“I am hardly the only lady in this household with a reluctance to admit fault,” Sophia said with a sniff. “And besides, I seem to recall you were not so eager to call for the physician when you had a cough last month.”
To her credit, Serena lifted her hands in surrender. “You are right. I am just as bad as any of you heiresses.”
Once their shared laughter had diminished, however, she got to the point of her visit. “Dearest, while you are here at Beauchamp House, I am not only your friend, but also your chaperone. And as such, am here to serve as your guardian in the absence of your parents.”
Having some notion of where this conversation was headed, Sophia shifted uncomfortably. Though she and Gemma had never been outright disobedient to their parents back in Manchester, nor had they been particularly slavish to their wishes. For one thing, doing precisely what their mother wished them to do would have meant spending days on end in a darkened room with a cloth soaked in lavender water on their brows. For another, Aunt Dahlia, who had a far more outspoken persona than either her brother or sister-in-law, had taken her nieces under her wing almost as soon as she came to live in the Hastings household.
Sophia could hardly wave away the older lady’s concerns by telling her that she needn’t worry since Mr. and Mrs. Hastings were indifferent parents at best and neglectful at worst. She could only imagine poor Serena’s response to that sort of confession.
In truth, her parents weren’t that bad. Mama and Papa simply delegated the day-to-day care of their daughters to Mr. Hastings’ sister Dahlia, who’d come to live with them. Mr. Hastings was far too busy with his work as a solicitor, and Mrs. Hastings was so often taken ill that she couldn’t accompany her daughters on social or educational outings.
Still, Sophia understood what Serena was getting around to. And the subject wasn’t one she was particularly eager to discuss.
Before she could respond, however, Serena pressed on. “It cannot be a surprise to you that I should come to you about this early on. Especially given the … precipitate manner in which both Ivy and Daphne managed to find themselves wed. That my own cousin and brother were the gentlemen who compromised them is not precisely something I am proud of. In fact, I daresay if there were a governing body of chaperonage, I should have already found myself summarily dismissed long ago.”
Despite herself, Sophia giggled. At Serena’s scowl, she held up a protesting hand. “You must admit, Serena, that it’s amusing. And I hardly think anyone who cares about such things places the blame at your feet. Special licenses are quite common among the peerage, are they not? And besides that, both Ivy and Daphne are known to be unconventional. It can hardly be a surprise to either the village of Little Seaford on the beau monde that their marriages were secured in hasty fashion.”
But Serena was not to mollified. “You might find it amusing, my dear, but it is deadly serious to me. I am responsible for the four of you. And I’ve done a terrible job of watching over Ivy and Daphne. I do not mean to make the same mistakes with you and Gemma.”
Sophia didn’t pretend not to know from which gentleman in particular Serena was supposed to protect her. “You are leaping to conclusions about the vicar and me that are far too premature. I enjoy Lord Benedick’s company, it’s true. But I am hardly the sort to make a suitable vicar’s wife. I’m not even sure I believe in all the teachings of the Church of England. And aside from that I’d be provoked into jealousy every time one of his flock batted an eyelash at him.”
That she did harbor an attraction for him despite her sensible objections to any sort of match between them was something Sophia would simply need to control. Once their shared investigation into the forgery ring was over, she would simply go back to her painting and leave him to be snapped up by some wholesome lady more suited to becoming a clergyman’s helpmeet.
Serena, however, didn’t appear to believe Sophia’s protestations. “You might claim otherwise, but I’ve seen you together. He’s smitten with you, or at the very least, taken. It would only take the slightest bit of encouragement on your part to have him eating out of your hand.”
“You make me sound like some sort of biblical temptress, Serena,” she said with a frown. “I’ve hardly got the sort of stunning beauty that makes men of God abandon their principles and sin with abandon.”
To her surprise, Serena shook her head. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” Sophia asked, plucking nervously at the bedclothes. She was growing uncomfortable with all of this talk of attraction and temptation.
Wordlessly, Lady Serena took her hand. “My dear girl, you are beautiful. I know any number of ladies in London who would sell their teeth to have a figure like yours. Not to mention your passion for your work only adds to your charm. Together, these traits are almost irresistible. I’m not surprised Lord Benedick finds you fascinating. My only shock is that we don’t have more than a few local gentlemen paying calls on you weekly.”
Sophia felt her face heat. “You needn’t exaggerate, Serena. I know I’m far too short and … round … to be fashionable. And you and I both know that the gentlemen who call here are not just for me. I have a good mind that Mr. Tewksbury comes only to see you, in fact.”
At that, Serena’s cheeks turned red. “I will admit Tewksbury might not be here for you, but the rest are. Gemma never makes an appearance and Daphne and Ivy are married. And while your figure might not be in fashion at the moment, you are most definitely the sort that most gentlemen prefer.”
It wasn’t hard to guess that in this case, Serena was very likely speaking of her belated husband and his preferences. She was tall and willowy—like Lady Celeste, she’d once told them. And though she was quite pretty, she would never be called buxom. Though the heiresses didn’t know the entire story, it was known among them that Lord Fanning had not been good to her and that Serena still bore some of the emotional scars of his ill treatment of her.
She gave her chaperone’s hand a squeeze where she still held it. “I thank you, Lady Serena,” she said with a soft smile. “I still don’t quite believe you, but I’m grateful for the compliment. And while I beg leave to disagree with you that any gentleman would find himself overcome with lustful thoughts over my person, I will endeavor to rein in my charm when in the company of our handsome local vicar.”
Serena sighed. “I don’t mean for you to hide your light under a bushel. And by all means if you wish to allow Lord Benedick to court you, I will not object. Just please try for a bit more discretion than Ivy and Daphne managed. That’s all.”
That made Sophia laugh. “Since it will not be at all necessary, I have no qualms about making that promise. I will even make you a small wager. If, by chance, I am forced to marry by special license, I shall gift you with whichever of my paintings you wish. Even one of those I’ve promised elsewhere.”
Serena’s eyes narrowed. “And what shall I do for you if I lose?”
“You will accompany Ivy, Daphne, Gemma and me to London on a shopping trip,” Sophia said without blinking. “I should like to see you devote a bit of time to yourself for a change. You spend so much of your daily life tending to Jem and looking after us. You deserve a bit of fun.”
Serena’s young son, Jem, was a favorite with the heiresses and his older cousins, but Sophia knew well enough what a handful he could be. And though the widow would deny it, she gave far more to others than she received.
For the barest moment, Serena’s eyes lit with excitement at the prospect of a holiday. Then, as if reality had intruded upon her like a wet blanket, she grew serious again. “It’s a nice thought, but really I have far too much to do here, and Jem…”
“Jem will be perfectly content to remain here with his favorite uncle and cousin.” Sophia countered. “And I know the others would like the opportunity to do something for you after all your kindnesses to us.”
“Gemma won’t like it,” Serena said stubbornly. “Nor will Daphne. They both detest shopping.”
/> “Well, we will find some other activity to entertain them while we’re in London,” Sophia said with a shrug, hiding her triumph at the note of concession in Serena’s voice despite her argument. “So, I will simply have to keep myself from marrying by special license in the next month or so. I don’t believe I’ve ever won a wager so handily.”
With a shake of her head, Serena rose. “Don’t count your winnings yet, old thing,” she said in a tolerable impression of her brother, the Duke of Maitland. In her normal voice, she added, “I don’t know what it is about this house, but it is clearly endowed with some sort of magnetic properties that lead sensible young ladies into mischief. And I intend to protect both you and your sister from following Ivy and Daphne down that selfsame path.”
When she was gone, Sophia chuckled merrily to herself. “Magnetic properties, indeed.” She wished her ankle weren’t throbbing or she’d have searched out the others to tell them.
Picking up her book again, she began to read. But in the back of her mind, she was already planning which shops she’d take Serena to on their trip to London.
Chapter 10
To Sophia’s relief she slept the night through, and the next morning she was able to put weight on her ankle without the blinding pain of the day before. There was still some discomfort, however, but she was able to have breakfast with the rest of the household without needing to be transported there by one of the footmen.
She did allow Greaves, who was replenishing the tea and coffee service at table, to bring her a plate of toast and eggs. It was customary for residents of the house to serve themselves at breakfast, but she was a favorite with the butler, and he made sure she was settled.
“Thank you, Mr. Greaves,” she told him with a smile. “You’re too good to me.”
The older man, so proper most of the time, gave one of his rare smiles. “Of course, Miss Hastings.”
Then he hurried from the room.
“If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Lord Kerr said with a grin from his place beside Ivy. “You’ve wrapped poor Greaves ‘round your finger. I can’t be sure but I think he was blushing.”
“Hush, Quill,” Ivy chided. “Sophia is just being herself. She cannot help it if the majority of the male population succumbs to her pretty face.”
“You’re hardly an antidote,” Sophia told her friend with a laugh. “In fact, I’d say as a whole we’re not a bad looking group.”
“Intermarriage within the aristocracy leads to exaggerated features on most of the offspring in the ton,” Daphne said as she spread marmalade on her toast. “Statistically, Kerr, Maitland, Serena and myself should be frightful looking. Fortunately, we’ve all managed to turn out rather attractively. It’s a wonder, really.”
“I, for one, am relieved to have escaped the overlarge ears and weak chin of my fellow aristocrats,” said her husband, the Duke of Maitland, raising his teacup with a flourish. “Else Daphne might never have set her cap at me.
“I did no such thing,” his wife responded without rancor. “I simply noted that you were a handsome man and acted accordingly.”
“Yes,” Gemma intervened before Daphne could expound on the subject, “and we all know the outcome.”
“We do, indeed,” Ivy agreed with a grin. “Now, speaking of good-looking aristocrats, I couldn’t help but notice that our vicar paid not one but two calls on our Sophia yesterday. I know he takes his duties as minister seriously, but that seems a bit overly conscientious to me. What say, you, Sophia? Has our vicar fallen prey to your winsome ways?”
This sort of teasing was de riguer for their group, so Sophia didn’t take offense at her friend’s words. Though she had hoped that no one would notice Ben’s second appearance at Beauchamp House yesterday.
Even so, she had to tell them about Morgan’s threat to have her paintings taken out of the exhibition at some point.
Quickly she told them the reasons for Ben and Lord Frederick’s visit, including the presence in the village of an art forger.
When she’d finished, her friends were gratifyingly angered on her behalf.
“I wish we’d declined the invitation to that man’s ball,” Ivy said fiercely. “He has rubbed me the wrong way since he first arrived in Little Seaford, and now I am convinced he’s the worst sort of hypocrite. His kind always has a fancy woman in town while he condemns the rest of the world for their perfidy.”
“What can we do?” Daphne asked, cutting to the heart of the matter. “Shall the duke and I pay a call on him and let him know he’s crossed a line? I have no fears about playing the outraged duchess for a good cause. Just say the word.”
“Alternatively,” Kerr said thoughtfully, “Maitland and I could go alone. Talk to him man to man. His type enjoys bullying women, but rarely stands up to other men. Indeed, it would be quite pleasant, I think, to put the man in his place. He’s swept into the village as if he owned it and seems to think everyone else should accept his leadership. Last I heard, the village has a competent mayor in Mr. Givens.”
But the idea of any of them approaching Morgan and possibly riling him further made Sophia nervous.
Morgan, like most men of his station, found it galling enough that he’d worked—or rather, his factory workers had—for his every penny when aristocrats simply inherited their wealth through the good fortune of birth. Maitland and Kerr were not as snobbish as some others of their class, but they did possess that certain bred-in-the-bone sense of authority that Sophia sensed would anger Morgan. He was both jealous of them and resentful.
“I do appreciate your championship,” she told the cousins. “Indeed, I am grateful for all of you. So much. But I believe this is a matter that requires an appeal to a higher authority.”
Gemma blinked. “Lord Benedick is going to pray for you?”
Sophia laughed. “I imagine he will, as vicar, but I was talking about someone else. A higher artistic authority. The chairman of the Little Seaford Art Exhibition, Mr. Primble.”
“Oh, excellent,” Maitland said with a grin. “For all of his eccentricities, Primble isn’t a man to stand for interference in his art business. I once saw him deliver a withering set down to Mrs. Northman, the Squire’s wife, when she attempted to give one of the artists in the Primrose Green colony some suggestions for how he should frame his painting. I don’t think a Beau Brummell at the height of his influence could have been more cutting.”
“I hope it won’t come to that,” Sophia said with a slight shudder. Mr. Primble could indeed be sharp, and that might be just as counterproductive with Morgan as being approached by Maitland and Kerr would be. “Instead, I believe Lord Benedick and I will be able to persuade Mr. Primble to simply ignore Morgan’s request. He is, after all, the chairman of the exhibition committee. And he has an appreciation for art that challenges.”
Just then Mr. Greaves returned with the news that Ben and his brother Lord Frederick Lisle had called. “I have put them in the drawing room, Miss Hastings. I took the liberty of sending your maid for your hat and cloak.”
Ignoring the grins of the rest of the table, Sophia thanked him, and when the butler was gone, stood with the help of her walking stick. “Now, if I’ve amused you enough this morning, I’ll just be off to pay a call at Primrose Green.”
“Good luck,” said Ivy as Sophia made her way to the door. “And be sure to bring Lord Benedick and his brother for luncheon. I have a feeling this visit will leave you needing sustenance.”
Chapter 11
The following morning, Ben and Freddie waited in the drawing room for Sophia or word that she was not well enough to accompany them to call on the Primbles.
Ben had suspected she was a bit overconfident about the degree to which her twisted ankle would have healed by this morning, but he hadn’t been able to say no when she all but begged them not to leave her behind. And he hadn’t been lying when he said that he and Freddie would need her artistic expertise to communicate with any sort of sense at the artists’ ho
use. If she was unable to accompany them, they’d simply have to put the visit off until she was recovered enough.
While the brothers waited, they wandered the well-appointed chamber, examining the various objects d’art and paintings Lady Celeste had used to adorn the room. The walls were hung with blue fabric and the inset ceiling was decorated with plaster reliefs in an ivy pattern. But it was the smaller items that lined the mantle and the recesses in the walls that caught the eye.
The shepherdess figurines of the ordinary drawing room were far too tame for late Lady Celeste.
The mantle, for instance, was lined with several figures that seemed in the style of the Elgin Marbles. Upon closer inspection, however, Ben realized that they were all different depictions of the god Priapus—at least that’s what he assumed given the outsized proportions of the genitalia of the statues in comparison to the rest of their bodies.
On the other side of the room, Freddie must have encountered something similarly shocking because his usually unflappable brother gave a short laugh, which turned into a coughing fit when Sophia entered the room.
“Oh dear, Lord Frederick,” she said with a frown, “I’ll just call for some water for you.”
She was almost to the bell pull when Freddie recovered himself. “Not at all, Miss Hastings. I’m well, I assure you.”
And to Ben’s relief, Sophia was also looking much improved.
Though she still limped a bit, her eyes had lost the shadows beneath them, and her cheeks glowed with renewed energy.
“Good morning, Miss Hastings,” he said to her, offering a bow. “I hope your appearance means you will be able to accompany us to visit the Primbles.”
Sophia glanced at the mantle behind him, and seemed to hide a smile before responding. “Yes, you’re quite correct. My injury is almost healed. And thanks to Lady Celeste’s walking stick, I shall be able to come along with you. Shall we be off?”
Offering her his arm, Ben escorted her from the room, feeling his brother’s amused gaze on his back as they walked. He was always pleased to see his siblings, but he’d be damned glad when Freddie went back home. It was difficult enough to maintain his calm demeanor in the face of Miss Hastings’ beauty, but he felt like a damned schoolboy under the watchful eye of his younger brother.
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