In the end she had no need to go and knock on James’s door. He came into her room with Jessie when she brought Sarah’s tray. He talked to his step-sister for a few minutes while Jenna combed her hair, and then said calmly when she had finished, ‘Ready to go down?’
Almost automatically Jenna bent to deposit a light kiss on Sarah’s forehead before leaving the room. The younger girl flushed, but Jenna could tell that she was pleased. If nothing else was achieved by this marriage, if it helped Lucy and Sarah, that alone would be worthwhile.
She hadn’t realised how tense she was as they went downstairs, until James murmured against her hair, ‘Don’t worry, my godmother won’t eat you!’
‘You mean her ladyship won’t eat me,’ Jenna responded drily. ‘Why didn’t you tell me ..?’
‘Because I didn’t consider it to be important,’ came the equally dry response and then James was opening the door into the lodge’s small drawing-room and there was no opportunity for further conversation.
A tiny elegant woman rose from the sofa and came towards them.
‘James!’
She had a pleasing, warm-timbred voice, the way she said his name conveying a depth of emotion far more poignant than any multitude of gratuitous endearments.
Jenna watched as James hugged his godmother. She was dressed in a pale lilac silk dress with a high neck and a tiny ruffled collar, rather Edwardian in appearance, silver-grey hair framing a face that Jenna could see had once been extremely beautiful and still was, although its beauty was that of the purity of its bone structure rather than of the flesh. Cool grey eyes surveyed Jenna thoughtfully as James stood back.
‘Jenna, my godmother, Lady Lucille Carmichael. Lucille, allow me to introduce Jenna to you.’ James pulled Jenna gently forwards, and for once she did not flinch as he kept her within the curve of his arm. There was something about this sharp-eyed old lady that made her feel every omission in her character was written on her forehead in large characters.
‘She isn’t one of your usual empty-headed beauties, James.’
Jenna felt the beginnings of anger mingle with her apprehension. Her mouth tightened slightly. She didn’t enjoy being discussed as though she were an inanimate object.
Surprisingly, Lady Carmichael smiled—really smiled—at her, her grey eyes twinkling as she laughed softly. She turned to James and told him, ‘She has a temper, James, I like that. It will do you good. I’m glad you’re not another of his adoring, feeble-minded girls, my dear,’ she told Jenna, extending a hand towards her. ‘Come and sit down here beside me and tell me all about yourself. James, you can go and find Jessie and ask her to bring us all a drink. You can tell her we’ll be ready to eat in half an hour. I don’t want to rush you,’ she added to Jenna with another smile, ‘but the Aga can be temperamental!’
‘Go along, James,’ she reiterated firmly, ‘you may stop hovering like an expectant father. I promise you I will not eat your young lady!’
It amused Jenna to see James treated like a small boy, but she was not deceived by the by-play between the two of them. She could tell quite easily that Lady Carmichael adored her godson, and she suspected that despite her polite exterior, her hostess intended to make very sure that she discovered as much as she could about the woman who was going to marry into her family.
She grilled Jenna thoroughly but diplomatically, and in spite of everything Jenna discovered that she liked her. She made no bones about the fact that she cared very deeply for James, and Jenna sensed that she was not a woman who placed false values on social position or wealth, but who judged her fellow man on the merits of their personality.
‘James tells me that you have a daughter,’ she said at length, when Jenna had told her about her childhood, omitting any mention of Rachel from her tale.
‘Yes.’ Jenna held her head up proudly. ‘Lucy is fifteen.’
‘Mmm, I see that the gutter press are hinting that my godson is her father.’
‘I’m afraid so. The subject of her father is something I cannot discuss with Lucy for…very private reasons. I’m afraid she, too, has convinced herself that James is her father. He does not intend to disillusion her, and in fact one of the reasons we are marrying is——’
‘For her sake,’ Lady Carmichael supplied shrewdly, adding when Jenna coloured a little, ‘oh, you need not be embarrassed. I had already suspected it was not what in my day was called a love-match. So…you gain a father for your daughter from the marriage. What does James gain?’
‘Someone to help him with Sarah and a share in the Hall—I bought it some weeks ago.’
‘The Hall. I see…’ Lady Carmichael suddenly looked older. Troubled shadows darkened her eyes. ‘I thought he had put all that behind him, poor boy. I’ll be honest with you,’ she told Jenna. ‘When James first told me about this marriage I was very disappointed. I’ve been wanting him to marry for a long time but not——’
‘To an unmarried mother with a fifteen-year-old daughter and a rather unstable business to support,’ Jenna supplied grimly. ‘Well, I…’
‘You misunderstand me,’ Lady Carmichael interrupted firmly. ‘But not, I was going to say, to one of the young women he has sometimes brought down here with him—young women far more interested in themselves than any man, young women who look on marriage as a pleasant interlude in their lives, which can be terminated as soon as they grow bored with it. In my day a couple did not divorce simply because they had fallen out of love, because in most cases they did not fall in love in the first place. They married with due regard to the wishes of their family, and entered that marriage as a lifelong commitment. You, I can see, are not a young woman who would enter any commitment lightly. You have had to work hard to support yourself and your daughter, so James tells me. He admires you a great deal.’
He did! That was news to Jenna, but she supposed it was only natural that James should want to paint a flattering picture of her for his godmother’s scrutiny.
‘I am glad you have been honest with me,’ she added with a smile. ‘I like you, Jenna, and I think we shall get on very well together. James will not make an easy husband, but, of course, you must already know this. His mother’s death and the subsequent scandal have left their mark on him. I can’t deny that I was beginning to despair of ever seeing him marry. I can’t like this…obsession he has about the old Hall, of course.’ She saw Jenna
’s expression and said sharply, ‘Hasn’t he told you about his mother?’
Jenna shook her head, and was just about to ask what Lady Carmichael meant when the door opened and James came in.
‘Ah, James. You see your lovely wife-to-be is still in one piece!’