Page 20 of The Baroness of Sin
He had heard what Martha had to assume was the most benign version of the rumors and still chosen to rush down here. Martha didn’t know if she was more annoyed or amused at her brother’s backward sense of chivalry. Still, she had to quickly move past the emotion; she had to cover for herself quickly before her brother had more of a chance to become suspicious.
“No idea. You know how rumors are, Benjamin. A baby bird fallen from a nest can become a human baby falling from a balcony over the course of a few hours with the right people involved,” she told him with a smile she hoped came across as relaxed. “I will admit to you, though, that the rumor is at least partially true. Clearly, as you can tell, I have chosen to exit my mourning. Given the circumstance, I believe you can hardly blame me for holding to the minimum time of mourning for a husband such as mine was.”
He half nodded as if considering what his judgment was on the matter for the first time, which Martha thought was somewhat likely. “I suppose that your husband was due no more than what he was willing to put into your marriage, which was not measured very highly by most.”
“As far as courtship? That part of the rumor is not true. I don’t believe that I will be ready to remarry until a good amount more time has passed,” she assured her brother but was surprised by the look on his face. He seemed disappointed, perhaps even a touch embarrassed. That was not a good sign.
“Is that so,” he managed without making eye contact with her, going back to sip his tea and finding the contents of the glass terribly interesting.
“Why are you averting your gaze, dear brother,” Martha spoke, face heating as she began to grow intensely suspicious.
“Well,” he said, still not looking at her, “I had operated under the assumption that the rumor was either all true or none of it was true.”
“And?” Martha asked, clearly not understanding still.
“And I made arrangements for you to meet with an acquaintance of mine. He is seeking a wife, and I told him that if you were no longer mourning you could meet, perhaps, to discuss the possibility of courtship.”
“You did what?” Martha asked quietly, clearly hoping she had misheard her brother.
“He is a dignified gentleman. One meeting doesn’t mean that you are betrothed,” her brother assured her. “It is only proper for you to do as such and meeting with him will certainly not hurt the standing of your family.”
“And you did not think to consult your beloved sister on the matter?” she challenged.
“It did not occur to me to question my sister’s interests in her family’s good name and good standing.” He looked up from his tea sternly at her. “You are one of the family members with a title and lands, and I thought you would be keen on reflecting the behavior of not only a lady in good standing but also a pious lady.” His tone was cool, the voice that Benjamin used when he was in no mood to argue.
The rest of their tea was taken in angry tense silence.
As the maids cleaned up, Benjamin broke the silence. “It is of great importance to me that you find someone to take care of you. Father won’t be around forever and I... I worry. This Lord is a personal friend of mine, someone I trust. If you meet with him and just see what he is like, I would appreciate it very much.”
“It seems I have little choice in the matter,” Martha’s voice started as chilled as her brother’s was moments before but warmed fairly quickly. “But pretending I do, it would do me little harm to extend this kindness to you and your friend, assuming that he is a well-behaved gentleman.”
Benjamin nodded, “I can assure you he will be nothing short of proper.”
Chapter Fifteen
James felt terribly annoyed. He knew that he could delude himself about the etiquette, or lack thereof, of Lady Carrington’s and his behavior, but what he was doing right now was in no way defensible and thus quite inconvenient. Yet he felt compelled, driven to go traipsing through a garden at night. Tripping over every loose stone and stray root was a good way to get himself caught or worse, then how would he explain himself? And all over some foolishness.
Write a letter. Come during the daytime. Any other sort of solution besides the absolute madness he was committed to now. But he was driven. He had a question that he needed an answer to.
He stood in the garden beneath the window of the master bedroom, unsure what to do next. He had planned to get her attention but hadn’t thought of how. He looked around and stooped to grab a handful of small stones. One by one he tossed them up, clacking them lightly against the glass. It didn’t take long before he saw the silhouette of Lady Carrington set against the lamplight. She appeared only briefly before disappearing back into the shadow of the room.
James briefly panicked. Had he offended her? Was this the action that crossed the line? Or perhaps, and a dreadful consequence he hadn’t considered until this moment, he had misjudged the position of her room? If he had instead woken a maid, he’d given her quite the startle.
He was soon calmed when Lady Carrington appeared on the porch on the first floor in front of him. “What are you doing here?” She whispered. In her voice was worry, but he could also hear a touch of curiosity, intrigue, and perhaps even excitement.
James had come there with confrontation in mind, perhaps even a bit of anger. But that washed away from him when he saw Lady Carrington shivering in her nightclothes only a few feet from him. It was a warm spring evening, so he had to assume her shivering had different origins. He forced himself to ignore the allure of how scantily dressed she was; he had important questions.
“My Lady, I…” he hesitated, but pressed on, “I apologize for the unorthodox nature of this meeting, but I noticed earlier today that you had a gentleman caller come, and I wanted to know the nature of such a meeting.” James felt the anger start to bubble a little beneath the surface again. He strode up to the side of the porch, so he had to look directly up at her to speak. “I have no objections to the lady deciding to court, but I do believe I would not be comfortable with our arrangement if that were the case.”
James watched as a rapid-fire series of emotions flew across Lady Carrington’s face. Among them were primarily confusion and worry, but then her face settled into a different mixture of emotions that James couldn’t place. Anger, most likely, and... amusement?
“Would it upset you, Lord Barristen, to know that another gentleman sought my attention?” she asked, the emotion in her voice as hard to place as was her face.
“U-upset?” This was not the response that James was expecting. “I don’t know about being upset,” he cleared his throat. “It just doesn’t strike me as appropriate,” he said but found it puzzling that it felt like a lie. Why would he be upset?
“I see.” She sauntered over to the nearby stairs to meet him at his level. She didn’t let the fact that he was more than a head taller than her take the wind out of her sails. “And you think of me in that fashion? Think that I would do something such as court another gentleman while... socializing with you?” she asked while she stood right in front of him.
“Of course not, My Lady,” James said, waving a nervous dismissive hand. “But how could I assume anything but what my eyes tell me? Is it so inappropriate of me to require answers of you?” James could hardly form a sentence, his words trailing off. He was suddenly very aware of how close she was, wearing only her nightclothes. The low cut of her clothes made him feel warm under the collar, and they were far more revealing than anything he had seen her in before.
