Page 62 of The Earl Next Door
“Of course. I like Miss Ballingbrand. She seems to suit you. I’m just surprised you’re not waiting until the Season is over and parliament has ended.”
“I had expected to.” Marksworth chuckled under hisbreath. “But there’s hardly two weeks left of the parties so I can forgo them. She’s ready to marry me, leave London, and begin our travels. I had hoped she’d learn to enjoy the parties, teas, and shopping, but that hasn’t happened. She’s quite miserable here and loves the quiet of the country so we’ll go ahead, say our vows, and then visit my estates while the weather is comfortable.”
“I’m surprised and glad you’re acquiescing to her wishes.”
“Why do you say that? I’ve done my best to make all my wives happy.” He grunted. “Besides, she’s eager to start a family.”
“Marksworth, we are not on that path today,” Lyon said, suddenly annoyed.
“I don’t suppose you ever have been,” his father mumbled. “I’m glad she wants children. There’s no reason for us to wait for a few more parties and a few more votes. Especially since it looks as if another Season will end with you unwed.”
The devil take it! If Lyon could change Adeline’s mind, he would be happy to do so. But she’d made it quite clear her first marriage was enough for her. He was doing his best. He had to trust his instincts. Pressing her every other day to marry him wouldn’t help him to earn her trust. It was difficult enough to accept the way things were without his father’s constant harping about him marrying and having a son.
Marksworth continued to talk, but something else had caught Lyon’s attention. In the distance he heard high-pitched girlish squeals, yells, and peals of childish laughter. He pulled on the reins, stopping his horseand scanning the area around him. To his right he saw a group of children playing.
His body tightened. They had to be girls from the school. He recognized their sounds. Maybe Adeline was with them in the park. A perfect coincidental meeting.
“I’m going this way, Marksworth,” he said, and without waiting for his father to agree, he guided his horse to change directions.
His father had no choice but to follow and catch up to say, “Where are you going all of a sudden? This isn’t the way to run away from a conversation you don’t like.”
“I’m not,” he answered. “There’s something I have to do. I’ll see you at your wedding on Friday.”
Lyon nudged the horse, and the mare started trotting. He didn’t slow the animal until he was close enough to recognize the girls’ coats and bonnets. Making a wide circle around the merrymakers, he looked at the three women standing guard.
Adeline wasn’t with them.
Disappointment and aggravation gathered in his chest. There was no reason for her to be with them but for a brief moment he’d had hope. As he watched them, something odd struck him. Two girls were apart from the rest. They weren’t up running around wildly, holding hands and swinging around, or laughing and chasing with the others. They were sitting on the ground, a good distance away from the playing and from each other. Looking closer he realized the two girls sitting as the ones who’d entered his house that morning. The headmistress was standing an equaldistance between them. Fanny and Mathilda each had a slate and chalk in their hands and seemed to be writing something.
Writing? While in the park? Instead of playing?
He watched the red-haired girl hand her board up to the mistress. She looked at it, picked up the tail of her apron, wiped it clean, and then handed it back to the girl who started writing on it again.
Lyon’s hackles rose. Was this the punishment Adeline had told him about or had the two done something else? It had been a month since the wayward lasses had entered his house, so this shouldn’t be over that incident. But he didn’t know and wanted to find out.
Lyon turned his horse again and kicked his heels into the mare’s flanks. She took off at a gallop. Not wanting to take the time to return the animal to the stables, he raced around curricles, pedestrians, and vegetable carts to get out of the park. Carriage and wagon traffic was heavy on the streets, but he didn’t let that stop his pace either. Without slowing down, he nudged the horse around the slow-moving coach he was behind. Then, one at a time he passed all the conveyances in front of him until he made it to his house in St. James. He quickly dismounted and tethered the mare.
Two carriages were in front of Adeline’s house. Probably Mrs. Feld and Lady Kitson. He didn’t care that he’d be interrupting them. They’d seen him at her house before. So had Mrs. Feversham. If he hadn’t been so intent on getting to the bottom of the girls in the park, he might have turned around and waved to his neighbor.
He strode up to the front door and knocked.
“Mrs. Lawton,” he said, removing his hat when she opened the door. “I’d like to see Lady Wake.”
“She has guests, my lord.”
“I know, but tell her I’ll only take a moment of her time. You can show me to another room to wait until she’s free, but I’ll see her today.”
Mrs. Lawton smiled at him. “Her ladyship told me that you’re the one who gave the girls the pianoforte.”
What could he say? He’d asked Adeline not to tell the girls. He never told her not to tell her housekeeper. He nodded slightly.
She smiled. “I like hearing it in the evenings when all else is quiet. Puts me right to sleep.” She inclined her head toward the corridor. “Go on in and see her. She’s not standing on ceremony today. She has the little one here.”
“Little one?” he asked.
“Lady Kitson Fairbright’s son. He’s a fine boy. Running about here and there and all over the house. No rest for anyone when that one’s around. He can’t be still or stay in one room for long.”
Lyon handed his hat and gloves to the woman, walked to the drawing room doorway, then stopped. His heart slammed against his chest. Adeline was sitting in a chair holding a little dark-haired boy. She had a small wooden horse in her hand and was hopping it across the child’s knees as she said, “Clip-clop, clip-clop.”
