‘Only to you.’
‘Do you want anyone else?’
‘No.’ She laughed. ‘I suppose not.’
‘Good, because I’ve always been a one-woman man. It turns out I just needed to find the right woman.’
Chapter Twenty
‘I’m going out riding today.’
Lydia marched into the drawing room, looking even more stunning than usual in a tight-fitting, mauve riding habit.
‘Are you, darling?’ Their mother lifted her head from the game of snakes and ladders she was playing with Georgie. ‘On your own?’
‘No, with a gentleman friend.’
‘I don’t think your father...’
‘I’m not asking Father’s permission,’ Lydia snapped. ‘I’m a grown woman with a son—’ she threw a dazzling smile towards Georgie ‘—and I have my own money. If Father doesn’t like the way I behave, then I’ll leave and set up my own establishment. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.’
‘Lydia!’ Their mother’s expression was aghast. ‘You wouldn’t!’
‘Wouldn’t I? I don’t see why I shouldn’t, seeing as certain other people get to behave however they want.’
Frances dropped her eyes back to her polishing. After four days of strained silences and a distinctly chilly atmosphere, she’d almost given up hope of having any conversation with, let alone getting through to, her sister.
‘Although...’ Lydia’s voice turned sly ‘... Frances might want to come and say hello to my escort. She used to be quite fond of him, as I recall.’
‘Who?’ Their mother’s eyes widened.
‘Leo Fairfax.’ Lydia smoothed her hands over her bodice. ‘I met him out walking in Pannett Park the other day and he was very solicitous. I’d forgotten how handsome he is, too.’
‘Then I hope you have an enjoyable ride...’ Frances got to her feet with as much dignity as she could muster ‘...but I spoke to him the other week at the garden party and I’ve no desire to do so again, thank you.’
She managed to preserve an expression of calm all the way to her bedroom before starting to cry. It wasn’t because of Leo, but that her own sister could be so deliberately cruel was a bitter pill to swallow. No matter how hurt she might be, Lydia’s sudden interest in her former fiancé, a man who she’d never shown the faintest hint of interest in before, seemed like revenge pure and simple.
In which case, she decided, sitting up again and wiping her eyes, why shouldn’t she visit Amberton Castle? She’d kept away to be tactful and not make Lydia feel any worse, but what was the point when her sister was so determined to be angry?
* * *
‘I’ve been promising to show Violet some of my jewellery for weeks,’ she explained to h
er mother five minutes after Lydia and Leo had left, the pair of them looking positively resplendent together on horseback. ‘Why don’t you come, too?’
‘Not today, I think.’ Her mother glanced anxiously towards Georgie. ‘I’m worried about your sister.’
‘I know.’
‘She’s just so bitter. I’m afraid she might do something foolish.’
‘She’s a grown woman, as she said, and I’m sure Leo will take good care of her.’
‘Like he did with you? Oh!’ Her mother pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.’
‘It’s all right, Mama, I know what you meant, but that was four years ago. I’m sure he’s grown up a lot since then.’
She tried to put the whole situation out of her mind and look forward to seeing Violet again as the carriage rolled up into the Moors, but it wasn’t easy. The sound of Leo’s voice in her parents’ hallway had set her mood and her nerves on edge. Was he trying to get back at her, too? she wondered. Not just because of the events of the garden party, but because she’d dared to replace him and with a viscount to boot?