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THE GARDEN WAS A WRECK the next morning as the sunshine fell across the house. The branch was laying in the middle of the ballroom, a large hole where the door had been. At least six panels of glass were shattered and sprinkled across the ballroom floor. It was going to take more than a single set of hands to get it cleaned up, but Rory started on it as soon as she was up and dressed.
That is where Darla and Rex found her when they woke up. Rex was feeling much better and seemed to suffer no serious injury from his fall. Clayton was the last one to join them. The way he looked, all tired and tousled, reminded her of what had kept him up all night. Rory blushed just thinking about it.
This morning she felt the same as she was the day before in many ways, yet she knew she was different. She had become a woman in a way she never expected. On the outside, she looked calm and composed, but inside she was a storm of emotion. Keeping those under control was going to be difficult but necessary.
All four of them were in the garden when they heard a commotion at the door. A servant came running back.
“I’m sorry, miss, he didn’t give me time to let you know he arrived,” said the maid.
“Who?”
“Someone who shouldn’t need an introduction.”
Her brother, Henry, stepped into view with a scowl on his face. Henry looked the same as he had before he left, impeccably dressed and very serious. Behind him, Rory could see Kitty standing there with her hand over her mouth. It looked as though she were trying not to laugh and being only slightly successful.
“Henry, I didn’t think you would be back until next month.” Rory rushed forward, dropping the broom she had been holding and trying to straighten the front of her skirt that was streaked with dirt.
“I sent a letter to let you know that we decided to return early. I was hoping to spend some of the season with you, but clearly you never got the letter.”
“The postal service can be unreliable sometimes,” said Rory with a shrug.
“No, the letter arrived. I found it sitting on the entrance table when I got home yesterday. What I didn’t find was my sister.”
His voice cracked, and Rory flinched. She had never seen her brother this angry before. Her palms started to sweat, so she wiped them nervously on her skirt. For the first time, she was too nervous to be hungry; her stomach was rolling too much. She tried to continue facing him with as much bravery as she could.
“I would have left a note if I knew you were going to be there before I got back.” Rory spoke slowly, being careful to keep her tone from rising with her panic. “I planned to return to London shortly, so I didn’t think you would notice.”
“You thought I wouldn’t mind my sister disappearing as long as you were back before I returned?”
“You wouldn’t know.”
That wasn’t the right answer to give, and Henry roared. Kitty came up from behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder and trying to calm him down. She leaned up, whispering something into his ear, and it appeared to work some kind of magic on him. His face stopped being so twisted, and he started to breathe normally again. Rory wondered if that was something a woman learned to do after she was married.
“We will continue this conversation after I get settled in. I will meet you in the parlor in an hour.” Henry looked like he was struggling to remain calm. “I will have the maid show me to an empty room.”
The house only had three bedrooms upstairs, so Rory prayed the maids had cleaned since Rex had stayed the night before. If they didn’t, there was going to be a conversation happening sooner than an hour. When she didn’t hear her brother yelling, Rory let out a sigh of relief and made a note to thank the staff with bonuses at Christmastime.
“Your brother?” Clayton had been quiet just like the others while her brother was venting his anger, but now he was the first one to step forward. “You didn’t tell him you were going to be here?”
“No. I thought it best if he didn’t know.”
“So, he doesn’t know why either?”
“Absolutely not. He would be livid if he knew the truth.”
Henry would be so ashamed to learn that she had lost so much money gambling. She had promised him that she would behave while he was gone, begged him to trust her. She couldn’t face the fact that she had failed him.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Clayton asked, concern reflected in his eyes.
“No, I should face him alone. As angry as he is, my brother has never been someone I feared.”
Rory paced the carpet as she waited in the parlor for Henry to join her. She hoped that upstairs Kitty was helping him to calm down. She worried that her brother might suffer some kind of episode if he got that worked up again. As she paced, she went over the things that she was going to say to him.
She would have to tell him about the debt and the despicable proposition from Lord Bittleby. No doubt Henry would want to call the man out for it, but that must be avoided. Rory didn’t want her mistake to ruin Henry’s reputation, or his life for that matter. The important part was convincing him that her plan could still work. She would have to be very convincing for that.
“I asked the servants to bring us some tea,” Henry said as he entered the room finally. The tone of his voice was back to normal, and Rory let out a sigh of relief. “I know how that can often help your nerves.”
“You are the only person who doesn’t tell me what a bad habit that is.”
“That’s because I know you better than anyone else.” His tone had turned emotional, and Rory was finding it hard not to tear up. She preferred it when he was angry because seeing him hurt wrenched her insides.
“Why didn’t you tell me something was wrong?” Henry asked.
“How do you know something was wrong?”
Rory turned away and glanced at him over her shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t be able to tell how nervous she was. Her hands were clenched in front of her to keep from fidgeting, but her expression might still give it away.
“You wouldn’t have left London in the middle of the season if there wasn’t.”
“Perhaps I felt like some country air.”
“You hate the country and you hate fresh air.’
“Nobody hates fresh air.”
He didn’t say anything, just raised one eyebrow at her. Once again she was unable to lie to him and it made her let out a frustrated sigh.
“Fine. I had to leave to leave the city for a short time to get a little money together.”
Now his expression tightened, and she could see his eyebrows pull together.
“What would you need money for? I know I left you plenty in your allowance.”
Rory winced, remembering that she had already spent that money on clothes before the season even started. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before telling him the entire story as quickly as possible. She just let the words flow from her lips while refusing to look at him. There was a long silence after she finished, and she was afraid of what his reaction might be.
“That bastard!” he yelled. “The nerve Bittleby has to threaten my sister while I’m not there to protect her. No decent man would behave in such a way.”
“He’s hardly considered decent.”
“I expect him to be a gentleman, and this is not the behavior of a gentleman.”
“Then you expect too much.”
Henry sat on the arm of one of the chairs, running his hands through his hair and muttering to himself. “You should have sent me word about this. I could have returned to handle it.”
“I didn’t want to ruin your wedding trip. Besides, it was my debt, not yours. I should be the one to resolve it.”
“Not by marrying that snake.”
“No, I had planned sell some of the items here in the house, but there wasn’t much left behind in good condition. So, I decided to sell the house itself.”
“That explains the workmen I saw.”
“I was very fortunate to share a carriage with Mr. Murdoch. He’s very well known in certain parts as an esteemed contractor.”
“I have never heard of him.”
“You haven’t been to those certain parts.”
Henry looked skeptical of Clayton’s credentials.
“He’s been working here for almost two weeks, and you can see what a wonderful job he’s done.”
Henry grumbled.
“The storm knocked out part of the garden roof, and he said you could have it fixed before the ball.”
“Ball?” He must not have known about that part of the story, and it was too late to take the words back.
“The dowager duchess is a neighbor and used to be a friend of Aunt Molly, so she suggested I host a ball to let people get a look at the place after it’s fixed up.”
Now Henry was shaking his head like a wet dog. “When is this ball going to be held?”
“Day after tomorrow.” Her voice was so soft she thought he might not be able to hear her but then he erupted.
“The Duke of Ashford and his family are going to be here in two days? With the best of society, no doubt.”
“I didn’t really look that closely at the guest list,” she squeaked.
“You were going to tell me none of this?”
Rory shrugged. She had no good defense for her behavior.
“Those workmen better get it finished on time, or I’m going to make sure they never find work again,” Henry said. “They took advantage of a woman who was alone and desperate.”
“They did no such thing.” Now it was Rory who was getting angry. “Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Holland have been very kind. They went out of their way to help me with this project, and you should be grateful. Without them, I would have tried to do the work on my own.”
“You would have been up on the house fixing the roof?” Henry couldn’t help the half smile he had.
“I would have tried, and it would have been a disaster.”
“Miss Capshaw would have stopped you.’
“She is my companion, not my warden. She can only do so much to stop me.”
“Clearly, since she wasn’t able to stop you from this insane plan to begin with. Perhaps I should find a more formidable individual to watch over you.”
“Please don’t,” Rory begged, knowing that she would feel terrible if Darla lost her position over this. “She has done everything she can to reason with me. No one is to blame but me for the situation I’m in.”
“I would feel better if I had someone to blame.”
“I would too, as long as it wasn’t me.”
That got Henry to laugh, and Rory could feel the tension in the room disappearing. Finally, her brother moved closer and hugged her, making her feel as though everything was going to be fine now. Rory admitted to herself that she missed having him around more than she’d expected.
“I’m going to go get Kitty, and we are going to explore the house a bit. I will see you at dinner.”
She felt like she needed to speak to Clayton straightaway. She needed him to understand the urgency in getting that damage fixed, not just for the ball, but for her brother. Rex told her that he had gone out to the gardener’s cottage to see if there were any materials they could use. She found him there, going through the meager belongings and stomping around.
“Not finding what you are looking for?” She entered the cottage cautiously while watching his prowling.
“No, the opposite. I found exactly what I’m looking for, and it’s a problem.”
“Why?”
“She doesn’t feel the same way.” He stopped and focused those blue eyes on her, making her breath catch for a moment.
“You mean because of last night?”
“Of course that’s what I mean. We shared something intimate and romantic, and now you want to act like we are still simply business partners.”
She didn’t want to mention that they technically still were. Stating the obvious wasn’t going to help them.
“You didn’t even speak to me this morning.”
“There was so much to do...” She knew it was a weak excuse, but she didn’t want to delve into the other possible reasons.
“It could have waited.” He was holding himself back, gripping the small table he was leaning against. “Then your brother shows up and you don’t even introduce me to him. Am I not important enough to get that courtesy?”
She didn’t know how to answer that. Everything had happened so quickly, she didn’t have time to wonder what it meant. “My brother wouldn’t understand. He wants me to marry.”
“You could marry me.”
That thought had never even crossed her mind, and when she heard him say those words, her heart stopped for a beat. Her expression must have revealed her shock because he grew angrier.
“Is that such a detestable thought?” Clayton spat out at her. “You are willing to share my bed but not my name? Is it because it’s a ‘mister’ and not a ‘lord?’ Do titles mean more to you than love?”
“I don’t believe in love,” she said, trying to reason with him.
“Then what was last night?”
“Lust. An entirely different beast altogether.”
“You don’t know the difference?” Clayton began pacing the room, and Rory felt and fought the urge to reach out to him. Touching would only make things more confusing.
“You went to bed with me knowing that you would be giving up your chance at a good marriage, but you claim you didn’t do it for love?” He sounded genuinely perplexed by that idea.
“I might still be able to make a match. No one knows what happened but us.”
“You would lie to your husband?”
“No, but certain indiscretions could be forgiven under the right circumstances.”
“You aren’t rich or influential enough to believe that.”
“Fine, but even being unmarried is better than—” She stopped before she finished her thought, but it was already too late. Rory could see the hurt reflected in his eyes, and she almost wept for him.
“Than being married to commoner? Is that what you were going to say?”
That was exactly what she was going to say, and he knew it. It was the same choice her aunt had faced once, and she chose to seclude herself to be with the man she loved. She didn’t marry him legally, but she pledged her life to him. Rory just couldn’t make the same choice now.
“I will finish the work tomorrow. Send me my half of the sale once it’s been completed.”
Clayton stormed past her in anger. As she reached for him, her fingers brushed his shirt, but she pulled away. The full force of her decision hit her, and she started to cry.