by Clare Revell
George raised an eyebrow. “Is that any way to introduce me, Lady Tyler? You wound me.”
Louisa laughed, blushing bright red as he kissed her hand again. “I hardly think that’s possible.”
George winked at her and released her hand. He took Jonni’s and raised it to his lips. “Charmed to make your acquaintance, Miss Peterson. May I inquire as to what you’re recovering from? Nothing too nasty, I hope.”
“That depends on your definition of nasty. I was run over by several carriage horses.”
Shock filled his face. “I’m sorry to hear that. Do I know the cad?”
“It was Louisa’s brother’s carriage, but I don’t remember the accident at all.”
“I am glad to see you are recovering.” He shifted his attention back to Louisa. “Louisa, I understand we are dining with you tonight. Your mother wishes to talk terms with my father as regards to my sister, I believe. It appears she is trying for a double wedding.”
“Mother will not have it that Sebastian can make his own mind up over whom he marries. It was bad enough her interfering in my affairs and arranging my marriage.”
George put his hand over his heart. “And she wounds me again. First I am a mere friend of your brother and now I am no more than interference and an arrangement.” He paused. “I am sure she only had your best interests at heart. No doubt she was fending off hundreds of suitors asking for such a pretty hand as yours.”
The carriage clattered up beside them, halting further conversation. Louisa nodded to Tarrant as he opened the door, and looked at George. “You are such a flatterer, George. I will see you tonight at dinner. Good day.”
Jonni followed Louisa into the carriage and leaned back gratefully into the seats, exhausted. She should have insisted on staying in.
“Joanie?”
“Please call me Jonni.”
“All right, Jonni, what think you of Mr. Stott?”
“He’s all right, I suppose. Seems a bit—” Jonni paused. “I don’t know how to put it. Not full of himself exactly, but...”
“Oh, that’s just the way he talks, but he does have something about him. I don’t just mean his fortune. Ten thousand a year, though, is not to be sniffed at.”
“Is that a lot?”
Louisa laughed. “Yes, it’s a lot. He’s also rather good looking, don’t you think?”
Jonni raised an eyebrow. “He’s not bad, I suppose.”
“Mamma arranged it, but I think—I hope he would have offered, anyway.”
“Offered what?” Jonni wasn’t sure she was keeping up with the conversation.
“Why, marriage, of course. I should think marriage to him would be quite tolerable.”
“Do you love him?”
“I have a high regard for him. He seems to like me.”
Jonni looked at her in surprise. “You would marry a man you didn’t love?”
“I could grow to be quite fond of him in time. I have to marry someone Mamma chooses, or someone whose offer she accepts. That is the way of it. Why?”
“Where I come from, people marry for love.”
“To marry for love seems a strange idea.”
Jonni looked at her. It’s not half as strange as marrying someone because someone else told you to. Yet that is what the Countess wants to inflict on Lord Tyler. Just think, waking each morning to find those gorgeous eyes watching me, his long fingers plaiting my hair, brushing it before bed, and those full, red lips kissing me. Now that would be more than tolerable…and never going to happen. It’s not as if he likes me and besides, this isn’t my home. And my place is not by his side as wife.
****
When they arrived back at the house, Countess Maud was waiting for them. “There you are at last, Louisa. The Stotts will be here soon and you are not ready. Joanie, I asked Hattie to lay out something of Mary’s for you to wear. I am afraid that John was unable to trace anyone who knows you.”
Jonni nodded. “I didn’t expect he would.”
“Go and change. Hattie will help the both of you.”
Jonni made her way back to her room and found an extravagant green gown lying on the bed. She picked it up, running her fingers over it. Then she held it against herself and looked in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, she pulled off the one she had on and put on the green one. She was more than capable of dressing herself and doing her own hair. She pulled out the pins, and picked up the hairbrush.
She pulled it roughly through her hair, hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. But once she started to cry, the floodgates opened and she couldn’t stop. Curling up on the bed, she buried her face in her hands sobbing hard, pouring out her heart in prayer.
Half an hour later, she was still praying, when the door opened. She glanced up.
Hattie looked at her. “Wha’s the matter, Miss Joanie? Nothin’ can be tha’ bad, surely.”
“I thought I asked you to knock before you came in. And my name’s Jonni.”
“All right, Miss Jonni. Thar’s no need to fret so. T’Master will fin’ where you live an’ get you ‘ome safe, you’ll see.”
“He won’t, he can’t.”
“Thar’s no’ a thing t’Master canna do if ee puts ‘is mind to it, miss. Now wash yer face an’ let’s do yer ‘air.”
Jonni shook her head. “Just leave me alone.”
Hattie looked at her. “Miss?”
“I said leave me alone,” Jonni yelled.
“Yes, miss.” Hattie left.
Jonni grabbed the brush and flung it at the closed door. It hit the door frame with a resounding thud. She reached over and threw the boots after it.
There was a short exclamation of pain.
Jonni looked up, to find the door open and Sebastian standing there. Heat and shame flooded her. “I’m sorry, Lord Tyler. I wasn’t aiming at you.”
Sebastian rubbed his leg. “I should hope not.” His gaze softened as it ran over her. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and walked to the bed. “Here. You look upset. Are you all right?”
“Thank you. Yeah, it all got too much for a while.” Jonni took the handkerchief and used it. She held it out to him.
“Keep it. It will be returned to me once it’s been laundered.”
“Thank you.” She tucked it into her sleeve. As Sebastian sat beside her, a clean smell of soap and some kind of musk wafted over her, sending her senses reeling. “I really am sorry. I didn’t know the door was open. Hattie closed it when she left.”
“I knocked twice, but you didn’t answer. I heard something fall and thought perhaps you were injured.”
“Instead it’s you who was injured. Does your leg hurt very much?”
Sebastian shook his head, a faint twinkle in his eye. “I have another one.” He held her gaze for a moment and then chuckled. “Perhaps that is why the Good Lord gave us two of most body parts. So that when a guest decides to throw her boots at one, rather than put them away…”
Jonni laughed with him. “At least it was not the Unseen Guest. You wouldn’t stand a chance of avoiding flying objects in that case.”
“True. But if you are planning to throw then again, then may I suggest the other direction. It’s a lot less painful.”
“I’ll do that. I mean I won’t do that…oh…” What was it about him that left her so flustered and grasping for words like a schoolgirl? “What was it you wanted?”
“I came to tell you that we have company and you should come down, but I see you are not ready. Why is that? And I will not take ‘I was too busy crying and throwing things’ as a reason.”
Before Jonni could reply, Alexis appeared with a petulant look on her face. “Papa, why can’t I come down for dinner? I don’t want to eat with Miss Franks again.”
“You will do as you are told, Alexis.” Sebastian sighed. “I have this debate with you every day. You are too young to dine in company.”
Alexis’s bottom lip quivered. “But it’s not fair. I always have to miss out.”
“You are a child. Children should be seen and not heard.”
“But I never will be seen if I eat in the nursery.”
“You are only eight years old. Just for once, accept what I tell you the first time. You will go to your room and stay there until you can learn to do as you are told.” He let out an audible sigh as Alexis burst into tears and ran from the room. “Why does that child have to be so awkward?”
“That’s no way to speak to a child, Lord Tyler. Perhaps if you spoke a little kinder to her and explained, rather than just issue orders like you do the servants—”
“Speaking of servants, I was under the impression Hattie was helping you dress.”
“I sent her away. I am perfectly capable of dressing myself.”
Sebastian hissed in annoyance. “It is not your place to tell my servants what to do. Hattie will help you dress, and then you will come down. Is that understood?”
“First you run me over, and now you boss me around. You can’t give me orders…”
“You, Madam, are a guest in my house. You will not tell me what I can and cannot do. I will see you at dinner.” He spun on his heel sharply and left.
Jonni swung back to the mirror. How could someone so charming one moment, be so irritating the next? And why did her heart have to pound so every time he spoke to her, or walked into the room, while her body ached for him to hold her like he had the previous night?
She pulled her hair back into a loose pony tail. Maybe she should cut it short. Save all the hassle of pins and having it done like a child. She nodded to her reflection. If she woke up here in the morning, that’s what she’d do.
A knock at the door made her turn.
She smiled. “Hattie. I’m sorry about earlier. I’m really tired, but I was wrong to take it out on you the way I did.”
“Its fine, Miss. Lord Tyler said I should show yer down to t’great ‘all. Or I could ‘elp with yer ‘air?”
Jonni nodded and sat before the mirror. “I’d like that. Thank you.”
****
Sebastian looked across the table at Jonni. It was quite the quandary. As irritating as she was at times, as if she didn’t know the proper behavior, he felt a pull towards her, a lightening of his spirit when he was near her. It was ludicrous. He didn’t know her, didn’t know anything about her. And despite his inquiries, nor did anyone else. It was as if she sprung into being fully formed the moment she fell under his horses. He smiled at her and his heart leapt as she smiled back.
The candles along the table and lamps around the room gave her a heavenly beauty, an ethereal glow. The high vaulted ceiling of the great hall disappeared into the darkness and Sebastian shivered. He preferred the closeness of the dining room, but his mother insisted on entertaining in here. She’d also chosen the menu—far too much in his humble opinion. Dishes of fish, beef, pork, duck, cheese, and salad followed by nuts and oranges—too much extravagance for people they now considered family.
He sighed. He loved his mother dearly, but he wished she’d let him take over the running of the house completely. Just because he was a man didn’t mean he was incapable of ordering a meal and organizing Christmas.
She sat there now, holding court. He ought to say something, but she was his mother and until he had a wife, she was mistress of the house, no matter how much it irked him.
His gaze returned to Jonni. She picked at her food, hardly eating anything. Was that not to her liking, either? As the servant hovered with the wine, she put her hand over the glass.
“Could I have water, please?”
Sebastian looked over at her. “Miss Peterson, do you usually drink tea with this meal as well?”
Jonni nodded. “Yes I do, but water is fine.”
“Nonsense. Bring Miss Peterson some tea.”
The servant curtseyed. “Yes, Master.”
Elizabeth caught his arm again. “Sebastian, it’s so sweet of you to worry about your guest so…”
“Of course, just like I would any of my guests.” He contained his sigh.
The girl made no effort to hide the fact she had her eye on becoming the next Countess Tyler. Unfortunately, he did not reciprocate her feelings and even if he were desperate, would not make an offer for her. Even his constant rebuffs didn’t stop her entering the conversation and demanding his opinion on anything and everything.
He glanced over at George, noting the adoring way he looked at Louisa. He seemed to genuinely love her. At least, Sebastian hoped it was true love because Louisa was infatuated, not that she’d admit it.
With the title being hereditary, if Sebastian remained unmarried, the title would pass Alexis and go to any male children that Louisa had—leaving the family fortune solely in George’s hands. Perhaps he really should consider remarrying. It was his responsibility to produce an heir.
His gaze swung back to Jonni. Like a candle flame attracted a moth, he was drawn to her. If he were to choose a wife, it would be a woman like her. Not afraid to show her feelings, beautiful, able to set his pulse racing, and arouse such deep emotions. Ones that took his thoughts places that even his wife had been unable to do.
For a moment he could see his arms folding around Miss Peterson, his fingers moving through her hair, pushing it back from her face. Her eyes sparkled and her lips reached for his. Her fingertips sent shivers of delight down his spine.
“Sebastian?”
He jumped, shuddering at the way his thoughts had run rampant about a woman he barely knew. One he had no right to be thinking of in such a way. He glanced around the table and realized the meal had ended. He caught his breath, more than a little uneasy and dismayed by his reaction. He needed a moment to collect his thoughts.
“I will join you in the drawing room, momentarily.” He pushed upright and hurried from the room. Lord, help me. I can’t think of her in those terms. She is a guest, a stranger, someone I know nothing about.
Five minutes later, washed and refreshed, he entered the room to find himself cornered almost instantaneously.
“Would someone play so we can dance?” Elizabeth asked.
“I really think—”
“Oh, please, Sebastian. It will be such fun.” She looked like a child, swinging her skirts.
He glanced over at his mother, dismayed when she sat at the piano to play. Reluctantly, he got up and partnered Elizabeth, while George partnered Louisa.
It left Miss Peterson alone.
He watched her as his body moved the complex steps automatically, his face smiling and nodding at Elizabeth’s constant chatter. He heard not a word.
Miss Peterson looked so sad. What was she thinking to cause such pain?
He would rather dance with her than Elizabeth. At least Miss Peterson wasn’t constantly trying to get his attention. Indeed, she did her best to avoid it. A refreshing change from the fawning looks he got from most women he knew.
The dance finished and he made his way to a chair, hoping the others would follow suit.
They did and they sat, breathless and laughing.
Elizabeth leaned towards him. “What shall we do now? Dance again?”
Sebastian shook his head. “I am too old to dance anymore tonight.”
Louisa laughed. “You are not old, Sebastian. You need more practice.”
Mr. Stott looked over at them. “How about musical entertainment? We could take it in turns to perform.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Louisa said, looking at the others.
Sebastian glanced over at Jonni. She really shouldn’t sit alone anymore. He looked at his guests. “Excuse me a minute.” He got up and walked over to her. “Will you not come and join us, Miss Peterson?”
****
Jonni looked up at him, jerked out of her thoughts of home. “I’m tired and not very good company.”
“Sitting here alone is the height of rudeness. It displeases me.”
She stood up and moved away, irked by his attitude. How could he be so polite to that fawning creature who hung
on his every word, and not to her?
Two could play at that game.
“Well, we can’t have the Lord of the manor displeased, can we? I’ll go to bed and solve the problem. I will see you in the morning. Goodnight.”
Sebastian moved after her swiftly. “Miss Peterson, I will not be spoken to in such a manner. You really should temper that tongue of yours.”
Jonni ignored the edge in his voice, and walked swiftly into the hall.
Sebastian pursued her. He stepped in front of her, blocking her path. “Don’t you walk away from me when I am speaking to you. After all I have done for you—”
Jonni scowled at him and folded her arms. “Let me see. You ran me over with your carriage, dressed me in your dead wife’s clothes, and insulted me. Want me to go on?”
“I have fed and clothed you, and fetched the doctor out twice for you. All at my own expense and I—”
“I should think so. It was your horses that hit me.”
“—have been met with nothing but rudeness.” He ignored her interruption. “You, Madam, are the one who ran out in front of the carriage in the first place. I could have left you on the side of the road to die. The fact is, I didn’t, yet I have not been thanked at all. You are also a guest in my house and would do well to remember that—along with the fact that suicide is a crime against God.”
Jonni stopped short. Suicide? “You think I did it on purpose? That I was trying to kill myself?”
Sebastian lowered his voice, visibly reining in his temper. “Were you?”
She shook her head, his gaze swallowing her whole. “No, I wasn’t. I would never, no matter how bad things got. I know I can take everything to the Lord, and He will sustain me.”
“He does.”
“And you’re right. I have been rude and ungrateful. I’m sorry.”
He smiled. “Apology accepted. Now, please join us, just for a little while.”
“All right.” Jonni walked with him back to the others, and sat down on the edge of the group.
One by one, they stood and sang, or played the piano until the only two left were Jonni and Sebastian.
She noticed the adoring look Elizabeth gave Sebastian and the pointed way he ignored it. It really was quite amusing.