‘Provided everyone else does all the work and she is merely required to put on her newest lace cap and be handed into her carriage, she will have not the slightest objection,’ he said. ‘If I know Aunt Honoria, she will invite you to sit with her for an hour in the morning and in the afternoon. She may ask you to read to her or help sort her embroidery silks, but that is all. She will be perfectly satisfied that you are safely under her eyes and you may do as you wish for the rest of the time, I imagine. The fact that those eyes will be closed, or riveted on the latest scandal sheet or novel, is beside the point. You could take up hot air ballooning for all she would notice.’
‘What on earth put that into your head?’ She was laughing at him now.
He grinned back. ‘Aunt Augusta. Your dreadful bluestocking friend married her duke on an island with the guests arriving by rowing boat, so it follows that you will insist on some even more outrageous venue.’
‘It would rather limit the number of guests. In fact, could one fit us both, the minister and two witnesses into the gondola of a balloon?’
‘I have no idea. Would you like me to find out?’
‘Oh, how absurd! Would you really?’ Still chuckling, even when he shook his head, she tucked her hand under his elbow and said confidingly, ‘It is such a joy to find someone with whom to laugh, don’t you think? Perhaps there are many of your friends you can laugh with, but I do miss mine.’
Ivo thought. He had a lot of friends, men he could be convivial with, comrades he had fought alongside, amiable acquaintances, but none with whom he could share laughter over something absurd. Even with Daphne...
There had been laughter when they were happy, of course, but looking back he did not think she had much of a sense of humour. But then, young ladies were not supposed to have such a thing. They were supposed to be light and frivolous and take delight in happy, pretty things, not dig beneath the surface in search of satire or the absurd.
‘What is wrong? Have I been tactless? Were you thinking of your friend who was killed?’
‘No, not at all. I was just thinking that I should not share some of the amusing situations in my past with you,’ he said, making a joke of it.
‘And I should not be laughing when Violet’s poor sister and her family are in such straits. I do hope it does not prove to be a malignant fever. But at least they are in London where all the best doctors are and, if anyone can rally a household in despair, it is Violet.’ She gave a little sigh, almost too quiet for him to hear.
The clerk who had been assisting Violet with wedding preparations emerged from the study, hat in hand. ‘I am to follow the travelling coach to Batheaston in the gig, my lord, and return with Miss Newnham’s trunks and any paperwork relating to the wedding preparations. I shall instruct the receiving office to direct all post for the household to Miss Newnham here.’ He clapped his hat on head and strode to the front door.
‘Things happen at alarming speed when the Marquess assumes command,’ Jane remarked. ‘I feel dizzy.’
‘Come with me to see Great-Aunt. We will take Grandfather’s letter and see if we cannot coax her into the carriage.’
‘With no notice? She may have any number of engagements.’
‘If she cannot come, then you must stay with her until she can, because I will not give Aunt Augusta’s sharp tongue any grounds for wagging. But she will agree, mark my words. She has been attempting to seduce our cook away for years without success and she will not refuse the opportunity to stay, not with the inducement of Mrs Hopwood’s food at all hours, let alone the chance to interfere with all the wedding preparations and inform all her closest friends that she was critical to the successful planning. She will lie on the chaise longue giving elaborate instructions to everyone and then forgetting them the next day.’
* * *
Ivo seemed pleased to have her company, Jane thought when, half an hour later, they set out in a smart carriage and four to carry Lady Gravestock off in style.
‘We might be back on our adventurous journey from Kensington,’ he said as the carriage turned out of the gates on to the turnpike road.
‘The further that is in the past, the more amusing it seems in recollection,’ Jane admitted. ‘Is your shoulder quite healed? I keep forgetting to ask you, because it does not appear to be giving you any trouble.’ And she should have been thinking about that and not admiring his figure in his well-cut coat and tight breeches, she reminded herself.
‘It is, thank you. You found the journey entertaining, did you?’ His expression was rueful. ‘It appeared more in the nature of a nightmare to me. Everything hurt, I had an impossible young lady artist on my hands and a hideous mess behind me.’
Jane decided to ignore the impossible on the grounds that it was deliberate provocation. ‘I have not liked to ask because it is none of my business, but is there any news of Miss Parris? It is the same person that Lady Frederick was referring to, is it not?’
She hoped that Ivo did not realise that she had perfectly understood the hints that his aunt was throwing out. Daphne Parris was not simply the sister of his close friend, she was his youthful love. She tried to console herself with the thought that he could have married her before if the attraction had persisted, but common sense told her that a young man setting out into the perils of war would have not tied a young bride to him, or that her parents would have agreed to so precipitate a match. She tried to ignore the cold feeling deep inside, the fear that Daphne meant more to him still than a memory and a promise.
Ivo nodded. ‘Yes. Her brother Charles was my closest friend—their family home is just eight miles away to the east.’ He spoke easily, his long body was relaxed, almost sprawled, in the corner of the carriage, yet his gaze seemed unfocused as he stared, not out of the window, but at the empty seat opposite him.
‘So you lost both your father and your friend almost at the same time and then found yourself with the impossible task of rescuing a girl who had no wish to be saved.’ Jane edged towards him, wanting to hug, or, at the very least, to touch him, but there was nothing in his manner that suggested such comfort would be welcome. And if he still had feelings for Daphne, then another woman’s touch would be even less so. She decided to opt for practicality. ‘Has there been any word of how that progresses?’
‘There has been nothing from her,’ Ivo said.
‘Perhaps that is a good sign. She reacted so wrongly, lashing out when you tried to help, but now she will have had time to consider and, as you are such a close friend from her childhood, surely she would turn to you if her husband proved to be abusive or neglectful?’
‘I suspect that I would be the very last person...’ Ivo seemed to give himself a shake and sat upright. ‘The lawyers say there is nothing to be done. The Scottish ceremony appears to have been performed according to the law, there is no evidence that she was forced or deceived and the marriage has been consummated. However, with Charles’s unexpected death he had made no provision for her in his will and their father’s disposition still stands: she receives no dowry until she reaches the age of twenty-five unless she marries with the blessing of her guardian. And I believe her elder aunt is now that guardian. No consent was given, so Sir Clement Meredith has no money or lands from her.’
‘I hope that does not make him treat her badly,’ Jane said, then could have bitten her tongue. ‘I am sorry, that was thoughtless. You must be so concerned about her, not just because of your promise to her brother, but because of your feelings for her.’
‘My what?’ Ivo demanded, turning abruptly on the seat to face her.