Page 3 of An Earl by Any Other Name
“I am going into the village to attend a little political meeting. I’ve arranged to meet some ladies who share my views and—”
“Good God! You aren’t talking about that women’s suffrage nonsense, are you?” Leo set his napkin on the table and scowled imperiously at his mother.
Mina’s brows arched and her spine stiffened. “I most certainly am. I am quite moved by their cause. Did you know we once had the right to vote? Back in the days of feudal society?”
Leo groaned and nearly smacked his palm into his forehead in frustration. God’s teeth, this was not a matter he wished to be dealing with.
“Mother, you cannot go to any such meeting, and I don’t give a bloody damn if women were voting back in the days of mud and squalor. That was the damned middle ages for Christ’s sake. People were dropping dead of plague and nothing in life was certain. Now things are safe; there’s no need for women to have a vote. The men of this country are quite capable of deciding matters of state for you.”
The stark look of pain and rage in his mother’s eyes was startling. He hadn’t expected to see her react so…openly to his words.
“How can you say that…to me? After the way your father made us live, you would continue to deprive me of a voice?”
Leo rubbed his temples. “No, that’s not what I meant, Mother. Please, try to understand. I have much to do and I cannot be worrying about you. People in London are talking…” He didn’t want to continue but he had to make her understand that her actions could make matters worse.
“Talking? About what?” she asked quietly. Her blue eyes were dark and shadowed now.
“Father, about him and that woman. I couldn’t get in to see half the gentlemen I used to before.”
His mother seemed to understand now, her blue eyes wide with worry. “It’s the money, isn’t it? You’re worried and we’ve lost so much face because of…him.”
His throat tightened painfully and he nodded. He had let her down, had failed to do what he needed to in London, and it was destroying him to see her realize that.
She leaned over and placed one hand on top of his on the table, squeezing it. “Then I shan’t go to the meeting. I would like a house party instead. Surely we can afford that?” she asked, hope brimming in her tone.
He smiled a little. “Yes, we can certainly afford a house party, Mother.”
She brightened again, the worries chased quickly away. “Excellent! I wish to have it next weekend. Guests will arrive here on Friday and stay through Monday. I’m planning to invite all sorts of people, including Mr. Leighton. He owns the London News Weekly, which has all of those sensational articles regarding social and political intrigue. He has a lovely daughter—”
Ahh, therein lies her true goal. Not scandal, but marriage. He almost wondered if her plans to join the ranks of the suffragettes was merely to rile him up. No doubt she assumed he would agree to a house party instead because it was much less scandalous…and it would give her a chance to throw eligible ladies at his feet.
Leo’s lips twitched. She was clever, his mother, but not clever enough to fool him into putting himself up for sale on the marriage mart. He waved a hand in the air.
“No. No matchmaking. You know full well that I intend to propose to Mildred Pepperwirth.” He had been planning this for the last two months. He’d been to see their neighbors in Pepperwirth Vale and had made his intentions to Viscount Pepperwirth quite clear. Mildred was a good, solid choice for a wife. Beautiful, intelligent, and with a clean established English pedigree that would raise the Hampton title back up in the eyes of society.
An extremely unladylike snort escaped his mother’s lips. “Bah! Mildred Pepperwirth. Leo, dear, are you determined to give me dull, witless grandchildren? Don’t repeat my mistakes.” Her eyes darkened and the lines around her eyes and mouth seemed more pronounced as she frowned. “Marry for love. Marry a woman who makes you furious, who drives you mad, a woman who makes your heart bleed if you even think of living one day without her. Don’t marry some simpering fool with a hefty dowry simply because you feel compelled to do your duty to your father and this house. She isn’t the woman for you. You need someone forward thinking, dear, and Mildred…well…She is far too traditional.”
“Traditional is exactly what I need, Mother. You’d have me marry some suffragette who’d tear down the laws and rules that keep our society intact? It would destroy my estate.” How the devil had his mother circled back to the topic he wished for her to forget?
“I think those women who fight for the vote are wonderful!” His mother’s voice rose a little and color deepened her cheeks. If he wasn’t careful, he’d upset her again and he didn’t want to do that. Best to concede some battles in order to win the war, as Owen Hadley would say. Owen would know, of course, seeing as how he’d fought in the war where battles had been all too real.
“They are indeed brave ladies, Mother. I wouldn’t disagree on that. I simply think they would not make the most respectable of wives. I need someone I can depend upon to support my decisions for the estate, not undermine them.” A woman with her head in the clouds, dreaming of voting and equal rights was…trouble. He could admire a woman for fighting for something she believed in, but he certainly didn’t want to marry a woman like that.
“You’d doom yourself to a life without love?” Her voice trembled slightly as though she were deeply wounded by his reaction. She made as if to stand, but he reached out, caught her hand, and held it.
“Mother, sit. Please.” Her words stirred something in him, and he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea…to get so lost in another person that you could not live without them. His father had done that with his mistress, a woman who hadn’t cared for him the moment she knew her furnished lifestyle was at an end. Leo wanted to avoid such a fate with every fiber of his being.
Living a reckless bachelor life was one thing, but he’d never been foolish enough to allow himself to fall in love. It would be far too dangerous to open one’s self up to such a weakness. He didn’t want anyone to have power over his heart. His mother had loved his father, and she’d ended up perfectly unhappy when he’d abandoned her for a mistress. Love was a risk he would not take. He shoved the idea out of his mind, focusing on things he knew he could control.
“I think a house party is a wonderful idea, Mother. But do invite some people I know. I saw Hadley at the club yesterday. Drop him an invitation for me. In fact, invite the Pepperwirths as well.” He winked at her. She rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. He swore she muttered something about Mildred under her breath. Leo stifled a laugh. As long as his mother was in a mood to fence with him verbally, that meant she was all right and he hadn’t upset her too terribly by refusing to let her attend the suffragette meeting.
He wasn’t thrilled about the social obligations that houseguests would create, but he couldn’t deny he had been burdened lately with far too much work. A party might improve his mood if only for the distraction it would provide. It was a pity he was no longer able to indulge in old habits. The Leo Graham he’d once been would have made it his mission to bed every willing and lovely lady under his roof.
Damn being respectable. It was going to kill him.
I’ll have to find some other means of entertainment.
Keeping his mother from marrying him off to someone during the party would be his chief objective, and it would be amusing to see what schemes she came up with.
