"Just this." She pointed to a line in the book. "'Beetles comprise twenty-five percent of all described animals and plants.' That can't be true, can it?"
"I could see it being possible," he mused. "I read once that there were beetles in nearly every climate, and the biodiversity is extreme. Perhaps some of the things you think of as mere insects are in fact beetles—you know the light bugs that dance around in the summer time? Those are beetles."
"Fascinating." Again, she disappeared into the book, and this time Montgomery knew better than to talk. He looked back out at Hannah's form bent over Wordsworth and listened to the sound of Brody haggling with the bookkeeper in the back binding room. After a few moments, just as he expected, Emelia spoke again. This time she didn't raise her head from the book. Instead, she read verbatim: "'Beetles have invaded freshwater aquatic habitats several times through history. In all instances thus documented, adult beetles retain the spiracular respiratory system of their terrestrial relatives, requiring that they regularly have access to atmospheric gasses.'"
She paused for a moment with her head lowered and then gave a small, tentative giggle.
"What is it?" Montgomery asked.
"That's an awful lot of words just to say that a beetle in water needs to breathe just like the rest of us."
"Spoken like a woman who has not had to read very many medical textbooks," Montgomery said with a smile. "Writers of medical articles and books seem to believe that the more complicated an explanation signifies the more intellectual among us."
"My mother always told me if you can't explain it to a child than you don't really know what it is."
"In part that's true," Montgomery shrugged. "But I could explain the workings of the respiratory system in the human body in part to a child. There would be significant portions that I would have to leave out until speaking with someone who had a more developed vocabulary."
He expected Emelia to nod and let the moment slip, but instead she raised her eyes to his and gave a sad little shrug. "Then I suspect you don't really understand the workings of the respiratory system."
There was a sound in the back and Montgomery looked up to see Brody emerging with the bookkeeper in tow. He raised a hand in greeting.
"My little friend out front is looking for some Blake," Montgomery said, clearing his throat and directing his attention towards the bookkeeper. "I don't suppose you have any on hand?"
"Of course I do." The bookkeeper walked to the front and took a small volume from a shelf far above Hannah's vision. He handed it to her. "See if it's to your liking. And you, miss?"
Montgomery turned and saw that Emelia had followed him and Brody out into the main room. She was still holding A Complete Guide to Coleoptera.
"Oh, no." She set it aside. "I was just looking."
The foursome finished their purchases and then walked outside, headed towards the milliners at the end of the lane. Montgomery had no interest in the picking out of ribbons, and as they turned to go he stopped by the horses.
"Go ahead," he said briefly. "I think I'm going to have to excuse myself early. I wanted to stop by the village doctor to see if there's any assistance he might need during my time back in this part of the county. It's been some time since I've talked with him about the newest methods and the like."
Brody opened his mouth in undisguised annoyance and then shut it again quickly when Emelia laid a hand on his arm.
"It was good to see you, Dr. Shaw," she said simply. She turned and looked at Brody, still speaking to Montgomery but clearly directing her words to his younger brother. "We won't trespass on any more of your time."
Montgomery wasn't sure why, but he was disappointed that she was so happy to see him go. Hannah, too, seemed hardly to notice and only curtsied half-heartedly as he walked away. He heard Brody say, as he took his horse's lead into hand, "I apologise. Montgomery Shaw always did have an aversion to fun."
Chapter 12
"Perhaps if you didn't tease him so awfully," Emelia said, showing Brody into her drawing room the following morning. The ride the day before, the shenanigans between her and Brody, the way Hannah had quizzed him on the ride home all about Montgomery and how long he would be staying in the area—all brought her a vague sense of unease. "You don't give your brother any chance to showcase his talents. If you really want him to end up with my sister, then you should give him a chance to take the lead."
"That is exactly what I was thinking." Brody spun his hat onto the table. It twirled across the polished top and came to a halt under Emelia's hand. "I think we need another kind of event entirely, one where Montgomery can shine."
"What we need," Emelia said, "is to stop meddling entirely. We don't need more shenanigans and pretend chance meetings. We just need to let him make the first move, as he ought."
"He won't, though. The old boy is infernally proper, and he won't move if he feels there isn't affection already there."
"I don't believe that."
"Well, it's true." Brody sobered somewhat, pulling out a chair and plopping unceremoniously into it. "Emmy, I heard him humming yesterday when I got home. He beat me home from the doctor's by just a few minutes, and he was in the library rearranging some books. He was humming. He used to do that, you know, when we were younger; before he went to school, and before our father died. He would do it when he was the peaceful kind of happy, the kind that has no striving or anxiety. I think this little plan of mine, the plan you think is so invasive and preposterous, might actually be working. Haven't you noticed how Hannah's been? She's been coming out of her shell more."
Emelia had noticed that. Hannah seemed lighter and more interested in everything that was happening around her. She had asked a few times over the last few weeks to visit the Shaws, and she'd been so delighted by yesterday's "chance" meeting. "Perhaps you're right," Emelia consented. "But don't you think our involvement has gone far enough? I think they will be able to further the relationship from here without our involvement."
"Perhaps," Brody said. He paused a moment as though deciding whether or not to say the truth, and then plunged ahead. "But it's not moving fast enough."
"I knew it!" Emelia leapt up from her seat and shook her finger at her friend. "There's something in this for you—a reason you have to marry your brother off so quickly that has nothing to do with his happiness. Out with it at once, good sir."
Brody rolled his eyes. "You always assume the worst in people. No, I genuinely think that this will make both Montgomery and Hannah happy, and my initial reason for getting them together was truly to help my brother overcome his sadness regarding my father's death."
"And now?"
"And now Mama says that Montgomery must marry first. She's so impressed by how serious he's been about his studies and his career that she wants to see some of that from me. She says she'd like me to wait until my older brother proposes to chase any lasses."
"Any more lasses, you mean." Emelia smiled wryly. "Because you already have quite the bevy of broken hearts at your beck and call."
"Unnecessary cruelty!" Brody gave a little laugh. "And though I'm willing to go along with my mother's reasoning for now, I can imagine it getting fairly uncomfortable if I have to wait years to see Montgomery on one knee. This heart is made for wooing—" he put one hand solemnly over his chest. "And I hate to deny the world what I have to offer."
"You are, as ever, the soul of sacrifice," Emelia said sarcastically.
"If we decide that their happiness can be found in marriage, why put off Montgomery and Hannah's joy any longer than it needs to be put off?"
Emelia sighed. "I can't host anything else, not right now. I'm sorry, but my name's practically ruined in the county. Furthermore, I'm not sure I can take the strain of disappointing yet another group of guests."
"Or poisoning them," Brody said innocently.
Emelia reached across and smacked him gently on the arm. "So what's your grand plan, if it doesn't involve me throwing another haphazard party?"
/>
"I will throw a lavish ball, I, Brody Shaw, and since it is on our estate Montgomery will be forced to be in attendance. I will invite Hannah, of course, and all the other beauties of the county. My dear brother will have at his disposal every lovely smile that this particular part of England has to offer, and I guarantee you that by the end of the night love will be in the air."
"Every lovely beauty in the county?" Emelia raised an eyebrow. "And yet you only list my sister's name?"
Brody stood gravely and then bent almost double in an exaggerated bow. "My dear Lady Emelia," he intoned in a voice two octaves lower than his usual tone, "would you please do me the honor of gracing our humble ball with the loveliness of your particular beauty? We would be remiss indeed if we didn't invite you."
She laughed again, feeling like a young girl again with Brody's teasing returned.
"I suppose," she said in a high tone also not her own," that I can make an exception just this once to my general rule."
"And that rule is?"
"Never attend a ball hosted by the county's most notorious dandy."
She took off running before Brody could swat her in return.
Chapter 13
The night of the ball came quickly. In reality it was two weeks in the organising, but the time seemed to fly. Brody allowed Emelia to be part of some of the finite decisions, but for the most part he kept her at arm's length, insisting that she was a bad luck charm in such instances.
Hannah was delighted by the invitation, so much so that even Emelia was finally forced to admit that her sister had at least a little bit of interest where Montgomery was concerned.
She and Hannah both dressed in light gowns—Hannah's was white with blue ribbons and bright white lace for trim, and Emelia's was a pale cream with seed pearls woven into her hair.
They slipped into cloaks, bid their father a fond good night, and then made off on foot across the expanse of property between their estate and the Shaw residence. It was a long walk for evening time, but the air was warm and both girls had a feeling of expectancy about them that fueled their path through the night.
"I'm excited," Hannah said softly as they wound their way over the hills and within sight of the Shaw home at last. It was lit up below in the valley between the hills, and they could see carriages crawling up the distant lane to the front door. "It's been some time since we've had a ball."
"It's the first time in a long time I've seen any sort of soiree at the Shaws’," Emelia said softly. Too fresh in her mind sat the memories of that same estate draped in dark silk at the windows with black mourning wreaths at the door. "I wonder how Montgomery and his mother feel surrounded by all this merriment. I'm sure the memories of Mr. Shaw are especially poignant."
"And Brody," Hannah said quickly. "Don't you wonder how Brody feels as well? He lost his father too, and just because he chooses to be lighthearted doesn't mean he is over the death."
"I know that." Emelia felt a little sharp pang of annoyance. "I know Brody better than anybody. He may feel his father's death sharply, but he also wasn't as close with the man as Montgomery was. Look at this party that he's put on." The girls were further down the hill, and they could hear the strands of faint music echoing across the lawn towards them. There were paper lanterns bobbing about in the back gardens, and the sparkling movement of guests in the windows. "I only meant to point out that Brody likely finds this party healing because of his nature, while his brother and mother might not be so inclined."
Hannah didn't say anything else, and Emelia wondered at her sister's sudden mood. There was something hanging between them, something unspoken, and for the first time in her entire life she felt that she didn't fully know her little sister.
At the base of the hill they cut across the back gardens and came up through the back door to find a marble staircase already spotted with party goers taking great gulping breaths of the fresh evening air.
The music intensified in volume as they walked inside, and as they crossed the threshold Hannah reached out her arm and slid it gently into Emelia's. It was peace offering, and though Emelia didn't fully understand why it was needed, she was grateful for it nonetheless.
The inner halls and the great ballroom at the west end of the house were resplendent, like Emelia had never even seen them, even in the years when Alistair Shaw had still been alive. The walls were white and gilded with gold and crown molding as always, but today they were hung with draperies and twinkling lanterns that gave the interior the appearance of some magical place.
The two sisters walked together through the splendor, stopping at the opening to the main ballroom in brief amazement. In a moment Brody was between them, breaking their arms apart and taking one on each arm with the old brotherly camaraderie he'd always had.
"Isn't it lovely?" he asked. "Guess what I patterned it after. Just guess."
"A magical wonderland?" Emelia asked.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream," Hannah breathed softly.
"Yes, actually," Brody said with some surprise, casting a quick look in Hannah's direction. "How did you guess? I would have imagined something more like Emmy's answer, but yours is on the nose, Hannah."
She shrugged. "I was just reading it."
"Well, it's complete, except I've no poor fellow in an donkey's head," he said with a laugh. "I have my Titania and you, dear Hannah, can be Hermia or Helena."
Emelia saw her sister bite her lip. "And that would make you Oberon?" Hannah said.
But Brody seemed to have grown tired of the analogy. He shrugged archly and pointed around the room. "The couples are numerous and the punch is sweet," he said with a motion of great gallantry. "You ladies go find for yourselves the most handsome man you can and lead him to the dance floor. I will remind you—" and he seemed to Emelia to be painfully obvious in his comment towards Hannah, "—that my brother sits yonder by the windows, and has yet to dance with a single partner."
In another moment he was off again, and the sisters slipped together into the swirling ballroom of magic and silk.
***
As the evening progressed, Emelia found herself swept up in the magic of it all. She split from Hannah partway through the night when her little sister found a group of friends sitting on the fringes of the room to talk quietly with, and Emelia made the rounds herself, eventually finding Brody again socialising with one of the matrons of the county.
"Ah, Miss Emelia. I was wondering when I'd be seeing you," the lady said, looking up with a smile. Emelia wasn't fond of the assumptions included in her words and tone, but she returned the smile as politely as possible.
"And a pleasure to see you too, Mrs. Smith. How have you been?"
"Oh, I could tell you," the woman said with a wink, "but I know better than to stand between two people who clearly want privacy."
"Oh no," Emelia protested. "We don't want—"
But the woman had already bustled away across the floor, leaving only a wink in her wake. Emelia turned to Brody with annoyance. "I told you to stop fueling those rumors," she snapped a little too sharply.
"I'm not the one who walked across the ballroom so that we could talk," he said with a laugh. "No, Emelia. You need to stop caring about what people think about you, and start caring about what a disaster this ball has been and how we can change it."
"A disaster? This is one of the loveliest, most elegant events I've been to in a long time." Emelia cocked her head to the side. "If you're fishing for compliments, I'm not going to give you more. It's beautiful, and that's enough for you at present. Your head is already far too big."
"No, it's not. If the point of the ball were to bring the general populace together in perfection and revelry, then you're right—I'm on the mark. But that wasn't the point."
A Lady's Perfect Match: A Historical Regency Romance Book Page 9