Sussex Summer (14 page)

As Edward spoke, hurt flooded through Jane’s heart, hurt that was quickly displaced by anger. Did Captain Tremaine think that because he did not find her attractive as a woman, no other man could? How dared he presume to lecture her on her behaviour!

"I may not be accustomed to the rarefied heights of society you are, Captain Tremaine, but that does not mean I am no judge of character," Jane replied in clipped tones.

"Now I have made you angry," Edward said ruefully. “I am making a mull of things, but I only wished to speak to you as a brother might, had you one. Lord Blackwood has an unsavoury reputation as far as women are concerned, and I must caution you about him."

Edward was only saying the same things that Jane had said to herself the night before, but, perversely, hearing Edward say them made Jane wish to refute them.

"What right do you have to condemn my conduct?” Jane asked. “You forget I have a father. If there is anything amiss with my conduct
he
will speak to me."

"Perhaps your father did not witness the kiss in the shrubbery last night that I witnessed,” Edward said bluntly, his own temper rising. “Your reputation could have been ruined had anyone other than I seen you with Lord Blackwood in such a compromising position."

Jane was now thoroughly angry. "So that was you whose footsteps I heard upon the gravel! What were you about, spying upon me? When does a single kiss ruin a reputation? Do you mean to tell me that you have never kissed Lady Juliette?" The picture this conjured up in Jane’s mind fueled her anger. "Do you feel it is impossible for a man to find me a desirable woman, Captain Tremaine?"

"No!" Edward brushed his hair back in his familiar gesture of frustration. "But a kiss may go further—"

"Are you implying you have so little faith in my character that I would allow Lord Blackwood to seduce me?" Jane demanded, knowing the conversation was now bordering on the improper, but too angry to care.

"That is
not
what I mean..." Edward faltered as he realised that was exactly what he had meant. How could he explain to an innocent young girl—and that was what Jane was, even if she was four-and-twenty—how events could happen almost without one's being aware? He knew he had no right to censure Jane's conduct, but he had become accustomed to thinking of her as his sister and felt he ought to protect her and look out for her best interests.

While Edward floundered for the right words to express his fears, Jane climbed on the fence, stepping on the rail to remount her horse before Edward could move to stop her. Without a backward look, Jane rode off to find the rest of the party, leaving Edward to follow.

 Edward, cursing himself roundly for his clumsiness in approaching the subject of Lord Blackwood to Miss Hampton, mounted Ariel as quickly as he could and followed after her, thinking how to repair his blunder. When he caught up with the others a good distance farther he wondered if he had done more harm than good, for Jane was engaged in an animated conversation with Lord Blackwood as they rode side-by-side.

Chapter Nine

“Captain Tremaine, are you not going to accompany us to the village this morning? You will have to make haste with your breakfast if you are."

Lady Juliette smiled enchantingly at Edward over her empty plate that Friday week. She was in a cheerful mood, knowing she was in her best looks in a multi-coloured sprigged muslin gown with a low rounded neckline that displayed her charms amply but discreetly.

Edward looked up from his full plate and glanced around the table. Everyone had finished eating but him.

"I hope you will excuse me today, Lady Juliette," he said, laying his fork down. "I must forgo the pleasure of your company this morning to take care of some business affairs."

"What can be so important that it cannot wait until this afternoon?" Lady Juliette coaxed.

Edward smiled at her persistence. "I am afraid I must not allow you to persuade me this morning, Lady Juliette. Your company is so tempting that I have neglected my correspondence and other affairs shockingly since you have been here."

The compliment did little to mollify Lady Juliette, and she regarded Edward closely. His interest in her was beginning to wane—it was definitely not as strong as it once had been if she could not persuade him to spend the morning with her instead of his business. Feeling it only fair, she would redouble her efforts to engage Edward's interest before turning her sights on the earl. It was fortunate she had pocketed the letter from Colonel Wentworth. To have had to leave Sussex at this juncture would have been fatal to her plans.

"Stay if you please, but I shall go to town nevertheless," she said aloud. She turned to Edward's brother. "You will accompany us, will you not, Jamie? My aunt and I need someone to help us with our parcels."

"Glad to be of assistance, Lady Juliette," Jamie agreed, albeit not very willingly. The idea of a morning spent playing footman was not appealing.

Lord Blackwood smiled at Jamie knowingly, and Lady Martin looked offended at the reluctance of their hosts to accompany her and her niece wherever they might wish to go.

"I am sure we do not wish to put you out," she said frostily, her habitually severe expression exacerbated by a frown.

Jamie forced more enthusiasm into his voice. "Not at all. Delighted to be of service," he said, looking at Edward with an expression that told his brother he felt he owed him a favour.

Slightly more satisfied, Lady Martin rose majestically from the table and left the room, followed by her niece, nephew and Jamie.

Edward remained at the table after the others had left, the kidneys on his plate congealing in their gravy. He
had
neglected all his other affairs since bringing the Blackwoods to Haverton Park. Lady Juliette was not accustomed to the slow pace of country life, and despite his best efforts to keep her amused, she was becoming bored with country activities, he could tell.

Edward wondered anew if Juliette would be satisfied with the life he had to offer her. He cared little for society; she thrived on it. He saw how she basked in the admiration of the earl and wondered about the relationship developing between Lady Juliette and Lord Staplefield. Although Lord Staplefield continued to address her in the ridiculously outmoded style of expression he affected in her presence, Lady Juliette did not seem to object. Perhaps Lord Staplefield's gallantries to her were more sincere than he had at first thought.

Edward wished he had someone to talk to about Lady Juliette. He missed the morning visits he had become accustomed to having with Jane before he had gone to London. Since the Blackwoods had come, the talks had of necessity ended. He could not leave his guests every morning to visit somewhere else. Although now Jane probably would not speak to him in any event, he supposed, not after their recent altercation over Lord Blackwood.

Edward pushed his still-full plate aside. Somehow nothing tempted his appetite this morning.

"Miss Hampton has asked to speak with you,” the butler announced from the breakfast room door, as though Edward's thoughts had conjured up Jane’s actual presence. “I have put her in the rose drawing room."

“I shall join her directly," Edward replied, rising from the table. He wondered what had brought Jane to Haverton Park. He certainly had not expected her to seek his company so soon after their falling-out.

Jane sat on the gracefully curved window seat in the drawing room, gazing out the window at the flowers in Lady Tremaine's garden. She was wearing the pink print frock and wide-brimmed bonnet he had first seen her in, and a rush of nostalgia for that day warmed his voice as he spoke to her.

"Good morning, Miss Hampton," Edward said to announce his presence. "What brings me the pleasure of your company?"

"I have brought what I hope is good news for you, Captain Tremaine," Jane replied with a smile, turning from the window and holding out a thick letter. "I hope you will not think it presumptuous of me to have had my father write on your behalf."

Mystified, Edward took the letter and perused it, his face lighting as he began to comprehend its contents. "Why, this is of all things wonderful, Miss Hampton! Colonel Fisher writes that he also has been concerned about the damaging things being said of Sir John. He gives me the direction of someone who may be able to help—Sir Howard Douglas—and includes a letter of introduction. He suggests that I may be able to arrange to see him next week in Brighton."

At the pleasure on his face, Jane was glad she had overcome her pique long enough to bring him the letter. Her father had received the missive the day before yesterday, but at the tune she had still been so angry at his words about Lord Blackwood that she had been tempted not to deliver it at all.

"You say you asked your father to write a letter on my behalf? I cannot thank you enough, Miss Hampton," Edward continued. "for I had reached an impasse. Colonel Wentworth never wrote as he had promised, and I had no other leads. Where did you hear of Colonel Fisher and his interest in Sir John Moore?"

Jane explained about the original letter from the Bishop of Salisbury.

"I did not want to tell you before and have you get your hopes up if it were to come to nothing," she added.

Edward, greatly touched by Jane’s thoughtfulness, smiled at her with affection. An answering smile of pleasure brought the elusive dimple to Jane’s cheek, and Edward felt a sudden urge to place a kiss upon the dimple.

"Miss Hampton," he said instead, wishing to restore their previous ease with one another, "will you please forgive my speaking to you as I did yesterday about Lord Blackwood? You were in the right, of course—it is none of my affair."

"I have already forgiven you," she replied, happy to be in charity with Edward once more. "I know you have my best interests at heart. You need not worry about me, though. I know Lord Blackwood is a rake, and I am in no danger of losing my heart to him."

Edward reflected that it wasn't only her heart he was concerned about, but said nothing, not wishing to lose her good graces again.

“I had best rejoin Fanny and return home,” Jane commented, rising.

Edward accompanied Jane downstairs to the green drawing room, happy to be in accord with one another once more.

"I have been trying to persuade Fanny to accept an invitation to join us for lunch," Lady Tremaine said to Jane as she and Edward entered the room. "The Blackwoods have gone to Staplefield for the morning, but they will return before long. I should be glad of your company to help amuse them."

“We shall be pleased to join you, Lady Tremaine,” Jane acquiesced, not loath to stay at Haverton Park now that she and Captain Tremaine were friends again.

Edward excused himself to attend to his business affairs, and Jane and Fanny passed the time until the others returned from the village in pleasant conversation with Lady Tremaine.

 Jamie and the Blackwoods returned near one o'clock, their party enlarged by the presence of Lord Staplefield, whom they had met at a shop in the village. Lord Tremaine came down from his study, followed by Edward, and the family and guests went in to their luncheon.

"What could we do for entertainment this afternoon?" Lady Juliette asked no one in particular as she picked at an apricot tart on her plate at the end of the meal.

“Not another trip to the village,” Jamie muttered ungraciously, earning himself a reproving look from Lady Tremaine.

Fanny spoke up. "Why not a berry-picking expedition? The brambles are ripe."

Jane regarded her sister in surprise, and intercepted an odd look that passed between the earl and Fanny. A country pastime such as berry-picking would be the last thing to appeal to a woman like Lady Juliette, and Jane wondered why Fanny had suggested it.

"Berry
picking," Lady Juliette scoffed scornfully.

"Odds fruits and prickles, a splendid idea, Miss Fanny," Lord Staplefield approved. He addressed Lady Juliette. "Berry picking is a famous country pastime. By the mass, your visit to Sussex would not be complete without a berry-picking expedition."

Jane almost laughed to see how Lady Juliette's reluctance turned to enthusiasm at the earl's endorsement. The outing was set for three o'clock that afternoon, and a note was sent to the Archer’s son and daughter to ask them to join the party while Jane and Fanny went home to prepare for the expedition.

* * * *

Later that afternoon the sisters returned to Haverton Park wearing old long-sleeved dresses of stout cotton, their heads covered with deep-brimmed bonnets and carrying milk pails for their share of the berries. The men were appropriately clad in buckskins and old coats, but Jane looked at Lady Juliette's clothes doubtfully, for that lady was wearing a light muslin dress that would be torn easily by the thorns. Jane had to admit Lady Juliette did look charming, however, in the fragile fabric trimmed with ribbons and lace.

Lady Juliette looked at the Hamptons' clothes just as dubiously. "How charming," she exclaimed. "Milkmaids."

Jane flushed, but felt better when Marianne Archer arrived clad in a similar thick cotton gown and wearing stout boots.

Edward had located some ripe berries a short distance behind Haverton Park, and they set out in high spirits.

"A guinea to the first one to fill his pail," Christopher called when they reached the brambles, and the party began picking enthusiastically. Marianne, protected by her heavy cotton frock, plunged right into the brambles, filling her pail with rapidity. Lord Staplefield and young Christopher Archer, also well-protected by their clothing, picked almost as rapidly as Marianne, but Christopher was more often tempted to eat his pickings and his pail filled more slowly.

Jane noticed that Fanny took charge of Lady Juliette, showing her how to avoid the worst of the prickles and leading her to a spot she claimed had lots of ripe berries. Jane could not like the place Fanny had selected for Lady Juliette: the bushes were very thick, and Lady Juliette's delicate clothing was likely to get caught in the prickly brambles, but she made no comment.