Chapter 25 #2
It took her a moment to reply. Her heart ached for Evangeline.
No wonder she held Sir Richard at bay. Of course, Joan didn’t think Sir Richard was like either of Evangeline’s first two husbands, but what a terrible blow .
. . “I don’t believe Lord Burke is a hard-hearted rake,” she said.
“He’s not the most respectable person, but Papa was also once a rake, and he changed.
Evangeline told me he did, Mother—for you. ”
“Your father was never as scandalous as Lord Burke,” Mother replied.
“He kept some bad company, but he was decent at heart. He never would have trifled with me. His father was strict and raised him to be an honorable man. Lord Burke, on the other hand, has run wild his whole life, unmoderated by any family influence.”
“But his parents died when he was only a small child!”
Lady Bennet held up her hands calmingly at Joan’s protest. “I don’t blame him for it, my dear. I am only stating a fact: Lord Burke has been allowed to do whatever he wished since he was a boy, and it’s apparent in his behavior today.”
“He was allowed to run wild because he was all alone,” Joan said.
“With no one to comfort him or guide him. Who would not run wild, if forced to live with his dour aunt, Lady Burke? Yes, she disowned him, although she did manage to live in his house, on his charity, for almost ten years. And that meant Tris—Lord Burke has had to be responsible for himself from a young age. He had no father to control his spending, no mother to gentle his manners. I think he’s turned out at least as well as Douglas, who had every advantage you named. ”
Mother’s lips tightened at the mention of Douglas. “I shall never forgive him if he’s blinded you to his true nature.”
Joan looked at her aunt. “I don’t believe he has.” Silently she begged her aunt to agree with her.
“I do believe the young man is honorable, Marion,” said Evangeline. “I never would have received him if I’d had the slightest uncertainty.”
Mother sighed. “If he shows signs of becoming more respectable, I shall give him the benefit of the doubt. Your father made a great many changes to his behavior before I received him,” she admonished Joan. “If Lord Burke can do the same, I will be very pleased to see it.”
A servant came in with a tray of letters. Evangeline got to her feet as Mother sorted through the post. “I must begin packing.”
“You’re leaving?” Joan followed her aunt toward the door.
“Yes!” Evangeline smiled and clasped her hand. “I miss my Louis, and now that your parents are home, you’ve no more need of me.”
Of course she’d known her aunt would leave when Mother and Papa returned home, but Joan was more dismayed than she’d expected to be. She had come to like Evangeline a great deal in the last month. “I’ll miss you,” she said, sounding a little forlorn even to her own ears.
“I’m not saying farewell forever! I regret not having made a greater effort to know you and your brother, and I want to remedy that.”
Joan pressed her hands. “Please do come to call. I will always be glad to see you.”
Evangeline smiled—gratefully, Joan thought—and embraced her. “Gladly! Thank you, my dear. You are welcome to visit me at any time. Louis would be wild with joy to see you again. He never forgets a kind person with bacon.”
“I must remember to bring bacon with me, to shamelessly win his heart.” She grinned.
“You have already won his eternal devotion,” replied her aunt dryly. “All it takes is a single rasher. Dogs’ affections are so easily won.”
“Unlike men’s.” She sighed. “What should I do?”
Evangeline glanced at Lady Bennet, who was reading a letter, before she, too, lowered her voice to a whisper. “What does your heart tell you to do?”
“It would be easier to answer if I knew what his heart felt.”
“Wouldn’t it?” Evangeline put her hands on Joan’s shoulders.
“I did my best to explain everything to your parents. I sincerely believe Lord Burke meant—means—to treat you honorably. I have known many rakes and rogues in my day, and he doesn’t fit their mold.
Only if one believed him devoid of human feeling and sensibility could his actions be explained in a dishonorable way.
It would be extremely foolish of him to think he could abuse your reputation and walk away unscathed.
For one thing, you have a father and a brother who show no signs of sitting idly by and letting you be ruined. ”
“But wouldn’t it be awful for Papa to force him to marry me if he doesn’t wish to?” Joan frowned at the thought.
“Why? You love him. He obviously finds you attractive and intriguing. I assure you, there are worse beginnings for a marriage.”
“But I want to be loved,” she whispered in longing.
“Don’t abandon hope of it yet!” Her aunt gave her a wry smile. “Perhaps he already loves you; I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he did. Men don’t always blurt it out, you know. And some of them take a fearfully long time to acknowledge it is love they feel.”
That made some sense. Papa admitted he loved Mother, but there was no reason to hide it, after thirty years of marriage.
Douglas, though, would deny the truth until it slapped him in the face.
Joan expected her brother would fight the emotion every inch of the way, but she also expected he would love his wife simply because he was very like their father in most other ways.
Tristan was every bit as stubborn as Douglas, but he hadn’t been raised with the example of loving parents.
Of course it might take him longer to admit his feelings—presuming he did, in fact, love her as Evangeline said.
“Thank you, Evangeline,” she said fervently. “For coming to chaperone me, for taking me to Mr. Salvatore, for lending me your white shoes, and—and for everything else.”
Her aunt smiled, some of the usual light reappearing in her eyes. “It has been very much my pleasure, Joan.”
A sharp exclamation from the other side of the room made them both look up. Lady Bennet had one hand clapped to her bosom, and her face was white. The letter in her hand trembled. Slowly she raised stricken eyes to them.
“You lied to me.”
Joan froze. She didn’t dare look at her aunt, since it wasn’t clear which of them her mother meant. “What?”
Lady Bennet held up her letter. Joan said a silent curse on her mother’s many prolific correspondents. “You disappeared from the Brentwood ball with Lord Burke last night and weren’t seen again.”
“I made her come home,” Evangeline said quickly, but with a faint note of alarm in her voice. “I felt a headache—”
“And you were remarked searching the house for Joan!” Mother’s eyes flashed. “Where did you go, young lady?”
She thought wildly. “Just out for a breath of fresh air . . .”
Her mother slashed one hand through the air in patent disbelief. “And you couldn’t go with one of the Weston girls? Or with your aunt? Or with a maid?”
“They . . . ah . . . they weren’t nearby . . .”
Lady Bennet shook her head, looking amazed and furious at the same time.
“Lord Burke’s absence at the same time was also noticed—in fact, the last anyone saw of either of you was when you were waltzing with him, indecently close!
” She threw off the shawl covering her legs and rose to her feet.
“Can you tell me that nothing improper happened last night? Nothing I would find objectionable? Can you swear it, Joan?”
A quick glance at her aunt told her Evangeline couldn’t help her anymore.
She was doomed. She hadn’t expected to escape unscathed, but another few days, perhaps, would have allowed her some time to discover what Tristan intended.
Evangeline had said everything would be cured by a marriage proposal . . . but now it was too late.
Mother’s jaw tightened at her prolonged, guilty, silence.
“He means to be honorable and reform his ways,” she said acidly, throwing Joan’s own words back at her.
“When is this transformation to begin? It certainly won’t come in time to save you from a storm of gossip!
Did you not think this worthy of mention when you were defending his motives and upbringing, and casting all your actions in a virtuous light? ”
She shifted miserably. “Not really, no.”
“Well, I hope you do now. Your father will have to see to him—and I pray it doesn’t lead to bloodshed.” Her mother’s voice broke as she stared at Joan in bitter disappointment. “Oh, Joan, what have you done?”