A Bloom in Winter (19 page)

But Kit couldn’t concentrate on the book once ensconced in the library. He had a crackling fire, all the fine literature he could read, and a hot cup of tea, but thoughts of that spoiled minx Victoria kept creeping into his mind. When had that argumentative,
spoiled, selfish little chit of a woman gotten under his skin?

And more important, how could he get her out of his mind?

*   *   *

If Lady Summerset was surprised to find that all three of her young charges wished to go on calls with her that day, she didn’t show it, but then, Rowena reflected, her aunt wouldn’t stoop so low as to show her surprise.

Rowena was going because she desperately needed to confer with Sebastian about how they were going to break off their engagement. Elaine was along for moral support and because she didn’t want to miss anything that might be scandalous or exciting, and Victoria was going . . . Rowena frowned at the back of her little sister’s head. Why was Victoria going?

As if summoned, Victoria turned around in her seat. Because so many of them were going in the motorcar, one of them had to sit up with the driver, and Victoria had been the first to volunteer. “Who all are we going to see today, Auntie?”

Aunt Charlotte took a list out of the handbag she had tucked next to her. “The Kinkaids, the Honeywells, the Winthrops, and, of course, the Billingslys. We will go there last and stay for supper. It’s just going to be a few friends and family. We have so many wedding plans to discuss.”

She smiled at Rowena and Rowena smiled back weakly.

Wedding plans.

“Well, I think this is going to be such fun,” Elaine gushed from the seat next to her. “Everyone will make such a fuss over you.”

Rowena jabbed her surreptitiously in the ribs. Sometimes Elaine’s teasing got to be a bit much.

“Oh, don’t start nattering on, Elaine, or this drive will take forever,” Aunt Charlotte snapped.

Rowena could feel Elaine’s hurt and she wished she hadn’t poked her. She laid her head back against the leather seat. The slight throbbing in her temples told her it was going to be a very long afternoon, indeed.

She let the talk flow around her and concentrated instead on Jon. She remembered how he had kissed her before he had left, his lips seeking an answer to something unasked. Let Victoria worry about an engagement if she wanted to. Rowena knew Jon loved her. Things were more complicated than Victoria knew. It would all work out eventually.

She heard Victoria’s voice, talking to her aunt in an animated way. What was she speaking of? She opened her eyes.

“You know, Auntie, I am so excited about this season and not just because of the extra fun of Rowena’s engagement festivities. I’ve never done a full proper season before, did you know that? Do you think I have enough dresses? I know I should wear dark dresses for most of it, but Father wouldn’t want me to stay in mourning forever. Do you think I should order some new clothes?”

Rowena’s mouth fell open. Her sister hated the season and thought it a complete and utter waste of time. She tried to catch Victoria’s eye, but her sister was staring fixedly at her aunt.

Aunt Charlotte greeted this barrage in the same even manner with which she greeted everything. “Why don’t you and I go through your dresses tomorrow? Surely you will want at least four new ball gowns if you are going to do a proper season. Elaine ordered two more last fall and all her new accessories, so she is ready, and of course Rowena will need an entire trousseau.”

She frowned. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.
They will charge a fortune to have everything made up so quickly, but you will both need new gowns for the season.”

Victoria smiled as if excited by the prospect of endless fittings, but Rowena knew better. Though they both loved pretty things, fittings were their special pet hate, to be avoided at all costs, and now her sister was practically begging for them. Rowena narrowed her eyes. Something was going on. First Victoria’s excitement about coming to do calls and now this? She would corner her to ask the first moment they were alone, Rowena decided. Find out exactly what was going on in her sister’s head.

That moment was more difficult to find than she’d anticipated. Everyone wanted to see the antique family engagement ring Sebastian had given her. She’d balked at wearing it at first, but Sebastian had insisted, to keep up the ruse. “You might be the first Billingsly woman to wear it who was actually in love,” he’d joked. The thought depressed her.

While Rowena was swept away into a sea of wedding conversations at the first call, Victoria mingled with an intent that puzzled her sister. Before Rowena could get a chance to corner Victoria, Aunt Charlotte hurried them all back into the car for the next visit, where the sequence were repeated. She might have to wait until she got to the Billingslys’. Perhaps she could ask for some time to rest before supper and take her suddenly social sister with her.

Sebastian met them at the door and kissed her hand warmly. “And how is my beautiful fiancée today?” he asked with a teasing smile.

She wanted to hit him. He was enjoying this. But then, remembering how sad he had been the first time she’d come to Eddelson, she decided she’d much rather see him smiling.

As before, Rowena was rushed off into a whirl of wedding discourse, but because the groom’s mother was involved, everything seemed to take on a greater importance. Her every opinion, no matter how thoughtlessly given, was taken as gospel and commented on by either her aunt or Sebastian. After Rowena had been told, in no uncertain terms, that orange sherbet was absolutely not the same color as orange blossom, Elaine took matters into her own hands.

“I’m sure Rowena is getting a bit tired, as am I. Could we rest and freshen up before dinner?”

“That would be wonderful.” Rowena tried to look pathetic and wan.

“Of course. Larson will show you both to one of the bedrooms.”

“Victoria, would you join me?” Rowena asked over her shoulder as she turned to follow the butler.

Victoria, who’d been chatting up one Lady Worthington, raised her eyebrows. “But I’m not really tired, Ro, and I’m having such a lovely chat.” She flashed the woman in the lavender tea gown next to her a beatific smile.

The woman patted her knee. “Go ahead, my dear. Your sister probably wants to talk about the wedding.”

Victoria gave way reluctantly but not before she surreptitiously passed the woman a card. The trio followed the butler to a large bedroom overlooking the same sculpture garden she and Sebastian had walked through the first time she was here. A large ornate bed decorated the middle and there were several comfortable sofas and chaise lounges in front of a cheerful fire.

Elaine lay down on a striped chaise and waved her hand at the others. “Relax, for God’s sake. It’s not even my wedding and I feel like I’m being hounded to death. Everyone thinks I know
more than I’m telling. Of course, I do, but I can’t tell them that. Can you imagine?”

Rowena reclined on a sofa and pulled a throw over herself. “It’s not even a real wedding and I feel the same way.”

Victoria glared at her and then plopped down into the chair closest to Rowena. “I don’t understand why
I
had to come. I was having a perfectly fine time.”

Rowena flipped over on her stomach and eyed her sister. Victoria’s health had improved since she’d moved to Summerset, but she had become quieter and more thoughtful. Now she had a secret, which wasn’t that unusual. Victoria had always harbored secrets like they were pearls to be treasured, but this one was different. She suddenly seemed self-assured, almost adult.

“And that is exactly why I wanted to see you. Where is all this love for polite society coming from? If anything, you’ve hated doing your social duty even more than I have, and now you’re going on calls and asking Aunt Charlotte to introduce you around? Ball gowns and fittings? The season? Really?”

Victoria’s eyes shifted away from hers. “We all have to have something, Rowena. You have your flyboy and a fake engagement and I have a newfound love of gaiety. The Coterie will be at most of those functions, right?” She looked at Elaine, who nodded in confirmation. “See, my new set is going to be going. Why wouldn’t I want to spend as much time with them as possible?”

“Does that include Kit?” Rowena asked.

For a moment a look of hurt so profound crossed Victoria’s face that Rowena had an urge to gather Vic up into her arms and tell her that everything was going to be all right, but then she regained the impudent expression that made Rowena want to shake her. Prudence had always been much better with Vic in this kind of mood than she was.

“Of course that includes Kit. What do you think? And why does everything have to be about a man?”

Rowena’s eyes widened. “It doesn’t. I just thought you and Kit were special friends.” She raised her hands to show that she didn’t mean anything by it.

“Just because you fancy yourself in love doesn’t mean that everyone needs to be. I’m never going to get married, you know that. And Kit has absolutely nothing to do with anything!”

Rowena shook her head. They were getting way off topic now. Swinging her feet around to sit up, Rowena reached across and captured one of Victoria’s arms. Vic tried to yank it back, but Rowena held firm and, slipping her fingers under the lace cuff, pulled out several cream-colored cards.

Rowena read the fancy script:
The Suffragettes for Female Equality
. Underneath was an address.

“What are these?” she asked curiously.

To her surprise, Victoria flew at her in a fury that she hadn’t shown since she was a child throwing a tantrum. Rowena found herself being shoved back down into the sofa while the card was snatched out from her fingertips.

“That, my dear, prying sister, is none of your business.”

“Is that what you have been giving out and why you are suddenly so eager to meet people?” Rowena couldn’t understand. Why was her sister being so mysterious about a suffragette society? They all belonged to one or another anyway.

A mottled red stained Victoria’s pale face and her mouth tightened. “I don’t understand why my business always has to be your business. Now, if you will excuse me.”

Tilting her chin, she marched out of the room. Rowena expected a slam of the door but it never came.

Elaine sat straight up on the lounge, her blue eyes wide. “What on earth was that all about? I haven’t seen her like that since she was a child.”

Rowena snorted. “That’s because you haven’t been around her much.”

But Rowena pondered that question the rest of the evening.

*   *   *

Victoria wondered the same thing as she hurried down the hall. Why had she gotten so angry? It was perfectly fine if Rowena knew about her involvement with the Suffragettes for Female Equality. Her stomach twisted uneasily. It just seemed so confusing. But still, she could have told Rowena about her job and instead she felt violated, as if Rowena had been picking away at a festering sore that just couldn’t seem to heal.

Wait. Shouldn’t she be in the salon by now? She looked around; nothing looked familiar. Even though Eddelson Hall wasn’t near the size of Summerset, it was obvious that one could still get confused. The walls were much lighter than anything at Summerset, a pretty pale blue, dotted with portraits of dead Billingslys and their equally dead hunting dogs.

Ornately carved pocket doors opened on either side of the hall, and Victoria found herself less eager to make it back to the gossip of the salon when she could possibly find a quiet nook to relax in. It turned out that being social was infernally hard work.

Victoria wanted to blame her behavior on anything but the truth. It was because Rowena had brought up Kit, and Victoria missed him terribly, in spite of everything. She missed him so much it hurt to think about it.

She shook her head as if to shake the thought of him loose.
He had made his choice—to act like a selfish bore and cast their friendship aside as if it were nothing. Now she just wanted to find a place to be left alone. At least for a while.

She tiptoed down the hall, peering into various rooms. When she finally poked her head around the corner, she knew she had the perfect place. The space was both rich and mellow, with hundreds of books lining the walls and comfortable leather furniture. Leaded windows covered one wall and let in splashes of natural light, and a fire burned happily in the hearth.

Slipping inside, she noiselessly slid the pocket door shut, hoping for at least an hour of quiet before she had to make an appearance for dinner.

And what a lovely place to escape to, she thought, meandering over to a giant bookshelf that covered one wall. Whoever designed it had done so for comfort alone and perhaps a love and respect for Scotland, she thought, eyeing the green-and-cream plaid throws on the furniture. She had just turned to the books, hoping to find a volume of poetry among the impressive historical tomes that lined the shelf, when she heard a noise. Something between a snort and a snuff. She froze, her heart pounding in her chest. Suddenly she knew with certainty that she wasn’t alone in the library. As she turned soundlessly around, her eyes darted to every corner of the room, searching for the interloper. Of course, in reality, she was the interloper, but Victoria had come to think of this delightful room as hers. At least for the next hour.

There was nothing. Her eyes swept the room again and then caught on the corner of the armchair facing the fire. The back of the chair was so high that she couldn’t see a head, but that definitely looked like a man’s sleeve.

Sebastian was down in the sitting room, being bombarded
with wedding talk, and his father was dead, so who . . . Then her heart stopped beating. This had probably been Sebastian’s father’s library. A room that he had loved. She stared fixedly at the black fabric barely showing around the side of the chair. It looked real enough. Suddenly a ghostly white chunk of a hand fell off the arm of the chair and dangled there as though it weren’t attached to anything.

Victoria tried to scream but instead only squawked. Loudly.

The person belonging to the sleeve leapt to his feet and whirled around. “Good God, woman!”