Chapter Eleven
Jerome slept badly, haunted by Ava’s journey north with Lannister and what must have been a terrifying ordeal, walking from Newcastle to Ravenshaw in the dark and during one of the worst storms he had ever witnessed.
He shuddered. How she had arrived unhurt—in fact, how she had even found his house in the dark—was a mystery. But one he was profoundly grateful for.
What mystified him further was the exact nature of the relationship between Ava and Lannister, and why she, and indeed Rob, had neglected to mention the fact that she had spent a prolonged journey in his company on what must have been significantly intimate terms. As much as he tried to dismiss it, the thoughts persisted.
He woke tired and irritable at around ten from a dream that faded before he could grasp it but left him feeling unsettled and anxious.
The surge of relief that he had experienced following his interview with Isabella—and the happiness that welled up in its wake when he thought of being able to claim Ava as his wife at last—had dissolved overnight.
He was drinking coffee and ignoring the plate of ham and eggs set before him when his butler presented a folded note to him on a silver salver.
“This came for you last evening, my lord.”
“Thank you, Skelton,” He took the folded parchment and turned it over to peruse the seal. DeCrecy! What the hell—
He broke the seal and spread out the single sheet.
Jerome,
If you can spare the time, I would appreciate it if you would call at Grosvenor Square.
Yours, etc.
Leticia
“Good God!” He murmured under his breath.
He hadn’t seen his elder sister in several years, except in passing at the odd ball or concert.
For the most part, they didn’t mix in the same circles.
To his knowledge, she spent a good part of the year ruralizing at her husband’s estate in Shropshire, and when in London, her social engagements revolved around the political calendar.
What she wanted with him now, he couldn’t fathom, but it was fortuitous, for it had occurred to him that he ought to inform her of what he had discovered about their parents while he was at Ravenshaw.
To say nothing of his engagement to Ava.
He and Leticia had never been close, the age difference between them being almost ten years.
He had been in short coats when she had her debut and married John Norwich, the Earl DeCrecy, soon after.
As her husband was ten years her senior and, in Jerome’s opinion, a dry stick, the two men had never formed any kind of friendship, either, and seldom ran across each other socially, despite belonging to the same club.
When he arrived later that morning at her house in Grosvenor Square, the butler conducted him to the parlor where his sister sat at a desk, engaged, he assumed, in correspondence.
She abandoned this at his entrance, rising to greet him.
Letty had been a beauty in her day and still had good bone structure.
The birth of six children had thickened her figure and there was some gray beginning to show in her dark locks, but they otherwise shared the same coloring.
She also, to his critical eye, seemed tired.
“Well, that was quick,” she remarked, offering him her cheek.
“I confess it has been so long since I heard from you, I was alarmed. I thought you were still buried in the wilds of Shropshire.”
“How can I be, with Sophie’s debut this year?”
“Oh Lord, is it?”
She shook her head at him. “You’re a terrible uncle, you know.”
He rubbed his face. “Yes, I do know. I’m sorry.”
“Never mind. Sit down and tell me the rumors are greatly exaggerated, and you are not having an affair with Isabella Mortimer.”
“I’m not.”
“And there is no truth to the rumor that you’re going to marry her?”
“No.” He swallowed. London’s gossipmongers had a lot to answer for. He took refuge in irritation. “Is this what you asked me to come for? To rake me over the coals for gossip with no foundation?”
“Not primarily, but it was my most pressing question. I’m relieved it’s not true. Isabella is not right for you.”
“What makes you say that?” he asked, caught off guard. “I wouldn’t think you know me well enough to hazard a guess as to who would suit me.”
“I may not have seen you much in recent years, but I know you, little brother. Unless you have changed out of all recognition.”
He regarded her with a quizzical frown. “You were so much older than me. I didn’t think you paid me much attention at all.”
She half smiled and shook her head. “My primary reason was in fact to apprise you of Sophie’s come out, because I knew you would have forgotten, and to request your assistance.”
“What do you need me for?” he asked with foreboding.
“John has been sent to America on a diplomatic mission by the wretched Foreign Secretary. It’s all over this dreadful slave trade business.
Certain powerful interests in the American south are angry about us policing the Atlantic and trying to enforce the abolition.
All of which you would know if you got your head out of a horse’s arse occasionally and paid attention to what was going on in the world!
When was the last time you attended Parliament? ”
“Lord, I don’t know, last year some time?” he said ignoring the insult. “I would hardly pick John as the conciliatory type. What was Castlereagh thinking?”
“It might surprise you to know that John volunteered. He feels quite strongly on the subject.”
“Oh. Well, all power to him. I did vote in favor of the bill, if it’s of any interest to you.”
“So I should hope. Appalling business. Anyway, I digress. With John away, I need a male escort. It won’t do for it to appear that Sophie has no man overseeing her interests. You can chase away the fortune hunters. You know she has a substantial dowry from John’s mother.”
“Well, actually that might prove problematic. You see I’m getting married in a fortnight.”
“What?” Leticia stared at him. “So, the rumors were true, just not the lady involved!” she clasped her hands. “So, who is she?”
“Lady Ava Layne,” he said woodenly.
“Oh, my dear, that is marvelous! She will suit you admirably!”
That was the last thing he expected her to say. “You think so?”
“Of course!” She rose. “Now give me a hug, I’m tickled pink! Ava is a delight!”
He rose and obliged his sister with a hug and kiss to her cheek, somewhat bemused.
“I am getting an invitation to the wedding,” she said resuming her seat.
“Yes, of course!” he said with a guilty start. “It’s being held at The Castle, a small private ceremony, just family and close friends.”
She cocked her head at him and said shrewdly.
“This is all very sudden. To my knowledge there has been no notice in The Gazette, and in fact the rumors were that Ava was all set to marry Haldane and then that she had run off with Lannister. Which, mind you, I didn’t credit.
Troubridge would never allow it. There is a big juicy scandal at the center of this, I can feel it.
What happened, little brother? And don’t try to fob me off, for I won’t believe you. ”
He sighed and rubbed his face.
“The long and the short of it is that I have been in love with Ava for two years, but I was of the belief that she had outgrown her schoolgirl infatuation for me.” He flushed.
“I was also fully aware of the age gap between us and that Robert wanted her to marry someone younger, a man without my—reputation. When he told me that he had secured a match for her with Haldane, it seemed the perfect solution. I knew I needed to marry—the title and all that. So I asked Isabella Mortimer.”
“She refused you?”
“She said she would think about it, and I went to Ravenshaw to set it to rights—I’ve neglected the place shamefully.
But Ava knew of my offer to Isabella. She followed me!
” He shook his head. “She is heedless of convention, incredibly brave, and the most determined woman I’ve ever met—except for you, Letty.
Robert and Sarah arrived almost at the same time as Ava did, and everyone decided marriage was the proper course of action.
The notice should appear in The Gazette any day now.
Robert needed time to inform Haldane first.”
“What a tale! And you are happy?”
“Yes. I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet. I miss her like the devil.” He knew he had a foolish expression on his face, and couldn’t help it. Thinking of Ava reduced him to a state of internal mush.
He wished he could remember more of what had transpired between himself and Ava between climbing into bed with her naked and being woken roughly by Robert. But the amount of alcohol he had consumed had fuddled his senses and left gaps in his memory. He did remember kissing her, but nothing else.
“Well, you can escort me and Sophie to your wedding. It won’t hurt her prospects to have you respectably married now.
In fact, the more I think about it, the better this seems. Ava can show Sophie the way of things, which will relieve me of my duties a little.
” It struck him again how tired she looked, and he frowned. Was she ill?
“I believe you are more than capable of chasing the fortune hunters away. Half the men in London are terrified of you, anyway,” he said.
She sniffed. “If you weren’t my brother, I’d box your ears for that insult!” But her eyes twinkled, and he knew she was joking.
He grinned at her. “Then I’m glad I’m your brother.”
“Are you? We hardly see each other from one year’s end to the next. Would you like some tea?”
“Why not?” He had no plans for later except to go to his club. He could spare another hour for the sister he never saw, as she said, from one year’s end to the next. And he really needed to tell her what he had discovered at Ravenshaw.
She rose to go to the bellpull, and the sunlight streaking through the window drew attention to her belly through her high-waisted gown. That would explain why she looked so tired.