Aunt Laybourne’s nostrils flared as she turned to address her husband. ‘She certainly cannot stay here. We already have nine daughters to find husbands for, without taking in a niece of questionable moral standards with a prodigious number of freckles. She would bring disgrace on our dearest daughters.’
Her freckles again.
Would her blemishes always keep her family from accepting her? Loving her?
‘Of course she cannot stay here,’ her Uncle Laybourne agreed, clutching his sodden handkerchief. ‘And nor do I have time to go to London and see about the legal matter of her inheritance. I know nothing about the trustees named in the late Lord Rockingham’s will. Louisa, you would be best served returning to Greystone Hall and begging for your aunt’s forgiveness. Perhaps your cousin will refuse to marry you after this escapade—then you’ll have no need to vacate the home of your youth. But I can do nothing for you. The scandal of your leaving home is enough to cause damage to my position.’
Louisa opened her mouth and then shut it. The sinking feeling in her stomach was growing with each passing moment. What was she to do now? She could not—wouldnot—return to Greystone Hall. Would she have to run away again? Where would she go without any money or friends?
‘If you are determined to be derelict in your duties to your niece,’ Lord Cheswick said, ‘then Mrs May, my sisters and I will take Lady Louisa to London. We won’t leave a stone unturned until we find her trustees.’
His words filled the hole in her heart. She stood up to her full height and lifted her chin. Unlike her family, he would not take advantage of her fortune. He would not abandon her. The Stringham sisters didn’t expect her to lower herself to earn their approval. Or for her to try and change into someone she was not.
‘As you must be already aware,’ her uncle said, wiping his running nose with his monogramed handkerchief, ‘your servant is hardly an appropriate chaperone.’
Lord Cheswick flexed his arm muscles as he straightened his cuff. It was hardly an appropriate time for her to notice, but he was certainly a powerfully built man. ‘But my sister, the Duchess of Glastonbury, is. No one will dare say a word against her chaperonage. Let us take our leave, Lady Louisa... Mrs May.’
Louisa did not have to be told twice. She all but ran for the door to escape her horrible family. Mrs May linked her arm with Louisa’s and patted it reassuringly. Louisa felt giddy with relief. Her heart expanded in her chest. Somehow she had been blessed enough to discover true friends at Hampford Castle.
Before she reached the door, Mrs May clutched at her chest theatrically and said, ‘Oh, no—is that a snake on the floor?’
From the look of satisfaction on the housekeeper’s face, Louisa felt certain that the snake had not been let go from her reticule by accident. Her Aunt Laybourne shrieked even louder than before and her uncle stepped onto a sofa.
‘Don’t put your feet on the furniture!’ Aunt Laybourne yelled at her husband, but then practically jumped on the sofa herself as the snake slithered by her feet. It hissed at her and she shrieked some more.
Lord Cheswick opened the door and they walked out of the room together, leaving her aunt and uncle still standing on top of the furniture.
Mrs May did not laugh until they were all inside the carriage and he had closed the door behind them.
The Marquess grinned at her. ‘That was brilliant, Mrs May.’
The housekeeper adjusted her hat on her head. ‘Never underestimate amereservant.’
Louisa couldn’t help but agree. The servants at Greystone Hall had made her life bearable and helped her escape.
She’d been foolish to think that her Uncle Laybourne would help her. Perhaps she didn’t deserve his help or his time. It had been wicked of her to demand so much from a stranger. Maybe she really was a selfish as Aunt Rockingham had always said.
‘I am so sorry to be a burden to you,’ she said now, wringing her hands together, wishing to weep in despair. ‘If it is easier, you may return me to Greystone Hall.’
Chapter Eleven
‘Ihave made you a promise, Lady Louisa, and I mean to keep it,’ Wick said.
Her head sank even lower, until her chin was touching her chest. ‘But I have already been a great inconvenience to you...and you have your three sisters to take care of already. I could not ask you to travel to London. Nor could I presume so much of your sister, Lady Glastonbury, who has never even met me.’
Wick had never before felt such pure anger. His blood twitched in his veins and his pulse was thunderous. He half regretted not punching the sanctimonious clergyman right on his long, skinny and running nose. How anyone could treat Lady Louisa so poorly was beyond his reasoning. This beautiful young woman’s actions were nothing but kind and considerate. Her manners were excellent. She hadn’t demanded anything much of her relatives; she’d only asked for help in a world that rendered a daughter powerless.
‘You needn’t worry about Mantheria—she loves to boss people around, and the only person she has now is her three-year-old son. Our sisters have long since stopped obeying her.’
A tear ran down Louisa’s cheek and she wiped it away with her gloved hand. ‘Your sisters are all very strong young women.’
‘It is why they are alive,’ he whispered, thinking of poor, frail Elizabeth, who had been unable to fight off scarlet fever. ‘Perhaps, in return, you can continue to keep them occupied until I can find them a proper governess.’
‘I don’t think you can afford to be particular, my lord,’ Mrs May said with the same irrepressible twinkle in her eyes. ‘You might need to choose an improper one.’
Lady Louisa let out a watery chuckle. ‘Proper or improper governess—I should be glad to help you in any way that I am able, my lord.’
Wick clenched his fists tightly until he couldn’t feel his fingers. If Lady Louisa’s late father hadn’t trusted his brother and wife with his daughter’s fortune, why in heaven’s name had he trusted them with her person? The dead Earl had taken better care of his wife’s money than his child... But Wick would change all that.