Leo approached first, knocking on the door and standing back, waiting until a nervous young maid admitted them and repeated their names as if worried she might forget before leading them to a room on the first floor off a narrow hallway.
‘Mr Leonard Ashburton and Mr Joshua Ashburton,’ she said, dipping into a clumsy curtsy as the men passed her into the room.
Josh’s eye quickly swept the room looking for Lady Elizabeth. It was a reflexive action, one he couldn’t control. He just wanted one glimpse of her, to take the sight of her in one more time before he resigned himself to the fact she was as good as his brother’s fiancée.
She wasn’t there. Getting up to greet them was a slender woman in her late forties, no doubt Lady Hummingford. He could see a few similarities between her and her daughter, but Lady Elizabeth was fair where she was dark, and petite where her mother was tall.
‘Alice, inform Elizabeth we have guests. Please sit down, gentlemen, my daughter will join us shortly.’
Josh sat, looking around the room. It was small but neatly decorated, although there were no personal touches, no paintings on the wall or figurines on the mantelpiece, and all the furnishings matched a little too well. If he wasn’t much mistaken these were rented rooms, and cheap ones at that. It would seem his brother was correct about the Hummingfords’ financial struggles.
‘Mr Ashburton, I wasn’t aware you had a brother. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.’
‘The pleasure is all mine, Lady Hummingford.’ Josh inclined his head. He hadn’t been brought up in these circles. Mr Usbourne, his guardian, was a kind man, a wealthy man, but he wasn’t a member of the aristocracy. Society in India was limited so Josh socialised with a mixture of people, but the rules weren’t quite the same there. Luckily he was a quick mimic and only had to observe how his brother behaved to be able to emulate him perfectly; still the formality felt a little stifling.
‘Will you take tea whilst we wait for my daughter?’
‘Please.’
‘Very good.’
Elizabeth started nibbling on the edge of her thumbnail as she regarded herself in the mirror, only conscious that she was doing it when she caught sight of her hand raised up to her mouth.
‘He’s just a man,’ she repeated to herself for the hundredth time. Mr Ashburton, Mr Leonard Ashburton, had sent a note the day before to ask if he could call this afternoon. Her mother had been buzzing around with nervous energy ever since and Elizabeth had quickly retreated to her room. The solitude had been a relief, but it had meant she’d spent the last twenty-four hours worrying about the encounter.
Top of her list of concerns was that he had seen her entirely inappropriate behaviour in the garden at his ball when she’d danced with his brother in the darkness, and had come to declare her a harlot, not fit to be his wife. Second on her list was exactly the opposite: that he might have decided to stop dragging his feet and that he was coming round to tell her they would be married within the month.
There was a soft knock at the door. Alice opened it and poked her head through the gap.
‘The gentlemen are here, my lady. Your mother asked for you to come down.’
‘Thank you, Alice.’ Beth smiled at the maid, trying to put the nervous young girl at ease but she had already dropped her eyes to the floor and was starting to withdraw. ‘Wait. Gentlemen? Is there more than one?’
‘Yes, my lady.’
‘Who are they?’
Even before Alice spoke Beth knew the answer. She remembered the feel of Mr Joshua Ashburton’s hand on the small of her back guiding her around their private outdoor dance floor and the hammering of her heart as the music faded away and he kept hold of her for just a moment longer than he really should. Even now she could feel the warmth that had suffused her body, that tiny spark of pleasure at just being close to him.
‘Mr Ashburton and Mr Ashburton,’ Alice said, and before Beth could ask any more she slipped away and clattered down the corridor.
Beth closed her eyes and let out a long breath. She had no idea what both men were doing here. There was absolutely no reason for Mr Joshua Ashburton to call on her and her mother. Quickly she tried to suppress the flicker of excitement she felt. She needed to focus her time and energy on his brother, not allow herself to be distracted by Joshua Ashburton’s mesmerising smile and good humour.
Checking her reflection in the mirror one final time, she flashed a smile to check it didn’t look too forced then left the sanctuary of her bedroom and walked downstairs.
The house they were renting whilst in London was small and even as she descended the stairs to the first floor she could hear the murmur of voices in the drawing room.
As she entered the conversation stopped and all eyes turned to her. Both men stood and she was struck again by how similar they looked. They both were tall with broad shoulders and hair so dark it was almost black. They both regarded her with rich brown eyes, set on either side of a straight, narrow nose. Despite all the similarities she could tell which brother was which immediately. Leonard Ashburton looked at her with a serious expression on his face, greeting her formally. His manner was cool and restrained and she was struck with the impression that he worked hard to maintain an unreadable façade.
His brother, Joshua Ashburton, was the complete opposite. He smiled broadly as soon as Beth
