To Wed The Widow Read online

  “I know that when I wore mine out it was exclaimed over and envied. I know that George did not seem at all surprised when I told him that.”

  “I might have to go with him and get the story out of him after all. I can’t have my brother dabbling in trade.”

  “Of course not. Be sure and tell us all about it afterward. Hearing about an adventure is always so much more fun than experiencing it firsthand.”

  Sebastian didn’t say a word and Flora kept playing with her braid.

  He finally sighed and when she looked at him, his eyes were closed.

  “You’ve already told Camilla about it, haven’t you?”

  “I mentioned it. But of course said that you would have to agree.”

  “And she wanted to go?”

  “With you. She is not at all sure about George yet.”

  “That’s because she is a bright girl.”

  “She is. And she knows, just as I do, that with her father there to protect her, the docks will be as fun an adventure as her uncle promises.”

  “Flora, she can’t go,” he said, but this time there was regret in his voice not cold certainty.

  “If we had a nine-year-old son, would you take him to the docks to see his uncle’s shipment from a foreign and exotic land?”

  He kept his eyes closed and Flora kept watching him. Watched as grief covered his face, and she wanted to lie down next to him and hold him. Cry with him. Or for him since she doubted he would join her.

  She wanted to lie down next to him and strip her nightdress off and make him that son.

  She wondered what he would do if she did because she didn’t think he was heading that direction. Not yet.

  She climbed off the foot of the bed and walked around to his side.

  His eyes opened when she touched his chest and he said softly, “Camilla is not our nine-year-old son.”

  “I know. There is only you, and your brother, and perhaps one day, his nine-year-old son.”

  “Don’t say that. Don’t say perhaps about that.”

  “There is always a perhaps about that. Always a chance of four more girls and no son among them.”

  Sebastian’s eyes widened and horror covered his face as he thought of his last great hope being unsuccessful.

  She kept her hand on his chest and let him think about it. About what he would do if George’s wife delivered no heir.

  She said, “Will we do then what we should be doing now? Or will it be too late?”

  “It’s already too late if you’ve found someone else to relieve that tension.”

  He sounded angry and Flora tried not to be thrilled. She shook her head. “I have not. I would prefer it be you.”

  That didn’t seem to mollify him any. “The devil you know?”

  He still sounded angry and frustrated, and what had he said?

  I know my duty; I know what the world expects from me. I am sorry to disappoint it and you and everyone.

  The devil she loved, it was more like.

  She pulled the covers up to his chin and kissed his forehead lightly.

  “The devil I know,” she said and left him there.

  George arrived early the next morning, dressed in his ubiquitous greatcoat and Sebastian knew his brother still hadn’t acclimatized to the cold.

  Another hit this morning, another person he’d failed when he wished he could give them the world.

  Sebastian eyed the coat and said, “Keep the dog in your pocket.”

  George laughed, pecking Flora’s cheek. “Would you believe I didn’t bring her?”

  “No.”

  Flora teased him and Sebastian watched them banter happily between themselves. Flora never joked with him like that, only George, and Sebastian realized that she became whatever the situation needed.

  Which version was the real her?

  Did she really want to go to the docks with them this morning? What would she do if he invited her?

  But she was right. It was no place for a countess. If there had ever been a time she could have had that adventure, she’d missed it.

  Sebastian called for his daughter and Flora stopped talking long enough to smile at him.

  Camilla entered the room, her hands clasped tight together, and when Sebastian asked if she would like to join them, she nodded.

  She pursed her lips, then turned to her uncle. “Do you have your puppy, Uncle George?”

  “Would you believe I didn’t bring her?”

  Camilla squinted at his pocket. “I don’t know. But I don’t like her barking.”

  George muttered, “You and me both. I didn’t bring her. I haven’t figured out how to get her not to bark.”

  Flora said, “You need to train her, George.”

  “I’ve been told I need to not keep her in my pocket.”

  Sebastian called for their coats and said, “That sounds like excellent advice.”

  They climbed into the hack George had hired for the day, waving to Flora as she watched them leave.

  Sebastian tried to settle against the hard cushions. “I have a carriage, George.”

  “I didn’t know if any of your household would be allowed to join me, did I?”

  “You are welcome to use it, when you have need.”

  George studied Sebastian and finally said, “A hack lends an air of adventure that your carriage would somehow lack but I thank you for the honor, Sebastian.”

  Camilla wiggled next to her father and didn’t say anything.

  They settled into silence, Camilla’s presence limiting what they could argue about.

  George passed the time by tying back the curtains and pointing out interesting things to Camilla on one side of the carriage, and then scooting over to the other side to point at something out that window and forcing them all to rearrange their seats so Camilla could see.

  The third time George began to change windows, Sebastian grumbled, “Oh, for God– Sit down, George!”

  Camilla giggled and George winked at her.

  Sebastian sighed and said, “Tell me about these trinkets. And what you are doing with a shipload of them.”

  George huffed. “Trinkets.”

  “That is how Flora described them.”

  He huffed again. “Camilla, are you wearing yours under that hat?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t want to lose it.”

  He smiled at her. “Well, we shall simply have to crack open a chest to show your father. Not trinkets. I will accept doodads or nonesuch. Trinkets sound so silly.”

  Sebastian said, “Will you accept frippery?”

  George nodded. “Frippery. Frippery for the ladies.”

  Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “Trade?”

  “I prefer to call it art appreciation. I have a few contacts in London; when I find something special, I send it on. I do believe I have earned a reputation of being able to find ornamentation that women appreciate.”

  “Interesting. How long have you been doing it?”

  George cleared his throat. “About five years. I like to shop in India; what an experience! When I find something I like, I’ll get as much as I can. It wouldn’t surprise me if Flora owns a few of my pieces.”

  “I can see a good number of problems with shipping from India to London. Pirates, sunk ships, theft.”

  George shook his head. “What pessimism. I do well despite all those problems. It keeps me in pin money, at least.”

  “I thought I kept you in pin money.”

  George smiled at him. “Are any of us surprised it was, and is, not enough? No? At any rate, I found work to be. . .”

  “Boring?”

  “Sebastian, you’ve never had to work a day in your life so you don’t understand what it means to have to be somewhere when someone else wants you there.”

  Sebastian snorted.

  George said, “I thought the East India Company would be better than marrying an heiress. I was wrong but English heiresses are few and far between over there. I had to find so
mething.”

  “Well, now there is Miss Westin. She can keep you in pin money.”

  George leaned his head back and looked out the window. “Someone will have to. Now.”

  “You’ll dance with her tonight. Two sets.”

  “Please leave the wooing of Miss Westin to me. Or to Flora. Or even Camilla here.”

  “Are you telling me that you won’t be dancing two sets with her?”

  “I’m telling you that I don’t know yet. I won’t know until the game is afoot.”

  Sebastian sighed. “It’s not a game. It’s marriage.”

  “All the world’s a game and we but players in it.”

  “That’s not how it goes, Uncle George. All the world’s a stage.”

  George sat up in his seat, stymied. “You know As You Like It? You’re nine!”

  “Her last governess had a love of Shakespeare, God knows why–”

  George gasped and Sebastian talked over him.

  “The girls recited play after play. Dorothea became quite fond of draping herself over any article of furniture, her red scarf clutched to her chest, and dying à la Juliet.”

  Camilla proved she knew the words just as well as her younger sister when she said, “O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; rust there, and let me die.”

  George clapped at her, delighted.

  Sebastian said, “Unfortunately, the woman got herself married and we had to replace her. This governess prefers the Greeks.”

  George choked. “Oh, yes. Much better fare for children. Has Dorothea begun jabbing her eyes out with pins yet?”

  Camilla dipped her head so her father couldn’t see her smile and George decided he had no worries about his second oldest niece.

  He had slightly fewer worries about Camilla if she could quote Shakespeare.

  Sebastian only said, “Camilla, do not marry a rogue like your uncle here.”

  Camilla looked at her uncle and said, “Yes, Papa.”

  George laughed at them as they pulled to a stop, reaching through the window to open the hack door. He helped Camilla down, keeping her hand in his and grimacing when a man began shouting obscenities at the box that had fallen on his foot.

  “That,” George pointed his finger at her, “was a word never to be repeated, Lady Camilla. Especially around your mother.”

  Sebastian poked his head out the carriage. “Especially around anyone. I can not believe I let you and Flora talk me into this harebrained scheme.”

  “You can hardly blame Flora. She’s never been to the docks before.”

  “Trust me, George. I do not blame Flora.”

  George grinned as his brother descended and clapped him on the back. “Come. Let’s go see if there’s a ship unloading before we find my frippery.”

  They each grabbed one of Camilla’s hands, keeping her tight between them, and made their way along the tall brick wall leading to the arched main gate of the East India Docks.

  Camilla’s head tilted back as she looked up at the clock at the top of the entrance and then, as they passed through, at the tall masts of the East Indiamen berthed inside.

  There were over a hundred ships, some indeed being unloaded, and men shouted and cursed as chests of tea, bales of jute, and barrels of oil were hauled between ships and warehouses and waiting wagons.

  George sucked in the chaos.

  Sebastian never wavered as they made their way to the office and then down the quay to the warehouse. Men pushing sack trucks parted around them and George shook his head in wonder. If it had been him alone, he would have danced and been jostled about like a buoy on the waves, but the earl plowed ahead, expecting the waves to make way.

  Two brothers, nothing alike.

  Camilla stared as sailors climbed rigging and shouted to each other, all employing language that would stain any young girl’s cheeks red.

  Sebastian merely sighed and said, “I will have to remind Flora that this was her idea.”

  George flinched at a particularly nasty expression and said, “Oh, good. For a minute there I thought you were going to remind me.”

  As they entered the warehouse, George hailed the man of affairs he’d hired years ago to oversee his London affairs. Here to collect this last shipment, and George couldn’t have stayed away on pain of death.

  Chests were counted and loaded, and when the contents were signed for and transferred, George had one opened up and he pulled a hair comb gently from the straw padding.

  He handed it to Camilla. “Not another butterfly. But perhaps a flower is a perfect match. Will you wear yours now that you have a replacement?”

  Her eyes shone and she took it gingerly, nodding.

  Sebastian pulled one from the box. “These are. . .”

  “Exquisite. Yes, I know.”

  Sebastian shook his head, smiling slightly. “I was going to say beautiful. Exquisite will work.”

  George thought that a man was indeed fortunate when he could support himself by being good at something. When he could love what he was good at.

  More fortunate than any man could hope to deserve.

  More cursed when it was taken from him.

  When Sebastian made to put it back, George said, “Keep it for Flora. If Camilla has taught me anything, it is that a woman can never have too many trinkets.”

  “Frippery, Uncle George.”

  George laughed, thinking he wouldn’t mind having a few children of his own. And though one adventure had been taken from him, perhaps there would be some recompense after all.

  “Take three more for your sisters. And when they break theirs, you can surprise them with a replacement.”

  She nodded solemnly, taking three more combs from the chest and clutching them in her hands.

  The chest was closed and secured and George sighed as they followed the wagon down the quay and out the gate. Happy to have seen this part of it, at least one time.

  Sebastian patted his shoulder. “It could still keep you in pin money. You don’t have to stop if you love it this much.”

  George shook his head. “No one on the other end. No one who can see the one exotic hair comb among hundreds that will cause an English girl’s heart to skip a beat. No one that I could find anyway.”

  Sebastian said softly, “I’m sorry, George.”

  George nodded, then covered Camilla’s ears with his hands and said, “What poxy whore did you swive to curse us with this fate, Sebastian? To take everything away from the both of us?”

  Sebastian ran his thumb over the tines of the comb and murmured, “A Greek tragedy.”

  George’s lip curled and he said, “Only if it was Mother who was the whore.”

  Sebastian grimaced and put the comb into his pocket, reaching for the stack Camilla was balancing carefully in her hands.

  “Too far, George. You always take it too far.”

  “You were the one who said it was a Greek tragedy.”

  George took his hands away from his niece’s ears and Sebastian said, “An English tragedy, then.”

  “Everyone ends up dead in the end in those as well.”

  “Is there an alternative? We all end up dead in the end.”

  “The difference is, brother, where the story ends. This story ends with a marriage and the birth of a son. So, a comedy.”

  “Then why am I apologizing to you?”

  George boosted Camilla into the carriage, then stopped his brother from entering with a hand to the chest.

  “It’s not a tragedy, Sebastian. Just a twist we weren’t expecting.” He grabbed Sebastian in a one-armed hug and said softly, “You should go home and hug your wife. Apologize to her. Let her comfort you.”

  Sebastian grunted, though George didn’t think it was in agreement.

  “And I’ll dance my two sets with Miss Westin tonight.”

  Sebastian pulled back. “What about your game?”

  “I have been corrected. It’s not a game, it’s a stage. And I know what my new part is.”

  T
hey settled themselves into the carriage, Sebastian handing Camilla back her comb so she could admire it on the ride home.

  “It’s not a new part, George. You’ve always been a silly rogue.”

  Camilla fingered the petals of the flower one at a time and said, “No, Papa. Now he’s the hero.”

  Eight

  George played his new part well that evening, heading straight for Miss Westin the moment he was able.

  He didn’t plow through the men surrounding her but danced and bobbed. Because he wasn’t the earl yet, or God willing, ever.

  He bowed low to her and when he rose, there was speculation in more than one set of eyes.

  “I do hope you have a waltz free, Miss Westin.”

  She fluttered her fan. “I’ve been saving one set but I had nearly forgotten why. I am glad you have come to remind me.”

  He smiled when she held out her wrist and he scribbled his name on the dance card dangling from it. He held it a moment longer, noticing no more empty spots, and flicked his eyes up to meet hers.

  “It’s a pity you didn’t save two.”

  Her fan convulsed and she whispered, “A pity.”

  He searched through the chicken scratches again. “I don’t suppose any of the men listed here would be willing to sit one out. I am quite in the mood for dancing tonight.”

  There was a chorus of gasps and insulted well, I nevers behind him but George looked only at the lovely Miss Westin.

  She rallied, clearing her throat. “I’m sure none would care to give up the pleasure.”

  She said it in all seriousness and George thought that if only it had been said with disdain or innuendo, he would have dropped to one knee right then and there.

  He reminded himself that in a few years it would have that bite.

  “Quite sure?”

  She dropped her eyes. Fluttered her fan. And said, “Quite.”

  He found the bite he wanted watching a card game and talking to a gentleman with a half-afraid look on his face. Half-afraid and half-hopeful.

  George circled, waiting, and Lady Haywood waved her fan and smiled and watched him.

  When the hapless gentleman sketched a bow and left her, George brought her a cup. He nodded at the table.

  “Have you played already then? I missed it?”