Over the next few days, Samuel had the distinct impression that the two main women in his life, neither of whom he’d met a month ago, were trying to torture him. Being so close to Anna meant that he’d had to make several solitary trips to the plunge pool just to dampen his ardour, whereas living under the same roof as Lady Staunton, infrequent as her appearances were, was like living inside a beehive filled with a swarm of particularly angry bees. Between Anna’s smiles and the Countess’s stings, he didn’t know which was worse, only that he was counting down the hours until they could leave for Bath.
Meanwhile, his days had settled into a kind of routine. He, Anna and her mother breakfasted together before the women travelled to Feversham and he paid several discreet visits to the estate office. Contrary to his expectations the steward seemed glad, even eager, to teach him, so that he was gradually forming a clearer picture of the size and demands of the estate. It was even bigger than he’d imagined, though it helped to think of it the way Anna had suggested, as a ship in need of a captain.
He met her again in the late afternoons, when they continued their riding lessons or strolled in the park, telling each other stories about their lives. She told him all about her father and her childhood, teaching him a few more words of Italian, while he talked about his life at sea, deliberately avoiding any mention of his own family.
One day he came across a gallery in the top of the house where the family portraits were displayed along one long wall. There they all were, generations of Delaneys and their families. He found his grandfather as both a boy and a man, his uncle and cousin, too, though of his father there was no sign. He seemed to have been rubbed out of the family altogether, a dark smudge everyone preferred to forget. Overall, he supposed he couldn’t particularly blame them. If his father had inherited the earldom, then it was highly likely that he would have gambled it all away in a year, but the exclusion still felt jarring. Wrong somehow, too, to keep on punishing a man after death. He’d have a portrait commissioned, Samuel decided, if he inherited. It shouldn’t be too difficult to recreate his father considering how similar they were in appearance. He’d get one of Anna, too. She’d probably pose in her yellow shop dress just to make a point, but then why not? Maybe he’d pose next to her in his uniform. It would be a reminder of who they’d both been when they’d met, who they might still be, depending...
It was strange, but there were times when his career at sea felt so distant it was like another lifetime. Trafalgar seemed like years rather than months ago. Would he still go back to that life if he didn’t inherit? The thought of spending long periods of time away from Anna made him feel preemptively heartsore. He missed her just during the days when she was at Feversham. How would he ever cope with months at sea?
A year ago, he would have laughed at the idea of feeling this way about a woman, but now there was no denying the strength of his feelings. He didn’t need Johnson’s dictionary to define them any more, either. Friendship, admiration and attraction had grown into love. He’d started to fall in love with her that first day in her shop and now it was too late to do anything about it. He’d come to rely on her, too, on her honesty and loyalty, as if she were an anchor holding him in place. He had the unnerving suspicion that she’d become indispensable to his very existence. Which made the days until their wedding drag even more.
‘Are you glad to be leaving?’ Anna asked him as they walked along the terrace on the morning of their departure. They’d finished breakfast and waved a cheerful goodbye to her mother as she’d departed with her belongings for a longer stay at Feversham.
‘I’m glad that I came...’ he replied, wrapping an arm tight around her shoulders and pulling her close. ‘But I’m overjoyed to be leaving.’
‘It’s a pity about Lady Staunton. I thought she might thaw a little while we were here, but something tells me she’d be more than happy for us to leave without saying goodbye. I thought she’d at least have breakfast with us today.’
‘Every time I’ve approached her she’s run away as if I’m her worst enemy.’
‘She ought to have given you a chance.’
‘Unfortunately my father’s reputation precedes me.’
‘But it’s not fair.’ Anna shook her head. ‘It can’t be good for her to be so bitter and angry in her condition, either. And if the baby does turn out to be a girl, think how much angrier she’ll be. That won’t be good for either of them.’
‘I know, but I don’t think there’s anything more I can say or do. I’ve tried talking to her. I’ve told her that she won’t be homeless if I inherit, but she won’t listen. She doesn’t want my assurances.’ Samuel shrugged his shoulders regretfully. ‘I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what happens and take everything one step at a time.’
‘And keep hoping for a boy.’
‘That, too. It won’t be long now before we find out.’ He stopped walking to wrap both of his arms around her. ‘You know I could stand like this all day, but the sooner we get to Bath, the sooner we can be married.’
‘About that...’ She looked up into his face, her own anxious. ‘It doesn’t have to be a big event, does it? I’ll have Henrietta and a few other acquaintances, but it might look odd if you have a hundred people on your side.’
‘I can’t think of a quarter of that number to invite. Most of my friends are at sea or in Portsmouth waiting for billets. Frankly, I’d be happy with just the two of us...’ he kissed the tip of her nose and then rubbed his own against it ‘...and a ten-cannon salute, of course.’
‘No cannons!’ She laughed. ‘And I only have the gown I wore to your grandmother’s party. Will you mind?’
‘You can wear a sack for all I care, but I’d be happy to buy you something new if you like. I think a captain’s salary can just about stretch to a gown.’
‘No. I don’t care what I wear, either.’ Her brow puckered. ‘I suppose most people have a rough idea of which it will be when they say for richer or poorer, only in our case it could go either way. For better or worse.’
‘We might be the only two people in England who think of an earldom as worse, but you’re right. We don’t know what the future will bring, just that we’ll face it together. Now, I have a few things left to pack. Shall I have the carriage brought round in half an hour?’
‘That sounds perfect. I thought I’d take one last walk around the water gardens since I’m going to be cooped up for the rest of the day.’
‘Fancy a plunge?’
‘Not this morning, thank you.’ She gave him a coy look. ‘Now hurry up and pack, Captain. We have a wedding to get to.’
Anna heaved a contented sigh as Samuel walked away. Despite the tension of living under the same roof as Lady Staunton, it was amazing how comfortable she felt with Samuel now. Even his smell was reassuring. Musky yet fresh-smelling with that distinctive hint of citrus. It made her wonder whether Henrietta was right and they ought to bring out a new type of biscuit. Lemon would be delicious.
She descended the terrace steps and wandered across the lawn and into the woodland. It was another gorgeous day, more like summer than spring. She’d have to dress lightly in the carriage or the heat would be stifling. It was going to be an arduous enough journey without having anyone to talk to and Samuel could hardly ride inside with her unchaperoned, no matter how appealing the idea sounded. She suspected that kissing him would pass the time quite quickly...
There was a sound of snapping twigs and she stopped at the sight of a woman walking among the trees up ahead. From a distance it looked like Clarissa, but there was something different about her, something about the way she held herself and moved. She seemed faster and more upright than usual...as if it were Clarissa and yet not Clarissa. A suspicion tugged at the edge of Anna’s mind, unbelievable at first, but gaining in strength the longer she watched. But it couldn’t be possible...could it? Surely she wouldn’t be so conniving?
She stepped hastily behind one of the trees, concealing herself as Clarissa passed by and then stepped out on to the lawn. As she did so, her whole posture seemed to change, her shoulders sagging forward and her steps slowing as if she were ageing ten years before Anna’s eyes.
She felt her stomach plummet to the floor, almost too shocked to be angry, waiting a few minutes to calm herself before following the other woman’s steps back to the house and through the terrace doors. To her surprise, Clarissa was sitting just inside the drawing room on a low chair, sobbing into a handkerchief.
‘Lady Staunton?’ Anna closed the terrace door softly behind her and leaned against it for support. ‘Can I help?’
‘You?’ The other woman gave a start at her sudden appearance, glaring at her through swollen, red-rimmed eyes. ‘Go away!’
‘I wish I could.’ Anna ignored her. ‘But I think that we need to talk.’
‘I’ve no desire to—’
‘You’re not pregnant, are you?’ Anna spoke quickly, willing the words not to be true, though she couldn’t think of any other explanation that made sense.
‘Of course I am!’ Lady Staunton’s expression registered both shock and guilt as she gestured frantically at her stomach. ‘Look!’
‘It would be easy enough to fasten some padding there, I would imagine.’ Anna lifted an eyebrow sceptically. ‘I saw you walking in the woods just now. You were moving too fast for a pregnant woman.’
For a moment, she thought that the Countess might actually throw something at her. She looked furious enough for anything, though fortunately there were no weapons to hand. Then her whole face seemed to crumple, anger turning to anguish.
‘No!’ She shook her head, her narrow shoulders heaving. ‘Almost twenty years of marriage and I’ve never once been with child. I tried everything. I’ve been examined by so many doctors, tried all kinds of medicines. Nothing ever worked.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Anna sat down on a sofa opposite, not knowing what else to say. She wasn’t entirely sure what to feel, either. Indignant as she was about the Countess’s deception, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her obvious heartache. ‘That must have been very hard.’
‘It was the one thing I had to do, the one purpose in my whole life. Just give him a son, my mother told me on my wedding day, give him an heir and everything will be all right. That was the reason he married me, you know, and my parents as good as promised him that I’d be fertile...’ She put her head in her hands. ‘I was only seventeen and it sounded like such an easy thing to do. I assumed I’d be a mother by the end of the year. And then when it didn’t happen, month after month...’
‘Was he cruel to you?’
Lady Staunton twisted her face to one side. ‘No. He was very loving to me at first. I told you, he built me those gardens as a gift.’
‘But later?’
‘He was never cruel, but he became...distant. Cold. Having a son became an obsession.’
‘Because he didn’t want Samuel to inherit?’ Anna tried not to sound too accusing.
Lady Staunton sniffed and nodded. ‘He was so afraid that he’d be like his father and gamble the estate away. He hired lawyers to try to do something about the entail, but it was no use.’ She screwed her handkerchief up into a ball. ‘You’ve no idea what it was like. We barely spoke to each other during the last few years of our marriage.’
‘You’re right, I don’t know what it was like.’ Anna placed a hand tentatively on her shoulder. ‘But why on earth did you tell everyone you were pregnant? Why pretend?’
‘Because this is my home!’ the other woman wailed. ‘I’ve nowhere else to go.’
‘What about your family?’
‘They think I’m a failure. My mother says it was a good thing my sisters were married off early or I would have damaged their prospects.’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘And they’ve all had children. Sons!’
‘That doesn’t make you a failure.’
‘It does to them. And if I go back now and tell them it was all a lie...’
‘But you must have known they’d find out eventually.’
‘Yes.’ Lady Staunton’s head fell forward. ‘I don’t know why I did it. I wasn’t thinking clearly. At the funeral everyone just kept telling me that it was such a shame, that if only I’d had a son... I felt as though I were being hit in the face every time. Finally I couldn’t bear it any longer. The words were out before I knew what I was saying and then everyone’s behaviour changed, too. I wasn’t a disappointment any more.’
‘But...’
‘I know, but once I’d said it I couldn’t go back. And I told myself that I was doing it for my husband, that it was what he would have wanted and I was making things up to him.’ She paused. ‘I know it was reckless.’
‘Very.’ Anna made a face. ‘You’ve been keeping Samuel’s inheritance unlawfully.’
‘Yes.’ Lady Staunton had the decency to look guilty.
‘And as for the way you’ve been treating him...’
‘I know.’
‘You have to tell him the truth.’
‘I was going to, I truly was. I told myself that I’d admit everything when you first arrived, but I didn’t know how to begin. So I kept putting it off and off. Then that morning when the two of you came into breakfast looking so happy and in love after you’d been walking in my water gardens, I felt jealous. It’s no excuse, I know, but it made me so angry.’ She drew her shoulders back. ‘But I’m truly sorry for the way I’ve behaved. I have to admit, from what I’ve seen of him, Captain Delaney doesn’t seem like the sort of man who’d gamble everything away.’
‘He’s not.’ Anna jutted her chin out indignantly. ‘Your husband would have known that, too, if he’d given him a chance.’
‘You’re right. He should have met him at least. Then none of this would have happened.’ Lady Staunton toyed miserably with the ends of her handkerchief. ‘Can you forgive me?’
Anna took a deep breath. Could she forgive her? She could understand, but she felt as though a bucket of cold water had just been poured over her head. If only she and Samuel had left for Bath already, she could have remained in blissful ignorance, still consoling herself with the possibility that he wouldn’t inherit. Facing an uncertain future with him was one thing. Facing an earldom, on the other hand...
‘Yes.’ She tried to swallow a feeling of rising panic.
‘Do you think that Captain Delaney will let me stay in the dower house after this?’ The Countess’s tone was faintly pleading. ‘I don’t want to go back to my family and be treated like a failure for the rest of my life.’
‘I don’t know.’ Anna felt as if her insides were churning. ‘You’ll probably need to give him some time to think about it. He’ll understand why you did it eventually, but it’s going to be a big shock.’
‘You don’t seem very pleased, either.’ Lady Staunton gave her a quizzical look. ‘You’re going to be the next Countess. You ought to be happy.’
Anna blinked. ‘You know about our engagement?’
‘I assumed. It’s obvious how you feel about each other.’
‘Yes, but...why should I be happy?’ Anna drew her brows together. ‘You were right about what you said the other day. I’m a shopkeeper. No matter who my grandparents were, I haven’t been raised for this kind of life.’
‘But I have.’ To her surprise, Lady Staunton actually sounded supportive. ‘And I can teach you.’
‘You mean like an apprentice?’
‘Why not? It’ll give me a chance to make amends.’ The other woman reached under her skirts, fumbling around for a few moments before drawing out a small cushion. ‘I don’t suppose I’ll be needing this any more.’
‘No... Are you all right?’
‘I will be.’ Lady Staunton gave a loud sniff and then hiccupped. ‘Do you know, this is the first time I’ve cried since before the funeral. It feels good.’
‘Then cry as much as you want to. Howl at the sky if it makes you feel better.’
‘I can’t do that.’
‘Why not? Because you were raised to be quiet and polite?’ Anna gave her an exasperated look. ‘Personally I’ve always thought that lady-like behaviour was overrated. Why be quiet if you want to roar? We can do it together if you like?’
‘What will the servants think?’
‘Maybe they’ll think it’s about time.’
‘Oh... Will you start us off?’
‘If you like.’ Anna rose to her feet, sucking in a deep breath and then letting it out again in a roar.
‘There.’ She folded her arms. ‘That’s how you do it.’
Lady Staunton looked impressed, rubbing her nose vigorously with the handkerchief before standing up, tipping back her head and screaming so loudly that Anna had to steel herself not to wince. It was a wonder the windows didn’t all crack at the sound.
‘Very good.’ She lifted an eyebrow once her ears had stopped ringing. ‘Feel better?’
‘Yes.’ The other woman started to smile and then clutched Anna’s hand at the sound of running footsteps in the hall. ‘Oh, dear. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, after all...’