Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
As Louisa rushed out of the library, there was only one thought on her mind.
She had to speak to her mother.
Surely it was impossible that her mother had known that the Archduke who had so politely applied to be their houseguest over the Advent period was…David?
Louisa could hardly believe it herself. Still reeling from the presence of the man she had pushed aside from her heart over the last year, it was difficult to understand just how this could have happened.
“I was able to procure a bunny rabbit for her.”
“And…that is all?”
“I said it was a small service.”
Louisa snorted as she entered the drawing room. A small service! It was so like David to tease her in that manner, not tell her the entire truth because he clearly thought the jest was more interesting than the truth.
Never mind the fact that seeing him smile, that lopsided grin she knew so well and loved so dearly, was enough to almost immediately make the ice around her heart melt…
“Mother,” Louisa said firmly. “I…”
Her voice trailed away. The drawing room was empty; the fire in the grate still burning away happily, the room otherwise precisely as she had left it.
When she had stormed away because it was impossible to even think about staying, with the presence of David Nelson within it.
Louisa glanced around the room, as though it would give her a sign of precisely where her mother had gone. There was no note, and the house was not large enough for her mother to be many other places. Her bedchamber perhaps?
If the circumstances were different, Louisa would have flown up the stairs, stormed along the short corridor, and burst into her mother’s room, demanding answers.
Answers to questions that would not cease circling around her heart.
David Nelson – an Archduke? Was it really true?
How had her mother failed to notice the name on the letter which requested lodgings during the Advent tide?
And why on earth had she not been able to stop looking at him?
Louisa swallowed. No, that last question was certainly not one that she should voice to her mother. It was inappropriate to even admit to it, let alone reveal it to one of the few people who truly disliked David as much as she did.
Yes, it was hatred that was stirring in her stomach, this hot, uncomfortable feeling, was it not? Louisa would not accept that it could be anything else. Surely not.
“Mother?” Louisa said aloud.
The dining room was only next door and the walls were thin enough to hear someone sneeze in the other room. No sound came from the dining room, none at all.
Louisa half sat, half fell onto the sofa. This was a disaster – a true nightmare! Why, she could not imagine anything so bad as David Nelson turning up in her life, after she had done so much to force herself to forget him.
What did he think he was doing here?
“Perhaps, if I am fortunate, continue to make amends to you and your mother?”
The windows rattled as a small roll of thunder echoed a few miles away. Louisa glanced at the curtains; a storm was coming. That was all they needed. Snow.
It would truly be a Christmas to remember, that was for sure, she thought wryly. Snow in London, the chance for her and her mother to spend a little more time together after the horrendous year that they had both endured…
And David.
Swallowing down all affection as best she could, Louisa had to admit that it was more than a little unsettling having him here. Why, she had only just managed to keep her composure after he most disobligingly followed her into the library.
What was he thinking? Surely he could see that she wanted to be alone.
Louisa shivered. She knew precisely what he was thinking, it was plain as the nose on his face.
He wanted her. Wanted to kiss her, as he had done in the Winter Garden all that time ago; what felt like a lifetime ago.
“Just how long have you wished to kiss me, David Nelson?”
Another roll of thunder echoed around the room, and this time a flash of lightning emerged from behind the curtains.
Louisa rose, unable to help herself, and moved to the window. Pulling back the curtain, she gazed at the snow falling in heavy sheets, flakes as large as a threepenny bit.
Well, good luck to anyone making a journey out there, Louisa thought darkly. She would certainly not wish to be outdoors in this sort of weather.
The door behind her opened and with a leap in her heart, Louisa turned. Finally, her mother. It was time to have some questions answered.
“Mother, I – oh. Mrs. Lane.”
The housekeeper curtseyed. “I am about to ring the gong, my Lady.”
Louisa nodded. Yes, it was probably about that time – she had not changed for dinner, but then she saw little need to. The less approval David received, the better. He would have to learn that he was not welcome, if he did not take her words to heart.
“Have you informed my mother?”
For that was where she was, wasn’t she? Upstairs, dressing for dinner. In all the excitement and pain of David’s sudden arrival, the thought had been clean pushed from her mind.
But unexpectedly, Mrs. Lane shook her head. “Her ladyship has gone out.”
“Out?” Louisa blinked. She must have misheard. “Out, now? In this weather?”
As though to emphasise her point, another flash of lightning momentarily lit up the room.
Mrs. Lane nodded, wretched concern etched across her face. “She said she had to go and get something, my lady.”
Louisa stared. That did not sound like her mother at all.
Firstly, the weather was absolutely atrocious, and Lady Jarrold was not one to venture out if the sun was not shining.
Secondly, the night had drawn in over an hour ago, and it was unlike her to go out into the night unless she had an invitation.
And thirdly, it was most unlike her mother to fetch and carry anything herself.
“Are you sure you heard her correctly, Mrs. Lane?” Louisa asked hesitantly, with no wish to offend their housekeeper. “She left to…to get something?”
The woman nodded. “That was what she said, my lady.”
Louisa sighed. It was most inconvenient. Not only was her mother now absent, preventing her from asking all the questions she wished to have answered, but that also meant…
Ice entered Louisa’s heart. That meant she would be forced to dine with David…alone.
“Are you quite well, my lady?”
Louisa drew herself up. She was a Jarrold. She was not about to let the absence of her mother and the presence of David – of Mr. Nelson – of the Archduke, whatever he wanted to call himself these days – upset her.
“Quite well, I thank you,” she said stiffly. “Please ring the gong, Mrs. Lane.”
She had but a few moments to gather herself before the gong in the hall rang. There. David would be called downstairs, and she would be forced to dine with the man who had summarily broken her heart, and then abandoned her entirely.
Wonderful.
Louisa managed to hold her head high as she entered the dining room, and found to her relief that it was empty. At least she would have another minute to compose herself, impossible as that felt.
Her traitorous heart started to beat faster as the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs echoed around the room. He was coming; David. At any moment, he would enter the room. She would see his face, and she would have to ensure that she would be absolutely aloof.
She was not about to give smiles to the man who broke her heart. Archduke or no archduke.
A roll of thunder seemed to echo around the house, closer than before. Louisa shivered. Her mother would have taken a pelisse, certainly, but would that be enough? All this snow…
The door opened. David stood there, that lopsided smile she knew so well splashed across his face.
“Good evening,” he said formally, as though they had not just been having a rather terse and awkward conversation not twenty minutes ago.
Louisa swallowed before replying, just to ensure that her voice was strong. She was not going to let him see just how much he had hurt her. She would not give him that power.
“Good evening, Archduke,” she said coolly.
She saw the flash of pain across his face and for a moment, Louisa regretted the harshness of her tone – but there was nothing else she could do.
David was here, in her home, invading her space, in the full knowledge that her mother would certainly have chosen another prospective houseguest if his true identity had been known.
What else had he been expecting?
David stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, walking around the table to one of the places set. “Where will your mother prefer to sit?”
“Near me,” Louisa said hurriedly. The last thing she needed was further proximity to David Nelson. “You can sit over there.”
She pointed to the furthest seat from her own, and tried not to look at him as she sat down.
“Thank you,” said David quietly.
He was dressed in the most splendid cravat and waistcoat Louisa had ever seen. Even when she had enjoyed her first debutante Season in London, the finest jewels and feathers upon the ladies there, she had never seen a gentleman dressed so.
Why, there was more gold thread in his waistcoat than in the embroidery at the top of her gown, and that was saying something.
Louisa swallowed. Not that she was looking at David, of course. Not in the slightest. She had no interest in the man – in fact, the sooner she and her mother could concoct some excuse to be rid of him, the better.
As soon as Lady Jarrold was back from whatever errand she had decided to run as a storm was blowing in, Louisa would speak with her.
Mrs. Lane entered, carrying a tray with two bowls of soup. Placing it down on the dining table, she moved the soups to David and Louisa, then left the room without saying a word.
Louisa watched as David looked expectantly at the door, and a strange sort of lurch twisted her stomach. All these manners, all this respect; none of it appeared to have ventured into his mind when he was considering whether or not to just turn up at her home!