Improper Miss Darling

by Gail Whitiker

  ‘I look forward to seeing them again,’ the earl said. ‘It has been far too long since Leyland and I enjoyed some shooting together. We will have them out to Widdicombe Hill once the Season is over.’

  ‘I know my father would enjoy that,’ Lady Glynnis said with the ease of one talking to a long-established friend. ‘Mama has always said Widdicombe is one of the last truly gracious country houses in Kent.’

  ‘Father?’ Peter said during a lull in the conversation. ‘Pray allow me to introduce our guests. This is Mr Darling and his sister, Mrs Grand.’

  Emma watched her father and aunt step up to make their greetings. Aunt Dorothy was visibly shaking, but Emma was pleased to see that her father acquitted himself well. The earl nodded, but the smile that had warmed his face during his conversation with Lady Glynnis was noticeably absent. ‘Mr Darling,’ he said. ‘Mrs Grand.’

  ‘And this is Mr Ridley Darling and his sister, Miss Emma Darling,’ Peter continued.

  ‘Ah, yes, the artist,’ Lord Widdicombe said, his eyes narrowing.

  Emma felt Ridley stiffen at her side and prayed he wouldn’t do anything stupid. But obviously aware of the repercussions such a response would generate, he let the remark pass. The earl’s glance rested briefly on her, but his interest was already on Linette.

  ‘And this,’ Peter said, drawing her forwards, ‘is my fiancée, Miss Linette Darling.’

  Emma hadn’t realised she was holding her breath until Ridley nudged her gently in the ribs, forcing her to let it go. Linette walked the few steps towards Lord and Lady Widdicombe, and then, smiling up at the earl, made an elegant curtsy. ‘Good evening, Lord Widdicombe.’

  Her lovely face was so innocent, so devoid of artifice, that Emma wondered how anyone could ever believe ill of her. And the intense rush of fierce, protective love she felt in that moment was so strong that she knew if the earl made one single derogatory remark, she would confront him immediately.

  ‘So, you’re the one,’ Lord Widdicombe said, raking Linette with his gaze. ‘Very pretty, as expected. Well, what have you to say for yourself?’

  ‘That I am very pleased to meet you at last,’ Linette said quietly.

  ‘At last? What’s that supposed to mean?’

  Linette flushed. ‘I simply meant that…I had the pleasure of meeting Lady Widdicombe and Lord Stewart at dinner the week before last, but not you. And I was so sorry to hear that it was due to illness. I hope you’re feeling better.’

  The earl snorted. ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’

  It was a deliberate put-down and Emma felt her blood begin to boil. How dare he speak to her like that! Linette was doing everything right and still that wretched man was trying to make things difficult for her. And nobody was saying anything.

  And then, to her astonishment, two people did.

  ‘I think you are being overly harsh, Father,’ Alex said. ‘Linette meant no offence.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Lady Glynnis added quickly. ‘She was being introduced to her future in-laws for the first time. Naturally, she would regret not meeting you at the same time and be concerned that it was your health that caused you to miss the dinner.’

  It was the perfect response, Emma thought dispiritedly, and it couldn’t have come from a better person. Lady Glynnis Pettle was clearly adored by both Lord and Lady Widdicombe. Even Alex was gazing at her with approval.

  ‘Think that, do you, missy?’ the earl said gruffly.

  Lady Glynnis actually smiled at him. ‘Yes, I do.’

  ‘Then perhaps I shall give it some consideration. For your sake.’ The earl turned to stare at Linette, his expression not quite as intimidating as it had been before. ‘It seems you have a champion, young lady. Two, in fact, and a better pair I could not imagine. Perhaps we will speak again, you and I. But not tonight.’ He glanced at his wife before briefly closing his eyes. ‘I think I would like to retire. The journey must have been…more tiring than I thought.’

  Lady Widdicombe immediately stepped forwards to take his arm. ‘I shall accompany you upstairs and then Murdoch can look after you. Peter, you have a houseful of guests. Please extend our apologies. If anyone asks, tell them your father is not fully recovered from his illness.’

  ‘Of course.’

  The earl did not look at Linette again, but somehow Emma knew the worst was over and that the atmosphere had lightened. As soon as the earl and countess left, she gave her sister a fierce hug. ‘Linette, dearest, you were wonderful.’

  ‘I was?’

  ‘Yes, and I am so very proud of you.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Lady Glynnis said, coming over to join them. ‘I doubt there are many young women who could have withstood the earl’s intimidation as well as you did.’

  Linette bit her lip. ‘But I have you to thank for that, Lady Glynnis. You spoke up for me. You and Lord Stewart both,’ she added with a grateful glance at Alex. ‘I was so nervous when Lord Widdicombe first spoke to me. But I desperately wanted him to like me. For Peter’s sake. So I kept on trying. But what you said changed his mind. I know it did.’

  ‘Lord Widdicombe can be as prickly as a hedgehog at times,’ Lady Glynnis said with a fond glance at Alex. ‘But I’ve always believed his bark to be worse than his bite. Wouldn’t you agree, my lord?’

  ‘Yes, though I’m not sure a bark like that can’t do as much harm as a bite. What say you, Mr Darling?’ Alex asked Ridley as the door opened and a butler walked in with a tray of drinks. ‘I thought for a moment he was going to start in on you.’

  ‘I would have preferred that to watching him take a bite out of my sister,’ Ridley murmured, reaching for two glasses of champagne and handing one to his aunt. ‘We appreciate you stepping in. For a moment I wasn’t sure who was going to go for him first, Emma or myself.’

  ‘Ridley, really!’ Aunt Dorothy said. ‘I’m quite sure neither of you would have done anything so outlandish.’

  Ridley laughed. ‘Then you don’t know either of us very well, Aunt.’ His gaze rested briefly on Lady Glynnis’s averted face. ‘We are none of us exactly what we seem.’

  For a split second, Lady Glynnis turned to look at him—and Emma sucked in her breath.

  Dear Lord, had anyone else in the room been witness to that naked gaze? Was she the only one to have seen the expression of anguish in the young woman’s face? The desperate longing in her eyes?

  Apparently so. Mr Darling was already talking to Aunt Dorothy, who was happily tipping back her glass of champagne. Alex and Peter were speaking quietly between themselves and Linette was gazing in Peter’s direction. She was the only one to have witnessed it and she could only thank her lucky stars that such had been the case. Whereas before she had only suspected this might be a weekend fraught with difficulties, now she knew it was going to be.

  Her brother was in love with the woman Lord Stewart was planning to marry. And if Emma didn’t miss her guess, Lady Glynnis was not entirely without feelings of her own!

  Chapter Nine

  Word of Lord Widdicombe’s illness was accepted without question by the guests gathered for Linette and Peter’s engagement ball, and when at midnight, the toast was offered by Alex rather than his father, not a single well-groomed eyebrow was raised. Most of the guests knew the earl had not been well, so it came as no shock that the rigours of the journey had forced him back to bed. They simply expressed their concern at hearing of his discomfort and sent wishes for his speedy recovery.

  As for Linette, her future father-in-law’s absence provided some much-needed breathing space; contrary to what Alex had feared, she was not shunned by the guests who were introduced to her, but was now welcomed by them, most probably because no outright rift between her and the earl had been declared. Everyone seemed to know that a meeting had taken place between the two families earlier in the evening, but, given that no obvious signs of condemnation had followed, the guests accepted as fact the earl’s approval of the match.

  And in light of that acceptance, Linette blossomed. The p
ride on her face at being introduced as Peter’s fiancée lent her a new and even more beautiful glow. Emma could hardly believe that the confident young lady moving around the room was the same nervous girl who had quaked at the thought of being the centre of attention only a few hours ago.

  An opinion shared by more than one person in the room.

  ‘Your sister is utterly charming,’ Alex said quietly at Emma’s side later in the evening. ‘I am beginning to understand why my brother has fallen so deeply in love with her.’

  They were the words Emma had been longing to hear—the words she had never expected to hear. But hearing them from Alex now made her pleasure in the evening complete. ‘I admit, she has exceeded even my expectations,’ Emma said. ‘Linette has always been so quiet and unassuming. Completely unpretentious. She wears her heart on her sleeve; while she can fly as high as a kite, she can also be cut down by an unkind word. But I have never seen her rise to an occasion the way she did tonight, or shine the way she is shining now.’

  ‘Obviously, love does work miracles for some people,’ Alex commented drily.

  Emma sent him a curious look. ‘You sound as though you still doubt the power it wields.’

  ‘Oh, I know full well its power. Wars have been waged over it. Kingdoms lost and reputations forfeited because of it. All as a result of man being a constant victim to his stronger desires.’

  ‘But why do you see only the harm that it does?’ Emma asked, turning to face him. ‘Men have done miraculous things in the name of love. They have created masterpieces of art and music. Built magnificent castles and crossed vast expanses of land and ocean, all because they were inspired by something bigger than themselves.’

  His gaze softened as he looked at her. ‘You truly are a romantic, aren’t you, Emma?’

  ‘No!’ His caustic tone made her flush. ‘But neither am I deaf or blind to what has been accomplished in the name of love.’

  She watched the play of emotions across his face. ‘I wonder,’ he said softly.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I wonder what you could achieve if you were ever to fall as deeply in love with a man as your sister has. I’d like to be there to see that.’

  Her heart thudded once, painfully, the echo of it reverberating throughout her entire body. I’d like to be there to see that. It hurt, more than she could ever have expected, the knowledge that he didn’t see himself as that man. And while she dearly wished she could have responded to his statement in as casual a manner as he’d made it, even that simple act was beyond her.

  ‘I like to think I would be able to accomplish such things with or without the presence of a man in my life.’ Emma gazed up into his face, saw everything she had come to love and admire about him, and said, ‘We are all capable of great achievement, my lord, limited only by our own imaginations and by the resources we have at our disposal.’

  ‘But you do not believe that love is necessary for the achievement of all things.’

  ‘Not all things, no. But consider what a mother will do for her child,’ Emma said. ‘Most would move mountains if they thought it would make the lives of their children easier.’

  ‘You speak of selfless love,’ Alex said.

  ‘But is not all true love selfless? Do you not think that what Linette and Peter feel for one another is selfless? Your brother has gone against your father’s wishes in order to be with the woman he loves, and such rebellion does not come without cost. But he has chosen his path and will not be diverted from it.’

  ‘He says he can do nothing else,’ Alex said.

  ‘Exactly. That is what true love does. It inspires one to be better.’

  His smile was infinitely gentle. ‘Then I do not think I could bear to see you when you do find that man, Emma. Because try as I might, I cannot imagine you being any better than you already are.’

  After another sleepless night due in large part to Alex’s enigmatic remark, Emma arrived in the breakfast parlour the next morning to find her father, brother and aunt happily discussing the events of the previous evening.

  ‘I always thought Linette had more spunk than we gave her credit for,’ Aunt Dorothy said, spreading a liberal helping of lemon curd on her toast. ‘She’s just never had an opportunity to shine. But last night, she was given that opportunity and I think I can safely say that she made all of us proud. Wouldn’t you agree, Percy?’

  ‘She did indeed,’ Mr Darling said, turning the page of his newspaper. ‘She is much like her mother in that regard.’

  ‘And I thought Lady Glynnis Pettle was very impressive too,’ Aunt Dorothy went on. ‘I know old Widdicombe’s fond of her and that she is going to be Lord Stewart’s wife, but it takes courage to stand up to a man like that. I vow he had me trembling in my boots when we first walked into that room.’ She looked up and frowned. ‘You’re very quiet this morning, Ridley. Feeling a bit poorly after all the excitement last night?’

  Emma glanced up from her toast, not particularly surprised when her brother didn’t answer. Aunt Dorothy just frowned. ‘Ridley?’

  He finally looked up, his expression blank. ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Dear me, and here I thought only old ladies and lovelorn young women were prone to wool gathering. I asked you if you were feeling poorly.’

  ‘No. I feel all right,’ he said, glancing around the table. ‘I was merely thinking about a new painting I’ve been engaged to do.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I’m sure that takes a great deal of thought,’ Mr Darling muttered into his paper.

  ‘As a matter of fact, it does,’ Ridley said stiffly. ‘I have a family grouping to do and they have asked me to come up with a list of possible settings or locations other than those usually employed for such portraits.’

  ‘You could put them in a boat,’ Aunt Dorothy suggested. ‘Floating on a tranquil pond.’

  ‘And I would stand where?’ Ridley asked. ‘On the gunnels? Tricky keeping the easel upright.’

  ‘What about a folly?’ Emma asked. ‘You could use your sketch of the one on Lord Garrickson’s estate.’

  He stared at her without comprehension. ‘A folly?’

  ‘Yes, the one in your sketchbook. The one—’

  Emma stopped. Ridley was looking at her as though she was spouting Greek—and suddenly, she knew the reason why. Her brother didn’t have a sketch of Lord Garrickson’s folly in his sketchbook. He had a sketch of something he hadn’t wanted her to see.

  Unfortunately, given what Emma had seen of his behaviour with Lady Glynnis Pettle last night, it wasn’t all that difficult to puzzle out what—or who—that might to be.

  * * *

  A wide range of outdoor events had been planned for the entertainment of the guests at Ellingsworth on Saturday, and by the time Emma and her family arrived around one o’clock, many of them were already underway. Emma saw targets for archery contests, buckets of water for apple bobbing, even a jousting course for anyone bold enough to try their hand at the medieval sport. There were also a lot more people milling around the grounds. Peter had kindly extended a general invitation to anyone in the village who wished to participate in the afternoon celebrations, and, always glad for a reason to hobnob with the well to do, many of them had come out.

  Standing on the balcony looking out over the proceedings, Emma recognised Mr and Mrs Jacobs, as well as many of the guests who had been at their last assembly, strolling about the manicured lawns. Mrs Connolly was good-naturedly taking part in a three-legged race with Aunt Dorothy, while Mr Darling and Mr Connolly laughed and looked on.

  Ridley had chosen to stay at home, saying he preferred to work on his new commission to running around fields playing silly games. Emma hadn’t tried to change his mind. She suspected his reasons for not wanting to come had more to do with avoiding a certain lady than they did with shunning any of the festivities to be found. Ridley was usually a great lover of games.

  There were also the well-dressed ladies and gentlemen who had been present at the ball the previous eve
ning and who were staying at Ellingsworth for the weekend. Friends of Peter’s and Alex’s, all of whom were laughing and having a very good time, aided, no doubt, by the glasses of punch and beer the servants were busy handing around.

  Peter played the part of the genial host to perfection, welcoming all of the guests as they arrived. Lord and Lady Widdicombe did not participate in any of the events, but sat comfortably on chairs on a private terrace at the back of the house, talking to Lord and Lady Leyland and the Marquess and Marchioness of Huffton.

  Alex moved freely amongst all the guests, often with the beautiful Lady Glynnis at his side. At the moment, she was looking particularly fetching in a dark-green riding habit with a stylish, high-top bonnet that trailed long green ribbons down her back. Clearly she had been riding and hadn’t gone up to change. But neither did she need to. She was breathtaking just as she was…

  ‘She is lovely, isn’t she? And she will make him a beautiful bride,’ Linette said at Emma’s elbow. ‘Pity she doesn’t love him.’

  Emma’s head spun around. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

  ‘I watched them last night,’ Linette said. ‘They didn’t exhibit any of the required signs. Not once did they stare longingly into one another’s eyes, or make excuses to stand close to one another. They didn’t even hold hands.’

  ‘It was a rather harrowing evening,’ Emma pointed out. ‘As I recall, Lady Glynnis was more interested in defending you than she was in clinging to Lord Stewart.’

  ‘I know, but in times of stress, two people in love will always look to one another for support and comfort.’

  Linette’s unexpected intuition might not have made such an impression had Emma not remembered the conversation she’d had with Alex about his relationship with Lady Glynnis shortly after meeting him. The one in which he had admitted that the basis for their marriage was not love.

  ‘You were meeting Lord Widdicombe for the first time and Lady Glynnis was meeting our family for the first time,’ Emma reminded her sister, trying to put the memory of that conversation aside. ‘Surely such an evening would tend to make people act differently. I suspect Lady Glynnis was nervous.’