Page 6 of An Innocent Bride for the Duke

“Oh?” returned Benedict, turning away slightly as he felt his face flush and his jaw tighten at something in his friend’s casual words.

He exhaled slowly, trying to make sense of his own reactions to the newcomers. First, Benedict had been wildly distracted by that first sight of a pretty face, neat figure and honey-gold curls, almost to the extent that he had neglected to slow or stop his horse in good time. Now, Damien’s jibes about his effect upon Lady Louisa were sparking an unwanted warmth in his blood.

Did Benedict actually like the idea of teasing Lady Louisa into a temper..? That would not do at all. He knew where such games led, even if she did not.

“I shall endeavor to behave better on our journey north,” Benedict assured his friend sincerely. “The two ladies shall have no further cause for complaint against me.”

Chapter Three

“They must travel with me or they will be sad,” insisted Fanny, pushing out her lower lip as she clutched an armful of her favorite dolls, others lying on the floor of the hallway beneath her, some rag dolls, others with wooden limbs and stuffed bodies and one or two with painted china faces. “I must travel with Aunt Beatrice or I will be sad.”

“Oh dear,” sighed Seraphine, having failed to reason with her daughter over where Fanny and her many dolls should ride in the carriages. “Poor Aunt Beatrice and Cousin Louisa would be very squashed with you and all your dolls, as well as the Duke of Northwick. Poor Ezra would be very lonely by himself with the nursemaids too.”

“Why don’t I come with you in the second carriage with the nursemaids and Ezra, Fanny?” suggested Louisa, crouching down beside the little girl and her mother. “Then Aunt Beatrice and His Grace would have enough room. Aunt Beatrice needs plenty of cushions and the duke is very tall, but I can squeeze in anywhere easily.”

“But you don’t know all my dolls as well as Aunt Beatrice,” Fanny objected.

“I do know their names,” replied Louisa quickly. “That one is Susie, that one is Pepper, that one is Imogen…”

“Yes, but you don’t know their favorite suppers or colors,” interrupted the child unhappily, evidently dead-set on her great-aunt’s company. “They will cry if you get things wrong, and then I will cry too.”

“Never mind, my dear,” put in Lady Esher, breaking off from instructing maids and footmen about placement of trunks, bags and hampers. “I shall join Fanny and her dolls in the carriage with the nursemaids and you shall ride with Ezra and His Grace in my carriage.”

“Will you have enough room, Aunt Beatrice?” Louisa queried doubtfully and Lady Esher patted her shoulder. “Will the Duke of Northwick want to travel with a child?”

“We will all have more than enough room,” Lady Esher pronounced with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Ezra is small and will certainly take up less space than twelve dolls. I believe the boy is rather attached to His Grace too, from what Seraphine and Damien said at dinner. There should be no problems…”

Here, Lady Esher paused thoughtfully, and then nodded to herself.

“I shall go and speak to the Duke of Northwick myself now, Louisa, and the nursemaids too. Set your mind at rest. Now, Fanny, help your mother pack those dolls into their bags for the journey.”

Everything in hand in the hallway again, Lady Esher sailed away outside.

“A word please, Your Grace,” said the firm voice of silver-haired Lady Esher, who seemed to have appeared from nowhere at Benedict’s shoulder as he was speaking to the coachman about their first stops on the road. “In private.”

“Of course, Lady Esher,” Benedict replied politely, nodding to the coachman and offering the elderly lady his arm.

Was he to receive a belated dressing down for his disruptive arrival on the drive last night? Lady Esher had been perfectly civil with Benedict at dinner last night although he felt her sharp blue eyes resting thoughtfully upon him at several points. Lady Louisa had seemed a little subdued, he thought, although perhaps that was only tiredness from the journey.

They walked a little way down the drive and out of earshot of the servants before she said anything hinting at her motives for this conversation. It was quickly apparent that the dust incident was not the main subject on Lady Esher’s mind.

“My niece and young Ezra will be riding with you today, Your Grace,” she informed him briskly. “Fanny insists that I accompany her and her dozen dolls in the other carriage and for the sake of peace, I have agreed. I am told that the boy is fond of you and should give no trouble.”

“As you wish,” returned Benedict with a nod. “I am at your service on this journey, Lady Esher. The Duke of Wexford has tasked me with delivering you all safely to the north and I am not a man who shirks from my commitments.”

At this, Lady Esher laughed aloud, although not unkindly or mockingly.

“A very clever answer, young man. You generally have no commitments, as far as I know, and have been very careful not to acquire any. That is your own business, of course.”

Benedict smiled and looked down. Of course, Lady Esher would know something of him. Even among elderly ladies living in Cumbria, it seemed something of his reputation preceded him.

“Most people would not think five-and-thirty young, Lady Esher,” he returned as his only answer.

“It is young by my standards, Your Grace. I remember your mother, you see, although after her marriage, we lost touch.”

“Ah,” he murmured, breathing in slowly and hoping that Lady Easher was not about to unpack her long-cherished memories of his dead mother. “I see.”

While Benedict could still just about remember his mother’s face and her smile, he had been only ten years of age when she died. More often, it was other less welcome expressions that came back to him unbidden. He would rather not have these recalled right now.