A Sense of Destiny (Perceptions Book 6), page 6
With Polly’s attention distracted, Archie squeezed Flora’s hand. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked softly.
She smiled in return, not pretending to misunderstand him. The visit would stir up memories other than those connected with the countess.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I am happy to be back.’
Members of the family spilled from the house as their carriage drew closer to the entrance portico, Luke amongst them, removing any awkwardness from the situation. Luke raised a brow when the door was opened and he observed Archie and Flora seated side by side. Romulus dealt with any lingering embarrassment when he recognised Flora the moment she took Luke’s hand and alighted from the carriage, almost knocking her from her feet in his enthusiasm to become reacquainted with her.
‘Hey fella,’ she said, laughing as she bent to make a fuss of him. ‘I’ve missed you as well.’
Flora and Archie greeted the family and then made their way into the house, while Pawson took charge of Polly and conducted her to the servants’ entrance.
‘It is so lovely to have you back,’ Mary said, hugging Flora again once they had entered the drawing room. Mrs Pearson was there with a young woman who Archie hadn’t met before. He only had time to notice with detached interest that she was very pretty before Luke introduced her as Miss Baxter, Mrs Pearson’s goddaughter.
‘You are moving better each time I see you, Archie,’ Paul remarked.
‘Flora must take the credit for that. She bullies me into swimming and steaming and taking her wretched concoctions,’ Archie replied cheerfully as he winked at Flora. ‘And the devil of it is that her methods work.’
‘There’s no need to sound so surprised,’ Flora replied, smiling. ‘Now Miranda,’ she added, turning to Charlie’s wife. ‘I hope you have brought your baby son with you. I fully intend to keep my promise to the countess and make the greatest possible fuss of him.’
‘He is here with us,’ Miranda replied, ‘and naturally he is the best behaved baby in the history of all babies ever. He almost never cries and smiles all the time.’
‘Naturally.’ Flora agreed, looking disconcertingly at home to Archie’s eye in this elegant room. He glanced around it, compared it to his own potentially magnificent yet shabby and neglected drawing room, and shuddered. Archie had become accustomed to the dilapidated state of the rooms he seldom used or thought about, but saw them now through Flora’s eyes and understood why she had struggled to say anything complimentary about them. ‘I shouldn’t expect anything less.’
*
Flora followed Mary upstairs when the party in the drawing room broke up. She had noticed Archie following Luke, Paul and Alvin into Luke’s library. She had no difficulty in anticipating how they would occupy the next hour or so, aware that catching up with each other’s news would require the accompaniment of copious amounts of Luke’s finest single malt. She was glad that Archie was reunited with his friends, the more so since she had seen for herself how he lived in solitary isolation in that barn of a mansion. Felsham Hall was sorely overdue for a little loving attention; to say nothing of having its rooms filled with music, noise and laughter—and, of course, children.
Lots and lots of boisterous children.
She knew a moment’s jealousy when she thought of Archie marrying a lady from his own class and diligently producing the children in question. Then she felt guilty. Jealousy was a sin—probably—and she didn’t see any reason why she and Archie should not remain friends after his marriage. That was what they were, after all; merely friends. He had paid a heavy price for his youthful indiscretions, but Flora knew that he fully intended to live up to his father’s expectations by securing the future of the Felsham dynasty.
‘This way,’ Mary said, turning in the opposite direction to the one Flora had expected them to take.
‘Oh. Am I not in my usual room?’
‘You are a guest now, dearest Flora, not a servant. Well, you were never a servant, but you deserve finer accommodation.’
‘Goodness,’ Flora replied when Mary opened the door to one of the principal guest rooms, replete with its own adjoining bathroom, ‘I shan’t know myself.’
‘It is less than you deserve after all you did for Grandmamma. I am convinced you extended her life by standing up to her. She took an interest in your affairs and it gave her something to live for.’
Polly appeared from the walk-in closet, where she had been unpacking Flora’s clothing.
‘Polly, this is Lady Mary Dalton, the mistress of this house.’ Polly bobbed a demure curtsey. ‘Polly looks after my needs in Fox Hollow, Mary, and already I do not know how I managed without her. Indeed, having servants scurrying around after me seems positively decadent.’
Mary smiled at Polly and Flora dismissed her, sensing that Mary required a word in private.
‘How have you really been?’ Mary asked as the door closed softly behind Polly.
‘I should ask that question of you,’ Flora replied. ‘I am sure you are looking forward to the birth of your first child.’
‘Naturally, I just wish that Grandmamma could have lived for long enough to welcome him or her into this world.’
‘Your grandmother’s time had come,’ Flora replied, perching on the window seat beside Mary. ‘She was in pain and you wouldn’t have wanted her suffering to continue.’
‘No, of course not, but I miss her.’
‘As do I, but she is still around, watching over you. Never doubt it. It’s easier for me, having moved away. I am not reminded of her at every turn, as you must be, but once the baby is born you will have other priorities to occupy you.’ Flora paused. ‘Anyway, how is Luke?’
‘I barely see him. He keeps himself very busy. Paul says he is distracted, withdrawn and sometimes a little short-tempered.’
‘He will adjust; you all will. He would be best advised to find himself a wife.’ Flora allowed a moment’s reflection. ‘I noticed him look at Miss Baxter once or twice.’
‘She is engaged to be married.’
Flora grinned. ‘And engagements cannot be broken?’
‘Flora! If her fiancé has secured her affections it would be wrong to come between them. Anyway, Luke wouldn’t, he knows she is spoken for.’
‘In which case she has no business sneaking the odd sidelong glance at Luke.’
‘Is that what she was doing?’ Mary blinked in evident surprise. ‘I didn’t notice.’
‘I barely had a chance to speak with her, but my first impressions were favourable. She is a great improvement upon all the other females who have visited this house with a view to snaring themselves an earl.’
‘You make it sound like a fishing contest,’ Mary said, laughing.
‘Well, isn’t it?’
Mary’s smile widened as she hugged Flora. ‘I have missed you so very much, and I am delighted to have you back again for a while.’
‘And I am delighted to be here.’ Flora stood and shooed Mary from the room. ‘Now off with you or I will keep you all waiting.’
‘I shall see you at dinner, dearest Flora.’
Mary kissed Flora’s cheek and left the room. Alone, Flora resumed her seat and stared at the familiar view, which today was dulled by persistent rain. She had detected a definite reciprocal interest between Luke and Miss Baxter and waited for jealousy to grip her. To her delight, it barely made an impact. She wondered about the nature of Miss Baxter’s engagement and why her fiancé was not here to bear her company.
Ringing the bell for Polly, she vowed to befriend the young woman at the earliest opportunity and find out more about her circumstances. Her initial perceptions told her that Miss Baxter was going ahead with an engagement against her better judgement and wondered if there was any way in which she could help her. She would willingly do so if it meant that she could also help Luke to find the happiness that eluded a strongly principled and stubborn man who happened to be so very dear to her.
*
Luke leaned back in his chair, the weight of Romulus’s body across his feet threatening to cut off the blood supply. He luxuriated in the companionship of his three oldest friends, especially Archie. The rogue clearly had his sights set on Flora and Luke felt insanely jealous. He tried to tell himself that Flora would have to marry at some stage, even though she had often pretended disinterest in and disinclination for that institution. Even so, she would succumb eventually, and if Luke couldn’t have her he would never find true peace of mind if she accepted anyone else other than Archie.
Perhaps not even then, since Luke wasn’t convinced that Archie’s incapacity had lessened his appetites for diverse feminine company. Flora didn’t deserve and wouldn’t accept an unfaithful husband.
‘How are things at Felsham Hall?’ Alvin asked.
‘I feel more in control now that I am slightly more mobile,’ Archie replied. ‘I’m actually having an extension built to house my own steam bath.’
Luke laughed. ‘Very self-indulgent.’
‘Hardly. It saves me a tedious journey into Swindon and will mean that I can partake more regularly. It definitely helps.’
‘We’ve already remarked upon your improved mobility,’ Paul said. ‘Even so, it bears repeating. It’s quite astonishing.’
‘Flora appears to be more proficient than any of those expensive doctors who shook their heads over you and told you that nothing could be done,’ Alvin remarked.
‘How’s she settling into your neck of the woods?’ Paul asked. ‘Mary worries about her being lonely.’
‘Not much chance of that,’ Archie replied, laughing at the idea but watching Luke as he spoke. His friend hadn’t mentioned Flora himself, but Archie had seen his wistful expression earlier each time he looked at her in his drawing room. ‘She spends her time doing good deeds, helping the sick and needy.’ He chuckled. ‘She’s even helping a couple of village children to learn the piano, simply because they expressed an interest and have no instrument to practise on.’
‘That sounds like Flora all over,’ Paul replied.
Archie lifted his empty glass and Paul stood to top it up.
‘What are your plans for your estate?’ Luke asked.
‘To keep it profitable and avoid my people taking advantage of my incapacity by robbing me blind,’ Archie replied with asperity.
‘No intention of becoming sociable in your old age and opening the place up to your acquaintances, I suppose,’ Alvin said, shrugging. ‘You’re a marquess, damn it, and you have a duty to lead by example. It’s beyond time you thought about tying the knot.’
‘I will when he does,’ Archie said, nodding at Luke and grinning.
‘Hey, stop ganging up on us, you two,’ Luke replied. ‘There’s nothing worse than smug married men for whom the stars are all aligned.’
Archie shuddered. ‘I value my freedom too much to risk it, speaking personally. We can’t all expect your good fortune.’
‘Precisely,’ Luke said, draining his glass and standing to refill it.
‘Talking of risks, I’ve received several missives from Magda.’ Archie threw back his head and sighed as he waited for his friends’ angry protests to die down.
‘The nerve of the woman,’ Paul muttered.
‘Damned tiresome,’ Archie agreed. ‘I hear she’s taken up residence somewhere close to me, which shows tenacity, I suppose.’
‘What does she want?’ Luke asked, rolling his eyes. ‘As if I couldn’t guess.’
‘No idea. I consigned her notes to the fire without opening them and have given orders that she not be allowed access to the estate. She’s been turned away twice already.’
‘Determined little madam,’ Alvin said, taking a healthy swig of his drink. ‘And shameless too, given that she was the cause of your accident.’
‘Don’t underestimate her, Archie,’ Luke advised. ‘For reasons that escape me, she seems determined to get her claws back into you, and she won’t be easily deterred.’
‘Well, I’m a claw-free zone nowadays,’ Archie said, leaning heavily on his stick and hauling himself to his feet. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to rest my aching bones for an hour or two.’
*
Magda leaned up in bed and glanced at Yardley’s prostrate body. He really was a handsome rogue, and knew it. It was a shame that his puritanical uncle would never approve of Magda as a wife. Not that she would contemplate marrying a man with no prospects. She wasn’t intended for a life of poverty and deprivation. Even so, he was good company, didn’t take life too seriously and was a considerate lover with stamina—almost as proficient as Archie had been in that regard.
She growled when she thought of Archie, insulted because he hadn’t bothered to reply to a single one of her notes. Of course he had reason to be angry with her, she could quite see that, but ten years should have been enough time for him to recall all the many glorious hours they had spent with their limbs entwined, giving one another unimaginable pleasure. She had never had a lover as capable as Archie, and Magda was equally sure that he had never had a woman whose skills between the sheets matched hers. Damn it, if he didn’t want to marry her, she would settle for being his mistress as long as he set her up somewhere suitable and treated her with generosity. Her personal circumstances were now straitened, to say the least. She wasn’t getting any younger and she needed to bring Archie to his senses.
Now. Immediately.
She had caught the odd glimpse of him when he had passed through the village in his carriage, and the sight had stolen her breath away. He had always been a handsome man, but the passage of time and the suffering he had endured had only served to enhance his rugged good looks. He was hers! She had been a fool to press him when she had sensed his interest waning all those years ago. If she had not deliberately timed their last tryst to coincide with her husband’s expected return, Archie wouldn’t have fallen as he made his escape and she would have found another way to keep him coming back for more.
‘Foolish!’ she muttered, careful not to wake the slumbering Yardley while she mentally catalogued her ill-treatment.
Archie had been young and reckless, but even back then the strength of his awareness of his position and responsibilities had been embedded deep within his core. How could she possibly have imagined that a confrontation between her husband and lover would result in Archie whisking her away from Simpson? She shook her head, still unable to explain the stupidity of past actions that had become more obvious with the passing of the years. In her own defence she had been at the height of her beauty at the time, feted and admired, and her popularity had gone to her head, making her feel invincible. She really had believed that she could have whatever she wanted on her own terms.
She had taken exception to Archie’s dwindling passion and felt he deserved to be taught a lesson. There was something rather satisfying about having two men coming to blows for her favours. But it had all gone horribly wrong, and Simpson had got his revenge from beyond the grave by leaving her virtually penniless. She had learned her lesson and was now contrite, and Archie would know it if he had bothered to read her notes. She had taken a long time to choose her words carefully, expressing her remorse at the way things had turned out without actually admitting her culpability. She gave a sullen little sigh, wondering if he had even bothered to read them.
‘Direct action is called for.’
Speaking louder than had been her attention, her voice roused Yardley from his post-coital slumber. He leaned up on one elbow, yawning as he pushed the hair away from his eyes and glanced at her naked form with insulting indifference.
‘What action?’ he asked.
‘Felsham is still ignoring me,’ she reluctantly replied.
‘Don’t be downhearted. Much as it humbles me to make the admission, I have been rebuffed by the delectable Miss Latimer too.’
‘Archie’s little floozy turned you down?’ Anger surged through Magda. ‘She really must have expectations, or an arrangement in place with Archie, otherwise…’ Magda ran the tips of her fingers down the side of Yardley’s face. ‘Well, she would struggle to do better than you.’
‘High praise indeed,’ he replied with a sardonic chuckle. ‘But I shall have to do something to change her mind or I will be in trouble with my uncle. He’s quite made up his mind that she would make me a dutiful wife. Besides, I hear tell that she inherited a tidy sum from the old countess—’
‘I was not aware,’ Magda replied sharply. ‘You didn’t say.’
‘I have only just found out myself. Her father told my uncle. He was keen for the bishop to know that she wasn’t living as a kept woman, one assumes.’
‘Well then, we shall have to separate Archie and the presumptuous little romp, but how do we go about it?’
‘I happened to see Felsham’s carriage outside her cottage when I rode past earlier.’ An angry hiss slipped past Magda’s lips, a sign of her outrage at his brazenness. ‘Made it my business to find out that he was giving her a lift to Beranger Court.’
‘Of course!’ Magda’s scowl gave way to a calculating smile. ‘The Ashton Keynes autumn fair. It’s a three-day celebration put on in the village and open to all.’ She grinned at Jacob and ran a finger down the centre of his chest. ‘Do you feel inclined to visit Ashton Keynes?’ she asked.
Chapter Six
Having survived the awkwardness of seeing Luke again, Flora relaxed that evening in familiar surroundings and the undemanding company of her friends, feeling embraced by their generous affection. Feeling as though she had come home. She wore one of her favourite and ruinously expensive evening gowns, paid for by the countess, and wound the long rope of superb pearls that her employer had bequeathed to her around her neck. She could sense the countess nodding her approval.
There were dangling pear-shaped pearl earrings to match, set with tiny diamonds. Little over a year ago, when Flora had left Salisbury to embrace an uncertain future, she wouldn’t have imagined herself wearing such a beautiful gown and feeling comfortable dining with an earl and a marquess, much less sporting diamonds, no matter how small. She wondered what her family would say if they could see her now. She dismissed the thought from her mind, sensing that her sisters would be envious and her parents most definitely disapproving. Since their collective opinion was no longer of the slightest interest to her, she put them from her mind and smiled at a remark Henry made to her.
