She turned an absurdly youthful face to find the earl’s eyes on her, his look too intent for her comfort. Because she was not a young, inexperienced girl, she was able to smile at him, as if nothing at all in the world was on her mind and say, “Elsbeth, if you do not retire to your bed soon, I shall have to fetch some matchsticks to keep your eyes propped open. Come, love, say good night to Justin and come with me.” Elsbeth yawned, then clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Have I been such a boring companion, Elsbeth? Don’t spare me the truth, I can deal with it. After all, I have already dealt with far worse from your sister.”
“Oh, of course not, my lord. Not boring at all, I swear it to you, my lord.”
“Justin.”
“Yes, Justin, but that is difficult, my lord. You are a lord while I am not much of anything. You are very kind to let me call you by your name.” Damnation, her candor would smite the coldest of hearts, except for her father’s. Justin wondered if the late earl had even known his eldest daughter, if he would have recognized her if he’d passed her in his own house. “You may call me other names as well. I’m certain your sister will. She will show no restraint at all.”
“Oh, no, my lord, that’s not true. Arabella is perfect. It is I who am terribly gauche. I never know the right thing to do. I would love to be like Arabella. She’s so confident, so sure of herself. Yes, forgive me.
It’s just that I’m very tired and that’s why I yawned in your face. It has nothing to do with you, my lord, er, Justin.” Lady Ann rescued her stepdaughter. “Pay no attention to his lordship, my dear, he’s teasing you. As for Arabella, she is herself and I am glad you aren’t like her. One of each of you is just right. Now, off to your bed.” She clasped Elsbeth’s hand and leaned close. “We have much to discuss tomorrow, my love. Sleep well.”
Elsbeth’s dark almond eyes glowed. “Oh yes, Lady Ann, to be sure. I shall sleep like a log.” She turned and sketched her best curtsy to the earl, then nearly ran from the Crimson Room.
“You should have been a diplomat, Ann,” the earl said when they were alone.
“Ah, that mission seems to be reserved for you, brave, courageous men,” she said, still thinking about Paul Branyon, so many years of memories coursing through her mind.
“True, but I cannot image that it will always be so.”
“What will not always be so?”
“You weren’t attending. It is no matter. Ah, Dr. Branyon seems a charming man. Most devoted to the Deverill family.” He saw too much, she thought, merely nodding, saying nothing. He wasn’t like her husband, cold and distant, telling her what to do, many times paying no attention to her at all when she happened to be in a room he entered.
The earl tucked away her reaction and changed the subject. “I knew your husband for over five years, Ann. I find it quite strange that he never once mentioned that he had another daughter. She is a charming girl, but—” He paused.
“But what, Justin? Go ahead, say it.”
“If that is what you want. She is starved for love, for attention. She doesn’t have an ounce of guile in her, which could prove dangerous if she is not careful.”
“You’re right, of course. The earl, her father, did not allow her to live with us. She was but a small frightened child when he packed her off to Kent to make her home with his older sister, Caroline. I have maintained a constant correspondence with the child all these years, but of course it cannot be the same thing. I am certain that Caroline did her best by Elsbeth, but as you said, she is starved for love.” Lady Ann drew a deep breath. “I fully intend to remedy all the past ills Elsbeth has suffered.”
“But why did the earl treat her so?”
“I’ve often wondered that. I finally decided it must be because he loved Arabella so very much, he did not want to share her or himself. There was, quite simply, no one else for him.” Lady Ann added, “And for some reason that I could never discover, he bore some sort of grudge toward the de Trécassis family. That was his first wife’s family. The earl was never a very forgiving man, you know.”
“Does it not seem rather curious to you, then, that he bequeathed her ten thousand pounds?”
“Yes, I was shocked. Perhaps he regretted what he had done, but I am not at all certain that is true. I fear that we shall never know his reasons for doing so. Ah, Justin, do forgive me for being so very blunt about you and Arabella. Dr. Branyon wasn’t pleased with me. He said you held your tongue, but it was difficult for you.”
“Just a bit difficult.” The earl rubbed his chin, looking into the orange embers in the fireplace. “Let us just say that you did not leave me a great deal of latitude on the subject. Though I made up my mind several years ago that I would marry Arabella, it still comes as a shock to be thrust so baldly into the cauldron. You know, Ann, that I shall try to do my best by her.”
“If I had believed otherwise, my dear Justin, I would have fought the entire proposition with the ferociousness of a mother lion. Although I felt a great deal of doubt about the earl’s deception, I thought his decision to be the best solution. You know, it was all I could do to keep quiet while George Brammersley dallied about before you
