Anna watched with a smile as her mother went to stand beside Captain Delaney—Samuel—at the piano. She was surprised by how well the evening was going. Even standing in the receiving line alongside the Baron and Baroness hadn’t been as bad as she’d feared. A few of the guests were customers she’d recognised, but all had greeted her politely and her mother had seemed to enjoy herself immensely, even recognising a few friends from her youth.
The only blot on the evening had been Samuel’s absence. After the first half hour she’d started to fear he wasn’t coming at all, though when he finally had arrived, she’d felt oddly tongue-tied and light-headed. She still did. Since she’d decided to let go of the past and put her prejudices aside she’d been forced to admit to herself just how attractive she found him. It was positively alarming how handsome he looked tonight in formal evening attire, the silvery shade of his jacket, enhanced by a diamond pin in his elegantly tied white cravat, emphasising the vibrant paleness of his eyes.
Now, to top it all off, he was playing the piano and singing, his voice a rich baritone to her mother’s clear and sweet-sounding soprano. Singing duets had been one of her parents’ favourite pastimes, though her mother had barely sung a note since her father’s death. Now Anna was glad to hear her voice again, albeit somewhat irrationally jealous. It made her wish that she’d inherited some of her parents’ musical ability, but unfortunately that had all passed to her brother.
Irrational jealousy aside, however, Samuel and her mother made a fine pair, holding their audience’s attention to the very last note.
‘You have a beautiful voice, Mrs Fortini.’ He was the first to offer his compliments, too, as the rest of the room started clapping. ‘How about this as an encore?’
He tinkled a few more bars and Anna felt as if her heart had just clenched. It was an old Italian folksong, one that her father had often sung around the shop, the words as familiar to her as the alphabet. For a moment she didn’t know whether to smile or cry, but then, seeing the look of mischievous enthusiasm on her mother’s face, she laughed instead. It was a joke to everyone present, a good one, acknowledging who they were without making any apology for it. And Samuel had thought of it. She felt so delighted, she could have kissed him.
The thought made the smile freeze on her face. It wasn’t just a thought, either. It was an image, too, and not a very discreet one. She wasn’t envisaging a chaste peck on the cheek. On the contrary, it was far more intimate than that, all lips and bare skin and hands, all joined together and searching, exploring, feeling... Her heartbeat stuttered and then quickened with a burst of pure longing. If it hadn’t been for the room full of people, she thought she might actually have acted upon it, might have marched across the room and thrown her arms around him.
That was the moment he chose to look up. Just as a tremor of excitement coursed through her body, he looked straight at her, his eyes flashing with surprise followed by recognition.
For a few seconds, she thought that something must have happened to the room. All of the candles seemed to flare at the same moment, making it hotter and brighter and so airless that she could feel her breath coming in soft pants. Yet despite the heat, she shivered, as if they were sharing some kind of intimate moment, her whole body feeling tighter and more exposed somehow.
The song came to an end while he was still looking at her, his gaze never wavering despite the applause that erupted around them. Anna gave a start, the rest of the room coming back into focus with a jolt, feeling as if she’d just been shaken to her core.
‘What a clever idea for your mother to sing in Italian.’ The Baroness appeared at her side again. ‘She always was very talented.’
‘Yes.’ Anna stood up a little straighter, afraid of what the other woman might have just witnessed. ‘Very talented.’
‘Would you do an old woman a favour and escort me outside for some air? It’s so stifling in here I can hardly breathe.’
‘Of course, my lady.’
They made their way out onto the terrace at the back of the house, Lady Jarrow leaning on her arm for support, not that Anna was fooled by the performance. She’d never met anyone less frail. There had to be some ulterior motive behind the request and if the Baroness had just witnessed the look that had passed between her and her grandson, then doubtless it was connected with that. She was probably about to admonish her for looking at a possible earl in such an intimate way...
‘Do you know why I’m in Bath, Miss Fortini?’ Lady Jarrow dropped her arm the moment they were a few feet from the house, half-swathed in darkness.
‘Why?’ Anna blinked. It wasn’t how she’d expected her to begin. ‘I understood that it was for the Baron’s health, my lady.’
‘Quite so. It’s far worse than people know. Hector is very ill, although he hides it well, even from Samuel and me.’
‘You mean he hasn’t told you he’s ill?’
‘No.’ The Baroness fixed her with a hard stare. ‘I imagine that when you look at us you see a curious pair, two very different individuals living separate lives under the same roof, but the truth is that I love my husband deeply. We understand each other. He suspects that I know about his health, of course, but if he doesn’t wish to tell me outright then I respect his decision. It’s the way he wants it to be.’
‘So you think that he’s...?’ Anna couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.
‘Dying? Yes.’ Lady Jarrow nodded firmly. ‘I know that he is. He’s weaker now than when we arrived in Bath.’
‘I’m sorry, my lady. I don’t know what to say.’
‘There’s nothing to say, or to be done about it, either. I’m telling you in the strictest confidence, as a secret from Samuel especially, not for sympathy, but because I want you to understand why I cannot leave Bath. Otherwise I would have marched my grandson to Staunton a long time ago. He ought to go, but he refuses.’
‘Staunton?’ Anna drew her brows together. Nothing about this conversation was going the way she’d expected. ‘That’s the estate he might inherit?’
‘Yes. In Derbyshire, a good two days away by coach.’
‘But surely it’s his choice whether or not he wishes to visit?’
‘Pshaw.’ The Baroness rolled her eyes. ‘It’s an earldom, Miss Fortini, not something he can just walk into. If the baby turns out to be a girl, then he will be thrown, quite literally, to the wolves. He needs to learn about the estate and his duties and responsibilities beforehand and without interference. The only reason he hasn’t been overwhelmed with sycophants and even more matchmakers already is that they’re waiting to see what happens.’ She made a disgusted face. ‘I cannot bear the idea of my grandson with some fortune-hunting debutante, but if this baby’s a girl, they’ll all pounce together. He’ll probably end up marrying one just to get rid of the rest. In short, he needs to stop wasting his time here, pull himself together and get ready.’
‘I suppose so.’ Anna regarded the Baroness with trepidation. It made sense from a practical perspective, but why tell her?
‘Naturally I’ve given him my opinion on all of this, but he refuses to disturb Clarissa, Percival’s widow. It’s some notion of gentlemanly propriety, I suppose, and if he finds out about his grandfather then he definitely won’t go, but it won’t do. And she doesn’t help, the foolish woman. She ought to write and invite him directly, but since she won’t, he needs to be convinced to go himself.’
‘I understand, my lady, but what does it have to do with me?’
Lady Jarrow gave her a look that implied a great deal, but for once she said nothing.
‘If you think that I have some power to persuade him, then I’m afraid—’
‘I do.’ The Baroness forestalled her protest. ‘I saw the way that you were looking at each other just now. You may have more influence than you think.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Anna lifted her chin. ‘I haven’t even seen Captain Delaney for the past three weeks. Whatever you think you saw, I’m afraid you’re mistaken.’
‘If you say so.’ The Baroness pursed her lips unconvincingly. ‘By the way, I had a communication from your grandmother this morning.’
‘What?’ Anna drew in a sharp intake of breath. It was becoming hard to keep up with all the changes in subject. ‘You mean the Dowager Duchess?’
‘Yes. Ottoline and I were great friends once upon a time. She wrote to tell me that she’d be very glad to see her daughter again. And to meet her granddaughter.’
‘Me?’ Anna’s mouth fell open. ‘Wait, have you told my mother this?’
‘No, I thought she had enough to deal with this evening, but I intend to tell her later.’
‘Oh.’ Anna drew her brows together, her thoughts whirling. Samuel had warned her that it might happen, but it had only been three weeks. How could gossip have travelled so fast? Unless... A new suspicion stole across her mind. ‘It all seems to have happened very quickly, my lady. I mean, for news about my mother to reach my grandmother and then for her to contact you and extend such an offer... Which one of you exactly began the correspondence?’
The Baroness made a clucking sound. ‘Details, my dear. What matters is that there is one. I’m quite certain that Ottoline would have heard about it and contacted me eventually, but when you get to my age, waiting is so tedious. I wrote to inform her of my contact with your mother after the first time you came for tea and she replied at once. She’s most eager to see her again.’
‘So she’s coming here?’
‘No. At her age such a journey would be inadvisable. I told her that you’d visit.’
‘You told her what?’ Anna burst out, resisting the urge to put her hands on her hips. ‘That’s out of the question. I have a shop to run.’
‘Nonsense. My girls know what they’re doing there now.’
Anna shook her head, annoyed with herself for having been so blind to the Baroness’s machinations. ‘That’s why you sent them to me every morning? So that they could learn to take over?’
‘I thought it might come in useful at some point.’
‘I still can’t go running off to...where does she live?’
‘With your youngest uncle at his estate in the southern part of Yorkshire.’
‘I am not going to stay with my grandmother in Yorkshire!’
‘I never said that you should. No, these things probably ought to be done in stages.’
‘Then where do you expect us to...?’ Anna stopped mid-sentence as the answer occurred to her. ‘Wait, the southern part of Yorkshire?’
‘Very close to the border with Derbyshire, yes.’ Lady Jarrow nodded placidly. ‘Now the details have still to be arranged, but naturally I can’t let you and your mother travel alone and Samuel has nothing else to do at present.’
‘You seem to have it all worked out, my lady.’
‘I usually do. And you have to agree that this works in everyone’s favour. Samuel will be your escort and you’ll be his chaperon at Staunton.’
‘His chaperon? That might be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.’
‘It may well be, but he can hardly stay in a house with Clarissa all on his own. Your being there will make the whole thing look perfectly respectable.’
Anna pressed her lips into a thin line, impressed despite herself. ‘I thought that you truly wanted to help my mother?’
‘If you’re suggesting that I’ve been using her, then I take offence. I would have introduced her back into society anyway, though I admit the two purposes have dovetailed nicely. However, I took that as a positive sign.’
‘And what about a chaperon for me? Don’t you think it might start rumours if your grandson is seen to be escorting my mother and me around the country?’ She lifted an eyebrow. ‘People might talk.’
‘Let them.’
‘So you won’t mind if your grandson, a possible earl, is spoken of in connection with a shopkeeper?’
‘Who also happens to be a duke’s granddaughter.’
‘And a shopkeeper!’
Lady Jarrow let out an exasperated-sounding sigh. ‘Do you know, the first time I set eyes on my husband was at an evening party like this one. He was the only man in the room with absolutely no interest in either my looks or my inheritance. It was the most exceedingly attractive quality. I decided to marry him right there and then.’
‘Did you ever ask what he wanted?’
To her surprise, the Baroness laughed. ‘I hardly remember, but it all worked out in the end. I’d like a similar partner for my grandson, a woman with her own mind, who doesn’t care whether he inherits an earldom or not. In my personal opinion, you’d be a most excellent match for Samuel.’ She held a hand up as Anna started to protest. ‘Oh, for goodness sake, I’m not saying that you have to marry my grandson. I’m only asking you to travel with him to Staunton. Surely that’s not so much to ask?’
‘No, but...’ She stopped as the other woman’s gaze moved past her shoulder suddenly, towards the sound of approaching footsteps.
‘Honestly, Samuel.’ Lady Jarrow put a hand to her chest. ‘You oughtn’t to sneak up on people in the dark. You just frightened me half out of my wits.’