Chapter Eighteen
The summons to Papa’s study, where her father and mother waited, did not bode well.
Clem knocked before gently opening the door.
Identical expressions sat on faces turned to watch her, and she knew.
Her stomach clenched, and dread seized hold of her, tightening its grip until she thought she would cast up her breakfast, and possibly last night’s dinner.
The day she dreaded had arrived.
Out of time and out of hope, her parents were going to demand she marry someone, a man she didn’t love, a man who wasn’t Will.
Because Will had not returned.
King and country had kept him from home and sweetheart, and his precipitate departure before speaking with her father meant her parents had no idea about the man Clem loved.
All they saw was their unwed daughter who had rejected numerous perfectly acceptable offers of marriage while a perfectly perfect earl failed to declare himself.
Clem gently closed the door, turning to the solid barrier and pressing her fingers against the wood, seeking strength, delaying the inevitable for a few more seconds.
Her mother had struggled with the strange idea that she and Rufus were just friends.
“When two people deal together as well as you and Lord Marsden do, marriage is the obvious next step. You are so very lucky to have found a man with whom you have much in common. It is a blessed way to begin a life together.”
As Clem turned back to face her parents, she knew she had not misread the meaning of her father’s summons. It was written in her mother’s wringing hands and rigid posture, and in Papa’s stern demeanor.
Her legs would not hold her up, and she sank into the chair, positioned to face her father across the expanse of his desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mama sit forward, one arm braced on the corner of the desk.
Throat tight, she doubted her ability to speak, but she sat up straight, her spine like a rod, and lifted her chin. Whatever was to come would come, and she must face it.
“What did you wish to see me about, Papa?”
As often happened, her mother spoke first. Her father seemed quite content to allow his wife some say, but in the end, his word would be final. “No proposal after so many months, my dear! Clementine will be the gossip of this season and the next,” Mama lamented.
Her father took over the conversation like a synced cog in a perfectly made timepiece, the two of them meshing together and presenting a united front. “Indeed, it is now time for him to declare himself or step aside.”
“I believe . . .” Clem swallowed the ball of lost hope and regret and met Papa’s steady gaze. “Lord Marsden has intimated his interest, Papa. Like me, he did not wish to marry while the war raged in France—”
“The war has been over for almost a year!” Mama exclaimed.
Clem’s heart agreed. It had been far too long a time without Will.
“This is true, but last time I saw him, Lord Marsden indicated some troubling news.” Clem hesitated.
What Rufus had told her was not current knowledge.
It was perhaps a war secret, but he shared what little he could to reassure her that Will had the most noble of reasons for not coming home to her.
Perhaps that news could buy her a little more time.
“What news, Clementine?” Papa’s brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed, and for a moment, Clem had the strangest feeling he knew or had at least guessed. It was not impossible, given the select group Papa moved within.
Moistening her lips, she drew in a breath. “There are rumors that Napoleon may return any day. There is a general dislike for King Louis and much support for the former emperor. Lord Rufus is once again much occupied with new preparations for war.”
Papa nodded, as though this was nothing he hadn’t already heard. “Carstairs said as much at the club. Am I to understand from the fact you also know that Marsden has shared this news to explain why he cannot yet offer for you?”
Mama gasped. “Clementine! Has Lord Marsden spoken to you of marriage, and you have not told us? He has not asked your father for your hand.”
“The joys of marriage are incompatible with the demands of war, my dear.” Papa’s response stunned Clem.
Was Papa on her side? Would he be agreeable to a delayed engagement if Rufus promised to marry her once the war was over, once and for all?
If they could postpone an announcement for long enough, it might allow Will enough time to return home.
It was a gamble Clem was prepared to take for the sake of gaining time.
Hastily, she offered support for her father’s idea.
“I’m certain Rufus—Lord Marsden, I mean.
” Casting her eyes down in the appearance of embarrassment at her slip, Clem locked her fingers tightly together.
Instead of chiding her for the intimate slip, Mama brightened at the apparent evidence of her tendre for the earl.
Clem continued, pressing home the small advantage. “If Lord Marsden were to speak to you, unofficially for now, would you consider that sufficient to refrain from considering any other offers for my hand?”
“If he is clear about what he wants, then, yes.”
Clem’s lips tilted up in a slight smile. “He wants what I want.” And it was true. Both of them wanted to bring Will back.
“In that case, I shall request that he call upon me this week. Regardless of the resumption of war, I will have my daughter’s future settled.”
“Thank you, Papa. May I be excused now?”
“You may. Go and write to your earl now.”
Desperate to escape her parents, Clem tried to slow her steps as she left the study, but as soon as the door closed behind her, she hurried upstairs to her bedroom.
As a solution to her situation, it would do for now.
Rufus was capable of bearing the weight of inquisition her father would place on him, but she prayed he would forgive her for dropping him into the mess.
March 1815
Rufus drew up in his carriage to take Clem for their now-weekly drives. The appearance of an understanding between them made their false relationship easier, and Rufus kept her up to date with developments as far as he was able.
But once they were warmly ensconced within the carriage, a hot brick at Clem’s feet since the day was cold, Rufus turned a grim face to her.
“Napoleon escaped from Elba with a small fleet and a thousand men and made his way across the Alps while the Congress of Vienna bickered over who should control Poland.”
“Are we at war again?” Clem pressed a hand over her heart. Fate and the universe were not on her side.
“The fifth and seventh infantry regiments went over to his side, and the number of soldiers ready to fight for the emperor grows daily. It seems he marched through the countryside promising constitutional reform and direct elections to an assembly. The crowds loved it, and Napoleon entered the capital with no resistance. Louis had already fled. The newspaper will carry the story tomorrow.”
“This means Will has no chance of coming home, doesn’t it?”
“Not until Bonaparte is defeated once and for all. One good thing to come out of this, though, is that the Congress of Vienna now commands one hundred and fifty thousand troops. They are determined to present a united front and defeat Napoleon decisively.”
“But if they send him back to Elba, won’t the same problem remain a threat?”
“He will not be returned there. The congress will find a place of exile so far away, he will wonder if he is still on Earth. But first, the coalition must defeat him once again.”
Despite Rufus’s strong words, a pall lay over their ride. He sat quietly, allowing her time to take in the news and its implications, until she raised what was, for her, a burning question.
“Is my father prepared to accept the resumption of war as a reason to indefinitely postpone the official announcement of our engagement?”
“He is aware of my commitment to the War Office and the king and is prepared to wait a little longer, but he intimated that not even the regent would deter him from announcing our betrothal beyond this summer. We have until then.”
“Until September, then.”
“Until the war is over, or until summer ends, whichever comes first.”
“It is a brief respite, and you have my undying thanks, but Rufus, I am so very sorry to have landed you in this. You are the best of men, and the kindest friend, and I wouldn’t trap you for all the world. I know how you feel about marriage.”
“Rest assured, Clem, if it comes to marriage, I will be the best of husbands to you, but I pray the war will be over and I can return Will to you before then.”