Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
After dinner, the men stayed behind to drink their port. Ben looked around. Aside from Mr. Meecham and Lord Minton, the only other gentlemen were Ben’s friends. Not that he was opposed to that idea. He preferred the gents’ company to anyone else’s.
Except for Mia’s.
But she was in the drawing room with the ladies. Ben grinned when he thought about her entertaining the women. It was something he knew Mia was loath to do. But it was good for her. In the short time since the party began, he’d seen a small change in Mia. She was talking to people and smiling. Granted, it wasn’t a genuine smile. But she was not scowling or hiding in the library. He considered the party a success. At least to this point, anyway.
“Why do we not move this conversation into the drawing room?” Lord Minton smiled at his guests. Ben had seen a change in Mia’s father also. The man was happier than he’d been in an age. But then, he’d always enjoyed society more than Mia had, so perhaps it should not be a surprise.
The men all moved down the corridor and into the drawing room. The ladies sat in a similar grouping as they had for tea, although it was only slightly smaller. With the addition of the Meecham ladies, they were only a few people shy of what they’d had at tea. A lively conversation ensued.
“Miss Newsome, did you say you are from Westmorland?” Mia asked.
Miss Newsome nodded. “Yes. From Appleby.”
Mrs. Meecham scooted towards her. “Then you must surely know Lord Kendal. His estate is close to Appleby.” She smiled a Cheshire cat grin. “He’s a marquess.”
Miss Newsome nodded. “I know of him, but I’m afraid I have not made his acquaintance. Although I believe my father has. They met a few months back to discuss the upcoming session of Parliament.”
Mrs. Meecham’s brow creased. “Why would your father be discussing such things with Lord Kendal?”
Miss Newsome swallowed. “My father was recently elected to the House of Commons.” She straightened and lifted her chin in pride.
Mia took a breath and jumped into the conversation, surely to save Miss Newsome. He smiled with pride. She was up to this task, however much she doubted it. “How do you know Lord Kendal, Mrs. Meecham?”
The woman’s gaze flicked to Mia and for a second she frowned. “We met at a dinner party several years past. A very fine gentleman, he is.”
Ben stared at Mrs. Meecham waiting for her to continue. Surely there was more, for she had made it seem as though she and Kendal were lifelong friends.
“Mr. Meecham met with Lord Brinton last month, did you not, Mr. Meecham?”
Mr. Meecham nodded. “Yes. I did.”
His wife stared at him, her eyes wide and her head jerking slightly to the side. The woman wished for him to give more details, but he seemed disinclined to oblige her.
“Yes, well, they met to discuss a property matter.” She either did not have more details or she realized the details were not as riveting as she’d previously thought.
Mia stood up and motioned to the grouping of chairs. “Lord Berwick, would you help me gather a few more chairs? There is no reason we cannot all sit together.”
There were plenty of reasons. And most of them started with Mrs. Meecham. But Ben knew Mia would have his head if he left her to deal with the woman by herself. It was the price he must pay for presenting the house party to Minton.
“Of course.” He motioned to Cort and Ponsy. “You stay seated, my lady. We can gather the chairs.”
Mia hurried to his side. “If you think to make me sit and listen to that woman mention names of people she has barely a passing knowledge of, you are mistaken,” she hissed.
Cort chuckled. “She is rather a force to be reckoned with, is she not?”
“She’s a force of something,” Mia muttered.
They went about the room, gathering chairs and dragging them over by the fire. Everyone moved their chairs back to allow room for the additions.
Cort took the seat next to Mia.
Ben frowned. Why had he done that? There was a chair right next to Lady Charlotte. Why did Cort not sit there? “Montcort, would you trade me seats? There is something I need to discuss with Lady Amelia about tomorrow’s activity at Tweed.”
Cort raised his brow. “Did you not already discuss that after tea? That is why you stayed longer than the rest of us, is it not?”
Ben narrowed his eyes. Drat, he forgot he’d already used that excuse. How often could he use it, anyway? Ben dropped into the chair next to Lady Charlotte. “I suppose it can wait,” he sulked.
Cort grinned at him.
Ben may not have been next to Mia, but there were only a few people separating them.
Mia twisted toward Cort—but away from Ben—and spoke.
“Yes, it’s in North Lancashire.” Cort crossed one knee over the other.
Ben could hear Cort’s side of the conversation with very little trouble. But he had to strain to hear Mia. It was deuced difficult to listen without being blatantly obvious.
Someone nudged him in the arm. “I’m very excited to visit Tweed Castle tomorrow,” Lady Charlotte said.
Ben pulled his attention away from Mia and Cort.
“I beg your pardon?” Ben asked.
“I said I’m excited to visit Tweed Castle.” Lady Charlotte was not much easier to hear than Mia even though she sat next to him. And he was certain Lady Charlotte had less interesting things to say.
“Yes, you mentioned that at tea,” he said dismissively.
“Ben is my dearest friend,” Cort said to Mia. “And he is your dearest friend, is he not?”
Mia nodded. Ben couldn’t tell if she said something also.
“Then does it not stand to reason that you and I should also be dearest friends?”
Ben shifted so he could hear Mia’s answer. Did she want to be Cort’s dearest friend? Something about it did not settle well with him. He leaned closer to them, nearly sitting on Mrs. Ludlum’s lap next to him.
She gave him an annoyed look, but Ben ignored her.
“But what if you and I should become dearer friends than you or I are with Ben? That hardly seems fair. Especially considering he is the one to introduce us.” Her head tilted to the side. “I think it best to keep our acquaintance just as it is.”
Ben’s body relaxed, and he slapped his leg. He didn’t know why he’d been worried. Mia would not stand for such tomfoolery from Cort.
“Are you well, my lord?”
Ben swung back to Lady Charlotte. “I beg your pardon. I must have been wool-gathering. What were you saying?” His neck and cheeks warmed. He was not used to being caught eavesdropping. It was beneath him.
She looked at the floor, and Ben felt even worse. He had treated her ill and his mother would be ashamed of him.
“I asked what it was like to live in a castle.” Lady Charlotte looked embarrassed. “But you need not answer. It’s a silly question. I’m sure it’s no different from living in any other house.”
Ben consciously pulled his attention away from Cort and Mia. “It’s not so silly a question. It is quite different from living in a manor house.”
Lady Charlotte looked up from the floor. “Really? How so?”
“For one, they are usually rather drafty. Especially in the winter. The rooms are not all connected under one roof as they are in a manor house, which means sometimes I must brave the weather to get to the library. But they are also much quieter.”
“I understand them being drafty, but why are they quieter?” Mrs. Ludlum asked from his other side. It seemed she was not as interested in Cort and Mia’s conversation as Ben was.
“There are many reasons. There is not the settling of timbers like there is in a house like this. The castle is constructed almost entirely of stones. The stairs don’t creak. And they also keep much of the out-of-door noises out. For example, earlier today when the rain was coming down with such force, the only way I knew it was raining was when I heard it clicking on the windows. The stone walls of the castle are thick, making those kinds of noises disappear.”
“That is very interesting. You must sleep very well,” Miss Newsome smiled and chuckled.
Ben joined her. “I do sleep better at Tweed than I do in Town or at our other estates.”
“How old is the castle?” Lady Charlotte asked. She offered Miss Newsome and Mrs. Ludlum a slight scowl.
Ben held up a hand. “You must wait until tomorrow to get that information. If I tell you now, there will be no need for the tour.”
Lady Charlotte offered a pout.
Ben refrained from rolling his eyes. It did not make him want to give in to her, nor did it make him smile as Mia’s pouts did.
“I cannot persuade you to change your mind?” Lady Charlotte asked, pushing her lips out further and scooting closer to him.
Ben shot out of his seat. “Lady Amelia, had you not planned for charades this evening?” He hurried around the low table. “I shall ring for the servants to set up the chairs.” Mia ignored his objections to charades and put them on the schedule anyway, much to his irritation. But now it seemed they were to his advantage.
Mia looked at him as if he were near Bedlam. “They have already set them up in the parlor.”
Ben stopped mid-stride. “Oh, then, should we make our way there?”
Mia stood up and smoothed her gown. “Certainly. I see no reason to delay.” She watched him with curious eyes.
Everyone stood, and Ben did not miss the way his friends and their wives looked at him. It seemed everyone thought he was mad. But there was nothing for it. He did not wish for Lady Charlotte to think he held a tendre for her. It would only cause problems in the end. There was nothing wrong with her. He simply was not interested in making her his wife. He did not wish to make anyone his wife.
His gaze dropped to Mia, and she smiled. For a moment his conversation with the gents in the billiards room buzzed in his ears. Did he feel more than friendship for Mia? He scoffed the notion away. Of course not. That was complete nonsense.
He strolled through the small anteroom that connected the parlor and the drawing room.
“Why did you throw yourself off the couch? I thought for a moment something had bitten you.” Mia spoke through the side of her mouth.
“I did not ‘throw myself’ off the couch. I simply wished to stand.”
Mia gave him a side-eyed look. The one that said she knew he was telling a bouncer.
Ben sighed. “Lady Charlotte was being too attentive. I needed to remove myself from the conversation.”
“You were successful. I’ll grant you that. However, the rest of the guests think you a complete nodcock. Could you not have done it more discreetly?”
He rubbed at the back of his neck. “She was pouting. What else was I to do?”
Mia reached up and smoothed out the crease on his brow. “Perhaps we should come up with a secret word. Something that will inform the other we need assistance.” She frowned and dropped her hand, taking a step back.
Ben took a step toward her and held his finger up in the air. “That is a fine idea. What should be the word? It must be something that would not seem out of place in any conversation but not so common that the other person will not realize they are being summoned.”
Mia blinked up at him. “Sometimes you make things more complicated than they need to be.”
He held out his hands. “What have I complicated?”
She shook her head. “Pay it no mind.” She tapped her finger to her lips, and Ben dropped his gaze. Her lips pushed out, not unlike what they did when she pouted. His chest tingled. He consciously pulled his eyes up, focusing on her eyes. “What about shag?” She asked.
Ben raised a brow. “That will fit easily into a conversation? And you say I’m the one to complicate things?”
Mia nodded. “‘Did you hear the shags squawking this morning?’ or ‘Did you see the shags perched on the cliffs today?’ It fits very easily into conversation.”
Ben smiled. “That is perfect. Neither of us will appear mad, except about birds—which you already are—and it is not something that we would speak of otherwise.”
“Then shag it is.” Mia grinned. “It will be our little secret.”
They moved into the parlor. All the guests settled into seats and waited for the evening to begin.
Mia stood at the front and looked at everyone. “A friend suggested,” she glanced to Miss Cartwright, “that we have an evening of charades. And while I’m rather daft at figuring them out, I’ve been told that Lord and Lady Stoke are quite proficient at them.”
Ben groaned quietly next to her. “Did I not warn you away from this?” He hissed.
She lifted a delicate shoulder and spoke through a tight smile. “You insisted I plan activities. This is an activity.” She motioned to Reginald and Lady Stoke to make their way to the front.
Only then did Ben notice the book in Lady Stoke’s hand. The couple was given advanced notice of the request. Interesting.
Ben sighed and sulked back to his seat. Lady Charlotte motioned for him to sit next to her, but he pretended not to see her and settled in next to Miss Bancroft.
Reginald grinned at his wife. “Why do you not start us out, dearest?”
Mia quietly moved out of sight. She caught Ben’s eye and headed toward him, but as she passed Cort’s row, his hand snaked out and grabbed hold of her wrist. “I saved you a seat, my lady,” he whispered.
Mia looked to Ben and lifted a shoulder in resignation before she moved into the row and sat next to Cort.
Ben glared at his friend’s back.
Lady Stoke lifted her book and opened it to the page marked with a satin ribbon. She smiled out at the crowd and lifted the book.
“ My first flies swiftly o’er the mead,
And while terrific foes pursue,
My second cheers their flagging speed,
And strives their efforts to renew.
My third recalls the fleeting breath,
And, when the spirits feel dismay,
Steps forth to ward off coming death,
And chases fear and pain away. ”
Lady Stoke grinned out at the audience. “Does anyone have the answer?” She turned to Reginald and lifted a finger to her lips. “I know you know the answer, but let’s see if anyone else does.”
There were murmurs throughout the group, but no one put forth an answer.
“Come now, it is not so difficult,” Reginald looked disappointed in the group at large. “It is a post chaise.” He let the answer settle and murmurs of acknowledgement started again.
Reginald shook his head. “Perhaps we should start with an easier one, my love.” He gave Lady Stoke a look.
She simply shrugged. “Let’s try this one.”
“ I give the care of my first to my second, because my second is my third.”
Miss Newsome shot out of her seat. “Oh, I know this one. It’s a housewife.”
Reginald and Lady Stoke beamed. “Well played, Miss Newsome. Would you care to come and have a turn?”
Ben ran a hand over his face and mumbled. “Lud, it’s going to be a long evening.”