heart and where it led her. Whatever he said to her, whatever came of this conversation, she must know the truth.
Loved by the Viscount Page 17
