KDBookOnline
Share Us
She was just about to put her cane on the first step when she heard a voice from one of the parlors.
“I hope to be out of your hair soon, my lord,” said Evangeline. “You’ve been so kind… so unbelievably kind… and we have imposed upon your generosity most shamefully.”
“Nonsense,” said her brother stoutly. “Been a joy to have you. Wish you’d stay longer, in fact.”
“Oh Samuel,” said Evangeline, in a breathy little voice, “how I wish I could!”
Hester rolled her eyes upward and gazed at the crown molding, wishing for strength.
“So stay a while longer, then. No reason not to, m’dear. Place is livelier with you in it.”
“Oh Samuel… you’re so good… and I’ve become so very fond of you…”
There was an ornate vase on a nearby side table. Hester imagined knocking it over with her cane and interrupting the theatrics with a satisfying crashing sound.
“Fond of you too, Evangeline. You must know that.”
“But I can’t, Samuel. Not respectably. People will talk. They’ll say such cruel things.”
“Pfaaugh. Don’t care a jot for any of that. People have nasty little minds.”
“You are so strong, my lord. So determined. But I’m a weak widow alone in the world, and the thought of the gossip—of someone saying I’m throwing myself at you in an unbecoming fashion, when you must know that what I feel—”
Right, that’s enough of that. Hester stomped past the doorway, making as much noise as she could with her cane. “Oh!” she said, feigning surprise at seeing the pair inside. “Samuel? Is that you?”
The Squire and Evangeline leapt apart as if they’d been caught doing something illicit. Evangeline flashed a look of unguarded rage at Hester, who pretended to ignore it completely.
“Samuel, I was looking for you. I was thinking since we’re already having a bit of a house party with Evangeline and Cordelia here, we might as well make it the real thing. I thought I’d invite Lord and Lady Strauss and their son for a few weeks, and that amusing Green woman, and perhaps Richard.”
“Richard, eh?” said the Squire, shooting her a wry look.
And that’s what I get for thinking of my brother as a fool all the time. “Well,” she said. “You know how tiresome an unbalanced table is. This will give us nicely equal numbers all around. And should you find that you do not wish to ride out after grouse or pheasant or dragons or whatever it is that you hunting gentlemen ride after, Richard and Lord Strauss are old friends as well.”
If nothing else, I’ll have more warm bodies to throw between the two of you. Imogene Strauss will help me run interference, and Richard will keep me grounded.
And if all else fails, at least I’ll have someone to drink myself unconscious with when it all goes to hell.
“There you go, my dear,” said the Squire, beaming at Evangeline. “A house party! Completely respectable, and no one could say otherwise.”
“Well,” said Evangeline, her voice a trifle brittle but otherwise above reproach, “I see that you have thought of everything, Lady Hester. It is too good of you.”
“Not at all, not at all.” She sank down on a sofa and smiled warmly at Doom. “Are there any particular friends of your daughter’s that I might invite?”
“No,” said Evangeline, after a scant pause. “No, I don’t think so. I can’t say that she has ever had any particular friends.”
And would you have discouraged it if she did? Somehow Hester suspected that she might.
She kept up a stream of deliberately inconsequential chatter about what activities might be best for a house party, until eventually Doom excused herself to go to bed. Hester stifled a sigh of relief as she left and eyed her brother thoughtfully.
Do I warn him? Point out that she may have an eye toward the parson’s mousetrap? Or will I risk driving him further into her arms?
She decided not to risk it. Words could always be said, but could rarely be unsaid. And her brother had proved adroit at warding off marriage for many years.
Though I do not think he’s faced an opponent like this one before. Hester sought her own chambers and sat down to write invitations. Come with all haste, she wrote, wishing that she could say more. She held the envelope in her hands afterward, half hoping that some of her alarm would infuse the paper and carry the message that she could not quite entrust to ink.
CHAPTER 11
The next three days tested Hester’s ingenuity to the limit. It seemed like whenever she turned around, Evangeline was giggling in a corner with the Squire. At least once, she was fairly certain that she had averted a kiss by the thinnest of margins.