As her aunt headed down the hallway, Tess hurried to catch up. “Aunt Sophie!”
Her aunt’s steps slowed and she turned with obvious reluctance. “Yes, dear?”
Stopping before her, Tess scrutinized her aunt’s face. “Are you all right? Really?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then were you flirting with Heath Bartlett?”
Aunt Sophie’s cheeks flushed pink.
“You were!” Tess cried, appalled that Mr. Smith could see what she’d been blind to, and even more disgusted that he had ammunition that supported his pigheaded notions about women.
Aunt Sophie’s eyes scanned the empty hallway, and then she led Tess into an empty reading room. After closing the door, she turned. “It was an innocent little nothing. Don’t make much of it.”
“But he’s practically my age!”
“It wasn’t about him. It had more to do with…me.”
Tess was taken aback. “What’s going on with you? I’ve never known you to flirt a moment in your life. You and Uncle Jack had the most solid of marriages. And you never faint. Are you sure you’re not sick? Dizzy? Shall I call for Dr. Winner just in case?”
Sighing, Aunt Sophie grasped Tess’s hand. “I’m fine. I just…well, I’m finally beginning to accept the fact that Jack is dead.”
“Oh.” Tess swallowed. “Go on.”
“And, well, I’m not dead.”
Tess squeezed her aunt’s hand. “Thank heavens.”
“I’m forty-nine years old, Tess. I was married for twenty-seven years to the love of my life. I like…I like being with a man. I like…having a partner.”
Tess ignored the uneasy twist in her belly pertaining to her aunt’s choice. “What does this have to do with Heath Bartlett?”
Aunt Sophie wrung her hands. “You’d not believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“Well, I was recently starting to…think about certain things…”
“Men,” Tess supplied, irritated once more that Mr. Smith had been correct. In this instance, at least.
“Yes. And, well, I was starting to ponder this quite a bit. Imagining what kind of man I might like to…be with. I don’t envision getting married, not at this point anyway, more like a dalliance.”
Tess nodded, reminded of how good it felt to experience passion once more. Feeling that incredible heat, the desperate yearning for—
Aunt Sophie laid a hand on Tess’s arm, drawing Tess back to the conversation. “Please understand that I’d never considered such a thing before now. I mean, I never strayed from your uncle Jack.”
“Ah, yes, I know, Aunt. You loved him well.”
“I did. I still do. But as I said, I’m not dead, and, well, in considering such an affaire—for fun, of course—”
“Of course.”
Aunt Sophie bit her bottom lip. “Well, Heath Bartlett bears a striking resemblance to the kind of man I was thinking about, and then…” Her smile was deprecating as her cheeks reddened and she gushed out, “Well, last night I had the most shocking dream, and I swear he was the leading man.” Pressing her hand to her mouth, she watched Tess, her gray eyes animated but vulnerable.
Tess exhaled. “Oh.”
“You must think me mad.”
Scratching her cheek, Tess shook her head. “Certainly not. He’s attractive.”
“Attractive? That’s like calling Wellington an ‘acceptable soldier.’ Heath Bartlett is a stallion. One of the first order.”
Inhaling a deep breath, Tess blushed. “I…ah, hadn’t noticed.”
Aunt Sophie snapped open her fan and waved it about. “I know you have no interest in men these days, Tess, but you couldn’t miss that muscular physique!”
Powerful, too. Strong enough to lift a woman in his arms so easily that she feels lighter than air.
Brandishing the fan, Aunt Sophie moaned. “And those shoulders!”
Strapping and firm in all the right places.
The fan quaked. “And that long raven hair!”
Like strands of silk through my fingers.
Pressing her hand to her breast, Aunt Sophie raised her brows. “The resemblance to the man I’d dreamed about was such a shock, well, it was all a bit much for me. Hence the faint.”
“That must have been quite a dream,” Tess muttered, feeling warm and slightly breathless.
“Decidedly.” Shaking her head, Aunt Sophie inhaled. “Then to see him standing in our society, as real as day…”
Tess bit her lip, wondering why she was so distressed. “But Heath isn’t the man in your dream. He only resembles that man. I mean, you’re not really interested in Heath, are you?”
“Oh no, of course not. No matter how much of a stallion he is, he’s far too young for me.”
Although Tess felt guilty about it, she felt the need to reiterate, “Almost twenty years. A whole generation, actually.”
But she loved her aunt so much and didn’t want her to discount any possibility for her happiness—broadly speaking, of course. “But there are so many men who would be lucky for a chance to spend some time with you.”
“Old men, you mean?” Aunt Sophie’s dove gray eyes were amused.
“No, of course not. Just not a man well over twenty years your junior.”
“I thought it was only almost twenty?”
Tess scowled. “You know what I mean.”
Aunt Sophie smiled. “I do. So you don’t hold it against me?”
Wrapping her arms around her aunt, Tess hugged her close. “I want you to be happy. I want you to have a companion. Other than a censorious and petulant niece, that is.”
“You’re not petulant.”
“Very funny.”
Releasing Tess, Aunt Sophie sighed. “I’m so relieved. I was worried that you would think ill of me. That I couldn’t have loved Jack if I could be with another man. I know you’ve been quite the nun since Quentin…”
Shrugging a shoulder, Tess didn’t meet her aunt’s eyes. “Perhaps because you loved so well, you know how to love. I don’t seem to have that talent. Mine seems to be in making mistakes.”
Aunt Sophie squeezed Tess’s hand. “Don’t say that, Tess. There’s a man out there waiting for you. Paul Rutherford is certainly interested.”
Tess changed the topic to one she was much more interested in discussing. “I can’t help but wonder if you picked a man who resembled Heath…because you knew his father.”
Releasing Tess’s hand, Aunt Sophie adjusted her sleeve. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Heath looks nothing like Uncle Jack, but he surely resembles his father. You know, the one you ‘vaguely’ recall.”
Aunt Sophie’s eyes skirted away. “Oh, that’s…a mere coincidence…”
“Is it? Or is it that when you considered a dalliance, you couldn’t help but think of another affaire?”
“What do you mean?” Aunt Sophie’s voice was high-strung with tension and she would not meet Tess’s eye.
Tess suddenly knew that every word Heath had said about Mr. Bartlett’s abrupt departure was true. But had he told the entire story?
Releasing her aunt’s hand, Tess crossed her arms. “I know about the painting of my mother. The one without clothing. Did my mother have an affaire with Mr. Bartlett?”
Aunt Sophie rubbed her eyes, her face troubled. “Why dredge up the past, Tess?”
“I want to know.”
“How did you find out?”
“Heath told me.”
Aunt Sophie nodded. “He was old enough to understand.”
“So was I.”
“No, you weren’t. You were a smart child. But you were naive, and you deserved to stay that way as long as possible.”
Tess didn’t know if she agreed, but that was neither here nor there. “What happened? Did they have an affaire?”
“No, not really.”
Tess sighed, relieved. There were so many troubling things about her mother bedding Heath’s father, not the least of which was the fact that Tess had just been with Heath!
“But something went on between them, nonetheless,” Aunt Sophie added. “It was more emotional than physical. Your father was a bit…absent. Off with his hunting and his clubs and his dogs. Your mother felt…ignored.”
Aunt Sophie held up her hand. “I’m not justifying what she did, mind you. She should have spoken with your father, at least tried to improve things before…well…She wanted more but didn’t want to work that hard. My sister, I hate to say it, is a bit lazy. And Mr. Bartlett was right there. A widower. Not a servant, but not quite an equal. Very handsome, like his son…”
Aunt Sophie’s face looked pained. “The painting was her idea. And…I can’t help but suspect that your mother made sure that your father found out about it. She arranged it so that she could get your father’s attention, you see.”
Tess scowled, disgusted by her mother’s antics. “She used Mr. Bartlett horribly.”
“I know. I’m not proud of her. She was always selfish, even as a girl. She wanted what she wanted when she wanted it.”
“No matter who got hurt.”
“But she’s a wonderful mother to you, and I suppose she did what she thought she should for her marriage.”
Tess gritted her teeth. “My parents deserve a real thrashing.”
“You won’t tell them that you know?”
“Good God, no! I’m just saying that they ought to pay for what they’ve done. But I’m certainly not the one to mete out the punishment. Heath, on the other hand, has every right to feel upset.”
“He doesn’t seem ill disposed toward either one of us. In fact he was quite amiable. I suppose he’s too much of a gentleman to carry grudges.”
Glancing away, Tess shrugged. Her feelings about Heath Bartlett were so confused. She hated him for lying and for targeting her for an investigation. But her family had caused his father quite a bit of grief. Mr. Smith’s words haunted her: Heath had had to scrape for every bit he’d gotten. His father’s loss of employment without references couldn’t have helped. Tess suddenly recalled how her father had offered to assist Heath’s admission to a good university in Scotland. No doubt that promise was reneged after Heath’s father was let go. Yet Heath had managed to come so far. Obviously it hadn’t been easy.
Guilt wormed its way inside her heart, for her mother’s selfishness, for her father’s misplaced fury, for her own neglect in understanding why Heath had left.
“You’re not interested in Heath Bartlett, are you?”
Tess looked up. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I think your father would have an apoplectic fit if he found out. Even if Heath Bartlett doesn’t hold any resentment, your father’s never gotten over the whole mess.”
“Yes, well that makes two of us,” Tess mumbled.
“What do you mean? How did this affect you?”
“Never mind.” She scowled, thinking of her mother. “Why do women do such stupid things sometimes?”
Aunt Sophie sighed. “It’s in our nature, I suppose.”
Score another for Mr. Smith. The man was too astute for comfort.
“I need to have a talk with Lucy,” Tess muttered. Janelle’s plan was sounding better and better. Mr. Smith was sharp, and he was Heath’s best friend. If anyone knew about the investigation, he would.
The loose boulder, Janelle had said.
Well, Tess was about to rock it.