Tess straightened her back, lifted her chin and took a deep breath. I will not break down. I will not scream at him. ‘My mother intended to make a legal marriage. If she was not in full possession of the facts, then you, my lord, must take responsibility for not advising her of them. As for my aunt, she was a good woman who followed her conscience and was true to her faith. I was raised as a gentlewoman and that is all I lay claim to. I most certainly have no wish to lay claim to a relationship with you, my lord.’ She turned and dropped a slight curtsy to Lady Moreland. ‘I apologise, my lady, for any embarrassment I may have caused. I had no idea who your neighbours were until after I entered this house.
‘I will retire to my room now and I would be most grateful if you would allow me a carriage to take me to the nearest stagecoach halt in the morning.’
‘Tess!’ Alex strode across the room to stand between her and the door as she turned amidst an echoing silence. ‘You cannot do that. Your family has come to meet you, to make their peace.’
‘I see no sign of it. My cousins are most kind, for which I thank them. But my grandfather considers me a child of sin by one daughter, raised by another whom he cast out for following a faith of which he obviously disapproves deeply.’ Her voice wavered and she brought it back under control with an effort that hurt her throat. ‘My presence in this house must only be a strain on relations between neighbours. An embarrassment.’ She sidestepped and reached the door before he spoke.
‘You are not an embarrassment to me and you ever could be. I wish you to be my wife, Tess.’
She closed her fingers around the door handle, the moulded metal cutting into her palm.
‘I thought you might care for me a little, Tess.’
How that must hurt his pride, to make a declaration in front of his parents, in front of their neighbours. ‘I do care for you, Lord Weybourn.’ She said it steadily and without turning. ‘I care too much to stay and bring scandal on your family. You have only just found them again. I would not have you lose them.’
Somehow she made it to her chamber and rang the bell. Dorcas arrived five minutes later, pink cheeked and cheerful.
‘I am sorry to disturb you, Dorcas, but I am leaving in the morning. Please could you ask one of the footmen to bring my portmanteaux down so I can pack?’
‘But don’t you want me to come with you, Miss Ellery?’
‘I can’t afford to pay you, Dorcas. I am very sorry. I will write a note for Lady Moreland and I am sure she will do her best to find you a respectable place where you may keep Daisy with you.’
‘We’ll come, too,’ Dorcas said stubbornly.
‘I have no money—only enough to afford some cheap lodgings until I can find a position. It wouldn’t be fair to Daisy.’
‘You can’t go off to London by yourself. Look what happened before. We’ll come with you—we can go to the lodgings you had with Mrs Semple—and we will find something we can do.’
‘Dorcas—’
‘I won’t leave you.’ Dorcas sat down on the end of the bed. ‘You saved us. I’ll get the bags.’
Oh, bless her. She was too grateful for the support to argue anymore. ‘Knock when you come back. I am locking the door.’ Not that there seemed to be any need. Alex was hardly rushing after her. He had probably realised all too clearly what a mistake he had made in bringing her grand—in bringing Lord Sethcombe and his family here.
She began to move about the room, opening drawers, piling her few possessions on the bed. She hesitated over the gifts from the Tempest family, then put them in the pile to pack. It would be ungracious to discard them.
Patricia sat stiffly on the bedside cupboard, blue skirts smooth, painted eyes beady. ‘Oh, Alex. Of all the things to give me. I will talk to her, try to pretend I am back in an innocent childhood—and all the time I’ll see you, look into your eyes, want to run my fingers through your hair.’ She trailed her hand over the shiny painted scalp. ‘I’ll want to hear your voice and there will only be silence.’
‘Tess!’ There was a sharp knock on the door panels. ‘Dorcas is standing here with your luggage. What the devil do you think you are doing?’
She found herself at the door, her hands pressed against the panels, as close to him as she would ever be again. ‘I am leaving, as I said I would. Alex, how could you do that? How could you cause such embarrassment for your parents? You told me your father and Lord Sethcombe were not on good terms, and this can only make it far worse.’
‘I thought it best to surprise you so you could not refuse to see them.’ He sounded tense, but patient. ‘He is an old man, Tess, and we are asking him to admit he blundered badly with two of his daughters and let blind prejudice estrange him from his granddaughter.’
‘I am not asking him anything.’
‘You will not forgive him, then? Not even for—’
Silence. ‘For what?’ Tess prompted. But it seemed Alex had gone. For what—or for whom?
*
It was the longest Christmas evening that Alex could remember. The Sethcombe ladies, distressed at losing Tess almost as soon as they had found her, were driven home by Lord Withrend. Lord Sethcombe stayed, apparently a fixture in the best chair in the study, drinking brandy with Lord Moreland, the two men exchanging occasional observations on matters that had no bearing on the problem whatsoever, so far as Alex could tell from his silent vigil by the window, hoping against hope that Tess would relent and come down.
At seven Annie presented herself, bobbed a curtsy that was one inch from insolent and announced that where Miss Ellery, Mrs White
and Daisy went, she went and she hoped his lordship would take that as her notice because she didn’t care whether he gave her a reference or not, she wasn’t staying, not no how. At which point she burst into tears and fled the room.