Chapter 27
Alice was most pleased to be home. Though she had seen her father only at dinner on the evening they arrived back, she was glad of his close proximity while he worked away in his study. It was comforting to know that she was home after a long week of putting up with Nancy and her mother’s shenanigans.
There was not really a lull in things to do with having to catch up on letters that had arrived during her time away and having to help her mother reorganise the house as her father liked things run differently whenever he was alone. Yet, though she had plenty to keep her occupied, Alice thought back to the week she had just endured.
She thought on all the dancing and walking she'd been forced to do with the gentlemen, all the company she'd had to keep, all the times she'd grimaced at the idea of spending time with Mr Gouldsmith. Through all her thoughts there was a constant, a man who would not leave her be even though he was now many miles away.
Thomas. No, Lord Warrington!It was a protest she offered herself over and over, trying to go back to thinking of him only as the earl, the man who lived at Warrington Fields and only ever came out for what he deemed to be very special occasions.Did he truly not know the intentions for the week?Alice wondered, half hopeful that he might have actually known and had in fact come for the special occasion of courting her.
Sitting in the drawing room at Skeffington Manor, Alice shook her head violently to try and shake off the hope. It was over. Anything that had happened between them was done. She would likely never see him again.
That last part twisted like a knife in her gut and tears pricked the corners of her eyes. They began to fall when she thought once more of Miss Hyatt and how friendly she had been toward Lord Warrington.How foolish am I?
The thudding of footsteps coming down the hallway alerted her just in time to grab her handkerchief from the sleeve of her pale peach day dress. She whipped it out not a moment too soon, discreetly patting away her tears, gazing out of the window as her mother burst into the room.
It was only the sheer excitement on her mother's face when she looked around that caused her to realise she had heard the front doorbell ring quite some time earlier. She had been too deep in thought to pay it any mind but now, with her mother's happiness so palpable, Alice wondered what news might have come.
"What is it, Mama? Are we invited to another week away?" Alice asked gruffly, huffing and pushing herself onto her feet to smooth her dress and steel herself for whatever her mother was about to tell her.
"Oh, sweetheart, it is much better than that!" her mother announced. Alice could only stand in shock as her mother hurried forth and began to primp and preen all over her. "Oh, you absolutely must look your best."
"What is…"
Alice did not get the chance to ask what was going on because more footsteps sounded down the hallway and Alice's eyes darted instinctively to the open door. Her mouth nearly dropped open when she saw the man stepping out of the shadows. Of all the noblemen she thought might call upon her after their week away, she had never expected the first or even any of them to behim.
"Miss Skeffington," Thomas greeted her stiffly, bowing as though he had an iron rod stuck in the back of his waistcoat. Alice gritted her teeth and dropped into a curtsey. Seeing him again was painful. She could not possibly imagine why he had come.
"Lord Warrington, are you here for business with my father?" she asked instinctively though she had never really known the Warringtons and the Skeffingtons to have much of a business relationship, perhaps a small contract here or there but never anything worthy of a visit.
He cannot possibly have come to see me!she insisted to herself, stomping down the hope that was clawing at her insides.
"My business with your father is already concluded," Thomas explained with his gaze averted, "though I admit it was you that I came to see."
Alice felt her mother stiffen at her side though it was clear from her face that it was excitement and not shock that made her do so. It was Alice who was stunned when her mother announced, "I shall leave the two of you for a little privacy."
Alice barely managed to stop her mouth from dropping open. Never in her life had either of her parents ever allowed her to be alone with a man. With a chaperoning maid or another friend, yes, but never entirely alone. Likely sensing Alice's surprise, her mother added, "Though the door shall remain open all the way."
"I would expect nothing else, Lady Skeffington. Thank you." Thomas bowed his head and only turned to Alice once her mother had left the room. Stunned and unwilling for an audience, Alice stepped hesitantly back toward the couches, away from the earl who took a step toward her.
"Miss Skeffington, are you well?" Thomas asked. Alice bit the inside of her cheek before realising she was in no mood at all to hold her tongue.
"What are you doing here, Thomas?" she demanded. Instantly, she regretted calling him that. All sense of formality melted away the moment she saw him. Her entire body trembled with the desire to rush into his arms, her body betraying her and all her rational thoughts. This was dangerous.
Lord Warrington took a step backward. "I wished to see you."
"You have seen me," Alice stated harshly.
The redness that flushed Lord Warrington's cheeks made Alice feel guilty for speaking to him so. But she stood her ground, glaring at him with her hands balled into fists at her sides. She hid them in the folds of her skirts so that he would not see just how badly he affected her.
She watched him suck in a deep breath and her skin tingled when he took several paces toward her, half closing the distance between them. From experience, she knew that they were both firmly out of view of the doorway. Though she was certain her mother would be listening from just outside.
"Why have you come, Thomas?" she asked, her voice quavering now. Her lip trembled, growing close to tears again. The urge to reach out and go to him was so strong that she had to scrunch her toes in her shoes. She feared he could hear the way the joints cracked as she did so. If he did, he did not mention it.
"I wish to apologise for all that has gone wrong between us, Miss Skeffington," Thomas announced and Alice's hackles began to rise. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and she pursed her lips. "I should have been straight forward with you."
"We were both very straight forward with each other, Lord Warrington," Alice insisted, careful to use his title so not to become anymore friendly than they were already.Is it not too late for that?She cringed, remembering the heat of his touch on her skin.
"I do not wish to hear apologies for things I would rather forget entirely," she told him when she saw his lips part again.