Chapter 19 #2
But the baron frowned and shook his head. “I didn’t even know she was there.” I let out a short breath of relief. Then Mr. Dorian and I had acted quickly enough to keep her swoon out of view. “No. This concerns … you,” he continued.
My eyes widened. Then he did know about the investigation. “Oh?” I squeaked.
The baron shifted in his chair and looked rather uncomfortable. “How well do you know Mr. Dorian?”
I blinked for a few moments as I considered how to answer this question. “What do you mean?”
“I understand you met at my party,” he began. “And then I saw you together again at the funeral. I know he’s a popular author, and that can be a source of fascination for some people.”
A laugh burst from me. “Lord Linden, that isn’t at all the case here. I assure you.”
“Truly?” He looked relieved.
“Yes,” I answered with a firm nod and was just about to tell him how I knew Mr. Dorian when the man continued.
“I was worried because he does have a bit of a reputation, you know,” he said with subtle disapproval.
Considering that Lord Linden had a reputation of his own, I couldn’t help wondering what a man had to do to earn his censure. It was terribly duplicitous of me, but in that moment, my curiosity won out. So I swallowed my admission, and instead I tilted my head. “I’m afraid I don’t.”
The baron raised an eyebrow. “I’m not one to gossip, of course …”
“No, certainly not,” I agreed, willing the man to get to the point.
“But I believe he might be pursuing you.” Somehow I managed to suppress my snort of disbelief as he went on. “And as you are clearly a woman of unimpeachable character, I feel that it is my duty to tell you that woman he was with at my party—”
“Mrs. Langham,” I answered, rather too quickly, and he looked surprised.
“Uh, yes. Mrs. Langham. Well, as I understand it, she is his mistress.”
It wasn’t anything I hadn’t already assumed, and yet hearing it from someone else stung far more than I expected.
I sat back in my seat. “Yes. That makes sense,” I rasped after a moment.
And it did make sense. It aligned with everything I had read about Mr. Dorian since leaving Corfu, and he had made no attempt to hide their connection from me.
Furthermore, the woman was beautiful and charming.
If anything, it would be odder if she wasn’t his mistress.
I had only myself to blame for not acknowledging it sooner.
He frowned in concern. “Are you all right, Mrs. Harper?”
“Of course,” I insisted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
But Lord Linden’s wary gaze returned. “I’m sorry if I overstepped.”
I immediately straightened. “Not at all. I appreciate your concern, but let me assure you it was not needed,” I said firmly.
He held my gaze and seemed satisfied. “Good. Then may I call on you again?”
I gave him a bemused look. “Certainly.”
The baron noticed my confusion, and his eyes flashed with amusement. “I confess I did not come here solely out of gentlemanly concern.”
Now my confusion deepened. “No?”
Lord Linden smiled. “No. I also wanted to see you. To pay you a call.”
Understanding finally dawned, though my confusion did not leave. “Oh.”
“Yes. Oh,” he mimicked with a chuckle.
My cheeks heated, but before I could respond, Mrs. Ford entered with the tea tray, followed by Tommy.
“Hello,” he said. “We’ve brought you tea.”
She shot me an apologetic look over his head, but I was grateful for the distraction, as I needed a moment to absorb the baron’s admission.
I had assumed he was the kind of man who flirted the way other men breathed and thus hadn’t taken his attentions towards me very seriously.
But this was cause for a reconsideration.
Meanwhile, the baron was attempting to converse with my son. “Hello, young man,” he said stiffly. “And what is your name?”
“Thomas Harper, my lord,” he replied cheerily. “But everyone calls me Tommy.”
“Very good.” The baron then shot me a slightly panicked look, and I surmised that he was not often in the company of children.
Mr. Dorian may be a cad, but he was wonderful with Tommy. I could not deny that.
“Is it true you’re a baron?” Tommy asked bluntly.
Lord Linden looked utterly bemused by the question, and I doubted anyone had ever asked him that before. “Uh, yes. I am.”
“Do you have a castle?”
“I do not,” he conceded.
Tommy didn’t even pretend to hide his disappointment. “What about an abbey? Lord Byron had an abbey, and he was a baron.”
I attempted to mask my laugh as a cough, while Lord Linden sat up a little straighter. “I have a house here in London and another in the Lake District.” Then he looked to me. “It is quite lovely. Excellent views.”
I felt myself blushing again as Tommy considered this. “I’ve never been there. We’ve come from Corfu and haven’t left London yet. Have you been to Greece?”
Lord Linden cleared his throat. “Yes. Many years ago.”
While I was very curious to know more about this, I decided that was enough of an introduction. “Thank you, Tommy,” I said. “Now why don’t you go help Mrs. Ford. I’m sure she can find something for you to do.”
“Yes,” she said, as she guided him from the room. “Why don’t you help me peel potatoes.”
“All right. But I want to use the peeler by myself this time,” he insisted.
“Of course,” Mrs. Ford said.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he called back over his shoulder. “Even if you don’t have a castle.”
“A charming boy,” Lord Linden said rather uncertainly once we were alone.
I managed a smile and began to pour the tea. “Thank you. I also have an older daughter, Cleo,” I went on. Best to lay all my cards on the table now and let the man decide if he was still interested.
Lord Linden paused with his teacup in hand and quirked a brow. “Is she here as well?”
I shook my head. “She is attending a school in Hampstead run by Lady D’Arcy. Perhaps you know her?”
“I do. Yes,” he replied. “Interesting woman. I’ve heard great things about that school.”
Well, that was a point in his favor. “Cleo seems very happy there,” I said.
“And does she plan to follow in your footsteps and go to Girton?”
I was surprised he remembered that about me, and Lord Linden saw it plainly on my face. He cocked his head in amusement. “You truly don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” The words came out more sharply than I intended.
Rather than answer me outright, he took a leisurely sip of tea while his gaze remained on my face. “You are an attractive woman, Mrs. Harper,” he murmured.
I cleared my throat and immediately looked away.
Then I silently chastised myself. After all, I was a grown woman who had been married for many years.
His pronouncement shouldn’t have had such an effect on me.
And yet, there was a kind of knowing undercurrent to Lord Linden’s words.
An assuredness that made it difficult to dismiss this as little more than the shallow flattery I had expected from him.
Oliver had told me I was beautiful before, of course, but I wasn’t the same woman he had known.
His death had forced me to learn how to rely on myself, and my youthful innocence had been replaced by a clear-eyed strength born out of necessity.
If I was being very honest, I wasn’t entirely sure that Oliver would have liked this more surefooted version of myself: the Minnie who took odd jobs for even odder men.
Who investigated murders and traveled across the Continent.
And I certainly couldn’t imagine ceding to his wishes as easily or as often as I had when we were married, for I hadn’t known myself the way I did now.
But then, I hadn’t really known Oliver either.
At least, not as well as I had once thought.
In any case, it was rather gratifying that the baron had both seen this side of me and seemed to appreciate it.
“Thank you,” I said after a moment. And when I finally looked back at him, he was giving me an indulgent smile. Dolly’s words now echoed through my mind:
I can think of several gentlemen who would happily take on a widow, even one with children. It remained to be seen whether Lord Linden was such a gentleman, but I had to admit I was more than a little curious to learn the answer.
Lord Linden stayed with me for another half hour—far longer than I expected.
But even more surprising was how much I enjoyed myself.
He may have had a reputation as a scoundrel, but the man was also well-educated and cultured.
I discovered that we had a good deal in common, in fact.
We even discussed attending a lecture given by the Shakespeare Society later in the week, and he left with a promise to write in a few days’ time with the particulars.
I sat alone in the parlor afterwards in something of a daze, mulling over the entire exchange. While I could accept that Lord Linden might find me attractive, he was still one of the most eligible bachelors in England. Men like him married virginal debutants at least ten years my junior.
And they have affairs with experienced widows. Like you.
I nearly dropped my teacup at the thought, but conceded that it certainly made a good deal more sense than him wanting to formally court me.
Regardless of the man’s intentions, however, I knew what I wanted.
And it wasn’t to be any man’s mistress. If that was his true intent, then Lord Linden would learn that soon enough.
Of course, it was impossible to ruminate on the subject of mistresses without thinking of Mr. Dorian and Mrs. Langham.
I swallowed hard before the bitter taste could flood my mouth.
It was the height of idiocy for me to feel disappointment, no matter how fleeting.
He was nothing more to me than an acquaintance—and a particularly vexing one at that.
What did I care how he spent his time and with whom?
I forced myself to think of Lord Linden.
Of his delighted smile and the sensation of his lips against my knuckles, until my disagreeableness slowly melted into something softer.
Though I could acknowledge that he was a handsome man, I didn’t feel that deep tug of attraction.
But his attention was a distraction from more inconvenient feelings. And that would have to be enough.