The Lady's Second-Chance Suitor by Scott, Regina (christmas read aloud txt) 📗
Book online «The Lady's Second-Chance Suitor by Scott, Regina (christmas read aloud txt) 📗». Author Scott, Regina
“This,” Rob said, “is my mother and her children.”
Hester frowned. “I recognize Elizabeth, and the older boymust be your brother, Thomas. If that last child is you, you must have changeda great deal as you grew.”
“Less than you might think,” he said. “At least, indemeanor. I found it difficult to stand still for the hours required for aproper portrait. Mother excused me. The painter finished my part of the piecefrom memory.”
“Then I must question his memory,” Hester said, privatelywondering why Rob alone would be excused. “Though I suppose now that you’re theviscount, you can have your own portrait painted.”
He cut her a glance. “Perhaps when I have my viscountessbeside me.”
Her cheeks were warming as she and Rob came out into theentry hall, where Ike was on duty. Seeing them, he snapped to attention.
“Now, what else can I show you of my monstrosity of a house?”Rob asked her. “My steward tells me we may have foundation issues in thecrooked wing, so we should likely avoid that.”
Though Ike likely should be pretending he wasn’t listening, henodded as if agreeing.
“Crooked wing?” Hester couldn’t help asking.
“The main block of the house, where we stand now, was builtin the seventeenth century,” he explained. “Subsequent viscounts added a wingto the east and one to the west as well as an addition for a larger kitchen andmore room for the servants. My grandfather contributed another wing that jutsout from the southwest corner at a forty-five-degree angle. My parents, Thomas,and my steward call it the rear wing. Elizabeth named it the crooked wing whenshe was younger. The appellation suits the place.”
That sounded like a great deal of house. Hester glanced upthe stairs. “Perhaps you could show me your favorite room.”
He nodded. “This way, then.”
They climbed to the next story, and he led her into anotherwithdrawing room, where the lamps remained lit and acheery fire warmed the white marble hearth. Unlike the one where Elizabeth hadgreeted her, this one had cool green walls and deeper green velvet drapes oneither side of a bank of windows looking out into the night.
“The house includes three withdrawing rooms,” he toldHester, venturing deeper into the room. “This was my mother’s favorite. I sometimesfeel as if she’s still here.”
“You were close to your mother too, then?” Hester asked,daring to put a finger to the Dresden porcelain shepherdess standing guard on atable near the striped sofa.
“Reasonably,” he said, leaning his hip against the sofa’sback where it bisected the space. “I didn’t share all my escapades with her,but she knew enough to chide me on occasion. She always urged me to find apurpose. I doubt she expected that purpose to be taking over Father’sresponsibilities, and hers.”
His gaze was on the flat of the sofa, head cocked as if heimagined his mother seated there. “And if you hadn’t been elevated to viscount,what then? What did you expect your purpose to be?”
He glanced up at her, brow furrowed. “I hadn’t decided. Thechurch seemed far too tame, the military toodangerous. In my heart, I knew I couldn’t continue as I was, but nothing morebeckoned.”
“I know the feeling,” Hester confessed. “I always thought tobe a wife and mother. I am a mother, though no longer a wife. I love teaching,but I ask myself what else might be in my future.”
“That’s it exactly.” He straightened away from the sofa. “Isuppose I’ll never know now. My fate is sealed. Viscount Peverell.”
He said the word as if it tasted foul.
“Surely being a viscount isn’t so bad,” Hester commiserated.“You have Elizabeth. You have all this.”
“And two hundred people awaiting my every decision,” hereminded her.
“I’m sure they are capable of making a few decisions ontheir own,” she countered.
He sighed. “I hope so, for I’m not sure of the decisions I’mmaking.” He shifted on his feet. “How did you do it, Hester? How did you movebeyond the tragedies—your father’s death, your husband’s?”
Hester shrugged. “I suppose I just did what must be done.”
“Fortitude,” he said. “The ability to rise above life’schallenges.”
She could not see herself as so noble. “It wasn’t as if Ihad the luxury of choice.”
“Neither do I,” he said.
Hester rallied. “You have choices. You can choose where tolive, how to use your income for the good of others. Look what you did for ourschool.”
“A whim,” he confessed. “I was hoping to impress you.”
She almost slipped into his earnest gaze. “You have, Rob.”
He leaned closer, and all at once his lips were brushinghers again, softly gently, there and gone, like the sweetest of dreams.
From downstairs came the sound of voices. The time forconfidences had passed. She stepped back from him.
He moved around the sofa. “Unless I miss my guess, theothers have arrived. Shall we?” He offered her his arm.
Hester accepted it and accompanied him toward the door, butshe was certain their conversation, and his kiss, would stay with her for sometime to come.
~~~
How fine to have a moment for just the two of them. Thatshe’d allowed his kiss said she’d forgiven him for his lack of response on theDowns. Elizabeth had said this party would allow him to see how Hester fit intotheir world. He would not be able to enter his mother’s withdrawing roomwithout seeing Hester there as well. With great reluctance, he returned her tothe formal withdrawing room, where Elizabeth had decided to welcome everyone.
Lord Featherstone and Donner had arrived, and greetings wereexchanged all around. Like Rob, the baron was dressed in his evening black,satin lapels catching the light as he bowed over Mrs. Denby’s hand.
Donner was in grey, white breeches buckled at the knee insilver and a cravat with a fold far more complicated than Rob’s valet had everattempted. Rob watched his sister as Donner greeted her, but Elizabeth’s smileseemed no brighter than
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