The Wedding Affair

233 Pages·2011·1.4 MB·English

by  Michaels Leigh

Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Leigh Michaels
Cover and internal design © 2011 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover illustration and photography by Dana France
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real
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Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Back Cover
One
When the heavy brass knocker fell against the front door, the crash echoed
through the cottage. Olivia ignored it. She wasn’t expecting callers; she wasn’t
prepared for callers; and she didn’t want to greet callers.
But barely half a minute later, the knocker dropped once more. She abandoned
the bread dough she’d been kneading and wiped her hands on her apron. The
baking was late already, and this interruption wasn’t going to help.
As she crossed the narrow hall, she noticed a dusting of flour on her blue
muslin skirt and brushed feebly at it, but she managed only to make the smear
look worse.
The man waiting on the doorstep was short, stout, and past middle-aged. His
face was red, as if the warmth of the day was too much for him, or perhaps his
neckcloth was just too tight. He looked astounded to see her there. “Lady Reyne,
where are your servants today?”
All two of them? Olivia wanted to answer. But she didn’t think Sir Jasper
Folsom really wished to know that this was the housemaid’s weekly afternoon
out or that Nurse was upstairs putting Charlotte down for her nap. And since he
hadn’t asked about Kate Blakely, who was Olivia’s guest, she felt no need to
explain that Kate had gone to call at the vicarage.
At any rate, Sir Jasper was Olivia’s landlord, not her keeper, so she didn’t feel
obliged to tell him why she was the only one available to answer her door in the
middle of a sunny Wednesday afternoon.
She smiled vaguely. “I find it terribly boring to sit and be waited on, Sir
Jasper.”
“You are a most unusual lady, ma’am. I have come to collect the next
quarter’s rent.”
“Of course.” Olivia hesitated and then stepped back. Better, she thought, not
to have this conversation on the doorstep. “Would you care to come inside?”
He looked startled at the invitation, though an instant later he had masked the
expression. He bowed and followed her into the tiny parlor, where the single
window stood open and a fire had been freshly laid, ready to light in case the
evening should turn cool.
Sir Jasper took off his hat and looked around the room. “Quite delightful.”
Threadbare was the word Olivia would have used for the furnishings Sir
Jasper had supplied along with the cottage, but she supposed there was a certain
cozy charm about the mismatched chairs and the way personal items—a smock
she was hemming for Charlotte, a shawl Kate had started knitting last night—
were sprinkled around.
Don’t be so snobbish, she told herself. The cottage wasn’t grand, but it was
home in a way that her previous residence had never been, and she was grateful
to Sir Jasper for offering it at a rent she could afford.
At least, she had been able to afford the rent until now. She braced herself to
tell him that at this moment she could not pay the entire amount she owed, but
she found she couldn’t come straight out with it.
“I don’t keep ale in the house,” Olivia said, “since we do not as a rule have
gentleman callers. But I can offer you tea.”
Sir Jasper smiled, displaying yellowing teeth. “That would be most welcome,
my lady.”
Olivia escaped to the kitchen and made the tea, rehearsing her speech under
her breath as she waited for the tea to steep.
When she returned to the parlor with the tray, Sir Jasper turned from his
inspection of a perfectly hideous sampler that was hanging on the wall. His gaze
flicked over her a little more closely than was proper, and he smiled widely.
Olivia felt a flicker of alarm. Surely he hadn’t interpreted her comment as
evidence that she regarded him as a gentleman caller, rather than simply as the
landlord…?
“I see you appreciate my mother’s needlework,” he said.
Olivia had found the sampler wadded in a cupboard when she moved in, and
she had hung it only because it was large enough to cover a badly stained spot on
the wall. But she lied without a qualm. “I was delighted to add it to the everyday
view from my favorite chair. If you could clear a corner of the table, Sir Jasper—
I do beg your pardon for having to ask.”
“Not at all, my lady. With your servants away, I am happy to assist.” He
moved a book, a half-written letter, and Kate’s as-yet-unrecognizable shawl out
of Olivia’s way so she could set down the tray.
Olivia poured the tea and drew a breath to begin explaining.
Sir Jasper sipped. “I’m sure you’re excited by the news. The entire
countryside is agog.”
“What news?” She was almost relieved to be interrupted, though also
surprised. Rarely did anything worthy of comment happen in Steadham; Olivia
found the quiet to be one of the village’s greatest attractions.
“The wedding, of course. Lady Daphne’s wedding.” He looked startled when
she didn’t react. “You did not receive an invitation? I would have thought… The
festivities are to be held here. At Halstead, to be precise.”
Halstead—one of the few country houses in England that had only one name,
as if the single word made it clear to any audience what was being discussed.
The country seat of the Duke of Somervale, the manor house at Halstead lay less
than a mile from the village if one walked across the fields and the park. But the
estate was so large and self-contained that when the family was not in residence,
it was easy for the villagers to forget the manor lay so close by.
In the months since she had arrived in Steadham village, Olivia had seen
Halstead only from a distance. Apparently that wasn’t going to change in the
foreseeable future. But then, she would have expected nothing else.
Sir Jasper went on, “The wedding itself is to be in the village church, I
understand.”
He understood? Then Sir Jasper must not have received an invitation, either.
That surprised Olivia much more than the fact she had not been included on the
guest list—for though Sir Jasper was a mere baronet, he must have been a
neighbor of the Somervale family for years.
“I felt sure you would be invited,” he mused. “As the widow of an earl… but
the duchess is even higher in the instep than I believed.”
“It’s hardly a snub for me not to be included, Sir Jasper. So far as I am aware,
I have never met any of the family, and I doubt the duchess even knows I’ve
taken up residence in the neighborhood.” Or would care in the slightest, if she
knew.
Sir Jasper’s face had tightened as if the mere mention of a snub had made his
own exclusion sting more.
So Olivia hurried on. “Perhaps it’s a very small wedding—just the family.”
“A small wedding? For one of the Somervales? That family doesn’t know the
meaning of the word.”
The firm click of the empty cup as he set it down made Olivia fear for her
mother’s china; she had managed to save fewer than a dozen good pieces as it
was.
“But perhaps you are correct,” Sir Jasper went on. “Now I must continue my
rounds. The rent, Lady Reyne?”
Olivia’s fingers trembled as she took her reticule from under the smock in her
sewing basket and opened it. “I can give you half of the rent today, Sir Jasper,
but I’m not able to pay for the entire three months right now. I had hoped to
make an agreement in regard to the remainder.”
He was silent for so long that the rattle of a carriage wheel in the road outside
the parlor window seemed to echo through the room. “What sort of agreement
did you have in mind?” His tone was low and suggestive.
Dread trickled down her spine, but Olivia kept her voice level. “I shall be able
to give you the remainder at the beginning of next month.”
He sniffed. “And I’m to simply take your promise for that, I suppose.”
“I am not accustomed to having my word questioned, Sir Jasper. In any case, I
would still be paying in advance—just not quite as far ahead as before.”
“And then I suppose you plan to continue this practice month after month?
I’m not accustomed to waiting for what is owed to me, my lady. What’s the
difficulty, anyway?”
That’s my affair and none of yours. But thumbing her nose at a man when she
was asking him to do her a favor wasn’t wise. “I’m sure you know that after the
death of her father, Miss Blakely has become my guest, and—”
“Adding another mouth to feed in your household was no decision of mine,”
Sir Jasper said sharply. “I see no reason for me to be inconvenienced by your
folly.”
“I am not asking you to sacrifice the rent payment or even reduce it, only to
postpone collecting the full sum.”
“And I’m telling you I’m not inclined to do so. I’ve been offered twice the
rent,” Sir Jasper said slyly. “I’d agreed to the bargain with you, so as an
honorable man I couldn’t go back on it. But if you’re not paying on time, then
I’m free to change the terms or let the place to another tenant.”
Olivia tamped down the desire to snap at him that if he actually had a tenant
who would pay more, he should seize the opportunity. She couldn’t take the risk
that he would throw her out.
This was her own fault. If she’d had the full sum and handed it over promptly,
he wouldn’t have been able to hold her to ransom.
“But perhaps we could come to an… arrangement,” he went on.
Her skin crawled at the oily note in his voice. But perhaps her imagination
was running away with her, and he only meant that his price for waiting would
be an outrageous amount of interest. He surely couldn’t mean that he wished to
pay court to her, could he? His wife had died long since, and Sir Jasper had to be
close to twice Olivia’s age, for his sons were grown.
How she wished she had not invited him inside or offered tea! If he got the
idea that she would welcome his suit, she would have to disillusion him, of
course—and gently. She hoped he would not nurse resentment.
“The widow of an earl,” he said softly, “living in an out-of-the-way village in
a cottage where she cannot afford the rent. Your options are limited, Lady
Reyne. You can’t take in lodgers, for the place isn’t large enough to house them
even if you didn’t already have enough hangers-on to feed.”
Hangers-on? Olivia wondered if he thought her daughter a millstone. With an
effort, she kept her expression neutral.
“You can’t take a job as a governess or a companion, for no fine lady would
hire an employee who was encumbered with a child. But I can think of one thing
the widow of an earl could do nicely.”
He didn’t sound much like a man who was trying to fix his interest with a
lady, but surely he couldn’t be suggesting something short of marriage. Was he?
He chuckled. “Oh, that’s a fine lady’s expression, all right. There’s no doubt
your blood is blue, the way you’ve gone all arrogant and scornful as you pretend
you don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s nothing you’re unfamiliar with,
either. You have a daughter.”
Olivia tried to control her breathing, knowing that he was watching the effect
of her short, shallow breaths. He licked his lips, his gaze focused on her breasts.
“I might waive the rent altogether if you were satisfactory in bed,” he said.
“I’d want a whole lot more than a taste, of course—my lady. But we’ll start with
a kiss today as interest on the debt.”
Olivia felt as paralyzed as a rabbit caught in the open with a hawk diving for
the kill. Then she heard the click of footsteps on the stairs as Nurse came down,
and she pulled herself together with an effort.
Sir Jasper had heard, too. “I thought you said your servants were out.”
And so you assumed I invited you in on purpose. Perhaps thought I intended
to seduce you. Olivia stood up and said coolly, “What a pity you must be leaving
now, Sir Jasper.”
She thought for an instant that he would refuse to leave after all. But as he put
on his hat, he said darkly, “You think about it, my fine lady. As of today, the rent
increases to twice the figure we agreed on when you moved in.”
She couldn’t stop herself from squeaking in protest.
He grinned. “You’re the one who broke the terms of the agreement. So if you
don’t pay up, one way or the other, you’ll be moving out come the end of the
month.”
Olivia only wished she could leave the cottage—and Sir Jasper—behind. She
showed him to the front door to be certain he left and because if she called for
Nurse to see him out, there would be questions about why she was pale and
shaken.
Sir Jasper stepped outside and turned to face her as if to add some new
condition to his demands. The gate separating the cottage’s garden from the road
banged shut. Olivia looked up, expecting to see Kate returning from her calls.
She was half-embarrassed to be caught in this predicament and half-grateful for
reinforcement from her friend.
Instead she saw a carriage standing in the road just beyond the wall. A