Chapter Three #3
“Besides, I fail to see how a couple of months of blessed peace is too much to ask after all the worry you have caused?” As tempers were heightened enough already, he tried to be conciliatory.
“All I am asking for is the summer—not eternity.” Some time for them all to regroup and him especially.
“And you will soon make friends here. I have a huge stack of invitations to all manner of things in my study and there is a ball at the Assembly Rooms twice a week, so there will be plenty for you to do.”
Rather than be placated by that, Emilia looked stricken. “I do not see why I should be punished with the parochial society of Bath because of Abigail’s mistake. I did nothing wrong.”
“This week,” he felt compelled to clarify.
“But I think we can both agree that some of your decisions this season have left a lot to be desired. Especially those involving the opposite sex.” He did not need to add that Emilia was damned lucky not to have been completely ruined a fortnight ago.
If he hadn’t accidentally interrupted her passionate kiss with a fortune-hunter soldier in the stables during Lady Bulphan’s house party, all the other guests would have witnessed her up to no good when they had arrived mere moments later.
What would have happened if he hadn’t been there really did not bear thinking about.
“Without someone sensible keeping an eye on you constantly, I shudder to think what will happen to you the next time you recklessly flirt with a man in uniform as you completely lose your head.”
“How dare you imply that I am not sensible! I am quite capable of chaperoning my daughters,” said his mother, annoyed.
Although why she felt the right to be aggrieved was a mystery to him, when it was all thanks to her lackadaisical chaperoning that Emilia had been ravished and Abigail had snuck out to go on that hideously dangerous blasted march!
“And have managed to do it well enough in your absence for most of the last two years!”
“Did you try to stop Abigail from absconding to that rally or do anything to prevent Emilia from sneaking off with that scoundrel at Lady Bulphan’s?
No, Mama, you did not. Worse, you did not even notice that either of them was missing until I pointed it out, so I rest my case.
” Were none of them capable of seeing reason, for pity’s sake?
Or of seeing the danger everywhere that kept him awake at night?
“Your sisters are adults, Leo, and need to follow their own paths. That includes being allowed to learn from their mistakes rather than you suffocating them with your overbearing, I-know-best interference.” His mother bristled, clearly missing the point that, where his sisters were concerned, he jolly well did know best!
“Perhaps if you attempted to treat them like adults, they wouldn’t feel so inclined to rebel like children whenever you are home! ”
How typical that he would be blamed for their rebelliousness! “A convenient way of saying that you fail to even notice all of their shenanigans when I am not, Mother!”
“If there are shenanigans, you push them to it, Leo! With your controlling ways and doomsaying mentality, which frankly has increased a hundredfold since last week.”
“If my sisters want to be treated like adults, they need to cease being so reckless! And we are all staying here for the summer as a consequence and that is that!”
“Well, I am not,” said his mother, standing.
“I have much better things to do with my time than waste it trying to sort out this epic, ham-fisted mess that you have decided to make, Leo! If you genuinely think that you know best and can do a better job of keeping a keen eye on this family than I can, then you can jolly well get on with it without my help! I am going on strike and heading back to Mayfair forthwith!”
“Then go with my blessing, Mama, as I am more than capable of properly chaperoning my sisters here without you. In fact, I suspect I shall do a much better job of it because they will have less chance of absconding without your keen eye on them.”
“You seriously think yours will be keener?” His mother had the audacity to laugh.
“You—who by his own admission does not possess enough hours in the day to deal with all your ducal responsibilities?” She laughed some more.
In that annoying and sarcastic way that she did when she thought her only son an idiot.
“Your aggrieved and willful sisters will run rings around you in my absence after what you have just done to them, mark my words.”
“No they won’t,” he replied, suddenly doubting his own hubris.
“I wouldn’t bank on that, big brother,” said Abigail with such a bright light of defiance shimmering in her eyes that his already racing heartbeat decided to kick into a gallop.
“You are going to have to find a dungeon to lock me in if you want me to behave like the adult you refuse to allow me to be.”
“Me too.” Emilia linked arms with her sister. “For be in no doubt, if I am being forced to stay here under duress, I shall need to do something to relieve the tedium. I do hope that there are plenty of soldiers here in Bath to alleviate our crushing boredom.”
That below-the-belt threat made his incorrigible mother chuckle as she sailed out of the room. “Good luck being me too, Leo. You are certainly going to need it.”