Page 37 of Vanquished By A Viscount
The rest of the house party had only just begun to come down for breakfast. It was clear at a glance that the weather was still taking its toll. All around the breakfast table were drawn, sallow faces and very few smiles. Miss Martin even broke into an unbecoming yawn before recognizing her gesture and raising a hand to her mouth, cheeks blazing.
The mood of the room changed entirely, and not for the better, when Robert and Gray entered. Charlie raised one eyebrow subtly at Gray as if to ask where things stood. Gray did not need to answer him, however.
“Good morning, my dear,” Robert said quietly, moving straight to Barbara’s chair and bending as if he would kiss her cheek.
Barbara squeaked, grasped her plate, and stood from her seat to march around the table and away from Robert without even looking at him.
Robert sighed and bowed his head for a moment before sending Gray a look as if to say “I told you so.” He moved on to assume his seat at the head of the table, far away from his wife.
The actions of the hosts did not go unnoticed by the house party guests. Nearly all of them sat a bit straighter, clearly on edge. Glances were exchanged and unspoken questions were asked. The situation was as far from ideal as possible.
The one, promising light in the whole thing was that Gray took the empty seat beside Charlie. He sent Charlie a knowing look as he tucked his chair into the table, then shifted his leg under the table to tap Charlie’s, quietly saying, “Something must be done.”
Charlie’s heart beat faster. Indeed, something must be done. Particularly if Gray was opening the door to something between the two of them.
He had no time to address the issue or even to think of it.
“I have a jolly idea,” Barbara spoke up with false brightness. “All of the ladies should take seats at this side of the table and all of the gentlemen at that side. With seats to spare between them.”
“The ladies on this side and the gentlemen on that?” Lady Winifred asked as if the idea were not entirely without merit.
“Yes,” Barbara said, her smile wider. Manically so. “I propose that the ladies form their own circle for the remainder of the summer and the gentlemen have theirs and that neither one should disturb or distress the other.”
“What, never?” Lady Eudora asked, sending Pettigrew a terrified look. “I do not like that idea at all. Do you, Dr. Pettigrew?”
Charlie could have predicted his friend’s answer before it was given. “The idea is not entirely unwelcome,” Pettigrew said quickly. “Perhaps not for the remainder of the house party, but for a day or two.”
“Yes, you see?” Barbara grasped onto his agreement, staring pointedly across the table at Robert. “The women should keep their own company and the men will keep to themselves.”
Robert appeared to be attempting not to groan and roll his eyes. “I hardly think?—”
“No, you do not,” Barbara snapped, cutting him off.
A brittle silence fell over the table. The majority of the guests looked at a complete loss as they glanced between their host and hostess.
Barbara was doing herself no favors at all in her attempts to establish herself as a leading light in England’s social scene. If Charlie did not rescue her from herself as quickly as possible, the damage could be permanent.
“My sister and I discussed things earlier,” he told the table by way of explanation. “We thought it would be a lark to spend a day in separate company, contriving ways that we each might entertain the other half this evening.”
“Oh, yes,” Lady Patience said, smiling across the table at Mr. Lindhurst. “That would be agreeable, do you not think?”
“Yes, indeed,” Lindhurst said.
The tension surrounding the table lessened and the meal continued. Conversation shifted quickly to various means of entertainment the different circles of guests might provide for the others. Lady Suzanne offered to sing, which, apparently, she rarely did, and Lady Carolina said she would accompany her. The moment was well and truly rescued.
“Well done,” Grayson told Charlie once the awkward meal had ended and the young ladies had taken themselves away to the conservatory to do God only knew what. “I was beginning to think the entire party might collapse in a heap.”
“It still very well might,” Charlie grumbled, trying not to be irritated with his sister as he and Gray strode down the hall toward the empty smoking parlor that was generally only usedafter supper. “I adore my sister, but I have never seen her so determined to behave badly.”
“I asked Robert last night if she was with child,” Gray admitted as they made their way over to the large bay window at the far end of the room, where they could look out into the grey and damp garden.
“She is not,” Charlie said. “She would have told me if she was.”
Gray nodded and hummed. “Robert has no notion at all of why she is in such a state.”
“I would venture that even Barbara does not know what is the matter with herself,” Charlie said. “It can only be a result of all the changes that have happened in her life as of late.”
He truly was speaking about his sister, but when Charlie glanced up and met Gray’s eyes, the squeezing, pulsing feeling in his heart hinted that he was speaking of himself as well. Why else would he find himself so vulnerable to the allure of the past? Barbara had left him on his own, his duties at Downham Manor were poor company, and seeing, feeling, and kissing Gray again had opened a part of him he’d thought he’d closed.
