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The small face brightened. “He would? I shall ask today!” The child leaped up and hugged her. “You must have some cakes, too. Oh, I do like you! I’m sorry I said your gown was ugly. Though truly it is.”
Grinning, Laura bent down until her lips were close to the girl’s ear. “I know,” she whispered, and winked.
With a giggle, the little girl skipped out. Laura turned to the mother, who was now wiping her face and trying to gather the remnants of her dignity.
“M-Mrs. Martin, I do apolo—”
“Please, Lady Elspeth, there’s no need! I’m a nurse, you will recall. Come, sit down and try to get comfortable. Has your physician given you any remedies to help alleviate the sickness?”
Wearily Lady Elspeth settled against the cushions. “He said an overheating of the blood causes it, and ordered Nurse to mix up some vile concoction that was supposed to cool the humors, but I couldn’t keep it down. Nor would I let him bleed me, as he urged and Wentworth pleaded. I—I’m already so weak, I cannot see how bleeding would help.”
Laura nodded. “My uncle found, after much study, that bleeding does tend to weaken the patient. He recommended more gentle means—teas blended with chamomile and peppermint to soothe the stomach, and lozenges composed of sugar, ginger root, and lavender to suck on when the queasy feeling strikes. I—I have a stock made up and could obtain some for you, if you should like to try.”
“Just now I’m willing to try anything short of a pistol bullet to the head,” Lady Elspeth replied grimly.
“I shall make up a tea at once. Here, recline with this pillow to your back. A cloth dipped in cooled rosewater applied to your temples may help, as well. I’ll fetch one. Try it while I brew the tea.”
“You truly are an angel of mercy, Mrs. Martin,” Lady Elspeth sighed as she settled back. “But I did so want to chat with you.”
“Later. First, you must rest and rally your strength.” Laura paused. “By the way, does your daughter know the nature of your illness?”
Lady Elspeth opened one eye. “No. I thought it best not to tell her. For years she’s begged me for a baby brother or sister. I feared if … if this ended as the previous two have, she’d be disappointed—and upset. When her dog died last summer, she was distraught for days.”
“She’s upset now, worrying about her mama,” Laura said gently. “‘Tis your choice, my lady, but if it were me I’d tell her what afflicts you is normal and shall soon pass. Children that young do not understand how babies arrive. If you tell her only that a new sibling is a happy possibility, she would probably be no more than mildly disappointed should your hopes … not be realized.”
“She worries?” Lady Elspeth said. “Ah, my poor babe. I suppose I’ve been too ill and cross to notice. Perhaps you are right, Mrs. Martin.” She forced a tired smile. “A wise angel as well as a guardian one.”
“Rest now and I’ll fetch your tea. We’ll talk later.” Much later, if I have any say in it, Laura thought.
She’d brushed through that well enough, and the idea of walking in the garden with Lady Catherine—someone with whom she needn’t be always on her guard—was enormously appealing. Perhaps she’d slip invisibly through the last few days of tending Kit Bradsleigh and reach home safely after all.
Chapter Eight
Feet clothed in sturdy walking boots and hands encumbered by a linen cloth filled with jam tarts fresh from the oven, two days later Laura entered the garden.
Though she still spent much of her time alone, keeping vigil over Kit Bradsleigh at night and dining in her room, she now had these afternoon outings with Lady Catherine to look forward to. Dr. MacDonovan had informed her this morning that, unless their patient took a sudden turn for the worse, he expected to leave at week’s end. By then, Kit Bradsleigh would no longer need round-the-clock care.
Which meant surely Kit’s older brother would be leaving soon, as well. A departure which she viewed with increasingly mixed feelings.
Removed from his too perceptive scrutiny, she’d be safe once more. And if life without the surge of mingled elation and alarm he sparked in her whenever he appeared would be less energizing, she’d do well to remember why she’d previously rejoiced at a life of dull monotony.
She’d also be able to return home, though she’d still spend much time at Everett Hall tending the recuperating invalid. And visiting her new friend Lady Elspeth.
Laura shook her head ruefully. Lady Elspeth insisted Laura called her “Ellie,” claiming she could not remain on formal terms with the woman who’d saved her brother’s life and the practitioner whose treatments had considerably eased her own misery. She treated Laura with such beguiling warmth that, having been so long deprived of the companionship of a woman her own age, Laura had great trouble maintaining any reserve.
Catching sight of Lady Catherine, whose nurse, though recovered from her ailment, was happy to let Laura walk her energetic charge about the garden, Laura waved.
She loved spending time with Catherine, despite the ever-present ache of regret for what might have been and now would never be. She’d grown up the youngest child of a large family. When her elder siblings returned to visit with their offspring, it was only natural that the aunt, hardly older than her nieces and nephews, should join them in the nursery. Only natural, as well, that with only adult companions most of her days, she reveled in their company.
Better even than the warm memories Catherine’s chatty escort revived, or Laura’s freedom when with the child to relax the constant guard she otherwise maintained, was the precious ability to wander the grounds as long as she liked, protected by Catherine’s small hand in hers from having to worry about encountering the earl alone.
In fact, Laura and her charge had met “Uncle Beau” every single afternoon. Always delighted to see the earl—who seemed to take equal delight in his niece, Laura noted with approval—Catherine had no qualms about monopolizing Lord Beaulieu’s time and attention. Laura was able to observe him and indulge in the heady thrill of his company, freed of the stomach-clenching anxiety that normally afflicted her in his presence.
Since Catherine had confided her uncle planned to meet her after their walk to take her riding, Laura was not surprised when, soon after she and Catherine seated themselves on their favorite bench beside a fragrant hedge of late-blooming damask roses, Lord Beaulieu approached.
Awareness of him flashed over her nerves like a wind-driven ripple across a lake’s calm surface.
“I saved you a tart!” Catherine cried, running over to offer him the crumbling remains of a pastry.
Ignoring the grubbiness of the jam-stained fingers, the earl accepted the treat. “Kind of you, princess. And I must thank the little wizard who coaxes the squire’s cook to come up with these delicacies for tea every day.”
“Not me,” Catherine pointed out with scrupulous fairness, munching the last bit of her tart. “Laura does. Cook likes her. I do, too. Don’t you, Uncle Beau?”
The earl turned his smiling face toward Laura—and caught her staring. She felt the warmth of embarrassment flood her cheeks and tried to look away, but his smile fading to something deeper, more intimate, he held her gaze … one minute, two. “Very much indeed,” he said softly before turning his attention back to his niece.
While her cheeks burned hotter and fluttery wings beat within her stomach, Catherine continued, “Uncle Beau, I have a secret! Only Mama said I could tell you and Laura, so it’s all right to share, isn’t it?”
“If she said you could, poppet.” The earl flashed Laura a brief but oddly intense look. “I love secrets, and I never tell anyone.”
Lady Catherine’s eyes gleamed with excitement as she grabbed her uncle’s coat sleeves. “It’s wonderful, and you’ll never guess. Mama said next Easter, I might get a new brother or sister!”
So Lady Elspeth had confessed, Laura thought, pleased.
“That’s indeed wonderful news,” Lord Beaulieu said. “Which should you prefer—a sister or a brother?”
“I don’t suppose it matters. I’m ever so much older, it shall have to mind me. Mama says getting a baby is a curious sort of game. Playing it makes her sick sometimes, but if she wins, she gets to keep a baby. But not everyone wins, so I should not be disappointed if we don’t get a baby after all.” Lady Catherine wrinkled her brow. “It’s a very odd sort of game, don’t you think?”
Lord Beaulieu laughed. “I wonder what your papa would say to that?”
“Well, I much prefer ball and spillikins, but Mama says I can’t play the game anyway until I’m a lady, and married. If we should get a boy, he can ride and play catch with me. And if it’s a girl, I shall give her my old dolls and my dresses when I outgrow them. But only pretty ones. Not ugly ones like Laura’s aunt Mary gave her.”
Laura stifled a gasp, and Lord Beaulieu caught his breath. “That was very rude, brat!” he said after a moment. “Apologize to Mrs. Martin at once!”
A little daunted, Catherine raised pleading eyes to her uncle. “It’s all right, Uncle Beau. Laura knows they’re ugly—she told me so herself, didn’t you, Laura?”
Her cheeks pinking, Laura merely nodded, carefully avoiding the earl’s gaze.
“See?” Catherine turned back to her uncle. “Laura told me she wears the dresses even though they’re ugly because her aunt Mary gave them to her, and she loved Aunt Mary. But I shall give my sister only pretty ones, so she’ll love me even better.”
“How could she resist?” Lord Beaulieu said, with a rueful glance at Laura.
Focusing her attention on Lady Catherine, Laura said, “I expect your uncle came to tell you the horses are ready. Since we’ve finished our snack, you’d best be off before it’s too late to ride.”
“Can you not ride with us?” the child asked.
Laura hesitated. “I—I have no horse.”
“Uncle Beau can get you one. He knows all about horses. He brought me the wonderfulest pony.”
“Another time, perhaps. You mustn’t keep your mounts waiting, so off with you now.”
“Go to the stables, and make sure Manson had your pony ready,” Lord Beaulieu said. “I’ll be right along.”
“Can we race today?”
The earl rolled his eyes. “Perhaps—it depends on how wet the fields are. I make no promises!”
Lady Catherine angled her chin up and grinned at him, a mixture of precocious coquette and childish charm. “Bet I’ll beat you.” Evading the earl’s mock punch with a giggle, she scurried off down the path.
The earl sighed and turned to Laura. Knowing their chaperone was even this moment racing out of sight, all her nerves alerted.
“I must apologize once again for my niece. She has a deplorable tendency to say exactly what she thinks.”
“I’m not offended, truly.” She attempted a smile, a difficult matter when her lips wanted to tremble and her heart was beating so hard she felt dizzy. “Children usually do speak the truth as they see it, even when it might be better sugar-coated.”
At that he turned his face to once again snare her with a searing gaze that would not allow her to look away. “‘Tis always wise to tell the truth. Especially when those who hear it are friends who seek only our good.”
Laura’s breath caught in her throat and her lips went dry. He was speaking of much more than hand-me-down gowns, and they both knew it.
Trust him, a small voice deep within her whispered. He will be that sort of friend.
But the legacy of fear and a now-ingrained compulsion for concealment drowned out the voice. “No, my lord,” she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “‘Tis not always wise. Enjoy your ride.”
Pivoting on her heel, she made herself walk back to the house, calm and unhurried. Feeling with every step the weight of his thoughtful gaze heavy upon her back.
Chest tight and mind seething with frustration, Beau watched Mrs. Martin escape to the house. In her expressive face, her guileless eyes, he’d read how very close he’d come to breaking through that wall of silent reserve. So close he could feel the acquiescence trembling on her lips, and now tasted the bitter sense of loss.
Still, the very fact that he had come so close was cause to hope that very soon the remnants of her reserve would crumble.
He could assemble all the small clues she’d let drop, add them to the information he’d extracted from the squire, set his team to work on it, and probably within a fortnight be able to reconstruct the whole of her life up to now. He could, but he didn’t want to.
With a determination that grew daily more intense, he wanted Mrs. Martin to come to him, confide in him, trust him of her own free will.
He really ought to be making plans to leave. The information in the latest dispatches confirmed the careful theories he’d previously constructed, and if events continued in the same manner, he’d soon have enough evidence to complete the dossier and turn it over to Lord Riverton. Perhaps he ought to do that immediately and then return, free to devote as much time as necessary to finish winning over his Sparrow. He could then leave Merriville for good—with Laura Martin.
Still, the dinner party Friday night might allow him close enough to finally gain her trust. Tonight before Mrs. Martin went in to tend Kit, the squire would tender the invitation. Beau had primed both his sister and his brother Kit to press her to accept. He wasn’t above enlisting Catherine, as well, if necessary.
He already had his niece to thank for one piece of information that, if handled correctly—and he was a master of handling information—should insure Mrs. Martin appeared at the party garbed in evening attire far more attractive than the hideous gowns she normally wore.
Yes, his niece—who was doubtless at this moment bedeviling the grooms while she waited impatiently for her uncle to arrive.
Beau took one more look at the door through which Mrs. Martin, with a calm belied by the agitation he’d read in those stark blue eyes, had just disappeared. Soon we will be together, he promised himself and her. Soon.
* * *
“Dinner on Friday?” Laura echoed the words in dismay. “That’s very kind of you, Squire Everett, but I thought we agreed my uncertain schedule made it wiser that I not dine in company.” With a nervous glance she surveyed the group who’d greeted her in the small salon when she returned from her walk with Lady Catherine.
“But ‘tis my farewell party, ma’am,” Dr. MacDonovan argued. “Sure, and you’d not be sending me off with a wave of a bandage roll across our sleeping Kit’s bed?”
“You’re to leave Saturday?”
“Aye. I’ve just examined the lad’s lungs again, and it’s clearer still they be. Under your competent care, I’ve little doubt of his eventual recovery, and it’s needed I am back home.”
“Yes, you must attend, Laura,” Lady Elspeth urged. “I’ve felt so much better the last two days, I can finally envision dining without revulsion. Since I owe that improvement solely to you, you must help me celebrate.”
“At the risk of putting you off entirely, I confess the party is as much in your honor as the good doctor’s, ma’am,” the squire said. “We owe both of you a great debt, and would like to publicly acknowledge it.”
“Publicly?” Laura repeated in automatic anxiety.
“We’ve had the whole neighborhood asking after young Kit and praying with us for his recovery. ‘Tis only fitting that all have the chance to help our distinguished visitors celebrate the good news before their departure.”
“If ‘tis to be a large party, then you’ll surely not need me. It will make the numbers wrong,” Laura offered.
“Pish-tosh, Mrs. Martin.” The squire waved away the suggestion. “‘Tis not some fancy London party, all standing on precedence. And you need not feel shy. Excepting the earl, Lady Elspeth and the good doctor, ‘twill be only neighbors you’ve dined with on several occasions. Oh, and Lady Ardith and Lord Asquith.”
Laura looked at the smiling faces—the squire, the doctor, Lady Elspeth. Some inner imperative told her to accept would be dangerous, possibly the most dangerous thing she’d done since coming to the aid of the earl’s wounded brother. But as she had no reason to fear any of her neighbors—even the conceited London beauty Lady Ardith, who scarcely acknowledged her existence—Laura could dredge up no excuse to avoid the party that would not either cause offense or give rise to speculation.
Surely the earl would be present, too. The thought shimmered through her, adding to both her longing and dismay. Still, she didn’t see how she could avoid this. “You are vastly kind. I shall accept with pleasure.”
“Oh—m’sister may call upon you to write out the invitations. Her failing eyesight, you know. If that won’t be too much of an imposition?”
Laura had to smile. Lady Winters, an indolent damsel of some seventy summers, had previously called on Laura to assist her after suffering palpitations at the mere prospect of the work entailed by an evening party. “You may assure your sister I shall be happy to assist her.”
“Good, good.” The squire patted her hand. “Knew we could count on you. Want to send the doctor off with a good proper party, and with you overseeing the arrangements, I know ‘twill be top of the trees.”
Though Lady Elspeth, bless her, objected it was not quite right that Laura toil on a party given partly in her own honor, she desisted when Laura assured her that she didn’t mind in the least. Thanking the group again, Laura returned to her room.
It was only ingrained caution that made her so uneasy. All the guests would be well known to her. Besides, if she handled the arrangements for Lady Winters, she could arrange the dinner partners to suit herself, make a brief appearance in the parlor after the meal, then excuse herself before tea.
Thinking of the guest list again, she had to laugh at her apprehensions. With Lady Ardith promised to appear, no one would give the dowdy Mrs. Martin a second glance.
Late the following afternoon, Laura was returning to her room after going over the party lists with Lady Emily when Lady Elspeth hailed her in the hallway. “Please, could you join me for some tea in my sitting room before you rest for tonight? Being reduced to the company of the squire, Lady Winters and my brother at dinner, I sorely miss the conversation of a rational lady.”
Having on occasion been constrained to be the rambling Lady Emily’s dinner partner, Laura could sympathize. And after a few day’s acquaintance, Laura had largely lost her reserve around Lady Elspeth. Here was a friend in truth, one who, even should she learn of Laura’s deception—not that she ever intended to reveal it—would not, Laura felt sure, betray her. And she sincerely enjoyed the company of the earl’s charming, cheerful sister.
“I should be delighted.”
Laura entered to take the seat indicated on the brocade flowered sofa while Lady Elspeth poured tea. After handing her a cup, her friend gave her a measuring glance.
“I happened to notice that, though you agreed to help Lady Winters, you didn’t seem particularly pleased to accept the squire’s invitation to dine.”
Laura sighed. “I’m afraid I’m painfully shy in company, a fault I’ve never managed to overcome.”
“Please don’t be offended, but do you hesitate for fear that, with the very fashionable Lady Ardith attending, you feel you do not possess a suitable gown?”
Laura laughed. “I certainly possess nothing cut up—or should we say ‘down’—to Lady Ardith’s standards.” “I should hope not,” Lady Elspeth agreed with a chuckle. “But I wanted to ask a favor. I brought with me a new dinner gown just received from the mantuamaker that I’ve never worn, and now I find I cannot. If God wills, and I carry this child, by the time I visit London again fashions will have changed. Though I hope I’m not as vain as Lady Ardith, I doubt I’d wear it then. The color is a lovely green, and would suit you. Would you accept it?
“Please, now—” she held up a hand to forestall Laura’s protest “—don’t refuse outright. You know I won’t insult you by offering payment for the care you gave Kit. Indeed, were I the richest woman in the universe, how could I ever pay you the worth of my baby brother’s life? Beside that, a gown is the merest trifle. Still, it is too lovely to waste, and it would please me to have you wear it.”
Though she didn’t doubt Lady Elspeth’s sincerity or kindness, Laura wasn’t naive enough to believe this offer a coincidence. With a rueful grimace, she wondered who had whispered in her friend’s ear. Lady Catherine, wanting “beautiful dresses” for her friend? Or Lord Beaulieu?
As she hesitated, Lady Elspeth misinterpreted her silence. “What a widget! Of course you can’t decide until you see the gown. I’ll have Jane bring it immediately!” Laura tried to protest, but Lady Elspeth had already rung for her maid. Instructions were given, and by the time they finished their tea, the maid reappeared, bearing the dress. The demurral Laura intended to voice died in an inarticulate cry of wonder.
It was simply the most delicate, wondrous, lovely gown she’d ever beheld, a simple sheath of pale green silk whose wispy sleeves and long train were covered with a fairy’s cobweb of fine lace. Not even in her debut season had she, limited to the whites and pastels prescribed for unmarried maidens, possessed such a dress.
Before she could muster her scattered thoughts to protest, Lady Elspeth had her on her feet, the maid holding the dress up to her as her friend gave instructions on where to pin, tuck or adjust.
“Ah, Ellie—it’s marvelous! But I simply couldn’t!”
“Since it’s rather obvious you like the gown—” Elspeth paused in her instructions to grin at Laura “—and it becomes you wonderfully, I shall be most hurt if you refuse it.”
The sober, responsible, cautious side of her urged that she do just that. But the woman in her slid the sensuous length of silk through her fingers, felt the sigh of lace against her arms, and knew she could never bring herself to turn this down. For one evening, like Cinderella in the fairy tale, plain, dowdy, shy little Laura Martin would be dressed like a princess.
And her Prince Charming, whom she might covertly watch and desire but never possess, would see her in it.
Even in a small gathering, wearing such a beautifully made gown would be sure to draw to her the universal attention of every lady present, and probably that of the gentlemen, as well. Inviting precisely the sort of widespread scrutiny she’d spent nearly three years carefully avoiding. Attending in that gown would be foolish, vain and most unwise.
And she would do it. If her benefactress were present, of course.
“You’re sure you will be feeling well enough to attend the party?” Laura asked, grasping at straws.
Lady Elspeth’s smile widened. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Chapter Nine
“Thank you, Jane. I can manage from here.”
“Aye, ma’am. A right treasure you look, and so I’ll tell her ladyship!” With a nod of professional approval, Lady Elspeth’s maid curtsied and left the chamber.
Lips curving into a smile of pleasure, Laura closed her eyes, enjoying the pure sensual caress of the silk gown against her skin. Not until this moment, the smoky-green fabric swirling about her, did she realize just how much she’d missed what Lady Catherine would call “pretty dresses.” After the door shut behind the departing maid, with a giddy laugh, Laura lifted her arms and waltzed around her narrow chamber, dipping and turning in the embrace of her invisible partner.
Cinderella in truth, for the dress was no more substantial than moondust and starlight. After months of wearing the stiff, heavy brown bombazine favored by Aunt Mary, so sheer and weightless did the garment feel Laura could scarcely believe she was clothed at all.