Chapter Fifteen
B rilliance wrote to her father and mother as soon as she returned to Lady Twitchard’s. Ever dutiful and honest, she knew her parents should be apprised of a gentleman’s interest in her, especially seeing how they had discussed married life.
As to finding a way to see him again alone, that was beyond her ability.
And then everything worked out even better than she could have hoped. When she went down to breakfast two mornings later, there were trunks in the hall.
“Has someone arrived?” Brilliance asked the housemaid.
“No, my lady. Two guests are leaving.” And she hurried away in the fashion of busy maids who always seemed to have somewhere else they needed to be.
Brilliance went with equal speed into the breakfast salon. Sure enough, both Lady Georgiana and Miss Newton were dressed for travel.
“Why are you leaving?” she asked, taking a seat and nodding to the footman to pour her a cup of chocolate.
“We have been invited to another house party,” Lady Georgiana said, her smug expression leaving no doubt as to her mood. “Didn’t you get an invitation?”
“No.” Brilliance found it impossible to sound the tiniest bit sad. Inside, she was simmering with excitement.
“Are you terribly mortified at being left behind?” Miss Newton asked, spearing a morsel of sausage on her plate.
Instead of answering such a disingenuous question, Brilliance asked, “Where are you going?”
“To Richmond, to the home of Lord and Lady Boyer.”
“I’ve never heard of them,” she said. Why were the girls so excited? It wasn’t as though they were going to Syon or Devonshire House.
“Nor had I,” Miss Newton said, “but somehow, they have heard of us. Party orphans due to the cholera.”
Brilliance bit her lip. What rubbish! She wasn’t going to try to dissuade them from going, though. Far from it! “How kind of them to take you in.”
“Not just take us in. They are hosting us properly with a ball. And they have two single sons,” Lady Georgiana added.
Miss Newton nodded. “We are to stay in a home with two single gentlemen!”
“How fortunate for you.” Brilliance truly hoped this was some fortuitous event that led them to both finding matches. Wouldn’t that be magical? In any case, they clearly preferred to have two men residing under the same roof over sharing a single viscount who lived a half hour carriage ride away.
“I hope you won’t be bored here without us,” Miss Newton said.
“Oh no,” Brilliance replied. “I doubt your departure will make much difference to me.”
By the thunderous expression on their faces, she’d been a trifle too honest. But all she could do was wish them well and hope that Lord Hewitt soon invited her over again.
“We are to dine with my cousin this evening,” Lady Twitchard said the following morning. “That is, if you are amenable.”
“I am. Very much so. I hold Lord Hewitt in the highest esteem.”
“Then I shall send word back.”
“I look forward to it.” Brilliance wondered how she would pass the hours before they set off in the Twitchards’ carriage.
“Perhaps you would like to take the response back to him yourself, go early, and spend the day in my cousin’s company.”
Brilliance wondered if she could have heard her correctly for it was a most unusual thing to suggest.
“My lady, that would be my most fervent wish, but I can hardly believe you find it acceptable for me to do so. Not that many days ago, it seemed that you and Colonel Twitchard were colluding to keep your cousin and me firmly apart.”
Lady Twitchard looked uncomfortable. “I got a little above myself, as they say. I thought my cousin might be playing you falsely. But I don’t think that any longer. Rather, I know he has genuine admiration for you. And vice versa, if I understand your sentiments correctly.”
Brilliance nodded. “Lord Hewitt and I do share a strong mutual admiration.”
“Then let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.”
“How well put,” Brilliance said. “So poetic.”
“Shakespeare,” Lady Twitchard said. “From one of my favorite sonnets.”
Brilliance felt a little embarrassed. “I am sorry to say I have never memorized any of his works.”
“That is neither here nor there. You have other grand qualities.” They stared at one another for a moment.
Brilliance was glad Lady Twitchard didn’t try to come up with any of those qualities because she knew her list of accomplishments was short, and her attributes were restricted to a pleasant personality and above-average good looks. Regardless, she tried to always be a good daughter, a true friend, and a congenial guest. One day soon, she hoped to be a loyal fiancée and then a loving wife.
“In any case,” her hostess continued, “Lord Hewitt sent a letter that was extremely polite yet also compelling, resulting in the somewhat unconventional day that lies ahead. My cousin is persuasive when he wants something.”
Lady Twitchard left it hanging in the air that what he wanted was ... Brilliance.
Thus she found herself packed off with her maid to spend the day at Mirabel Manor, with the understanding that Colonel and Lady Twitchard would arrive within a few hours.
“Should I take a change of dress?” Brilliance thought how her mother might disapprove of her sitting down to dine in the same gown she’d traveled in and worn for hours.
“Do you see?” Lady Twitchard remarked. “You have a very sound head upon your shoulders. I think, under the circumstances, you will be forgiven for not changing. However, I see nothing wrong in taking another gown since you’ll have your maid with you.”
By mid-morning, she was bundled into a small conveyance with her maid and a change of clothes and driving to Lord Hewitt’s home.
It was most unusual, as Lady Twitchard had said. Many times, Brilliance wondered if her parents would approve, in particular, her father.
Regardless, a short while later, she was met at Lord Hewitt’s front drive, not by a footman but by the viscount himself, helping her down from the carriage.
“You came,” he said, sounding excited and charming her down to the toes of her favorite, soft blue shoes.
As if there had been any doubt that she would!
“I thank you for the invitation. Your cousin and the Colonel will be along in a few hours.”
“Isn’t that wonderful?” he said, not taking his gaze off her.
“I have brought my maid,” she added, in case he thought her entirely without morals.
“Isn’t that wonderful, too?” he repeated. “I am sure she will enjoy spending the day with my staff. Come along, let us introduce her to my housekeeper, and then we’ll figure out what we want to do first.”
“After the carriage ride, I would like to take a stroll and exercise my legs.”
“May I join you?” he asked.
Brilliance burst out laughing. When she could speak easily again, she said, “The first time I saw you in Lady Twitchard’s conservatory, I would never have thought you to have a jolly sense of humor.”
“I am serious when playing, it’s true.”
“Oh yes, you were fierce, and you chased me off. Twice.”
They entered his front hall, and she gave her lightweight short mantle to his butler.
“I may always be that way when concentrating on music. In fact, I can almost guarantee I will be,” Lord Hewitt said. “I work best when I forget myself, almost as though my physical body were unimportant except for my fingers. They are merely the conduit which sends the music from my brain out into the world.”
“I will try to remember not to disturb you when your brain is sending music,” she promised.
After Belinda was dispatched to the servants’ quarters, they started their exploration of his estate. In companionable silence, they traversed the gardens to a clipped lawn and, eventually, to the same waterway that wended its way through the Twitchards’ property farther north.
He had a gentlemanly hold of her arm, and she felt perfectly safe.
“Now that we are friends,” she asked, “will you play for me?”
He hesitated, which made her a little sad. Didn’t he trust her not to judge him? And even if she were the harshest possible critic, the arbiter of all that was good in the realm of music, still he must know she would not find any fault with his playing. Had his stage fright not improved even a little?
“Have you been eating plenty of fruit?” she asked.
“Lady Brilliance, I hope this doesn’t sound pudding-headed, but why were you making gifts of oranges, cherries, and such?”
“Isn’t fruit a well-known treatment for stage fright?”
“If it is,” he said, “I have never heard of it.”
She sighed “Perhaps you needed to know about the treatment in order for it to work. I am dreadfully sorry.”
He shook his head. “Do not be sorry. I do not now, nor have I ever suffered from stage fright.”
Astonished, she stopped in her tracks. “Don’t you?”
“No. I promise you.”
“Not even a little bit?” she asked.
“No,” he repeated before tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, making her shiver.
“Well, then I am absolutely flummoxed. Why won’t you play?”
With his sage-colored eyes gazing into hers, he vowed, “I will play for you .”
“A piece of music I have never heard before,” she pressed as they began walking again. “For it must be something you have written.”
“You are a demanding minx. And the answer is yes. Come, let me show you a particularly lovely spot.”
As if England itself were conspiring to make everything perfect, the weather was warm, the sky cloudless, and an abundance of birds were swooping to catch insects. They paused at a bend in the stream.
“Can you truly see the Roman ruins from that back bedroom?”
“No, but from the attic you can make out the nearby trees, I imagine.”
“Then you lied.” Brilliance hoped he didn’t make a habit of bending the truth to get his way.
“I did. I wanted to ask Alethia if she would allow me to have a few minutes alone with you, and I needed her to help me make it happen.”
“It worked. Lady Georgiana and Miss Newton could talk of nothing but your bedroom on the ride home. In fact, they lorded it over me.”
“How are they faring?” he asked.
“You needn’t sound so innocent. I have no doubt you arranged for them to be whisked away to someone else’s home.”
His handsome face broke out into a grin. “I did. Are you angry?”
“You know I am not, or you wouldn’t be smiling like a fiend.”
He looked as though he were trying to regain a measure of concern. “I hope you won’t be lonely while staying at my cousin’s.”
His arms unexpectedly slipped around her, and she leaned against him.
“I don’t mind my own company. And I assume you will come visit me at Bexley Hall or invite me here again.”
Before he could say anything more, she had to ask Lord Hewitt the question she had wondered about ever since Lady Twitchard told her she was to spend the day with him.
“Are you courting me?”
Brilliance felt him tense.