‘I am willing to agree to a month’s trial. If I do not suit you or you prove to be a tyrannical employer, we can reconsider at the end of it,’ she said at last. She would be a fool not to at least give it a try, would she not?
‘There will be no need,’ he said confidently. ‘I am sure you and Juno will enjoy one another’s company so much you will hardly notice my tyranny.’
‘Only time will tell,’ she argued and was surprised when he shook hands on their bargain and announced it to the company. Too late to go back on her word now and of course she did not want to return to Bath or stay here and play the third in Darius and Fliss’s honeymoon. Alaric was cunning to make it nigh impossible for her to go back on her word and she shot him a reproachful look over her surprised mother’s head even as she smiled and agreed, yes, she was very lucky and, no, she could not have told anyone sooner than this as it was Fliss and Darius’s day and they deserved to be at the centre of it.
Juno was touchingly delighted with her decision and Mrs Yelverton was torn between delight her daughter was going to work for a noble family and dislike of her having to work at all.
‘Is this what you truly want, Marianne?’ her father asked quietly while Alaric was doing his best to reassure her mother that Mrs Turner would be valued and respected under his roof and an elderly cousin had recently come to live at Stratford Park so her good name was safe.
‘Yes, Papa, you know I prefer to be occupied and Miss Defford is a bright and interesting young woman under her diffident manner. I believe I can be useful to her and my life will not be an onerous one.’
‘No, but it has been so for too long. You deserve to live among good people who appreciate your fine mind and generous heart.’
Marianne blinked back tears at the quiet understanding in the blue eyes all three of his children had inherited from him. ‘Thank you, Papa. I do love you and Mama dearly, but...’ She let her voice tail off as she ran out of tactful words to say why she could not go home with them and endure being a chastened widow again.
‘And we love you, my Marianne, but the house in Sydney Place is not big enough for us to get away from one another and I know you were not happy there.’
‘I would not have been happy anywhere after Daniel was killed.’
‘Maybe not, but Bath has its drawbacks as well as advantages. It is in a fine situation and we two go on very well there, but you young people need more life and freedom than a small town house can offer.’
‘You were there when I needed you,’ Marianne said and it was true. Never mind the less generous of her mother’s new friends, she had needed to be with her parents at the darkest time in her life so far. And now she wanted the life her father spoke of and space enough to breathe. Living at Owlet Manor these last few months had taught her to value that and maybe Alaric and Juno had taught her what she had and they did not—a loving family who would always value and look after one another despite their differences.
Marianne was glad when Sir Harry Marbeck left for Gloucestershire and Viola was free to whisper, ‘Congratulations’, under cover of their mother’s slightly drunken ramblings on the subject of undutiful daughters and their father’s gentle protests they were no such thing. ‘You will be much happier with them, Marianne, and Juno is such a gentle girl you should get on very well together.’
‘Darius might be hurt when he finds out I do not intend to live here and Fliss was Juno’s governess for several years. She might not think we are suited.’
‘She is wise enough to know the girl needs to be out in the world, not tucked away at the back of beyond with two lovebirds and as they should be man and wife in peace for a while she obviously cannot stay here.’
‘And when did you become so wise about love and marriage, Viola?’ Marianne asked with an intent look as if to say Don’t try and turn the subject because you know I can hang on to it like a dog with a bone.
Oh, botheration, she was interfering and she had promised herself not to. Just as well Alaric was not here to hear her and raise his dark brows in surprise.
‘I watched you fall in love with Daniel and saw that same look in Fliss and Darius’s eyes today, so I have been able to observe the difference between an agreeable sort of a companion and the love of one’s life, Marianne. You will just have to trust me to know my own mind and take my own risks if the time ever comes for me to jump head first into love as my big brother and sister have done before me.’
‘Sometimes you find yourself landing in a mess of briars if you leap without looking,’ Marianne warned, not sure if she was referring to her own feelings for Alaric or those she thought Viola was developing for her careless employer.
‘Maybe if you look hard enough there is a way around the briars without getting scratched,’ Viola said, ‘and you know I always look before I leap, Marianne. So please stop worrying about me.’
‘I have to, I am your big sister.’ Marianne read her sister’s silent disagreement in her stubbornly firmed chin and the way her eyes went unreadable and
