Page 44 of The Trouble with a Dare

Courage, mon ami, through thick and thin, fair weather and foul. I am not so easily thwarted, you know.

―Excerpt of a letter from Miss Evie Knight (daughter of Lady Helena and Mr Gabriel Knight) to Louis César de Montluc, the Comte de Villen.

29th of September 1839, Saxenhurst Hall, Sussex.

They were horribly late, which was hardly a surprise, and though Grace had done everything she could to put herself to rights, she saw the knowing glances thrown her way, and the looks of concern. She felt too the subtle shift of animosity towards Sterling on her behalf and was made anxious by it. Though she loved her friends and appreciated their protective instincts, she could not have them jumping to conclusions and punishing Sterling when he had been nothing but patient and kind, far beyond anything she deserved.

There were exclamations and greetings as they walked in, with people rising to greet them—her, at least—and then she saw one face amid all the others that made her throat tighten. He was tall and handsome, the image of their father as a young man.

“Larkin!” she exclaimed, and flew across the room into her brother’s arms. “Oh, how good it is to see you. Why did you not tell me you were coming, you wretched man? Let me look at you? Goodness, you have filled out. You look well. Are you well, dear?”

Her brother’s warm brown eyes were solemn. “It is I who ought to ask that question. Are you well, Grace? You have arrived very late this evening, which is not like you at all, and I think you have been crying?”

He darted a lethal glare at Sterling, which promised a full enquiry into the reason for both events.

Grace straightened and stepped away from her brother, returning to stand by her husband. She took his hand, lacing their fingers together. “Well, as you are all determined to think the worst….”

“Grace,” Sterling said gently. He squeezed her fingers, reassuring. “Don’t feel the need to defend me, love. I can look after myself.”

She gave an impatient huff, not deigning to reply to such a ridiculous notion. “Yes, I have been crying. No, it is not because my husband is a wicked man who has ill-used me or made me wretched.” Grace looked up at him and felt her heart swell as she realised the man who held her hand would always stand by her, and never let her down. “Quite the opposite,” she said softly, and perhaps it was the emotion that coloured the words, or perhaps it was the way she gazed up at him, but the prickling atmosphere eased, and everyone spoke at once, welcoming them and bidding them sit down.

“I’m so sorry we were late,” she said to Florence, feeling awful for spoiling her first dinner party.

“Nonsense,” Florence said with her usual briskness. “Though I insist you tell me everything at your earliest opportunity.”

Despite herself, Grace blushed.

“Oh,” Florence said, her lips quirking. “I see. Well, perhaps not everything,” she amended, making Grace blush harder still.

To Grace’s delight, she discovered that not only were Arabella and Bainbridge here, but the twins, Vivien and Ashton Anson, and Arabella’s older brother Leo, who had come with Larkin, and—freshly returned from the continent—Cassius and Lottie.

“But when did you get home?” Grace demanded, not only pleased to see her friend but also glad that Sterling had another familiar face here.

“The day before yesterday,” Lottie said, her eyes alight with pleasure. “And I am so glad, or we should have missed this. I cannot believe how much has happened! I turn my back for barely six months and just look what you all get up to.”

She turned a mock glare upon Florence, who grinned, and then Arabella, who laughed merrily.

“Don’t blame me, it’s all his fault,” Arabella said, pointing at her husband.

Bainbridge just shrugged. “Guilty,” he replied, quite unperturbed.

“We know,” replied most of the table at once.

The marquess returned the kind of smile most often seen on hungry jungle cats and did not look the least bit penitent.

From then, the evening went wonderfully well. To Grace’s relief, Sterling was sitting opposite her and, though he spoke little, he seemed more at ease than she had feared he might be. Cassius was clearly pleased to see him and spoke animatedly about their travels through France and Italy and across to Greece. Henry and Bainbridge ragged him good-naturedly and Bainbridge demanded to know more about the beer Sterling had given him and why the devil he hadn’t considered selling the stuff, which was clearly the devil’s own brew.

Grace returned her attention to Lottie.

“You are staying at Holbrook for a time?”

Lottie nodded. “Yes, until we find a place of our own. My sister Eliza and Nic are coming down tomorrow and it will be wonderful to see everyone. We want to go travelling again, but I could not bear to be away from everyone at Christmas, and Lady St Clair misses Cassius so much I felt it would be cruel to stay away too long. So, we will stay and find ourselves a property and then, late next spring, we will away on our travels until the autumn again.”

“How exciting,” Grace said, though she did not feel at all envious.

She liked the idea of seeing new places, but staying away from home for such long periods of time was not something that enticed her.

“It is,” Lottie said, her lovely face alight with pleasure. “But everything is an adventure with Cassius. Of course, eventually I hope we will be forced to remain because there are children on the way, but there is no rush for that, and we shall enjoy our liberty to the full whilst we can. I wonder which one of us will be the first to produce the next generation.”