The Fall of Lord Drayson (Tanglewood Book 1) (30 page)

True to Lady Drayson’s promise, the family called at Knotting Tree the following morning. As soon as Lucy received news that they had come, she dropped her watering can on the marble tile in the conservatory and rushed to greet them. It had only been a day, but it seemed like weeks since she had seen them.

They were already seated in the salon with her parents when she found them. The men stood when she entered.

“Hello.” She greeted them with a warm smile, her gaze lingering on Colin. He looked as handsome as usual, but his smile seemed a touch strained. She tried not to worry herself over it as she sat down in the chair next to his. “It is wonderful to have you here. It feels like an age since I have seen you last.”

“I feel the same,” said Harriett. “Yesterday was the dreariest of days. I awoke with a headache that refused to dissipate, Colin spent the entire day shut in the library with Mr. Graham, and Mother wanted to try her hand at arranging flowers again. I’m sorry to say that my second attempt fared even worse than before.”

“I don’t believe you for a moment,” said Lucy, remembering how dreadful Harriett’s first arrangement had looked. But Lady Drayson’s subtle nod had Lucy reconsidering.

“Mother!” Harriett had noticed the nod as well and wasn’t at all happy about it.

Lady Drayson’s lips twitched. “I’m very sorry to have to say it, Harriett, but you are in the right of it. I believe you took your headache out on those poor flowers.”

Lucy couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of her mouth. She glanced at Lord Drayson to share the moment with him, but although he smiled, his eyes had that faraway look about them, as though his mind was focused on far less trivial matters than a ruined bouquet.

Lucy wanted to pull him aside and question him, force him to share his burdens with her, but she knew he would not appreciate such a scene. When the talk soon turned to the ball, Lucy joined in with the other ladies to plot and plan. But all the while, she stole glances at Colin and tried not to worry. Where had the teasing gone? The warmth in his expression? His excuses to be near her? Already, it felt as though he was drifting away.

Perhaps it is merely a difficult day for him, and tomorrow will be different
, she thought hopefully.

But tomorrow was not much different. Or the next day. Or the next. With each new day that came and went, Lucy felt the distance between them lengthening. Her worst fears were being realized, and she felt powerless to stop it from happening.

The few times Lucy and her mother called at Tanglewood to discuss the upcoming ball, not once did Colin grace them with his presence. According to Lady Drayson, he was always away on business, and Lucy could only wonder what sort of business took him away so often. It was a side to him that he had never really shown Lucy. But now it seemed to be consuming him. Was something wrong? Had an investment failed? Was he having financial difficulties?

Please talk to me,
she thought when she caught a glimpse of him riding away as she was coming.

Lucy’s entire being ached to understand the reason behind his distance, but try as she might, nothing understandable came to mind. Had his feelings toward her changed so drastically in so short a time?

The day of the ball finally came, and Lucy was quite on edge. It was a day most young ladies dreamt about, but she couldn’t shake the dreadful feeling that hovered around her heart, reminding her of the day the doctor had visited their home for the last time and explained that there was nothing more he could do for her father. It felt like a vicious storm was on its way, and rather than face it head on, Lucy wanted to hide away in her bedchamber and not come out until the skies had cleared.

Lady Drayson and Harriett called in the morning to see to the final details of the ball. They were to create a few flower arrangements and add the finishing touches to the ballroom that had not been used once in all the years Mr. Shepherd had lived in Askern. For a few hours, Lucy was able to forget her worries and get lost in the merriment of arranging flowers with the Draysons. Harriett still couldn’t pair flowers together without it looking misshapen or lopsided, but with a few adjustments, Lucy made her arrangement look informally beautiful, like Harriett.

“It is quite frightful, isn’t it?” Harriett said. “Perhaps we should display it in a dark corner of the library where no one will be subject to its imperfections.”

“I think it is charming, and I shall display it in the ballroom along with the others,” said Lucy. “As it is my ball, I should get whatever it is I wish.”

“You are perfectly right.” Harriett took Lucy’s hands and gave them a squeeze in a rare gesture of affection. “You really ought to get whatever it is you wish tonight. And I hope and pray you shall. I hope we all shall.”

If only life could be so magical, thought Lucy. Close your eyes, speak a wish, and suddenly what you wanted most appeared. But if it were that easy, Colin would be here now, taunting Harriett about her flowers and telling Lucy that he planned to instruct the orchestra to play a waltz so that they could shock the entire village by dancing it together.

But he was not here, and . . . Lucy refused to dwell on it a moment longer. Despite the feeling of dread, she would attempt to make this a wonderful, memorable night for herself and all those attending.

“Only wait until late summer, when Queen Anne’s lace is in bloom,” said Mrs. Beresford. “Last year, Lucy created the loveliest arrangement I have ever beheld with that flower. It looked like a large ball of delicate lace.”

Rather than brightening at the prospect, Lady Drayson and Harriett appeared saddened.

“If only we could see such a creation, Mrs. Shepherd. Unfortunately, we will not be here in August,” said Harriett. “Has Lucy not—” Harriett stopped abruptly when she caught sight of Lucy’s wide eyes.

“Oh my goodness, you do not know,” Harriett whispered, her eyes wide as well. Almost as suddenly, her jaw tightened, and she frowned at her mother. “Colin has not told her yet. Can you believe that? My brother is a fool of all fools. Even Prinny himself—”

“Harriett, that is quite enough,” spoke her mother firmly, and Harriett clamped her mouth shut, still frowning. Lucy’s heart pounded as she waited for someone—anyone—to explain.

Lady Drayson bit her bottom lip for a few moments before exhaling a sigh. “Colin should be the one to tell you this, my dear, but I shall not keep you in suspense until that time comes.”

Harriett scoffed and muttered, “It should have already come.”

Lady Drayson directed a warning glance at her daughter before continuing. “It seems a buyer has been found for Tanglewood. He would like to take up residence immediately and has asked that we be removed from the house in two week’s time.”

The room began to wobble and tilt. Lucy’s fingers clutched the table as she struggled to breathe. Tanglewood was to be sold after all. The Draysons would be leaving. Colin would be hers no longer—not that he ever was hers, but there had been a few blissful days when she thought he could be. Lucy drew in a sharp intake of breath as the reality settled around her.

Why had he kept this news from her? Why had he not prepared her in some way? Why had he given her the world, only to snatch it away at the first opportunity?

Her body trembled even as her eyes began to sting. She wanted to throw her arms around her mother and sob until her heart stopped throbbing, but she refused to make such a spectacle of herself in front of the Draysons. And yet she could not remain standing about either, feigning indifference about something that she was not indifferent to at all. She did not have the strength for it.

So Lucy did the only thing she could. She ran.

Voices called for her to stop, but she quickened her feet instead, running and running until she had reached her bedchamber where she found Georgina laying out her gown for the evening. It was there she flung herself onto her bed and burst into tears.

Colin sat hunched at his desk, attempting to read through the contract Erasmus had drafted, but his mind would not focus. It had already been signed by the buyer—a Mr. Jonathan Ludlow—and only awaited Colin’s signature to be official. And yet he could not bring himself to sign his name just yet. Unbeknownst to Colin, Erasmus had scoured the country to find a buyer willing to allow the Beresfords to remain on the property. By the time such a buyer had been found, Mrs. Beresford had already become Mrs. Shepherd, and an occupied dower house was no longer an issue—not that any of it mattered at all to Mr. Ludlow.

The man wanted the property regardless. In fact, he wanted any property that was in a rundown state. If Tanglewood could not be his in two week’s time, he would go looking elsewhere. Colin had already put him off for a fortnight and wished he could continue to do so, but Mr. Ludlow had finally given him an ultimatum. Sign today or do not sign at all.

Colin leaned back in his chair and sighed, rolling the pen between the palms of his hands. Through the open window at his side, he could see the dower house in the distance. He pictured Lucy kneeling in her gardens, wearing her worn straw bonnet and smiling—always smiling. One word or look from her was all it took to induce Colin to smile or laugh or have the strongest urge to shake her senseless. She had wriggled into his mind and heart to the point that the thought of losing her made him ill.

She was the sole reason he could not bring himself to sign his name to the contract just yet.

A loud rap sounded on the door before it burst open. His mother breezed into the room, skirts swishing, and the moment Colin saw her stern expression, he knew he was about to be read a lecture.

“Colin, you are my son and I love you, but you are behaving like a nodcock,” she said.

Colin had no idea why he found her comment amusing, but he smiled faintly, then steeled himself for what was to come. Any conversation beginning in such a way could not bode well for him.

He gestured for his mother to take the chair opposite his desk, which she did. Then he lifted an eyebrow to indicate he was ready for her to continue, which she also did.

“I have tried to stay out of your affairs, but I’m afraid I cannot any longer. After your behavior toward Lucy at Tanglewood, I was certain that you had at least some sort of understanding with her. Is that not the case?”

Colin pressed his lips together a moment before answering. “No. At least not yet.”

His mother gaped at him. “What in heaven’s name are you waiting for? Father Christmas? And why on earth would you agree to sell Tanglewood at such a time?”

“I have not signed the contract yet. The situation is . . . complicated.”

His mother’s expression hardened and her jaw became taut. “Perhaps you can
un
complicate it so that a simple female mind like my own can understand.”

He let out a breath and barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “That is not what I meant, and you know it, Mother. I only meant to say that this is my problem, not yours.”

“Like all of your father’s business dealings became
your
problem and not mine when he died?”

“Exactly.”

She shook her head as though her son was very much in the wrong. “Colin, you have always been fiercely independent, and while it is a great asset to your character, it is also a flaw. From the time you were a babe, you have never wished for my—or anyone’s—help with anything. You preferred the sofa to your nursemaid’s hand when learning to walk. You would drag over a stool to help you reach high places instead of asking an adult to reach something for you. You learned to eat on your own, shoot on your own, and ride a horse on your own.”

“Your point, Mother?” Colin was not finding her lecture nearly as amusing now.

She slowly rose from her chair and bent forward, planting her palms on the desk as she met her son’s gaze. “My point is this. From the moment you took over your father’s holdings, you have kept me out, insisting that it was now your burden to carry and you would handle matters yourself. You were so adamant that I stepped back and allowed you to do so, thinking you would eventually come to your senses. But I can no longer stand back for I have lost all patience with you.”

Colin pressed the end of the pen against his chin and frowned. It seemed he was getting reprimanded for attempting to be a gentleman and not burden his recently widowed mother with the troubles associated with business. Despite the fact that she had needed time to grieve, a man didn’t burden his mother—or wife—with such things. It was Colin’s responsibility—and his alone—to see that the family’s holdings stay strong throughout the remainder of his life and for future generations to come.

“Mother, I don’t understand what has you so upset,” he finally said.

She stood to her full height, which was rather tall for a woman. Colin would have stood as well, but he had a feeling that she wished to tower over him in this moment, so he remained in his seat.

“If you had bothered to ask my opinion about Tanglewood, not only could I have informed you that a lovely family called the Beresfords were living in the dower house, but I could have told you the reasons as to why.”