Loving A Lady: A Clean & Sweet Regency Historical Romance Book

by Ayles, Abby

  “Lord Edwards,” she called up to the gentleman, making sure to make a show of it. “I love what you’ve done with your home. It is truly enchanting.”

  He smiled at her and watched as Lady Noelle marched back up to take her place beside Mr. Edwards. If her sister wasn’t going to be friendly towards the viscount, she would. “Why, thank you, Lady Noelle,” he said appreciatively.

  “Indeed, it has a great deal more to do with your staff and your father’s own tastes than you,” Mr. Edwards said, teasing his cousin. “I think that once this home is in your full possession, quite a few changes will be made to it.”

  “Sir?” she asked him, smiling. She enjoyed being able to play along with them in their amusing banter instead of having to listen to another word from the marquess. Something about him continued to rub her the wrong way.

  Mr. Edwards grinned from Lord Edwards to her. “For example, Lord Edwards here is much less severe than his father. There are a great many rooms in this home that are unoccupied and unused.”

  “Yes, it would seem that dust is the third occupant of this house,” Lord Edwards agreed. “Dust and cobwebs. But really, Rodrick, that is only the upper floors where no one goes.”

  Noelle’s eyes lit up a bit at this new information. It sounded as though Westwood was more or less an old haunted house. “Why do you suppose that the earl, your father, doesn’t use the rooms?”

  The viscount shrugged his shoulders slightly. “It is quite a lot of space for two unmarried men such as us. It’s hoped, of course, that someday I shall marry, and then…”

  “Then there will be children enough to scare away the spiders!” Mr. Edwards said, finishing his sentence though likely not in the way that Lord Edwards intended.

  Noelle giggled a little, entertained by these two gentlemen. She was grateful that she’d been invited to spend further time with them, for she could see now that there was much more to them than fancy family names and titles… She appreciated how close they were, too.

  They are very much like brothers, she thought. They’ve clearly grown up and spent their whole lives in each other’s company. She compared this to her own family and couldn’t help but smile.

  Although they didn’t always get along, she and her sisters were quite close as well. Noelle hoped to be able to keep that strong family dynamic going once she was married… And she was beginning to realize how unlikely that could be if she married a nobleman like the Marquess of Fairfax.

  She couldn’t wait to get her sister alone so she could reprimand her for being so flirtatious with the wrong man. She wasn’t jealous of her for receiving the man’s attention; quite the contrary. She just knew that Lord Edwards had expressed interest in Catherine and her sister was not taking much notice of him anymore.

  “Ah yes, here’s the man of the hour,” Mr. Edwards suddenly said, waking Noelle from her daydream-like thoughts. An older gentleman came loping towards them in the grassy field beyond the mansion. He was holding a long rifle in one hand and three pheasants by their necks in the other hand.

  He had thin gray hair yet was quite bald on the top of his head. He wore a dark-brown overcoat, which Noelle believed was primarily employed as camouflage, not as a means of keeping warm. This surely was the now-infamous Earl of Montgomery.

  “Father,” Lord Edwards called to him, walking over so he could relieve the old man of his pheasants. A trio of hounds came rushing over from the direction of the woods, and they barked and bayed for several moments, running circles around the group. “Permit me to introduce you to Lady Noelle and Lady Catherine, the daughters of the Duke of Salisbury.”

  Mr. Edwards carefully took the rifle from the man’s hand so that the earl was better able to greet the ladies. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance,” the older gentleman said.

  Noelle gladly smiled at him and watched as he bowed “It’s wonderful to meet you, Lord Edwards” she said to him sincerely. She didn’t know what she expected, but he seemed perfectly pleasant to her now that she’d actually met him. There was nothing very sinister or cold about the earl.

  “Oh, how polite you are,” he replied with a smile. Then he looked around at the rest of them. “Who’s hungry for pheasant this evening?”

  Everyone laughed a bit and nodded their heads in agreement that it would be a fine dinner. Then they all walked back to the mansion. Lord Edwards held his father by one arm, holding tight to the birds in his other hand. Noelle adored that the men of Westwood took care of each other.

  She was further delighted to see that Kitty had gone back to speaking with Lord Edwards as they all walked, greeting the Earl of Montgomery as well. Lord Drake hung back and watched with more than mild resentment. Noelle was rather smug about that and she joined Mr. Edwards as they walked behind the earl and his son.

  There had been a brief time when she thought that the addition of Lord Drake to their party was going to cause an upset, but she was pleased to see now that it wasn’t the case. The man was irksome, to be sure, but the rest of the party paid him no mind in the end.

  As soon as they were inside the mansion again, he pleased her even further by taking his leave of the place.

  Noelle and Catherine could continue their visit in peace.

  Chapter 16

  Lady Noelle and Lady Catherine left Rodrick’s Wildhill home after two wonderful days and nights. He was sad to see them go; they’d fit right in there and Lady Noelle, in particular, seemed to have a high regard for the little house. Rodrick was left feeling proud and quite honored to have lived in her presence if only for a short while.

  However, it didn’t take long for things to go back to business as usual. His mother did seem to notice the sluggishness in his step after several days of them being alone at home, just the two of them. “Such excitement is bound to cause a bit of sorrow when it’s over,” she commented sagely.

  “I’m not feeling sorrow,” Rodrick tried to argue. “I don’t know what I’m feeling…”

  His mother set her sewing into her lap. “You love that girl, don’t you? Lady Noelle.”

  Blushing at the sound of her name, he shook his head and looked away from his mother, sighing softly. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve only spent a small amount of time with her.”

  “Oh, what does that matter?” she asked him with a smile. “You know that you wish to see more of her. That’s a sure sign of your affections.”

  She said all this with a sad sort of smile. He could tell that she wished him well, but there was clearly a bit of caution that needed to be applied to the situation. After all, Noelle was a lady; she couldn’t be romantically linked to just anyone.

  Rodrick was painfully aware of this fact. Still, Lady Noelle had come to see him. She made the decision to spend further time with him, and that had to mean something!

  He never would have suspected that Alfie would show up at Westwood and make such a show of flirting with the younger sister of Lady Noelle instead of the lady herself. It had been cruel and rather heartless, especially knowing that the lady had so looked forward to being his dance partner at her parents’ ball.

  What in the blazes could have possessed the man to flirt with Lady Catherine? I doubt very much that he was there to see James on business matters or to give regards to Uncle Alexander.

  Rodrick just knew that Alphonse had somehow found out about the ladies being in Hertfordshire and invited himself over in order to finally view what he’d tried so hard to ignore before.

  And he paid very little mind to poor Lady Noelle, not that it seemed to bother her all that much. She mostly seemed shocked that her sister… And then there’s poor Jamie.

  Rodrick frowned as he gazed out of the window at the rolling hills beyond his house. It was no wonder, then, why Alphonse had so quickly left the party with the arrival of the Earl of Montgomery. He knew that he wouldn’t get away with his licentious flirting in front of the old earl.

  Uncle Alexander likely knows of James’s regard for the girl, too,
Rodrick thought. And he surely wouldn’t stand for Alphonse’s impropriety.

  He couldn’t help wondering why on earth Lady Catherine had flirted back. She knew of James’s affections. Indeed, according to James, she’d told him as much – and said that she returned them.

  Otherwise, Rodrick wouldn’t have ever thought to invite her along… But for the fact that Lady Noelle needed a companion on the journey.

  “Suppose I do love her,” he said to his mother then with another wistful sigh. “It’s not as if anything would come of it. She’s destined to marry Alphonse or someone like him.”

  Eleanor looked at her son with sad eyes as well as a sad smile now. “I wish that there was something that could be done about it,” she said to him. “But we both know that you’re more suited to marry a nice girl from here in town, not the daughter of a duke.”

  Rodrick indeed knew that. But that didn’t mean that he had to agree with it.

  After a few days of trying to keep his mind off of things, he decided to go back to Westwood and pay a visit to his cousin on his own. James received him most joyously and they sat together in the mansion’s grand drawing room.

  The Earl of Montgomery was off on another adventure in the woods with his dogs. Rodrick wasn’t surprised by that at all. The old man should enjoy his land.

  “How have you been getting on?” James asked Rodrick as they sipped their brandy together. “Does your home feel as unenchanting as mine does now that our lovely guests have gone?”

  Rodrick nodded. “I feel silly because it isn’t as though I felt completely at ease when they were there. But all the same, I miss their presence.”

  “It is an adjustment to be around new people in a setting that’s your own,” James said thoughtfully. “I noticed that Lady Noelle seemed quite taken with the land here.”

  “Oh, she expressed fondness not only of your home but of mine as well! What are the odds of that?” Rodrick smiled at his cousin.

  He knew that Wildhill was a nice home, but it was, in essence, a cottage in comparison to James’s and Uncle Alexander’s castle. But then he remembered the way Lady Noelle had looked when she was on his land, exploring his cottage. She’d seemed rather at home there and had never complained.

  He didn’t believe that it had been purely politeness. Noelle’s eyes didn’t light up like that when she was just anywhere.

  James gave him an understanding, sympathetic look. He carefully placed his glass on the table in front of him. “I’ve always thought that Wildhill was such a pleasant and comfortable home myself,” he replied.

  “This house may be lovely, but it’s also so… cavernous and cold.” He looked around the opulent drawing room. “It’s no wonder that I grew up believing that there were ghosts roaming these halls.”

  Rodrick smirked a bit at his cousin. “You should’ve regaled Lady Noelle about that. She seemed to take a particular interest in the abandoned old rooms upstairs.”

  James chuckled, shaking his head. “I didn’t wish to subject her to so much filth,” he said. “Perhaps it’s true that we ought to have those rooms cleaned and prepared for more guests.”

  “They’d make some very handsome rooms for children someday,” Rodrick said casually.

  James smiled and Rodrick noticed that there was some amount of sadness in that smile. “Yes, that is my hope,” he said softly. Picking up his glass again, he took a long, slow sip of his brandy.

  “Lady Catherine was looking quite lovely, wasn’t she?” Rodrick asked him, prodding a little. He was concerned that his cousin had yet to make his intentions known. “She would certainly keep a man on his toes.”

  “Yes,” James said with a nod. “It is a pity that she is to marry Fairfax.”

  Rodrick looked at him in surprise. “Indeed, sir, you are wrong. Lady Catherine is not betrothed to anyone, last I heard. It is her sister Lady Noelle…”

  James seemed to be thinking the same thing that he was; the way that Alphonse carried on with Lady Catherine made it seem as though he was intended for her. But Rodrick thought that everyone knew Alphonse was a rake.

  “Why do you think that he spent so long speaking with Lady Catherine then?” James asked.

  “Perhaps he got them mixed up,” Rodrick suggested with a small smirk. “Upon my word, they don’t look so very alike but they are after all sisters. And anyway, we don’t exactly know what their conversation entailed.”

  Rodrick supposed that merely talking together at a gathering didn’t mean anything. After all, he’d spoken at great length with Lady Noelle, and that didn’t mean that they were all set for the marriage altar. That seemed rather silly to him.

  This seemed to pluck up James’s spirits. He smiled a genuine smile at his cousin and nodded his head again. “That is true; though they are sisters, they do not seem very like one another to me.”

  “You should make your feelings known,” Rodrick said to him, gently clapping him on the shoulder and giving him a friendly shake. “For if you don’t, surely someone will.”

  “Isn’t it proper for her sister to be engaged first?” James asked, unsure. “I wouldn’t want to cause a stir.”

  Rodrick smiled at his cousin, appreciating him all the more for hearing him say such a thing. James was a proper and polite sort of gentleman. He put the gentle in ‘gentleman.’

  “I suppose, then, we must wait until Lord Drake makes his intentions known to Lady Noelle,” he said. Alphonse is the opposite of James. He makes a real show of being a gentleman, when the mood suits him.

  “And what if he does not?” James asked him. “I thought that you and the lady made a fine match. I saw the way you were together – so easy and full of smiles.”

  As nice as Rodrick felt it was to hear, it didn’t exactly help him. “Lady Noelle will never marry me,” he told his cousin dismissively, trying to keep a smile on his face. “Even if she consented, her parents never would.”

  James’s smile faltered somewhat and then he nodded his head. “Yes, you’re quite right… I’m sorry.”

  Rodrick laughed softly, shaking his head. “I think that you should wait and see what Lord Drake does, but you should waste no time in letting Lady Catherine know of your intentions. I know you’re shy, but you should speak with her as often as you can.”

  He knew, of course, that this must be left to Jamie but he sincerely hoped that his cousin would find the nerve to court the lady before she lost interest in him or was swept away by another suitor. He stayed at Westwood for a while longer, and then he returned home to his mother. As happy as he was to be in Hertfordshire, he was restless. He wished that he could meet with Alphonse again and suggest the union to him.

  There is quite a bit of truth in what James said. As much as it would pain me to see Lady Noelle with someone else, I would much rather she be happy. I don’t know what I should do if she moved away and I never saw her again.

  Rodrick told himself not to even think of such things. It would do him no good to imagine a future without her in his life, especially as it was highly possible.

  He went into his study and took out some paper and a pen. Sitting at his desk, he quickly scrawled a letter to his friend. He wished that he could confess to Alphonse the way that he felt about Lady Noelle, but instead he did his best to simply urge his friend to consider a marriage to her.

  Alphonse was not the sort of man who took advice; that was the problem. That was one of many problems. Rodrick fondly recalled the times they’d shared together as boys at school, but he felt as though he’d grown up and matured whereas Alfie was still the same old Alfie.

  Dear Lord Drake,

  I know that you live a life of enjoyment and leisure, but I implore you to think of the future. Your father is not going to be around forever, and when he is gone it would be far better for you if you had a wife. Lady Noelle may not be your choice, but she is a wonderful young woman and she will do you a great credit.

  Sincerely,

  Mr. Rodrick Edwards

&nbs
p; He felt so awkward, writing about the lady in such a way. He never thought of her as a ‘credit,’ but he supposed that was one of the few benefits of not being involved in all of that nobility ton nonsense. Rodrick was free to love her even if Alphonse never would.

  Chapter 17

  When Noelle and Kitty arrived back at Grosvenor Square, there was a flurry of excitement that they couldn’t help but get swept up in. Word had gotten out that the Viscount of Kent – dear Mr. Andrews – was engaged to marry none other than Miss Lydia Quinn! Noelle was overjoyed for her best friend.

  The Viscount of Kent was an old family friend. Noelle had known him for as long as she could remember. Indeed, she’d been little more than a baby when her parents met him.

  There’s a certain symmetry to this, she thought with a smile as her mother fluttered around, talking of nothing else but the future viscountess. Two of my oldest and dearest friends getting married.

  Of course, it reminded her yet again that she didn’t have any current prospects herself. Catherine was besotted with Lord Edwards, a man who was going to be an earl someday, and now her best friend had found herself a match with a viscount. Meanwhile, the Marquess of Fairfax evidently wanted nothing whatsoever to do with her.

  She had done her best. She’d smiled at him when he greeted her; she’d shown interest in him, she’d been enthusiastic when he spoke. Yet he’d chosen to spend more time walking and chatting with Kitty.

  Noelle decided that she shouldn’t dwell on such a thing, even though she knew that her mother would be curious and care about his neglect. There were, after all, other gentlemen in the world. But I certainly shouldn’t tell Mother who my mind first goes to when I think that…

  Since it had been a long time since she’d seen her friend, she sat at her desk and wrote a quick note to Lydia, inviting her to come to pay a visit to her house in London.