Lara Temple - Lord Ravenscar's Inconvenient Betrothal

‘She looks so frail...’

‘She is getting old, Alan, but she is still strong. It is just this fever. Practically everyone in the region has fallen ill these past weeks, but it often passes as swiftly as it comes, sometimes as briefly as a day, and there have been very few deaths.’

‘Few... Albert was one of them, though. Were you ill as well?’

‘Grandmama and I were, at the same time. She was quick about it, but I was quite miserable for three days. Thank goodness Lily...Miss Wallace was here to help.’

‘The heiress?’ He couldn’t keep the incredulity out of his voice.

‘Why, yes. She may not be very easy-going, but she is utterly unshakeable, which is useful in a household descended into chaos.’

‘Unshakeable. I noticed that. From my meeting with her I would have guessed you would dislike her thoroughly.’

‘Well, you are not as clever as you think, Alan dear. Is it strange being back?’

‘I’m not back, Cat. A visit to Nanny Brisbane is my concession to childhood debts. That is all.’

‘Still, I thought you swore never to set foot on Rothwell territory as long as Grandmama is alive.’

‘I was never a reliable fellow; why expect me to stand by my word now?’

‘That’s not true, Alan.’

‘You’re too soft, Cat.’

She sighed.

‘I won’t be so obvious as to say you are too hard. I’m still glad you came to see Nanny. She misses you. What did you think about your meeting with Miss Wallace?’

‘Meeting isn’t quite the word I would use. The only thing I nearly met was the business end of a mace. What on earth is someone like her doing at Ravenscar and how is she Albert’s heir? This family is altogether too complicated. Is she another dreaded Rothwell? I thought they were all safely tucked away north of the wall.’

‘Goodness, no. Her mother was a distant cousin on Grandmama’s side and made what initially was a mésalliance with an impoverished young man, only to have him become one of the wealthiest men in South America. He died a year ago and now Miss Wallace has returned to England to marry... Oh, dear, I shouldn’t say anything because it is not yet announced. You mustn’t repeat that.’

‘I couldn’t be bothered to, Cat. It is no business of mine.’

‘Well, it might not happen anyway. Mr Marston is...’

‘Marston? She is to marry Philip Marston?’

‘You know him?’

‘Very well. We share ownership of several loom manufactories. This is a small world indeed. I had no idea he was contemplating marrying again, but I’m not surprised he has set his sights on an heiress. He is one of the savviest businessmen I know.’

‘I believe he is truly fond of her.’

‘Of course he is, Cat.’

She sighed.

‘You would do well to take a page from his book. Perhaps if you married, Grandmama would relent and change her will in your favour.’

‘We all know Jezebel won’t leave me a crust of bread, married or not. She and Grandfather were clear enough about that when I left.’

‘She might if you only tried to...to be conciliating and mend your ways. She has become much less rigid since Grandfather passed.’

He stopped for a moment, raising his brow, and Cat flushed.

‘Sorry. I know it is none of my concern. Well, it is, but it isn’t. But I think pride is a poor substitute for all this. It isn’t just the money, but the Hall. This is your home, Alan.’

Alan smiled grimly at her tenacity. Cat might not have the Rothwell temper, but she employed a water-dripping-on-stone approach to attaining her ends.

‘No, it ceased to be my home over a decade ago, or longer before that, when Grandfather forced our father to break the entail and disowned him for wanting to be a doctor. Let’s not rehash this. I have no intention of mending my ways, as you so quaintly phrase it. I like my ways and they like me. Since I have no intention of ever spawning heirs, the Hall would be wasted on me anyway. Our Hibernian cousins are welcome to the Hall and all things Rothwell. I have to go, Cat. I have some pressing affairs to see to.’

She tilted her head as they approached the stables where his gelding waited.

‘You’re probably wise not to linger with everyone feeling poorly. You wouldn’t want to fall ill.’

‘That’s not why and you know it!’

‘Nicky was feverish last night and woke up with a headache. I’m worried she might also have caught the infection. She begged me to let her see you in Keynsham before you disappear again, but I cannot risk her leaving her bed while she is so poorly.’

‘Blast you, Cat. Very well, I will see her quickly, but I’m not staying. I don’t know why you even stay here after what that old witch put us through.’

‘To be fair, it was mostly Grandfather. Yes, I know you can’t stand it when I defend her and she is a horrid old harpy sometimes, but Nicky actually cares for her and I have her future to think of; I cannot afford to be cut out of the will like you, Alan. It is my responsibility to make my peace with her for Nicky’s sake.’

‘I can provide for you. I have enough to leave you and Nicky comfortable when someone finally puts a bullet through me.’

Cat wrinkled her nose.

‘All from that mill you won gambling.’

He laughed.

‘How the devil is my sister such a prude? My money is quite the same colour as Jezebel’s, believe me.’

‘Even so, who’s to say you might not marry, and then where will Nicky be?’

‘Let’s just say there’s more likelihood of my forgiving Jezebel than of my willingly entering a state of matrimony, Cat.’

‘Oh, good.’

He sighed.

‘I surrender. Come, I will sit with Nicky for a while and then I must leave. But we are entering by the back door.’

* * *

The sight that confronted them when Cat opened the door to Nicky’s bedroom was not entirely that of a sickroom. Nicky was indeed in her bed, propped up against a mountain of pillows, her dark brown hair down about her shoulders and a glass with a viscous liquid on a tray by the bed, but she was laughing and she wasn’t the only occupant of the bed.

‘That’s just silly—’ Nicky stopped when Cat and Alan entered the room, crying out joyously, ‘Uncle Alan, you came!’

Alan directed a wary look at Miss Wallace, who was leaning against the headboard with her feet tucked under her and a book in her lap. He walked around the other side of the bed and bent to kiss his niece on the forehead.

‘Of course I came. Not that there seems to be much wrong with you, pumpkin.’

‘My head feels like I’m wearing a bonnet three sizes too small and I can hardly hold up my book and I had a fever last night and Lily says fevers often worsen in the evening. Are you staying? Please say you are.’

Lily. The name was far too whimsical and delicate for the spoilt heiress who had addressed his harridan of a grandmother so impudently. He sat on the bed and took his niece’s hand, wondering why the heiress was still sitting there. Anyone with the least manners would have removed herself. She didn’t even make way for Cat. Clearly she was used to the world arranging itself to suit her rather than the other way around. He focused his attention on Nicky.

‘I can’t stay, Nicky.’

‘Because of Grandmama? If I ask her, she might let you. Shall I ask her?’

‘You saw me last month when I came by your school.’

‘That was last month. Just for a little while? You must hear this story. It’s called The Mysteries of Udolpho and it is even funnier than The Romance of the Forest.’

‘I didn’t realise Mrs Radcliffe wrote comedies.’

‘Well, they aren’t really, but Lily makes them so. Especially the swooning and the groaning.’