Page 32 of An Innocent Bride for the Duke

Louisa did her best to rally her subdued spirits and control her expression but she found it no easy task when Lady Huxley swept into the breakfast room a few minutes later. A handsome ash-blonde lady of some fifty years, Lady Huxley was always elegantly dressed and coiffed. Today she wore an oyster silk walking suit, kid gloves and a perfectly gracious smile.

“Good morning, Lady Esher, Lady Louisa. Rosemere’s gardens are blooming beautifully again this year, I see, almost as beautifully as your niece, Lady Esher.”

“Good morning, Lady Huxley. I trust you are well? Will you not sit down and take some coffee and fruitcake? As you see, you have caught us at breakfast.”

“You are too kind, Lady Esher. Yes, perhaps I will take some coffee.”

The opening of this conversation was perfectly polite but also empty and devoid of sincere feeling. Louisa nodded civilly and murmured a greeting in turn, feeling Lady Huxley’s eyes boring into her like gimlets as she sat down at the table and removed her gloves.

Regardless of whatever gossip had been passed to her, it seemed to Louisa supremely rude for Lady Huxley to stare at her quite so blatantly as she spoke. What could she mean by it, other than to let Louisa know that she had heard certain gossip? That was rude in itself. What had last night’s occurrences at Rosemere Hall to do with Lady Huxley, after all?

“The fruitcake is very good, Lady Huxley,” Lady Esher continued, indicating the plate in the centre of the table. “One of Mrs. Finch’s best. Or perhaps you would prefer some bread? These rolls are freshly baked this morning and the butter is from our own estate.”

“Rosemere is always a most welcoming house, Lady Esher,” returned their neighbor while declining these offers with successive shakes of her head. “Yet, I suppose you will guess that I have not come here for breakfast, nor to exchange pleasantries.”

Louisa’s stomach churned. If Lady Huxley had come here for a specific purpose, what could it be? Had she come to break with Lady Esher, perhaps even to tell her that she would no longer be welcome at Huxley Manor due to the disgrace of Louisa’s behavior? That would be too awful.

Aunt Beatrice’s face remained resolute and otherwise unreadable. If she feared Lady Huxley’s intentions, she did not show it.

“I did not suppose this to be a casual social call,” Lady Esher remarked, something in her tone and expression giving Louisa the sense that there were unspoken messages between the two older ladies passing over her head.

“I have come for answers, Lady Esher, whether from your lips or your niece’s. My cousin Lord Ashbourne will certainly have questions when he arrives tomorrow.”

While still nervous and self-conscious in their neighbor’s presence, Louisa was beginning to feel a little indignant. Lady Huxley was only a neighbor and had no authority to demand answers on anything from her or her aunt. As for Lord Ashbourne, he was only a casual acquaintance whom they saw a few times a year at Lady Huxley’s garden parties. Louisa had never paid him much attention.

“I see no particular reason why Lord Ashbourne should have any questions that concern my aunt and myself,” Louisa told Lady Huxley while Aunt Beatrice appeared to be considering their neighbor’s statements more thoughtfully.

“Then let me state myself more plainly, Lady Louisa. My cousin, Lord Ashbourne, would naturally be distressed to hear that the lady he has long admired was discovered alone with another gentleman in the middle of the night.”

The blood drained from Louisa’s face and she felt a little light-headed, in a far less pleasant way than she had last night in the Duke of Northwick’s arms. She could not say whether she was struck more unpleasantly by Lady Huxley’s blunt statement of Rosemere gossip, or the revelation that Lord Ashbourne had some personal interest in her.

Lady Huxley’s cousin admired her?! Louisa had never once guessed at such a thing and could barely recall his face. Lord Ashbourne had paid her occasional compliments on her appearance which she took only for politeness, and compliments on her modest comportment and country interests which she took to mean that he was of old-fashioned or conservative character.

“May I remind you, Lady Huxley,” broke in Lady Esher, looking distinctly displeased, “that Lord Ashbourne has never once paid formal addresses to my niece. There is no understanding between our families at present, and Louisa was not even aware of the possibility of your cousin’s interest.”

“You are well aware of it, Lady Esher,” returned their neighbor, unblinking. “You have long known of my cousin’s interest and eventual intentions towards Lady Louisa…”

“So long, in fact, that I had ceased to believe Lord Ashbourne had any intentions at all,” Lady Esher cut her off. “It has been almost seven years since you first raised this matter with me, Lady Huxley. Any man who really wanted a wife would have courted and won her by now.”

One revelation rolled after another. Lord Ashbourne had apparently harbored an interest in Louisa for some time, even communicating this to her aunt through Lady Huxley. Despite this, he had never declared himself, nor even attempted a conversation with her…

It made no sense at all. Louisa shuddered slightly. A vague memory of Lord Ashbourne had come back to her. He was tall, thin and intense-looking with very neatly combed hair and orderly clothing. His dark eyes were very cold and his conversation limited.

Louisa did not want to marry Lord Ashbourne any more than she wanted to marry the Duke of Northwick, who was at least handsome, kind and far too easy to talk, or argue, with… No, Louisa wanted to marry neither of these men. She wanted her dream-husband to carry her away on his white horse…

“So, you are hedging your bets are you, Lady Esher? Well, you might have overplayed your hand in inviting such a notorious rake as the Duke of Northwick to Rosemere in the hope he would court your niece.”

“How dare you!” snapped Lady Esher.

“How dare I? I am not the lady found in the Duke of Northwick’s arms last night, am I?”

Lady Huxley looked accusingly to Louisa. Encouraged by her aunt’s defiance, Louisa raised her chin.

“My aunt was there last night,” she said, which was partly true.

“In the sense that Lady Esher walked in on the pair of you, and there were at least two other witnesses. They say you might have been alone with the duke for hours.”

Lady Huxley appeared to be well informed. Likely, she had received a full account of Louisa’s humiliation from her housekeeper, via Elsie.