“Ah, yes. And how will you convince him to join you?”
“She and I concocted a plan. I just need to hunt him down tonight so I can set the plan in motion.”
“I see. Good luck to you then. Both of you will need it.”
How true that was. Worse yet, after tomorrow he’d have no more reason to see Vanessa. Either she would have caught Juncker at last, or Juncker would have made it clear once and for all that he had no interest in her.
You could court her yourself. Make her your wife and have her in your bed where you want her.
He tamped down on the instant surge of heat coursing through him. Aside from not wanting to be the consolation prize for a woman who’d lost the main object of her affections, he needed to marry an heiress with a large fortune. And Vanessa’s dowry, as generous as it was by all accounts, still wasn’t enough for that.
So tomorrow would have to spell the end to his time with Vanessa, no matter how much he knew he would miss it. And damn, how he would miss it.
Chapter Ten
Vanessa and her uncle returned home to discover that her mother had gone to bed and “didn’t wish to be disturbed.” That was one of the many tactics in Mama’s arsenal for ruling her roost, and it had worked well during Vanessa’s childhood. When her mother was so upset with her behavior that she wouldn’t even speak to Vanessa, Vanessa had often gone to sit outside Mama’s door pleading with her not to be angry and asking what she could do to make it better.
It had taken her years to realize that her mother wielded silence like a weapon to make Vanessa think the world would crash down about her ears without her mother. Mama enjoyed watching Vanessa beg. Or having Father do so, for that matter. But he’d resorted to begging less and less as the years went by, choosing instead to storm about and then leave to find recourse with one light-skirt or another.
When Mama was unhappy, everyone else must be unhappy. That was how the silent treatment worked.
Fortunately, by the time Vanessa was seventeen, she realized that ignoring her mother’s silence was her best recourse. One couldn’t punish someone with silence if that someone didn’t take it as a punishment.
Apparently Uncle Noah had learned that lesson, too, from growing up with Mama, for Vanessa couldn’t miss the look of profound relief on his face when he heard that his sister had already retired for the night.
“It’s probably for the best,” he said. “She’ll have calmed down by morning.”
Vanessa sincerely doubted that.
“And at least we can have a peaceful evening,” he added.
“It’s all right if you want to go, Uncle. I’ll be fine.”
He stood there in the foyer and stared up the staircase. “Are you sure? I can stay if you wish.”
“No need. I’ll have a tray in my room, and then I’ll read until I fall asleep.” Besides, it would give her plenty of time to prepare for every contingency tomorrow—Mama raging, Mama sullen, Mama threatening to cut off the connection Vanessa had with Grey and his family.
“All right, then.” Uncle Noah bent to kiss her forehead. “Tell your mother I will call on her again tomorrow.”
“I will.”
“Oh, and don’t count Armitage out yet. If he’s the sort of fellow you richly deserve, he will come to his senses on his own. Because clearly he likes you a great deal.”
“I hope you’re right. Because I like him a great deal, too.”
It was true. During their previous visits, they’d talked quite a bit. She’d expected familiarity to breed contempt. Instead, she’d found him to be more of the sort of man she wanted—responsible, thoughtful, and intelligent. She didn’t care if he also needed her money. She would give it to him gladly if he helped her escape the likes of Lord Lisbourne.
After Uncle Noah left, Vanessa crept up the stairs, hoping her mother really had retired for the night and wasn’t just waiting to pounce on her. But Mama had either fallen asleep or she’d drunk the larger part of that perry Sheridan had brought and had passed out. Either way, Vanessa got to have the evening to enjoy the calm before the storm. Because there would most certainly be a storm, if not tonight, then tomorrow.
True to form, her mother woke her the next morning around nine and stood over her while Vanessa was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
Mama crossed her arms over her chest. “There will be no more visits from that witch, do you hear me, little missy?”
“Do you mean the Duchess of Armitage?” Vanessa asked, still trying to clear the cobwebs from her mind.
Her mother snorted. “I will not do that awful creature the honor of calling her Duchess. How dare she malign me in my own home! And to think we were friends once. I must have been mad to allow her within my circles.”
Vanessa had to concentrate on sitting up in bed to keep from laughing in her mother’s face. Somehow she doubted that the Duchess of Armitage had ever needed help in society, even before she married Grey’s father.
“And there will certainly be no more visits from Armitage,” her mother went on.
Her heart sank. “But Mama, he had nothing to do with—”
“No! I will not listen to your pleading. I can see what you apparently cannot—that Armitage means to court and marry you for your dowry. If he succeeds, I will be linked to Lydia forever. I shan’t have it, I tell you!” She leaned down. “And given that he probably intends to call on you again today, I have made sure you won’t defy me. I have already instructed the butler to say we are not ‘at home’ to any visitors today. Perhaps that will make you think twice before you side with the enemies of your mother again.”
Vanessa sighed. “Sheridan is not your enemy, Mama.” She caught herself before she could point out that the duchess had good reason for being so angry with Mama. No sense in embroiling her in another rage-filled argument.
“I don’t care what you think of that young man. Neither of them are ever setting foot in this house again.”
Mama turned on her heel and marched for the door. She paused to glare back at Vanessa. “And the next time Lord Lisbourne comes calling, you might want to rethink your determination to refuse his advances. You’re not getting any younger, girl.”
That final jab was typical of her mother, but it struck terror in Vanessa’s heart. For years, until Grey had married, she and he had avoided being caught together by Mama. Vanessa didn’t know if she could manage that with Lisbourne for even another minute. She would not marry that ridiculous fellow, no matter what Mama said and no matter how many times she tried to reduce Vanessa to a child by calling her “girl.”
As soon as Mama left the room, Vanessa got out of bed. Last night she’d worried about Mr. Juncker revealing to Sheridan what she’d so unwisely blurted out at the Thorncliff party. But in the bright light of day, she decided he would never tell Sheridan. Mr. Juncker saw the duke as a threat to his own romantic interest, Flora. So surely he would help Vanessa gain Sheridan as her husband, if only to remove the duke from the field.
She plotted her strategy, debating whether to send Sheridan a message asking him to meet her elsewhere or come again tomorrow. But she couldn’t be sure the message would reach him in time today, nor could she be sure Mama wouldn’t take the same tack again tomorrow. So Vanessa discarded those ideas.