Intentions of the Earl (16 page)

“I surely hope so,” Paul said with a faint
smile.

Chapter 14

A half hour before dinner was to be served
guests started to congregate in the drawing room to mingle while
waiting to be shown to dinner. Papa had introduced the family to
Paul Grimes, who he proudly referred to as his protégé.

“He doesn’t yet have all the finer points of
the Lord’s work, but with a little help and direction he’ll be the
best vicar in all of England,” Papa declared, beaming with
pride.

“I thank you kindly, sir. You will never know
how much I appreciate what you have agreed to do,” Mr. Grimes said
modestly.

“Think nothing of it,” Papa told him, waving
his hand dismissively.

“Good evening, Mr. Banks,” interrupted a
voice from behind.

“Good to see you again, Townson. I would like
for you to meet Mr. Paul Grimes, he is the local vicar. He came to
see me this afternoon. Mr. Grimes, this is Andrew Black, he is the
Earl of Townson.”

Andrew and Paul bowed to each other.

“So this is the mysterious guest, then?”
Andrew asked.

“The very one.”

Andrew turned and faced Brooke, her mother
and sisters. “Good evening, ladies,” he said with another bow.

“Townson,” Mama said cordially.

“Mrs. Banks, you are looking well. And as for
all three of you, Misses Banks, you all look very beautiful
tonight.”

“Thank you,” they chorused in unison.

“Would you like to take a turn of the room
with me, Miss Banks, and allow me to introduce you to some of the
other guests?” he asked as he held out is arm to Brooke.

“I would like that very much,” Brooke
said.

When Andrew and Brooke had taken a few steps
out of earshot of her parents Andrew leaned down and whispered in
her ear, “I see those mineral baths agreed with you.”

Brooke’s face slightly colored at his
innuendo, but she was determined not to let him get her goat
tonight; at least not so early anyway. “We had a splendid time in
Bath. It was quite a wonderful experience,” she replied blandly

“You’re rather fetching when you blush,”
Andrew said, ignoring her meaningless comment.

They walked around the room, but Andrew
didn’t introduce her to anyone. He purposely steered her around the
room avoiding everyone that might want to talk to them. The way he
was guarding her, Brooke couldn’t help but feel like she was the
only woman in the room.

“Have you had an agreeable visit thus far?”
Andrew asked.

“Yes, I have. I saw some men out playing a
lawn game earlier from my window. It looked like a lot of fun.
Tomorrow I plan to ask if I may join.”

“Perhaps I can join you. I know the rules to
most lawn games. I can help you learn them if you like,” he
offered, his eyes dancing with amusement.

“I just bet you do.” She did too, he seemed
the sort. She’d also bet that him helping her learn the rules would
involve their bodies being in close contact. She had an excited
shiver at the thought.

“Have you seen the conservatory?” he asked,
breaking into her thoughts.

“No,” Brooke said sadly. “I was hoping for a
tour of the place, but when we arrived my aunt and uncle were too
busy accepting guests and neither of them could give a tour at the
time.”

“What of your father? He did grow up here,
did he not?”

“Yes, but he has been busy with Mr. Grimes,
talking about the Bible and whatnot, since shortly after we
arrived.”

“Ah, what a pity,” Andrew said
sympathetically. Then his eyes lit up as if he had a breakthrough
of some sort. “I will be happy to give you a complete tour of the
estate tomorrow if that would please you.”

“How do you know your way around the estate
well enough to give a tour?” she asked skeptically.

“I’m rather close friends with your cousin
Alex. He and I attended school together. Then we went on our Grand
Tour together. I’ve been here many times and know where everything
of interest is.”

She nodded. “Well, in that case, I should be
delighted to go on a tour with you.” She looked at his smiling face
and added, “We will require a chaperone, of course.”

His smile didn’t falter. “Of course you
require a chaperone.” Then he pretended to pause and think about
something. “How about if we bring Alex?” When she looked skeptical
of going off around the estate with two unmarried men, he hastened
to add, “It’s acceptable for you to be accompanied by a male
cousin. He is family after all. Anyway, at these house parties the
rules are more relaxed than they are in London. Nobody would think
a thing of it.”

“All right then,” Brooke said, agreeing to go
but still not sure how Mama would react. Even though Alex was a
cousin, he was still a man, and none of them actually knew him very
well.

As if fate was unhappy with Brooke, she could
only revel in her excitement of the promise of a tour for a mere
moment before they were accosted by the enemy: Lady Olivia
Sinclair.

“Good evening, my lord,” she said, curtsying
to Andrew. Then she directed a brief icy glance toward Brooke.
“Miss Banks,” she murmured.

Both Andrew and Brooke quickly greeted Lady
Olivia.

“I am so glad I found you, my lord. I was
beginning to think you had reneged on your invitation to escort me
into dinner.” Lady Olivia’s accusation was said loud enough to turn
heads in their direction.

Brooke was so convinced of her words that her
fingers acted on their own accord and loosened their grip of his
arm and lightly hovered on his coat, barely touching the fabric.
Was it true? Had he promised to take Lady Olivia into dinner? If he
had, why was he walking with her? Her mind raced with all sorts of
questions she wanted to ask but knew she couldn’t. She stood still,
waiting for Andrew to say something.

When he finally did, it wasn’t what Brooke
had hoped. “Please accept my humble apologies. I would be glad to
escort you into dinner. Let me just return Miss Banks back to her
family,” he said smoothly to Lady Olivia.

Andrew nearly dragged Brooke back to where
her parents were standing across the drawing room. “You shouldn’t
be acting snippy with me. I’m not the one who was caught trying to
get out of an earlier promise,” she said icily when they were
almost to her parents.

Andrew didn’t dignify that statement with an
answer.

When they reached her parents he disengaged
his arm, then turned and stalked across the room to Lady Olivia
before anymore words could be exchanged.

Brooke stood by her parents. She tried to act
as if she weren’t bothered with the evening’s change of events. She
talked to a few of the gentlemen that were around and was escorted
down to dinner by Mr. Cook.

On the way to dinner Mr. Cook tried to make
small talk, but even that was too much for her to keep up with. Her
mind was too busy thinking of Andrew and why he’d thrown her over
like that. If he had previously asked Lady Olivia to dinner then
why did he seek her out? Was he really trying to renege on his
earlier promise? As awful as it sounded, she almost hoped that was
what had happened. Not that she liked that Lady Olivia ended up
with Andrew as her dinner companion after all, but she liked the
idea that he had attempted to throw Lady Olivia over for her. She
knew she was sick for thinking, and relishing, such a thought, but
at least she was honest.

Mr. Cook led her to a pair of seats across
from Liberty and Mr. Grimes. Once they were seated, Brooke murmured
her greetings to the others then stared at the entrance waiting for
Andrew. What was taking him so long? He was an earl, one of the
highest ranks in attendance; he should be seated fairly close to
the hostess. She saw the Duke of Gateway with his escort, Lady
Burbank, come in. She was shocked when they sat down right next to
her and Mr. Cook.

Mr. Cook leaned over and whispered, “They are
terribly informal here. Nobody has assigned seats, nor do they
arrange anyone by rank.”

Brooke nodded to confirm she understood
before reverting her eyes back to the doorway. That’s when she saw
them. Lady Olivia came in with a self-satisfied smile big as the
Thames on her face, and when Andrew looked at Brooke, he smiled,
too.

Brooke hadn’t realized she had been holding
her fan until she heard a quick snap. Looking down into her lap,
she discovered that she had indeed just broken her only fan. Not
wanting to draw any attention or questions, she quickly tucked her
broken fan into her reticule.

Mr. Cook, the duke and Mr. Grimes who were
all in hearing distance clearly had not heard anything. Lady
Burbank looked around as if to figure out what she’d heard. But
when Brooke met Liberty’s gaze, she saw a look of sympathy on her
sister’s face.

Even with her unseemly obsession with manners
and etiquette, Liberty was sympathetic and would do anything for
her sisters, Brooke knew this and seeing Liberty’s sympathetic
face, warmed her heart.

Brook tried to put on a brave face, she
didn’t want her sister, or anyone, to know how much it hurt to see
Andrew with another woman on his sleeve. She inclined her chin an
inch or two, as she had often seen the Ladies in London do, and
turned to Mr. Cook. “Do you frequently attend parties here,
sir?”

“Yes indeedy, I do.” Mr. Cook said
jovially.

Brooke hadn’t noticed it before, but now she
was well aware that Mr. Cook had already started to imbibe on the
spirits. Both his language and his breath were giving him away.

She turned to look straight across from her
where Mr. Grimes was sitting. “My father is very excited to have
made your acquaintance this afternoon. He is looking forward to
working with you.” She gave him a small, grateful smile. It was
good for Papa to have something to do to occupy himself, and
ministerial matters were his favorite hobby.

“I am very fortunate your father has agreed
to pass on his knowledge to me,” Mr. Grimes said with a hint of
stress in voice.

Brooke took his words as a subtle hint that
he didn’t want to talk about his situation just now. “Well, even if
you made up a need for him, it will do him some good. He has been
trying to find things to occupy his time ever since we
arrived.”

“I assure you, I have a need for him,” Mr.
Grimes said stiffly, then he relaxed a bit. “But it’s an honor to
meet him either way. I do look forward to getting to know him and
your family better over the next few months.”

Brooke caught sight of Liberty stiffening at
the statement. Did Liberty already take a dislike to this man? He
acted as straight and proper as a pin, what was there for Liberty
not to like?

“Miss Banks,” Mr. Cook said, catching
Brooke’s attention. He waited until the footman had refilling his
wineglass before he spoke. “Pardon me for mentioning this, but I
have taken notice that you and your sisters have some very unusual
names. Do all the colonists name their children such bizarre
names?”

Brooke tried not to grind her teeth. They
were Americans, not Colonists. She was born an American. By her
guess, he couldn’t be so old that he could have known of the United
States as the Colonies, unless of course he was a wee lad in
leading strings at the time.

“Actually, I have no real knowledge of what
the Colonists named their children. During my lifetime, I've only
known my home country to be termed the United States of America.”
Her voice was sweet, but her meaning was not.

Mr. Cook was further into his cups than she
originally thought. He just sat there and blinked at her as if he
had something in his eye he was trying to flush out.

He may not have a clue what she was saying,
but Gateway, who was sitting on her right, did because he was
openly laughing at Mr. Cook and his stupidity. “The Colonists won
their war for independence in 1783. England formally granted their
independence and acknowledged them as the United States of America
then. Thus, Miss Banks was not even alive when they were still
colonies,” Gateway said, then cocked his head in mock
contemplation. “Come to think of it, Cook, neither were you. It
would appear that you missed that particular lecture by Mr.
Rawlings at Eton.”

Brooke fought to keep a smile off her
lips.

Mr. Cook realizing his blunder said, “I beg
your pardon, Miss Banks. As Gateway so bluntly pointed out, history
was not an interest to me in school.”

Brooke was still in shock that Gateway had
taken up in her defense and had shot Mr. Cook down without making
her look bad. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad person after all. She
looked to him and noticed that he was staring at her. She started,
then murmured, “Thank you, Your Grace.”

The duke immediately shifted his eyes and
developed a sharp interest in his soup.

Liberty tried to salvage the conversation
from across the table. “We do have highly irregular names. Brooke’s
real name is Brooklyn, which is the name of a county in New York
that Mama and Papa had just moved to before Brooke was born. In
fact, we still live there.”

“Are there any other counties that are close
to Brooklyn in New York?” Mr. Cook asked, feigning interest.

“Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and The
Bronx,” Liberty recited promptly. “It’s a joke between Madison and
I that we’re just glad our parents weren’t living in Queens when
Brooke entered the world.”

Everyone in the group gave a little laugh.
Brooke personally wouldn’t have minded being called Queenie by her
sisters, she rather liked the idea.

“What about your name?” Mr. Cook asked
politely. “I have never heard the name Liberty before.”

“And you likely will not hear it again. It
means freedom from external rule. There was a quotation in the
Declaration of Independence that begins with ‘Life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness’. Anyway, that particular line was very
popular among the colonists during the time of the Revolutionary
War.