Page 42 of To Love and to Loathe
“Lord Willingham!” Lady Helen said in the sort of tone that, in Jeremy’s opinion, should only have been directed at puppies and children below the age of intelligent speech. “How positively delightful to see you. Your grandmother mentioned that we might order some tea and have a cozy chat in the drawing room, and I’d no notion that you’d be here as well! I thought you would have joined the other gentlemen in more…manlypursuits.”
“Butmypresence here is no doubt unsurprising,” Audley saidsolemnly, with only the slightest twitch at the corner of his mouth betraying his amusement. “Manly pursuits don’t really seem like something I’d be involved in, eh?”
Lady Helen produced a fan from some hidden fold of her skirts—Jeremy wasn’t quite certain how she managed the trick—and fluttered it before her face as she let out a shrill giggle. “Oh, Lord James, how you do tease me! I of course knew that you would not be able to tear yourself away from the presence of your beautiful wife, as you have seemed so devoted to her of late. No one could expect you to be more than a few feet from her side, ready to spring into action should she take a chill or experience a moment of faintness.”
Violet, who seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh, said, “It’s true that Ihavebeen feeling somewhat unwell of late, James. Your presence is much appreciated.” She coughed delicately into a handkerchief. Her husband seemed torn between the desire to roll his eyes and the desire to burst out laughing.
Lady Helen cast one last misty-eyed look at Violet and James, who were locked in some sort of silent conversation, and redirected her focus, alarmingly, to Jeremy.
“Lord Willingham, will you be joining us for tea?”
“Do say you will, Jeremy,” his grandmother said briskly, seizing his arm in an iron grip and giving him a look that, coming from another woman, he would have characterized as… desperate.
Lady Helen Courtenay apparently had unanticipated skills, if she was able to provoke that reaction in the Dowager Marchioness of Willingham.
Jeremy wondered if he had underestimated Lady Helen—and if, in fact, he should be concerned.
At the moment, however, he had been left no polite option otherthan to say, “I would be delighted to join you ladies for tea. And Audley, too, I hope?”
“Only a fool would turn down the opportunity for a scone.”
“Excellent,” the dowager marchioness said, “since I requested enough food to feed a small army, assuming at least a couple of gentlemen would be present.”
In short order the group had arranged themselves in the chairs before the fireplace, and before long, a pair of maids carried into the room an enormous tea service, piled high with sandwiches, scones, and enticing-looking pastries. Lady Helen extended an arm, seemingly reaching for the teapot to assume the duty of pouring, but Diana beat her to it. Jeremy wasn’t certain how she managed it, since nothing about the movement seemed rushed, and yet there she was, teapot in hand, calmly pouring the first cup, while Lady Helen had to awkwardly attempt to cover her motion by reaching for a scone instead.
“Lady Helen,” Diana said as she handed a cup of tea to the dowager marchioness and lifted the teapot again to pour a second cup, “have you enjoyed your stay at Elderwild thus far?”
“But of course, Lady Templeton,” Lady Helen said, giving Jeremy a smile that could only accurately be classified as terrifying. “It would be impossible to not enjoy oneself when staying with a host as charming, as courteous, as entirely perfect as Lord Willingham.”
Violet broke into a fit of coughing at that; Jeremy, who had become rather familiar with the sound of her cough over the course of the summer, was nearly certain that this one was designed to hide a laugh. He looked at Diana, fully expecting her to pounce upon on this opportunity to deliver him a glorious set-down, but found her with a strange expression on her face.
“How right you are, Lady Helen,” Diana agreed, and Jeremybelatedly realized that the expression was supposed to be a smile. “And how fortunate for Lord Willingham that he has such charming company to entertain him.”
“Lady Templeton, are you feeling at all well?” his grandmother asked; she had lifted her teacup halfway to her mouth, where it was suspended in her grasp as she looked at Diana with some degree of concern.
“Never better,” Diana assured her. She turned back to Lady Helen. “Lady Helen, you must find it trying to be one of the only unmarried ladies present. How fortunate you are that our oh-so-gracious host has been so attentive to you.”
Lady Helen simpered. Jeremy glowered at Diana, who merely finished pouring the final cup of tea, then lifted her own cup to him in a mock salute.
“I believe I strive to be attentive to all of my guests, Lady Templeton,” Jeremy said, undoubtedly without his usual degree of charm—but then, truly, a man had his limits.
“Oh, to be sure,” Diana agreed, wide-eyed. “You are all that is welcoming charity. And yet, I could not help but detect a certain extra effort on your part to ensure that Lady Helen felt comfortable.” There was a barely detectable pause before the final word, but Jeremy was certain everyone in the room had noted it just as he had.
“Indeed, Jeremy, it has been most touching,” his grandmother chimed in; Jeremy leveled a look of wounded betrayal upon her. It was one thing to be conspired against by the likes of Diana—she did not seem to be able to help herself in this regard, at least where he was concerned. But to be betrayed by his own flesh and blood?
“I’m not certain,” his own flesh and blood continued, “that I’ve ever seen you pay such particular attention to a lady.” She gave a merrysort of chortle as she lifted her teacup to her lips; Jeremy was quite certain that such a sound had never come out of her mouth prior to this moment.
“I wasjustthinking the same thing,” Diana exclaimed, by all appearances delighted. “It was particularly striking considering it was just yesterday that Lord Willingham confessed to me his intention to take a bride!”
Mercifully, Jeremy had not yet raised his teacup to his mouth. It did clatter rather loudly in the saucer, though, as he set it down quite firmly on the side table next to his armchair. “Is that what I said, Lady Templeton?”
Diana tapped a finger against her lips contemplatively—an unfair tactic, Jeremy thought, since it brought his attention to the lips in question, which made it very difficult for him to focus on anything else at all.
“I believe, Lord Willingham, that you mentioned something about the fact that you weren’t growing any younger.”
Jeremy narrowed his eyes. “Of course,” he said. “I recall it perfectly now. And I mentioned how of course I would need a wife who was young enough still to have plenty of breeding years ahead of her. No older than eighteen, I believe I said.”
It was Diana’s turn for narrowed eyes. “I seem to recall the conversation a bit differently, my lord. The bit that really stuck with me was when you mentioned your desire for a wife with a good aristocratic pedigree. An impressive lineage, you understand.”
