by Alice Kirks
Bridget felt her lower lip begin to tremble, and she wrapped her arms tightly around her father. He hugged her back, but then pulled away rather quickly. “However, at this time, I cannot support a union between either of you and the Nott brothers; I stand by that. I do not think they have good enough characters to measure up to the two of you, and I cannot imagine being swept up in the scandal that I know will inevitably follow the mess that these two have created.”
Bridget and Deborah looked to each other, and then looked back at their father. “We shall see about that, Papa,” Deborah replied, patting him on the cheek. Lord Alymer looked surprised, but then gave them each a curt nod.
“I would be happy to discuss anything with both of you for as long as you’d like... just allow me the rest of today to recover from this morning,” Lord Alymer responded. He kissed each of his daughters on the cheek and then ascended the stairs to his bedroom.
Bridget stopped her thoughts from wandering back to that morning, and returned to scanning through her book. She already knew the characters and plot by heart, but she felt the need to revisit it because of what the book dealt with.
It was the story of a young woman who fell in love with a man who she thought was a daring pirate, but who ended up being a nobleman in disguise. The nobleman had faked being a pirate to make her fall in love with him, and in the end, the young woman had consulted her true feelings for the nobleman and decided she loved him no matter what he truly was.
Was that how Bridget was going to feel about Lord Geoffrey? Even though he hadn’t been the rake of her dreams, was she still attracted to him? Could it be possible that she was even more drawn to him, now that she realised he had been doing a good deed for his cousin? She was not certain of very much right now, but one thing she knew needed to happen was a discussion between she and Lord Geoffrey to get a few things settled. She decided that she would call on him secretly the next morning, rather early.
But then, Bridget heard soft tapping on the window, and looked up to once again see Lord Geoffrey standing outside her window. This time she was not frightened by the sight of him, and immediately allowed him into the parlour.
“I am glad that you decided to come and see me,” Bridget said seriously.
As Geoffrey stepped through the French door, he smiled and said, “I was longing to see you. I am glad to hear that you wanted to see me too.”
Bridget gave Geoffrey a strange look. “You misunderstand me, Lord Geoffrey,” Bridget replied. “I do not mean that I am happy you’re here merely because I wished to see you. I meant that it is good that you came, for there are many serious things that we need to discuss.”
Lord Geoffrey sighed disappointedly and sat down in a chair near the window. “I see. I suppose that your father told you all about what transpired at the prison this morning?” Bridget nodded, and then Lord Geoffrey continued. “I had hoped that I would be able to explain everything to you in person... that is why I came here tonight.”
“You lied to me,” Bridget said suddenly.
Lord Geoffrey’s head snapped up and he looked at her. “Wh... I did not lie to you, Lady Bridget. What lie do you speak of?”
“When you visited me the other night, you told me that you could trust me. How could I trust you when you lied to all of us about the intrusion here? Why did you not tell us from the beginning that you were trying to do a good deed for your cousin, and that Henry’s intentions in stealing our items were somewhat honourable?” Bridget demanded.
“How could I have explained all of what had transpired that night to the people who were certain they had been robbed?” Lord Geoffrey countered.
“We were robbed!” Bridget protested. “Despite the fact that you came to return the items, you still took off with them and now our jewels are missing!”
“Because you walked in on me as I was trying to return them, and then my foolish cousin decided to sell the jewels anyway in a final attempt to raise some money for the orphanage!” Geoffrey said angrily. “If you had only stayed in your bed instead of trying to confront an intruder like a foolish child, none of this would have happened.”
Bridget’s eyes widened and her brow furrowed. “You think that I was a foolish child for wanting to confront a man who was stealing my family’s heirlooms?” she snarled at him.
“Yes, I do,” Geoffrey said confidently, “because only a child would think that they could do such a thing and not get hurt in the process. If it hadn’t been me in the dining room that night, you could have been assaulted, kidnapped, or worse. And then you go and admit that you thought that the intruder was dashing? What sort of nonsense is that?”
“I will have you know that when I descended the stairs that night, I was prepared to defend my honour against whoever was breaking in to our home and I do not think that is a childish idea in the least,” Bridget spat back at him. “And I said what I did about the intruder because I had an inkling that the thief was you right from the very start! I was trying to get your attention and see if you felt the same way about me as I did about you. I can now see that was a terrible idea, for I cannot possibly love a man who thinks that my ideas are ‘nonsense’.”
A strange look crossed Geoffrey’s face. “Did you just say... love? You wanted to see if I felt the same way about you as you did about me, and now you’ve said that what you felt for me was... love?” The anger on Geoffrey’s face began to melt away, and he looked once more like a school boy who had been kissed.
Bridget, however, was not ready to change her tune. “No. I said that from here on out I will not be able to love you,” she said proudly with her arms crossed. Instantly, she realised her error. She had, in a sense, agreed with him, for she had said from here on out she could not love him... but that did not mean that at one point she had not loved him.
Geoffrey took a step towards her. “From this moment on, you cannot love me? But... was there a point in our relationship that you did?” he asked invitingly.
Bridget shook her head fervently. “Absolutely not. I will not admit to that, for what you have said tonight and your actions leading up to now have made me see that the love I felt for you was false.” No! Bridget thought. The more I speak, the more I reassure him that I used to love him! Stop speaking, Bridget!
A tiny smile crept across Geoffrey’s face. “I see. That is most unfortunate that you’re unable to admit my curiosities, but I respect them,” Geoffrey said smugly.
Bridget fidgeted in her chair, desperate to say something witty that would disarm the cocky man, but she could not think of anything. “Do not speak to me as though you are ‘winning’ this conversation, Lord Geoffrey. You have no right to leave here tonight thinking that you have had the upper hand!”
Geoffrey looked at Bridget strangely. “What makes you think that I... Never mind. I can see that discussing anything with you tonight will prove fruitless. I shall let myself out the way that I came in,” Geoffrey said as he rose from his chair. He walked towards the French doors that had allowed his entry a few minutes earlier and unlocked them. Then he paused, turned around and made eye contact with Bridget. “I urge you, Lady Bridget,” Geoffrey said seriously, “to put away your girlish fantasies that have come about because of your childish books and begin to truly experience life before it is too late.”
Bridget was left with her jaw hanging open in shock as Lord Geoffrey got himself out of the room and back towards his horse. She could not believe that the man she had loved was now starting to sound more and more like her father had.
Chapter 25
After his encounter with Lady Bridget, Geoffrey found himself in the stables a great deal the next day. Whenever he was stressed or thinking a great deal about a topic, he found it relaxing to go and be with the horses. There was something about these great, gentle creatures that put Geoffrey at ease, and so he often found himself taking solace within the stable’s walls.
Today, he had so many things to think about and go over in his mind that he even went as f
ar as to give the stable boy the day off. Geoffrey enjoyed doing manual labour from time to time, and today he was perfectly happy to complete the stable boy’s tasks so that he did not have to think much about Lady Bridget, the intrusion at Stanhope Manor, or his relationship with his brother.
Geoffrey began his day by giving all of the horses a fresh bed of hay in their stalls. He took away all the muck that hid under the hay and made sure that each horse had something to entertain themselves with when they were in there. Next, he took each horse out one-by-one and washed them off, brushed them out, cleaned their hooves and brushed their manes. That took quite some time, and when Geoffrey was finished with that he let them run out in the pasture. He knew that it probably would erase all of the hard work that he had done to have the horses running free like that, but it pained him to see such graceful creatures kept in their ‘cages’.
By the time that was done, Geoffrey was fairly tired and ready for lunch. He cleaned up his supplies and was just walking away from the stables when he saw a figure cantering towards him on a beautiful brown horse. As the figure got closer Geoffrey could see, to his surprise, that it was Lady Deborah Stanhope. When she rode up in front of him Geoffrey greeted her, saying, “Lady Deborah. Did you send word that you would be visiting my brother today?”
Lady Deborah smiled and chuckled to herself. “I shall tell you no to both of those, for I did not send word that I was coming, nor am I here to see your brother. I wish to speak with you,” Deborah explained.
“With me?” Geoffrey asked, confused. “Whatever do you have to speak with me about, My Lady?”
Deborah, still mounted on her horse, looked around nervously and then said, “Is there somewhere more private we could retire to so that we might speak?”
Geoffrey nodded and gestured to her to come down from her horse. When she did, Geoffrey led the great steed into the barn where he tied him up. He returned to where Lady Deborah stood and said, “Follow me.”
Geoffrey set off towards the house, and brought Deborah to a secluded outdoor sitting area where the house was still visible, but where no one would think to look for them. Once they were seated, Lady Deborah began. “I am sorry to trouble you after the... eventful day that you had yesterday,” she said.
Geoffrey chuckled. “You were made aware of that too, were you?” he asked.
Deborah nodded, smiling. “There have been so many surprising developments in this intrusion over the last week that I am finding it difficult to keep up,” she admitted. “First, Lord Miles admitted to having committed the crime, then it is revealed that Henry Partridge was the true intruder, and then it comes to light that it was you who Bridget caught in our dining room, but that you were just replacing the items that Henry had stolen earlier.” Deborah paused and looked off in the direction of the horse stable. “If there are any more developments, I think I shall swear off my involvement in this case entirely!”
Geoffrey crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded along with Deborah. “I understand how you must feel, for I am in the eye of the storm when it comes to all of this and even I cannot keep up with what is happening.”
The two had a relieved laugh, and then Deborah turned to Geoffrey and said seriously, “The real reason why I am here today has to do with Lord Miles.”
Geoffrey sighed. “I cannot understand why a beautiful, intelligent young woman such as yourself would have any interest in Miles,” Geoffrey revealed.
Deborah cocked her head at Geoffrey. “Surely you cannot think so ill of your brother that you cannot imagine some reason why I wish to court him?” she asked.
Geoffrey shook his head fervently. “I had hoped that his recent ignorance when it came to your existence would have turned you off him... but I can see that it has not. Why?” he asked her quizzically.
“I should ask my sister the same question about you then, I suppose, shouldn’t I?” Deborah crossed her arms in front of her chest as Geoffrey had, and suddenly the two eldest siblings of the Nott and Stanhope family were engaged in a heated tête-à-tête.
“Do not throw my own question back at me, Lady Deborah, for that is a poor battle tactic,” Geoffrey said slyly.
Deborah gave Geoffrey an intriguing smile. “Why should you insult my art of conversational confrontation, when you are nothing more than a rake that has wrongly captured my sister’s heart?”
Geoffrey rolled his eyes at Deborah, unimpressed but somewhat defeated. “I shall own that calling me that is warranted, considering the circumstances,” he said, very impressed by Deborah’s tenacity. It seemed that both Stanhope sisters had no problem standing up for themselves, and Geoffrey admired that about them both a great deal.
“Thank you,” Lady Deborah said graciously. She uncrossed her arms and took on a more relaxed pose with her arms in her lap. “I have a feeling that at his core Lord Miles is a good man, much like you. However, I believe that his jealously and frustration has pushed him to do ugly things. Both of you, though, have made many, many errors, and must make amends to make things right again.”
Geoffrey furrowed his brow and was about to launch into a counter argument about Lord Miles, but decided against it. He had a great deal of respect for Lady Deborah, especially because she very well could be his sister-in-law one day very soon. Instead, Geoffrey took a deep breath and conceded, “That is true. Unlike my brother, however, I am prepared to face judgement and make amends.”
Lady Deborah nodded along with what Lord Geoffrey was saying. “Good,” she responded, “for I cannot understand why Henry Partridge would go to all of this trouble and rob us for an orphanage.”
Geoffrey was stunned. “Did I misunderstand you?” he asked. “Are you saying that Henry was wrong in trying to gain finances to save the orphanage? I did not think that you were inclined to think like that.”
Geoffrey’s comment must have hit Lady Deborah strangely, for she tipped her head back in laughter. “Lord Geoffrey,” she responded after she had finished delighting in what he had said, “I know that there are many things between us that have become confused, but I had hoped that you would have understood my meaning better than that.” Deborah brushed a few errant hairs away from her face and placed her hands on the arms of the chair. “I meant that if Mr. Partridge had simply asked us for the money, we would have given it to him. My father makes a great many charitable donations every year in my mother’s name, and I can imagine that he would have been more than happy to help the orphanage.”
Geoffrey let out a relieved scoff. “I apologise for assuming that about you after what you said, Lady Deborah,” he said, and Deborah nodded to acknowledge the apology. “Of course that is what I also thought when I caught him. I am not sure why he felt the need to steal from others when he could have simply asked one of us to assist him with the money.”
Deborah once again looked off into the distance and was silent for a few moments. When she turned back to Lord Geoffrey, she looked very thoughtful. “Perhaps Henry’s experience is one that you nor I will never truly have an understanding of. We have always had enough money to do whatever it is that our hearts desired, and help whoever we wanted. Henry has not had that. He was acquiring the money in one of the only ways that he knew how. I think it reflects far poorer on us that we did not think to give money to the orphanage in the first place as opposed to judging Henry for stealing the money that was needed.”
It was Geoffrey’s turn to take a moment to be thoughtful. He had never considered the angle from which Deborah had just approached the intrusion: that all of this could have been avoided if Geoffrey or Deborah or anyone in their household was as socially aware as Henry was. He was disappointed in himself for not being more aware of the hardships that people under his jurisdiction were facing. “We should vow to make more of an effort to be aware of the struggles that our neighbours are enduring,” Geoffrey said after a moment.
