Eliza rolled her eyes and attempted to take aim once more. “She shan’t choke.”
“You cannot guarantee that,” Bronwyn insisted through gritted teeth, physically taking the cheese and popping it into her own mouth, quickly chewing and swallowing. “Now,” she said as Eliza grumbled, “I do believe we should look into hiring you a proper governess soon. I would not want you to fall behind on your studies.”
“We do not want a governess,” Nelly declared, sidling up beside Bronwyn and securing an arm through hers, giving her an adoring look. “Our time on Synne shall be one long holiday.”
“Besides,” Eliza added, “what use will we have for learning? I’m certain we know all we need to.”
Bronwyn gaped at them. “No use for learning? Why, feeding your mind with knowledge is the greatest gift you can give yourself.”
“It has not done you any good,” Eliza muttered as she dissected a watercress sandwich, making a face at the innards. “It is not as if you have made a career for yourself with your learning. You married and are a man’s property just like every other woman.”
If the girl had slapped Bronwyn she would not have been more shocked. Or hurt. As she sat reeling from that blunt little speech, Nelly spoke.
“The same shall happen to us. Ash has said on more than one occasion that his goal is to see us married off. Which means he cannot wait to be rid of us.”
The young girl’s morose tone was enough to pull Bronwyn from her hurt. “That is not true,” she said.
“It is,” Eliza confirmed with her own brand of direct bluntness. “We are a burden he never wanted. It only makes sense that he would wish to pawn us off elsewhere.” She stilled, then looked to Bronwyn, a curious tilt to her head. “Though I suppose he has already done that in a way, in marrying you.”
Before Bronwyn could think how to respond, the girl continued. “But he shall be gone soon enough anyway. Not that we shall see him much while he’s here on the Isle. He does prefer to remain far from Caulnedy whenever possible.”
“Mayhap it is because of his mama,” Nelly said, her voice soft and contemplative.
“His mother?” Once again Bronwyn was struck that Ash’s mother should be brought up in such sad terms. “Because the house reminds him of her?”
“Of course it reminds him of her,” Eliza replied around a hefty bite of biscuit. Crumbs dropped to her skirts but Bronwyn was too interested in what she was about to say to reprimand her over the mess she was making. “The whole reason we came to Caulnedy was because we located his mother’s diary and read about her childhood here. It sounded so very magical, we just had to come.” Suddenly her expression turned and she sent a dark glare at the door. “But then Regina found the journal and realized where we had gone and told Ash. It would have been ages before he found us if she hadn’t.”
Bronwyn was stunned. “Do you mean to tell me you ran away? You left London on your own and traveled all the way to Synne? Just the two of you?”
She expected at least a modicum of remorse. Instead, Eliza smirked. “Oh, we weren’t alone. A maid in the house next door to ours was heading to Whitby, supposedly to visit her parents. Only she wasn’t visiting her parents, but a young man she was sweet on. I simply asked that she bring us along with her—in exchange for our silence. And Whitby is so close to the Isle, it was easy enough to make our way here from there.”
Nelly grinned, her narrow chest puffing out with what could only be described as pride as she looked at her sister. “It was a brilliant plan. Eliza captained it; she’s quite clever.”
Bronwyn gaped at Eliza and Nelly in turn. “But why would you do such a dangerous thing?” Not to mention committing bribery. But that was another matter entirely.
Eliza shrugged. “The stories were like fairy tales, and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We could have asked Ash to bring us, I suppose. But I’m certain he would have refused. All he does is work, and he does not like to spend more time than absolutely necessary with us. That, and he doesn’t like to speak of his mother. He had all her things locked away in a chest in his rooms back in the London town house, so he never had to see them.”
Which, of course, brought up the question on why Eliza had thought it acceptable to break into his trunk and riffle through his private things. But that was for another day. For now, there were more pertinent matters at hand. Namely, their thoughts on Ash’s feelings toward them. Or, if they were to be believed, his lack of feelings, which Bronwyn had seen firsthand was not at all true.
“I assure, you,” she said firmly, “Ash cares for you all very much.”
The noise that came from Eliza could only be described as rude. “We must not know the same Ash. But come along, Nelly,” she said, standing and brushing the crumbs from her clothes. “I’ve heard there is a new litter of kittens in the stable.”
“Oh, yes!” Nelly squealed, jumping up and sprinting after her sister, knocking over the picked-over food tray in the process.
Bronwyn, sighing in exhaustion, put her head in her hands. This was all getting so much more complicated than she had ever thought. Was that why they acted out as they did, because they thought their own guardian didn’t want them and wished to be rid of them at the earliest convenience? But Bronwyn knew differently; she had seen herself that Ash cared for the girls and worried terribly about them.
Surely there must be a way to rectify that, she thought as she began the job of cleaning up the mess Nelly had made. No matter how stubborn or reluctant each person involved would be.
Chapter 15
He was a coward, a bloody pathetic coward.
Ash climbed the stairs to his bedchamber to dress for dinner later that evening. He had been gone for most of the day, blindly riding, walking, anything that could take him far from Caulnedy and the girls and the guilt they all dredged up in him. Leaving Bronwyn to take on the burden of caring for it all.
But wasn’t that the reason he had married her? And she had agreed to that arrangement. In fact, she had seemed just as eager for it as he had. She was brilliant, and determined, and it would give her exactly what she wanted out of life, the independence to forge a name for herself.
And she was so damn passionate she made him ache for her.