by Laura Martin
‘Good afternoon, Lady Elizabeth,’ Leonard Ashburton said as they all sat down. Beth’s mother was trying to signal something with her eyes, but Beth couldn’t work out what so quietly ignored her.
‘Good afternoon. It is kind of you to call.’
‘You remember my brother, of course.’
Beth felt the heat rising up into her cheeks as she was forced to turn and acknowledge Joshua Ashburton again. He was sitting back in his chair in a relaxed manner, one ankle propped up on the opposite knee.
‘I hope you don’t mind me accompanying my brother, Lady Elizabeth.’
‘Of course not.’
‘Mr Ashburton was just telling me how his brother has only recently arrived from India,’ Lady Hummingford said.
India. Beth allowed herself a moment to imagine a country so different from theirs. She’d read books about it, poured over the pictures in the big atlas her father had kept in the library at Birling View. It sounded so exotic, so exciting, and his recent return explained both why she wasn’t aware of Joshua Ashburton’s existence and the hint of a tan on his face.
‘You must be thrilled to have your brother home, Mr Ashburton.’ Beth forced herself to address the man she was meant to be promised to, even though she wanted to study the man sitting next to him.
‘Indeed. Although his visit is only brief. We must make the most of him whilst he is here.’
Beth allowed her eyes to flit to Joshua Ashburton, to find his attention fixed squarely on her. He even smiled when her gaze met his. Beth felt a guilty flush and quickly turned her attention back to Leonard Ashburton.
He seemed a man of few words, content to sit in the awkward silence that was beginning to stretch out ahead of them whilst Beth floundered for a topic of conversation.
‘I understand you spend much of your time in the countryside, Mr Ashburton.’
‘I do.’
She waited a moment but it became apparent he wasn’t going to expand on his answer. ‘Do you have a country residence or do you stay with family?’
‘My great-uncle has a few properties in Sussex and Kent. He is an elderly man, infirm of body although still very sharp of mind. I run the estates for him now and live in one of the smaller properties just outside Tunbridge Wells.’
‘Oh, Tunbridge Wells is such a delightful town, so stylish,’ Lady Hummingford gushed. ‘We’ve often taken a small diversion on our way to London to spend a night there.’
Beth’s childhood home, the only home they owned now their London house had been sold a few years ago and the two other estates inherited along with the title by a distant cousin when their father died, was just outside the little town of Eastbourne, looking over the white cliffs and rolling hills. She loved living by the sea but knew it was another thing she would have to give up as a married woman.
‘Where do you live, Lady Elizabeth?’ Mr Joshua Ashburton asked.
‘We have an estate on the south coast, near Eastbourne. I enjoy rural life, although I can’t deny a stay in London is very diverting.’
‘Lady Hummingford, perhaps I could have a word with you in private,’ Mr Leonard Ashburton said abruptly.
Beth’s eyes widened. This was the moment he revealed his intent. Either she would be rejected as an unsuitable wife for a future Viscount or he would be discussing a proposal.
‘Of course.’ Lady Hummingford looked serene, as if this weren’t what she had been working towards for the last year. She rose, the smile just visible at the corners of her mouth, and Beth watched as she and Mr Leonard Ashburton left the room to take a stroll around the garden. Her mother glanced back, making sure the door was left wide open, but she was too keen to talk to Mr Ashburton to protest that Beth was being left alone with a gentleman.
The silence only lasted for a moment after they left, then Mr Joshua Ashburton swapped seats so he was sitting directly next to her. They were still separated by the arm of the chair, but it felt a little inappropriate.
‘Lady Elizabeth, we meet again.’
‘I feel I need to explain—’
He held up a hand. ‘No need.’
‘There is. I wouldn’t normally behave like that.’
‘You didn’t do anything wrong, Lady Elizabeth.’ She had the irrational urge to ask him to call her Beth. It was how she thought of herself, even though only her sister ever called her Beth out loud, but she wanted to hear her name slip between his lips, uttered in his perfect English with just a hint of an accent she couldn’t place.
‘I shouldn’t even have been alone in the garden, let alone stopped to dance with you.’
‘These rules you all live by,’ he said with a rueful shake of his head.
‘The rules of society?’
‘Why should you feel guilty for spending a pleasant few minutes alone with someone else? It wasn’t as though anything inappropriate happened.’
Beth thought of the hand on the small of her back, the way their legs had brushed together as they danced. She felt her pulse quicken as she remembered the moment the music had stopped and his finger had tilted her chin up so their lips were only a few inches apart. They might have been saved from crossing the line by the arrival of Mr Leonard Ashburton, but that didn’t mean Beth hadn’t behaved scandalously, both with the action of straying into the garden unchaperoned and in her thoughts and wishes in that moment before they’d been interrupted.
‘Although...’ he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. ‘I do suspect you wanted me to kiss you.’
Beth spluttered. It might be true, but a real gentleman wouldn’t point out a little indiscretion like that.
‘I did not.’
‘You did.’
‘I thought you were your brother,’ she muttered.
‘That I do believe,’ he said softly, leaning back in his chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world. ‘But it was me you wanted to kiss.’
She stood, needing to put some distance between herself and the man in front of her. Even now he had some sort of pull on her. She found it difficult to look away, difficult to be pragmatic.
The drawing room looked out over a small garden and Beth took a moment to collect herself, looking down at the figures of her mother and Mr Leonard Ashburton strolling side by side below.
‘Why are you here?’ she asked suddenly, spinning round.
‘I am merely accompanying my brother.’
‘And why is he here?’
‘To see if you and he will be suited.’
‘Suited?’ Beth repeated to herself. She glanced out of the window again, wondering whether it really mattered if they would be suited. Her mother certainly didn’t think so; her mind was on survival rather than Elizabeth’s future happiness.
‘Marriage is for life,’ Joshua Ashburton said quietly. ‘It seems sensible not to rush in.’
Elizabeth tried to let go of some of the tension she was holding in her shoulders and came and sat back down, choosing a chair further away than her original one, ignoring Mr Ashburton’s smile as he watched her sit.
‘Tell me about India,’ she said after a moment’s silence.
‘What would you like to know, Lady Elizabeth?’
‘Anything. Everything. I’ve never travelled further than Sussex, would you believe?’ She gave a little laugh that was meant to be self-deprecating but even to her ears it sounded pitiful. She’d grown up reading of all the wonderful places across the globe in her father’s library, but neither of her parents had liked to travel and by the time she was old enough to gain a little independence they had no money to waste on frivolities.
‘I live just outside a little town in the Bengal area of India. It is about twenty minutes’ ride from the sea, set in leafy green hills. The sea down below is the most brilliant blue you could imagine and the beaches are made of powdery golden sand.’
Beth closed he
r eyes, trying to imagine the scene he was describing but it was so different from anything she had ever seen it was hard to summon the image.
‘India is hot, much hotter than here year-round, although it is a different heat in the different seasons. Just before the rains come there is an unbearable humidity and when the first cloud bursts it is a welcome relief.’ He smiled at her. ‘As you can see, I love my country. I could sing its praises all day long.’
‘You think of India as your country?’
‘Of course. I’ve lived there since I was seven. This is the first time I’ve been in England as an adult.’
‘I didn’t realise.’ She tried to work out why the Ashburton brothers would have been separated and raised half a world apart.
He was reclining in his chair again, looking more at ease in her drawing room than she did.
‘And you’re only here for three months now?’
‘I am. My guardian is getting old, he wants me to take over the business. He’s stepping down in nine months so I’ve got to be home for then. I almost didn’t come—three months is such a short time after half a year at sea—but it isn’t as though there will be a good opportunity for me to leave once I take over.’
‘What is your guardian’s business?’
‘Shipping and transport. Do you know how much is made in India and shipped all over the world? It’s a rich and bountiful country and we run one of the biggest shipping companies in the east. We transport goods all over India, as well. There’re some whispers about building a steam railway and we want to be at the forefront of that. I know some pioneers are using steam locomotives to transport goods in mining and I wonder if it could be used on a wider scale. Can you imagine a steam locomotive that travels the breadth of India, transporting goods across the country?’
‘It sounds like a big responsibility.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s what I’ve been brought up to do.’
Beth felt a sudden pang of jealousy. She’d been brought up to marry and bear children, nothing more. Once that was accomplished her purpose would be fulfilled. It was a bleak thought.
She cast around the room for something to distract her, her eyes settling once again on the window. It seemed cruel that her fate was being decided outside without her presence.
‘You look nervous.’
Beth blinked. Mr Joshua Ashburton certainly didn’t seem to mind stating things exactly as he saw them.
She started to deny it and then caught herself. She was allowed to be nervous; it didn’t mean she wouldn’t do her duty and marry the man her mother was selling her off to. Suddenly feeling very tired of it all, she allowed herself a little honesty.
‘I don’t know your brother, Mr Ashburton. We’ve conversed three times, four if you count today. I don’t know if he is a kind man or not, I don’t know if he will love me or beat me or ignore me. Yet it is my duty to marry him, if he will have me.’
‘I can’t claim to know my brother well,’ Joshua Ashburton said slowly, a frown on his normally smiling face, ‘but he is a good man, Lady Elizabeth, an honourable man.’
She nodded. From what she had heard about Leonard Ashburton she thought it was probably true. People painted him as a serious, hard-working man who didn’t have much time for fun, but there were no whispers about malice or cruelty. That she should be grateful for, but she felt as though she shouldn’t have to be pleased that her future husband wouldn’t beat her.
‘He also wouldn’t force you into a marriage you didn’t want.’
Beth felt the tears rising to her eyes. It wasn’t Leonard Ashburton doing the forcing. She knew her mother would never let her turn a wealthy and soon-to-be-titled gentleman down. They were in too much debt for that.
‘I don’t have the same freedoms you do,’ she said in a voice no louder than a whisper. Beth knew she was sharing too much with this man she barely knew, but it was as though he had hypnotised her. He was so easy to talk to, to share things with, that she wanted to let all the family secrets spill out. She wanted to tell him of the debts and the more and more frequent refusals of lines of credit, and of course the more personal debt she owed to her sister, the reason Beth had to be the one responsible for all of their futures and not just her own.
‘No,’ he said after a moment of silence, ‘I suppose you don’t.’
Before she could say any more she heard her mother’s voice grow nearer as she and Leonard Ashburton returned inside.
Her mother was beaming, and as she entered the room she lay a featherlight touch on Mr Ashburton’s arm. It seemed the negotiations had gone well.
Beth summoned a smile, feeling sick as she waited to hear her fate.
‘We must be going. Lady Elizabeth, it was a pleasure seeing you again. I look forward to our stroll around the pleasure gardens tomorrow night.’
‘The pleasure gardens?’
‘I suggested the idea to your mother a moment ago—the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens are beautiful at this time of year. Lady Hummingford confirmed you are not otherwise engaged.’
Allowing her innate social manners to take over, she stood and allowed Leonard Ashburton to kiss her hand before he turned and left, leaving her in the dark as to whether they were engaged or not.
She was so shocked she didn’t register Joshua Ashburton until he was right in front of her. He picked up her hand from where it was still held out in front of her and brought it to his lips, brushing the most gentle of kisses on her skin. All the time his eyes didn’t leave her own and she felt a flurry of excitement deep inside. Too soon he had pulled away and Beth was left holding her hand to her chest, feeling the thump of her heart through her skin and trying not to show how flustered one tiny kiss on the hand had made her.
‘What did Mr Ashburton say?’ She tried to pull her focus back on to the important matter in hand as the two men were shown out by the maid.
‘He proposes a courtship, a trial of sorts, to see if you will be suited. He remembers his promise and if all is well between you at the end of six weeks the wedding will be arranged.’
Six weeks. It was no time at all. Six weeks to convince a man she didn’t care for that she would make a perfect wife. Six weeks to convince herself this was for the best.
Chapter Three
The sun was barely up when Josh left Millbrook House. It was cool with the streets in shadow, but the watery light of dawn was already beginning to hint at the glorious day it would soon become.
He loved the early mornings, often choosing a stroll over the hills or down to the beach back home instead of another hour in bed. There was something magical about discovering a place before many people were up and about, something wonderful about walking through an empty street or through quiet countryside whilst everyone else was still abed.
It was only his fourth day in England and he felt as though he had so much to see and do. Three months was no time at all to catch up on a lifetime missed out on with his brother, and he was curious about this country where he had been born too.
Leo was the same as he had been as a child in many ways, although many of his qualities seemed amplified. He had been a serious boy, but now there was a gravity about him that exceeded how he’d been as a child, and Josh sensed a sadness too. He hadn’t probed too deeply but he felt as though his brother didn’t much care about his future happiness and was far too focussed on duty.
Take the example of his proposed marriage. Leo was hardly interested either way. He felt he needed to get married and he was the sort of man to honour a promise made, so Lady Elizabeth would be an adequate solution, but he was going into it without a thought for his or Lady Elizabeth’s future happiness.
Josh found himself pausing at the thought of Lady Elizabeth. She’d looked even more beautiful in the daylight. He’d felt a pull when they were in the same room together, as if he needed to be close to her, even though he knew they should on
ly exchange pleasantries at a suitable distance. The urge to sweep her into his arms for another waltz had been almost overwhelming and he’d felt such sympathy for her as she’d revealed just a little of her frustration at her lack of control over her own future.
‘She’ll make a good wife,’ he murmured.
She was poised and graceful and everything a future viscountess should be. Even if she and Leo were poorly matched. At the thought he felt a surge of disloyalty. It wasn’t his place to feel anything for Lady Elizabeth except perhaps a brotherly regard if she did one day become his sister-in-law. Once again he remembered the vitality and sparkle in her pale blue eyes and had to push away the knowledge that brotherly regard was not what he felt when he thought of her.
Strolling through the wrought-iron gates of Hyde Park, he had to step back a few paces as three young men on horseback came speeding past. They looked like grooms, up and about early exercising their master’s horses. Josh watched them trot down the wide avenue and join a few other young men on horses before he took one of the smaller paths into a quieter part of the park.
He had been walking for about ten minutes, following the ornate signs for the Serpentine, when he heard a murmur of voices. There was something about the tone that put him on edge and he quickened his pace to get a glimpse of what was round the corner.
‘Get off me,’ a high voice shouted, followed by a low and ominous chuckle.
‘Just one kiss, that’s not too much to ask.’ The man’s voice was refined but slurred and even without seeing him Josh knew he was drunk and out of control.
‘Let me go.’
‘She’s a fighter.’
‘Anyone would be if faced with the prospect of kissing your face,’ one of the companions slurred.
‘Steady on. It’s not that...’ There was a deep groan, the sort emitted when a man was hit in his nether regions.
Josh broke out into a run, rounding the corner and almost barrelling into the three men standing there, one hunched over and still moaning. His eyes flicked quickly across the scene. All three men looked to be in their cups, drunken and tottering, but still a menacing sight for the petite young woman who they surrounded. She had her back to him, struggling to get free from the grip of the largest of the group. The men were well dressed, although unkempt from a night out drinking, which made him think they were gentlemen, in birth if not behaviour. That was a relief at least. Most working-class men would know how to fight at least a little. Bar brawls taught you how to punch to do some real harm and he didn’t fancy facing three men who knew how to handle themselves.