Lost in her thoughts, Anna almost didn't notice it when the man spoke to her. “May I call on you, Miss Cartwright?” he asked as simply as one might ask for a book from the top shelf in the library. He asked as if her answer was a given--as if she'd already said yes. If there was one thing that Anna hated more than all else, it was assumptions. And this guest of her father’s was full of them. She had half a mind to tell him exactly what she thought, but when she glanced at her father’s urging eyes, she thought better of it. The old man was ready to marry her off to Monsieur Lupine right away. She’d have to have a talk with him about that later. For now, she’d be the picture of politeness.
“If it pleases you, Mister Lupine,” she said with a curtsy and a slight bow of her head.
“It does. Very much so,” he responded eagerly before planting another lingering kiss on the back of her hand. Was it her imagination or was this one lasting a little too long? Eventually, he moved onto her sister, and then shook their father’s hand before finally turning to leave. As anna watched the door close behind him, and he climbed into his carriage, Anna exhaled deeply. She did not realize that she was holding her breath uncomfortably when he was near her, but now that he was finally gone, a bright wave of relaxation seemed to wash over her. For the first time in hours, she felt at ease.
When the carriage pulled away, and she could be sure that Monsieur Lupine was gone, she turned to her father in a tirade.
“Is that what you think of me?!” she bellowed. She had never spoken to her father in such a tone before. Now, her voice filled the house, but she didn’t care. “If you want to get rid of me that badly, why not just send me away? Why must you push me off on the likes of him?!”
Mr. Cartwright remained calm. “You didn't give him a chance,” he said in his wisest old man voice, “How can you ever know how you feel about someone if you don't even give them a chance.”
Ever eager to avail her father’s attention, Beth chimed in, “I liked him father,” she said cheerfully, “He seemed really smart. And he was so terribly, terribly handsome,” the flush had returned to her sister's youthful cheeks.
“There's no accounting for taste,” Anna muttered under her breath. She looked at both of them for a moment. It felt like she was talking to to strangers that she had never met before. How could they not understand everything that was wrong with Monsieur Lupine? For starters he was too incredibly tall. He had to bend down just to enter a room for God sake! And his eyes--the way they looked into you was too intense. And his hands were too warm; even though it was downright chilly outside, he felt as though he's been sitting in an oven all day. In fact after sitting with this man who her father wanted her to love, the only thing that she found herself liking was the sound of his voice, and there was just no way that she would ever admit that to either of them. Instead she chose to focus on his arrogance, his haughtiness, the fact that when he walked into a room he acted like he owned it and the occupants in it. These we're not qualities that Anna looked for in a potential suitor. She had gone this far in her life avoiding people like Monsieur Lupine, and she didn't intend on dealing with the likes of him now. Feeling indignant, Anna made way to beg her leave from her father and sister and head up to her room to think for a while and read, perhaps. She would do anything to get her mind off of Robert Lupine.
Safe at last in the confines of her bedchamber, Anna tried to do what she usually tried to do in times like these, and lose herself in a book. She picked her book from where it sat on her side table, and went to the window, opening it to feel the night’s cool air upon her face. She breathed deeply and tried to relax in her window seat. From where she sat, she could see the moon hanging low from its perch in the clouds. It wasn’t yet full, but it probably would be in just a few more nights. Anna loved the moon. It reminded her of the way the tides roll in and out at the shore. When she was a child, her family would make frequent trips to the beach. Her most cherished memory was of her mother, not being able to sleep one night, waking Anna, bringing her to the shore, and the pair of them building sandcastles in the moonlight. The moon reminded her of that, and of the power the ocean harnessed to shape the world’s breathtaking contours.
Anna was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of a howling wolf. It was closer than those she had heard earlier in the evening--maybe only a few houses away--and that concerned her. There had been rumors lately of wolves coming into the streets, and even into homes. Just the week before, she had heard a story out of Stratford that someone had shot one in the kitchen of a manor house. Before they caught the animal, it had managed to eat three whole chickens - which were being prepared for dinner that evening - and kill the family’s cat. Anna did not wish for her home to befall the same fate--especially since her own father refused to keep a gun in the house; calling them base and barbaric. She lay her book down, and ran down the stairs to make sure that all of the windows and doors on the first floor of the Cartwright house were closed and locked to the outside.
“What on earth are you doing?” Her father asked as she rushed to the large picture window in his study.
“I heard a wolf nearby,” she explained, continuing about her business.
“Don’t be silly, child. Go back to bed, this instant.” Still, he couldn’t resist tugging at the heavy drapes for a sighting.
“I will,” she said, “as soon as I’m done,” then exited the room quickly enough that he couldn’t protest any further. Anna loved her father, but the truth was, she had always been her mother’s girl, and nothing had really been quite right between she and the old man since her mother’s passing. He just didn't seem to understand her like her mother had. They had simply never seen eye to eye on most things, and their differences became even more pronounced without Mrs. Cartwright standing as a buffer between them. Beth was much more her father's daughter, always playing the part of the perfect young girl who never disagreed with a word her father says. Anna, on the other hand, had always had thoughts, and feelings, and opinions of her own and her father had never appreciated that about her.
It was truly appropriate then that her father had selected a suitor such as Monsieur Lupine, now that Anna thought about it. He was a man who treated people as property, and he would never want Anna to stand up for herself any more than her father would. On nights like tonight, when Anna greatly resented her father for his indifference to her wants and needs, she longed for her mother’s presence even more.
Earlier that evening, she had begun reading a play by William Shakespeare. In it, three sisters were competing for their father’s fortune, and she was eager to see how it turned out. So, she positioned herself comfortably in her window seat, and opened to the page where she left off. But even as she tried to read, her mind kept wandering to other places--to the events of that evening, to the wolves outside, and--most unfortunately, to Robert Lupine. He had infuriated her so, that she could hardly think of anything else. And that made her hate him even more. She vowed that if ever she had to be in his presence again, she would give him a piece of her mind. You can’t go around acting like you own the world and expect people to fall over themselves to bow down to you. Emotionally exhausted, Anna finished reading Act 3, and climbed into bed, hoping against all hopes that tomorrow would be a better day.
* * *
When Anna awoke in the morning the sun was shining brightly through her open window. She'd forgotten to close it the night before, and her room was a bit chilly from the wind coming from the north. She lay in bed for a few long moments staring at her reflection in the mirror above her dressing table. She had always thought of herself as a little girl, which would explain, perhaps, her reluctance to find a man to marry. But when she looked at her reflection now, she could begin to see signs of age on her face. Her bone structure shown through her cheeks, and her face had begun to look sad and tired in the way that so many older women did. Perhaps she was no longer a child. Perhaps her father was right to try to introduce her to suitors--not Robert Lupine of course, but ma
ybe other, more agreeable choices.
There was no longer the sound of wolves outside of Anna's window. In fact, it seemed as though the whole street were asleep. Aside from the sound of a few birds chirping in the trees, no sound was entering the window except for silence and sunshine. Anna listened to the inside of the house. It too was silent, which was strange for a morning after father had returned from one of his trips. Usually Beth would be scurrying about by now, working with the cooks in the kitchen to prepare her father's favorite breakfast of ham and eggs and tea. But Anna could not hear any movement coming from within the house, so if Beth or the cooks, or anyone else was up and moving around, they were doing so in silence, which was difficult in the big old brownstone. She knew because she had tried it many times before with no success. She decided that she would enjoy a few more minutes of solace and sunshine in her bed before rising to investigate the matter herself. After all, the day would still be happening whenever she got around to it.
Her father had other ideas, apparently. “Anna!” he shouted from the bottom of the stairs. Anna rolled over on her bed and pretended not to hear him. After last night it was just too early to get into another argument. But father was not so easily deterred. “Anna!” He shouted again. This time the shouts were followed by the sound of surprisingly quick footsteps on the wooden stairs. He was on his way to her room.
Despite his many intrusions into the lives of his daughters, it was rare that Mr. Cartwright would ever enter their chambers. Anna supposed the last time that he had done so was to tell her that her mother was dead. So when he burst in now, she immediately shot up from her bed, curious about what fresh hell had befallen them.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, unsure of whether she really wanted to hear the answer. Her father's face was contorted in what could only be described as extreme agony. And when she looked upon it, all she wanted to do was console him. All of her frustration and anger about what he had done the night before, and about all the other nights in their lives, simply vanished, to be replaced but nothing other than a daughter’s deep love and concern for her father. His face told her that she definitely had a reason to worry. His voice told her why.
“Have you seen Beth?” He asked in a fervor, “she is nowhere to be found.” He was breathing heavily, and Anna became fearful that he was going to collapse on her bedroom floor.
“Sit down, father,” she said calmly, swinging her legs off the side of the bed to make room for him, “You need to breathe. You're going to hyperventilate.”
“Did you hear my words, Anna? Bethany is gone!” he rasped. But, he did as he was told and sat on the bed next to his daughter to catch his breath.
“I am sure she’s fine, father,” Anna lied. Beth had never run off before, and if she had done so now, Anna wasn’t sure how long a thirteen year-old girl could survive out in the world on her own--especially Beth. Her younger sister simply did not have a clear understanding of how the world worked at her young age. She did not yet know what she should embrace and what she should be fearful of, and often conflated the two. Safe in the confines of their brownstone, that behavior had led to silly accidents and memories, but out in the world, Anna was sure that Beth’s way of thinking might get her killed… or worse. “Maybe she just went into town,” she proffered.
Her father nodded in agreement to this last suggestion. “I sent all of the help into town to see if she was there or if anyone had heard anything.”
“See?” Anna responded, “She’s going to be fine. She is probably just at the market looking for eggs to make your favorite breakfast.” Even as she said the words, she knew that there was no truth to them. If the cooks had no eggs in the kitchen, which was unlikely, then one of them would've gone into town--not Beth herself. Still, for her father, who was intent on holding onto some hope, this was enough. He relaxed a little--at least for now. His face still looked pained, but his breathing had slowed, and she was confident that he would be able to make it back down the stairs without falling unconscious.
“Why don't you go back downstairs to your study? Anna asked, “ I’ll make a pot of tea and we can wait for her to come home together.” Her father nodded reluctantly and allowed her to help him up from where he sat on the bed. She held onto his arm and walked him carefully down the stairs, not leaving his side until they reached the bottom. “Go on in,” she said, “I will be in there in just a minute with some hot tea.” Her father did as he was told and Anna headed to the kitchen to prepare a pot of tea for the two of them to share.
It was weird being in the kitchen without Ella there. Especially since she had always been there to comfort Anna in her time of need. But if anyone could find Beth in the market, Ella would be the one to do just that. She knew everyone in town, and despite the fact that she was short and plump, she commanded respect from the townsfolk and get the answers she needed. Anna had spent a lot of time in the kitchen with Ella when she was younger. Sometimes they just sat and held each other, while waiting for the kettle to whistle, while other times they sang songs or made shapes out of leftover dough. But now, Anna was alone, and had to take care of her father and everything else like the grown woman she was becoming.
Nevertheless it took the girl a full three minutes to find the teapot in the kitchen, and another three to find the tea leaves. Sending all of the help on a mission to find Beth surely seemed like a good idea at the time. However, the house was at a loss without them. Still in her nightgown, Anna prepared a pot of tea for she and her father, and carried it into his study where he sat in his favorite high-backed leather chair with the same worried expression drawn across his lips that he had been wearing all morning. It wasn't that Anna wasn't worried about Beth, but someone in the house had to keep their wits about them while everyone else was losing their heads with worry. This time, the responsibility simply fell on Anna herself.
“Here, father,” Anna said sweetly, pouring the old man a cup of tea and dropping two sugar cubes into it for him. When he took the cup and saucer from her, she noticed immediately that his hands were shaking. When he tried to pick up the tiny teacup, it's base rattled against the saucer in an eerie rhythmic chime. Still, he managed to get the cup to his lips and drink from it, which seemed to calm him down a bit.
Anna was about to pour herself a cup of tea, when she heard someone knocking at the front door. Her heart jumped out of her chest and she nearly dropped the teapot onto our fathers oak desk. As it was, she jumped enough for some of the tea to splash out and stain her nightgown.
“Beth!” She exclaimed, and ran to the door, still clutching the teakettle tightly in her hand.
For his part, Mr. Cartwright perked up as well, though he could not move quite as quickly as his much younger daughter. He had barely made it out of the study before Anna was throwing the door open excitedly, to embrace her sister upon her return.
“Where have you--” Anna began as she threw the door open. But she stopped short when she realized that it was not her sister on the other side, but none other than Robert Lupine.
For the first time since she had met him, the man seemed speechless. Anna found this to be even more annoying than the constant rambling about himself that he conducted the night before. After a long moment of silence between the two of them, Anna was the first to speak, “I’m sorry, Monsieur Lupine,” she said as politely as she could, “I thought that you were someone else.”
“Quite alright,” he returned. Still, he did not say any more. Anna could feel him assessing her appearance--disheveled hair, tea-stained nightgown, bare feet, and… she realized at this moment that she was still holding the teakettle in her hand. Still eager to court me, Monsieur Lupine? she thought.
Instead, she said, “Can I help you, sir? Are you here to see my father? I’m afraid he is a little indisposed at the moment.”
Before Robert Lupine could respond, Anna could hear her father’s voice from the living room, “Nonsense!” he shouted, “Let the man in, Anna!”
Reluctantly, An
na did as she was told, and stepped out of the doorway, gesturing for Robert Lupine to enter. He did so without a word, bowing his head slightly in deference to Anna, but almost certainly still assessing her appearance in his head. His confusion was written all over his face in large bold letters that screamed, What the hell have I gotten myself into?!
“I'm in here, Sir” Anna’s father called from the living room. Anna watches as Robert followed her father’s voice, and then stood at the edge of the room, just outside the door where she could not be seen, but could hear every word that was said.
“Is everything OK?” Robert asked Mr. Cartwright. “ Anna seemed a little out of sorts.”
“My younger daughter, Beth, who you met last night… She went missing. There was no sign of her anywhere when we woke up this morning.” Anna could hear her father's voice shaking as he spoke. He was a proud man, and generally didn't let strangers know his family's business. But, it seemed there was no way around it right now.
Anna could hear astonishment in Robert Lupines voice when he spoke. “Oh, Mon Dieu!” he exclaimed, seemingly forgetting himself and his sense of propriety, “Has she ever done anything like this before? Run away? I mean has she ever run away and come back?”
There was a long pause before Anna heard her father's voice again. “No,” he said softly at last, “I don't believe she's run away. She had no reason to. I give her everything she could ever want. I think that she was taken.”
Anna felt a deep sadness well up inside her at this revelation of her father's words. Until now, he had done such a good job of pretending that he had hope. Such a good job, in fact, that he almost convinced Anna herself that she should be helpful. But now as she listened to him speak to Robert Lupine, who was practically a total stranger, she realized that there was no hope to be had.
Clean Regency Romance: The Earl's Temptation (The Pure Heart Triumphs Series Book 1) Page 7
