Page 36 of The Trouble with a Dare

Her face burned beneath his enquiring gaze, but she would not say more.

“Won’t you tell me what is troubling you?” he asked, quieter now, and it cut at her happiness not to confide in him, but how could she confide such a thing? What would he think of her if he realised what kind of lascivious creature he’d married? He had already forgiven her so very much, more than any other man would. So, she forced a smile to her face.

“Nothing, truly. It has been the most perfect day. I am only a little tired, that’s all. I shall take a nap before dinner and be quite well, I promise.”

He nodded, but she thought perhaps the happiness in his eyes dimmed a little, that her lack of faith hurt him, but perhaps that was for the best. Though she had been the one who had wanted a proper marriage, for them to be truly husband and wife, she must do this for his own sake. She would rather die than hurt him worse than this small falsehood might, so perhaps it was best if she kept a just a little distance between them. For if he got too close, she might not be able to hide just what it was he made her feel.

Though Sterling understood why Grace did not—could not—trust him so quickly, the pain of it startled him and cut deeper than he liked to consider. This woman had too much power over him, said a disquieting voice in his head. He banished it at once, annoyed with himself for his impatience. It was easy enough to speak generously of giving her time to get to know him, of courting her as they ought to have courted, yet at the first sign of resistance, of insecurity, he became exasperated with her. That would not do, he chided himself. He must put his hurt aside, for she was only protecting herself, and what else could he expect from her. She was like any other creature on earth that would shy away once it knew it could expect to find pain alongside proximity.

Chastened, Sterling was careful with her as he helped her down from the carriage once they arrived back at Thistley House.

“Thank you, Sterling,” she said, her anxious glance telling him she knew he had recognized the fact she’d rebuffed him.

He smiled and gave her a nod, escorting her back into the house as the maid servants hurried out to help carry their purchases.

“Goodness, what a lot it looks,” Grace remarked, watching the pile of boxes grow as she stood in the entrance hall and took off her bonnet. “You have spoiled me dreadfully.”

Before Sterling could reply, Mrs Gladwish hurried up to him, her expression taut. As she opened her mouth to speak, another voice filled the space.

“Don’t let it trouble you, child. Sterling enjoys frittering his money away on nonsense. He’s like his father in that regard.”

Sterling spun around to see his mother standing in the parlour's doorway.

There was a fraught silence until Grace hurried forward.

“Mrs Oak, how glad I am to meet you at last. If we had known, we should have been here to greet you. I hope you have not been waiting long?”

“Long enough to see the place is undergoing a transformation. Remarkable it is what a person can achieve in such a short time.”

From the way her mouth thinned into a disapproving line, it did not take a genius to perceive she did not approve the changes. Not that Sterling had expected her to, which is why he’d kept her apart from Grace. He did not want his wife’s fragile confidence shaken further by his mother’s sharp tongue.

“Yes, isn’t it?” Grace said, apparently taking the words at face value, though surely she could not have misunderstood the true meaning. “We shall make it a cosy home for ourselves, and I hope you will be at home here too. I am afraid it must be as great a change for you as it is for me in becoming a married woman. I confess, I feel I have driven you from your home, but it will always be a place you are welcome, Mrs Oak. Dear me, Mrs Oak sounds very formal. How should I address you? Ought I use your given name, or do you prefer Mother?”

Sterling’s heart clanged like a bell in his chest as he waited for his mother’s reply. This was why he had kept them apart, the desire to protect Grace, to shelter her from any unpleasantness uppermost in his thoughts. If it came to it, he would physically put the woman out of doors before he let her upset his wife. He could only pray it did not come to that.

“Mrs Oak has served well enough these many years. Reckon I’ve still a claim to it,” the wretched woman said coldly.

“Her name is Martha,” Sterling said, giving his mother a glowering warning glance that was not hard to interpret. “That will serve, love.”

His mother sneered at him and folded her arms. “Ah, yes, you tell her what I think and feel, Sterling. No doubt I am also delighted by your marriage and elevation in society. We must fall over ourselves in gratitude to welcome the honourable lady into our humble society.”

Grace’s lovely face coloured at the slight, but she rallied faster than Sterling, who was rigid with fury.

“I hope you do not believe me the kind to put on airs, Mrs Oak, for I assure you I am not, and I am quite aware of the honour your son has given me with his name. I shall not slight it or think it in any way lacking, so I do hope you will not do so?”

Sterling’s breath caught at the reproving note in Grace’s voice, astonished that she would dare. She looked so fragile, so delicate, next to his raw-boned mother whose face had been weathered and aged by time and exposure to the elements.

“Me?” his mother exclaimed, startled out of her self-righteously stiff posture. “You think it is I who feel shame in him?”

“You seem awfully upset by the fact he has married a lady,” Grace said mildly. “Yet he is a gentleman, an educated man. Why should you believe him beneath me?”

His mother gaped at her for a long moment, her baffled indignation such that Sterling was hard pressed not to laugh.

“That is not….” She abruptly changed tack, gesturing to the pile of purchases heaped in the hallway. The maids had scurried away the moment they had seen his mother appear, though no doubt they had their ears pressed to the kitchen door. “This is what marrying a lady brings him. Now he must spend all his money on new frocks and shoes, and heaven alone knows what else you must have. The price of your wardrobe would likely pay every man and woman on this farm for the next five years or more.”

“Mother, that is enough,” Sterling growled, moving towards her, intent on putting her out of the house, but Grace laid a staying hand on his arm and shook her head.

His mother ranted on, unheeding.