“I’m not going to leave her with someone as boring as you,” Stephen finally said. “I’m going to the dining table. Whether or not you care to join us is up to you.”
Then Stephen shocked her by going over to her and extending his arm toward her. She hesitated. Brad was her husband. He should be the one to escort her to the other room. However, considering the fact that he didn’t want to be with her and that he couldn’t even bring himself to consummate their marriage last night, she honestly didn’t know if he would even make the offer to escort her or not. If she refused Stephen’s offer, would she suffer further embarrassment by having to go into the dining room by herself?
Brad huffed and stormed out of the room.
At first, she thought he was going to go back up to his bedchamber, but he didn’t turn in the direction of the stairs. Instead, he headed on down the hall that led to the dining room.
“My brother is always irritable,” Stephen told her. “Unfortunately, it’s something we must both deal with. I know it’s too late to change things, but I’m sorry I made you marry him. If I thought he was going to act like this, I wouldn’t have punished you this way.”
Punish her? From the way things were going, Brad was the one who was being punished. Brad didn’t want to be with her, but Stephen didn’t know that. Like everyone else, he assumed that last night had gone the way a wedding night was supposed to go.
“I know there’s nothing I can do to change the fact that you are married to my brother,” he continued. “But I can do my part to make you feel welcome here. If you need anything, you can come to me. I realize I’m probably the last person you want to accept any help from, but I feel bad about what I did by forcing you to marry my brother. I had no idea he would act this way. I knew he would be upset, but I thought by now he would have gotten over it. He’s never been upset this long before.”
“He probably had his heart set on marrying someone else,” she replied.
“No, he didn’t. And that’s the ironic thing. He’s wanted to get married for five years now. He just hadn’t picked the lady. Who knows if he ever would have? None of the ladies he’s had over for dinner parties have taken an interest in him. He should thank me for matching him up with you, especially after seeing how attractive you are.” He shook his head. “Sadly, I’m beginning to think he wants to be miserable.”
Whether he realized it or not, he had just let something important slip. Brad had invited other ladies to his dinner parties. If given the choice, he would never have invited her because she embarrassed him at his ball.
“Anyway,” he continued, “you can’t take anything he says or does to heart. This is just the way he is. I’m sorry I brought you into this.”
She was, too, but not because she didn’t want to be with Brad. She was sorry because he didn’t want to be with her.
“We should probably get in there before Brad starts to get anxious,” Stephen said. “Believe it or not, if he doesn’t eat at a certain time, it upsets the rest of his day. Or, in this case, the rest of the evening.”
She slipped her arm around his, and he led her out of the room.
Chapter Thirteen
It took all of Brad’s willpower to eat his meal, and the only reason he managed to eat at all was because he hadn’t eaten anything up to this point. That morning, he had been too upset to eat. Then, he’d been so worried about how he was going to get that book at White’s that he hadn’t taken any of the appetizers offered. Once he had the book in his possession, he came right back here, and he had spent the rest of the afternoon studying it.
His goal had been to be ready for tonight, but at this point, all he really wanted to do was run off to a remote island and disappear. His brother was a continual source of humiliation to him. No matter what he did, his brother continued to mock him. He couldn’t do anything right.
And what was worse, Ava and his brother were getting along just fine. All through the meal, they were talking about the different sights in London. Brad had to quietly sit by and chew his food while the two talked and laughed. He was the only one not enjoying this meal. What made the whole thing worse was the fact that the butler and maid, who waited nearby, were there to see how pathetic he was. He had nothing interesting to say since he didn’t get out much in London.
This was his fault. He should have given Stephen some money to go out so that he didn’t eat dinner here. He should’ve known withholding Stephen’s allowance was going to end up backfiring on him. Every time he tried to discipline his younger brother, it never worked out. Why should he have expected this time to be any different? It was no wonder that Stephen didn’t take him seriously.
“You’re not missing anything by not going to the museum,” Stephen was telling Ava after she admitted that she had never been there. “Looking at other people’s portraits is not only boring, but it’s a complete waste of time. You are better off doing other things like going to that circus you were talking about. At least the people there are entertaining.”
Ava swallowed the carrots she’d been eating. “The circus is entertaining. The truth is, that’s the only activity my family does together. My parents were lower class, and my aunt and uncle didn’t fare well, either. It’s because my aunt is good at managing money that my siblings and I managed as well as we did. Well, my brother and sister still manage well. I don’t anymore, of course, since I’m here now. Because of the marriage. Not because my aunt didn’t have the necessary funds to take care of me, too.” She paused, her cheeks pink. She probably thought she’d disclosed too much.
But it explained a lot to Brad. He now understood why she had made it a point to ask the owner of the dress shop if she could get a discount on her gown. Brad never would’ve guessed that her family was struggling when he met her at the ball. By the way Ava had presented herself, he had assumed her aunt wasn’t struggling with money.
But what else could her aunt do? If she wanted to secure a marriage for her niece to a gentleman who had money, she couldn’t let him know that they were watching every farthing they had. That would turn off every gentleman in sight. No, what her aunt needed to do was pretend they were as well off as anyone else in the room. He would’ve done the same thing in her situation.
“Well, I hope my brother is better to you than he is to me,” Stephen said as he shot Brad a pointed look. “My brother acts as if he has no money at all, but the truth is, he has more than he’ll ever need. Ever since he’s been a guardian to me and my sister, getting money out of him is like catching a fox without the aid of a hound. I’ve never seen anyone as tight with money as he is.”
Brad had had enough. He put his fork and knife on the plate and wadded up the cloth napkin that was in his lap and threw it on his half-eaten meal. “I wouldn’t have had to put limits on the spending you and Loretta did if you two had been sensible about it. All you two ever did was waste money on things that weren’t necessary. And never once did either of you even bother to ask for a discount when you made the purchases. I don’t think you two even realized there was a price tag attached to everything you got. I had to put restraints on both of you. If I didn’t, you both would have spent all of my money and left me with nothing. At least she,” he gestured to Ava, “had the good sense to be mindful of how much she was spending.” He glanced over at her. “Did you buy anything else today?”
Though she looked shocked that he had brought her into the discussion, she cleared her throat. “N–no. This gown was all I bought.”
He nodded at Stephen in satisfaction. “That proves how much better she is with money than you and Loretta are.” Before he was unfair to his sister, Brad hurried to amend, “Granted, Loretta is a lot better now than she used to be. But in the past, she would buy as many gowns as she wanted, and she wouldn’t stop there. She would buy hats, gloves, boots, and jewelry. She claimed she needed everything in order to be properly attired. But Ava has just proven that a lady can buy just one gown and look attractive. When will you learn this lesson
? You seem to think I have this endless supply of money hidden somewhere. Well, I don’t. I have to be careful with everything I earn. I have to work hard for it, too. Every investment has to yield some profit, or I lose money. But what do you care? You haven’t worked a day in your life.”
He waited for Stephen to reply, but Stephen gave him the same dazed look he always gave him.
Too upset to say anything else, he bolted up from his chair and stormed out of the room. Deaf ears. All of his words fell on deaf ears. Stephen wasn’t going to change. He was obstinate and selfish. He was just going to continue doing whatever he wanted without any thought of how others were affected.
Brad had had enough. He was going to do something with Stephen. The time for waiting was over. If he delayed any longer, Stephen would end up turning Ava against him. Then Ava would start to look at him with the same contempt Stephen did. It was already starting to work. Already, Ava preferred talking with Stephen instead of him. He just couldn’t let this continue. Someway, somehow, he was going to put a stop to it.
***
Ava watched as Brad stormed out of the room.
Stephen, not the least bit disturbed by his brother’s outburst, rolled his eyes. “He sure has a way of exaggerating. The small amount he allowed me every month was barely enough to get by on. Brad is a miser. Do you have any idea how much money it takes to be a gentleman in London?”
The last thing she wanted to do was get further involved in the tension between the two brothers, but Stephen was looking expectantly at her and there was no one else in the room she could talk to. She cleared her throat. “No, I don’t have any idea how much gentlemen spend.”
“It takes a lot more than what Brad allowed me to have. Gentlemen are required to build important relationships that will lead to fruitful endeavors, and it takes a lot of money in order to do that. Perhaps if Brad would get outside more, he would realize it.” He poked a piece of his steak with his fork. “There are so many demands in London. You ladies have it easy. All you have to do is wear a few nice gowns, make yourself attractive, and laugh at the joke a gentleman makes, even if the joke is stupid. Sometimes I wish I had been born a lady. No matter what Loretta did or how much money she spent, Brad never stopped letting her have money. She just had to go out to the dress shop and get whatever she wanted. Then when Brad got the bill, he paid it. Sure, he complained, but he never once refused to pay for her things.”
At first, Ava wasn’t going to comment, but then, this might be the opportunity she’d been looking for. If she was going to succeed in gaining Brad’s affections, she needed to do something more than wear a beautiful gown and make herself pretty. If she could find out what Brad liked, then she could take an interest in those things as well. Maybe then he would want to be with her.
“There must be something that pleases your brother,” she said.
Stephen chewed his piece of steak as he thought over her comment. After he swallowed, he said, “Well, he likes money. Saving it, that is. Not spending it. He never likes to spend it. So my advice to you is to keep looking for ways to save him money. Obviously, he was impressed that you didn’t pay full price for the gown you got today. Do more of that. Though, you can’t do too much, or else he’ll complain. I’d wait for a week or two before buying another one if I were you. Then I would brag about what I saved on it.”
She’d already gathered that much. Brad had been far more interested in the price of her gown than he had been in seeing her in it. If Brad was like Stephen, then the plan probably would have been successful. But with Brad, she needed to do something more.
“What other things can I do to make your brother take an interest in me?” she asked.
Stephen stared at her as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard her question right. “Are you telling me that after everything you just witnessed, you still want to be married to my brother?”
She squirmed in her seat. If she said yes, he might think she was a fool. If she said no, he would know she was lying. So, the safest recourse was to state the facts. “I’m married to your brother. There’s no changing that. I might as well do what I can to make the marriage as pleasant as possible.” She hurried to pick up her glass of wine and drank from it before she said anything else that might make him chuckle. As it was, she could tell he was amused by her answer.
“You actually care for my brother,” he replied. “I don’t understand why, but it’s obvious. Of course, I knew that when I saw you dancing with him at the ball. I’m just surprised after everything you saw this evening, you still feel the same way. If it was me, I would go back to my aunt’s or I would convince Brad to give me my own townhouse.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she opted to keep silent and wait as he ate another piece of his steak.
“You can keep spending money on gowns,” he began, “and you can make yourself as attractive as you are tonight. As we both witnessed, it won’t do you any good. When I said my brother would have to be dead not to notice you, I was being serious. A normal gentleman would have taken you to the bedchamber instead of eating dinner. But we’re not dealing with a normal gentleman. We’re dealing with someone who is as heartless as a rock.”
She sighed in disappointment. “There must be something besides money that he can get excited about.”
“As much as I would like to agree with you, I can’t think of a single one, except for even numbers and symmetry and being on time. I’m afraid that money is the only thing that appeals to him.”
Then perhaps there was no hope. Maybe there was nothing she could do. She looked at the remaining food on her plate. It was a good thing she ate almost everything on it because she couldn’t bring herself to eat any more.
Stephen hit the edge of the table in excitement. “I know what you can do! Brad is always moaning about how married gentlemen have more advantages than bachelors. He says that ladies talk with other ladies, and they usually get invited to each other’s dinner parties. Why don’t you befriend some ladies who have influential fathers, husbands, or brothers? Then they will invite you to their dinner parties, and he’ll get acquainted with those gentlemen.” He pointed the fork in her direction. “I’m sure that will get his attention. You just need to find the right ladies, and the rest will fall into place.”
Ava bit her lower lip. That just might work. Already, Ava knew Opal, and Opal was Lord Steinbeck’s sister. Lord Steinbeck was known for making lots of profits in his business dealings. He knew a lot of gentleman in London with influence as well. She might not be able to talk Lord Steinbeck into a dinner invitation. After his reaction to the article in the Tittletattle, Ava didn’t think he wanted to do anything with Brad.
But Opal knew Lady Steinbeck, and Lady Steinbeck might know some ladies who had influential male relatives. Encouraged, she thanked Stephen and finished the rest of the meal.
Chapter Fourteen
The next morning, Ava decided to have breakfast brought up to her in her bedchamber. The last thing she wanted to do was be the cause of another fight between Brad and Stephen. Maybe without her in the room, they would get through a meal without arguing.
Besides, this gave her time to think over what she would say to Opal when she paid her a visit. She wasn’t in the habit of asking for things, and it was going to be difficult to come to Opal in hopes that Opal would do her a favor. It wasn’t that she thought Opal would say no. Opal was the nicest person she’d ever come across. It was just hard to admit Ava couldn’t do this on her own. By doing this, she was admitting that she was incapable of winning her husband’s affections without someone else’s assistance.
Ava ended up spending all morning in her bedchamber. By the time she had figured out the words she wanted to say when she made her petition to Opal, the butler informed her that she had a visitor in the drawing room.
“It’s Miss Wilmington,” the butler told her.
Miss Wilmington? Where had she heard that name before? She knew she’d heard it recently.
“Tell her I’ll be right down,” Ava replied.
The only way she was going to remember the lady was if she went down and saw her. But before she could do that, she needed to get dressed. Since she hadn’t left her bedchamber all morning, she hadn’t bothered getting out of her nightclothes. Not wishing to keep her visitor waiting too long, she decided to dress herself. When she was done styling her hair, she rushed down to the drawing room.
As soon as she saw the lady, she remembered her. Of course! Miss Wilmington was the nice person who had helped her and Opal pick out the gown yesterday.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” Ava said as she hurried over to her.
Unfortunately, the edge of her gown caught onto a nail that was poking out from a small table as she passed it. She jerked back, and a part of the fabric ripped.
“Oh dear!” Sure her face was red from embarrassment, Ava turned her attention to the table and tried to get her gown free from the nail without doing further damage to it. “I’m so sorry.”
Miss Wilmington got up from the settee and helped her to remove the gown safely from the nail. She clucked her tongue and examined the nail. “This wasn’t your fault. This is the fault of whoever made the table. A craftsman should know better than to sell an inferior object to someone, especially when that someone is as wealthy as your husband. Your husband could warn others not to buy his furniture. Such a thing would hurt his business.”
“No, it wasn’t the craftsman’s fault. This kind of thing happens to me from time to time. When I’m not careful, I bump into things.”
“You mustn’t pay the craftsman such a compliment. Whether or not you bumped into it, that nail should not be sticking out like that. But,” she smiled at Ava, “I didn’t come here to talk about furniture. I wanted to know if you wore that beautiful gown at dinner.”
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