“Will she? How wonderful.” Mrs. Hargreaves spoke with a slight accent I couldn’t place and took a seat next to Lady Williams. She eyed me. “No need to ask you why you are here.”
Though her tone wasn’t unkind, there was no mistaking the insinuation in her words. “I am afraid you are mistaken,” Lady Williams intervened. “Miss Brinton’s father has come to view Gregory’s handling of the estate. Miss Brinton was pressured into the trip as company for him.”
I started at her words. She could only have known I didn’t wish to be here if Lord Williams had told her. Which meant he knew as well. Was this why he’d been so formal and distant?
Or perhaps he was formal and distant because there was no longer a reason to be any other way.
Mrs. Hargreaves looked over me. “Hm.” Then she smiled. “She will do.”
“Unfortunately for us all, I believe it is out of the question,” Lady Williams said.
“Never give up, Clarice. Der Hunger kommt beim Essen.”
I glanced between the ladies, not understanding the German, though at least now I could place the accent.
“You must excuse my friend, Miss Brinton,” Lady Williams said. “She forgets we are not all fluent in her native tongue. What she means is that everything must start with a little step, though you must excuse her in this as well. She is unused to young ladies visiting without aims at my son.”
“I never understood why the English do not learn my language,” Mrs. Hargreaves said. “It’s ofttimes more apt at expressing a sentiment than this stilted language of yours.”
“Yes, yes. You have said as much before,” Lady Williams replied.
Sundson entered. “Lady Cox and Miss Perrin.”
Mrs. Hargreaves rolled her eyes and leaned toward me. “Lady Cox is the wife of a knight, but she thinks she should be queen! Miss Perrin, her daughter from her first marriage, is not a bad sort of person, though. Rather timid.” She shrugged.
A lady taller than Sundson entered, followed by a younger woman, obviously her daughter. They had the same dark brown hair, the same heavy brows and round chins. But where Lady Cox’s smile formed into a pinched frown when she noticed Mrs. Hargreaves, Miss Perrin smiled a dazzling, albeit somewhat blank, smile. Lady Cox surveyed Mrs. Hargreaves and sniffed loudly, then turned her focus to me. Her eyes instantly narrowed.
“Lady Cox, Miss Perrin,” Lady Williams said. “How good it is to see you. It has been over a week.”
Lady Cox’s eyes never left me. “I see you have company. We do not wish to intrude.”
Mrs. Hargreaves snorted, and Lady Cox’s attention leapt back to her. “Good morning, Mrs. Hargreaves. You are the same as always, I see. Is this girl some relation of yours?”
Mrs. Hargreaves produced a condescending smile of her own. “Where is the benefit of change when one is practically perfect?”
Lady Cox ignored her question. “Would you do us the honor, Lady Williams, of introducing us to your pretty young guest?”
Lady Williams sent me a genial smile. “This is Miss Brinton. She and her father have come to visit for a few days.”
“How pleasant.” Lady Cox’s tone led me to understand there was nothing pleasant about my visit in her opinion. No doubt she also believed I was here to capture Lord Williams. I wondered what she would think if she knew of the days he and I had just passed together.
Determined to remain unaffected by her hostility, I smiled. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Cox. Miss Perrin, would you like to sit here?” I indicated the place next to me.
“I’d be delighted.”
I scooted over on the cushion. She plopped beside me, the jolt bouncing me into the air. At that moment Lord Williams entered the room.
I struggled to right the skirts of my dress, but Miss Perrin shot out of her seat, unsettling me on the cushion once again.
“Oh, your lordship!” she exclaimed.
He strode into the room with a wide smile. “Lady Cox, Miss Perrin, Mrs. Hargreaves. It is wonderful to find you all here.” He kissed each lady’s hand in turn.
Lady Cox’s surliness disappeared. “We are so pleased you have returned. I admit I was surprised by your continued absence. We had thought you would not be away more than two days.”
Ignoring me completely, Lord Williams stood next to Miss Perrin. Rather close. Close enough that it appeared his hand brushed hers. My chest tightened.
“I apologize for staying away so long,” he replied. “I encountered business that detained me from returning.”
Business? I was business? He was acting more like the Lord Williams from the Hickmores’ and less like the man I’d come to believe him to be.
Perhaps I had been correct all along. If so, it was a hollow victory.
“Business is so odious.” Lady Cox proceeded to relate some tale regarding something she had done the day before.
“I am so glad you’ve returned,” Miss Perrin whispered to Lord Williams.
“As am I,” he replied with a rather intimate smile.
This couldn’t be happening. He had professed his desire for my hand only two days before, yet his regard for Miss Perrin was unmistakable. He acted as though I weren’t even there.
Perhaps he was exactly like Edward, courting me as business while retaining a true regard for someone else.
Yet was this not exactly what I had set myself up for in seeking Mr. Northam’s hand? I myself had declared that I wouldn’t seek to change Mr. Northam’s wandering ways. If what Lord Williams had implied was to be believed, Mr. Northam might even be so brash as to bring a mistress into the very house his wife occupied.
But there was still a difference. There would never be pretended affection between me and Mr. Northam, while Lord Williams had led me to believe—
Chagrin rippled within me. Lord Williams had told me that if Mr. Northam had wanted to make me love him, he could. And while I’d sworn it wouldn’t happen, Lord Williams had shown it was possible. It didn’t matter that the engagement had been called off; in the end, he had still broken through my barriers. I didn’t love him, but he’d certainly changed how I felt about him. He’d proved what a fool I was.
This must have been what he’d meant when he’d said he shouldn’t have allowed it to continue for so long. He’d not only intended to keep me from his cousin, but he’d also intended to show how foolish my plan was. He’d thought to make me care for him as a way of proving he’d been right.
Did he know he’d succeeded? That I’d begun to care for him?
And now that the game was given up, he’d decided to return to his normal life. One that didn’t involve me, my plans, and my—
Not my heart; that hadn’t been affected. But certainly my regard.
Curse the circumstances that had placed me next to him that night at the Hickmores’. If only I could disappear and never hear the name Williams again.
I might not be able to leave his estate, but there was no reason why I must remain in the room with him now. I stood. “Please excuse me.” I dropped a quick curtsy. “It was a pleasure to meet you all, but I have just recollected a matter I wish to discuss with my father.”
“I believe you will find him in the library,” Lord Williams said. The lack of formality in his tone caught my attention. His eyes were not as cold as I had expected, but neither were they as inviting as they had been. His agreeableness must have been a result of Miss Perrin’s presence.