Page 76 of A Sight to Behold
“Lady Pemberton, what a pleasure to see you so early in the morning.”
“It’s eleven o’clock, my lord,” Pippa said as she curtsied.
“Oh, that’s true.” The earl rubbed the back of his head as his eye trailed over a large wall clock with hands of polished brassthat danced to the rhythm of time and echoed the heartbeat of the house.Tick, tock.
The earl cast his young wife a smitten look. Then a dreamy gaze washed over his face that made him seem rather rakish and reminded Pippa of the reputation he’d been notorious for until just about a few months ago when Violet tamed him.
Yes, that was the term. She’d tamed him, but it didn’t seem he’d been able to do the same to her yet.
“You look completely recovered, my lord.” Pippa ventured to break the awkward silence.
“I am well, thank you for asking.”
Isabel came up from a deep curtsy as the earl extended his hand to kiss her on the knuckles. “It’s a pleasure to make the acquaintance of your guest, Lady Pemberton.”
“This is Lady Isabel Ellington,” Pippa said, purposefully avoiding Violet’s poisonous gaze. “Her husband is currently undergoing surgery, and it is my duty to distract her this morning.”
“The same as I had?” the earl asked Pippa, but he didn’t wait for a response. “You should know, Lady Pemberton, I saw an excellent oculist and eye surgeon, Dr. Nick Folsham. Without him, I would nearly be blind and unable to see my beautiful wife every morning.” The earl was still smooth with the ladies and apparently felt quite like a rooster among his nest of chickens with Violet, Pippa, and Isabel nearby. Or he would have, if Violet hadn’t coughed a “shut up” and startled him.
“Am I missing something here?” The earl signaled for everyone to enter the salon, the second door down the hall.
“She’s just tense because her husband has gone under the knife today,” Violet said with the catty smile Pippa hadn’t seen on her since she got married. “Isn’t that right, Lady Ellington?”
Isabel sneered, and her eyes grew narrow like slits. “You are incorrect.Violet.” Pippa could tell by Isabella’s icy tone that shewas deliberately ignoring Violet’s status as countess. And she could. She outranked her.
“You two know each other?” The earl sat down, and a footman began to pour tea.
“My lord, it appears that I just found out that Violet and the Countess of Langley were the same individual. If I had known, I would have dissuaded Lady Penelope from intruding upon your home.” Isabella sank into a chair, every inch of her a duchess in a snit of some kind. Pippa was impressed. If only she’d done that to Six from the beginning, instead of attempting to torment her with stinging insects, perhaps things would be different now.
“What am I missing here?” the earl now asked in a low voice. All niceties aside, it was time to speak frankly.
“Pippa brought Isabel Franklin here. I thought she was in Cornwall for good,” Violet said as she spooned three cubes of sugar into her cup.
“Because you wanted to ensure I remained there, didn’t you?” Isabel snarled, holding the cup and saucer on her lap like a weapon, probably ready to fling the hot liquid in Violet’s face if she dared speak out of turn.
“What does Violet have to do with you moving to Cornwall?” Pippa asked. It seemed that only she and the earl weren’t privy to the back story that Isabel and Violet had shared.
“Violet and her mother paid my parents a visit the week before I was supposed to make my debut.”
“So, you came out together?” the earl asked. “How is it possible that we have never met?”
“Ask your wife, my lord. She didn’t want my visage to taint the splendor of her debut,” Isabel said with a wobble in her voice.
“That’s not how it was, Isabel. My mother spread that rumor along with others as she always did,” Violet protested.
“How convenient to point a finger at your own mother. Shall I do the same?” Isabel fumed.
“Your mother?” Violet jerked her head back. “I never spoke to her. She asked my mother for advice to spare you the embarrassment of a debut.”
Isabel blinked incredulously. “Are you trying to tell me thatmymother askedyoursfor help to send me away before my debut?”
“It seems so. I didn’t expect you not to come to your own opening ball; it came as a surprise to me. But you disappeared from Society, and then I heard a few years later that you’d married.”
“You were surprised that a man wanted me, weren’t you?” Isabel’s hurt pierced her voice.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I hadn’t heard from you, so the news of your betrothal was surprising. That’s all.”
Isabel clanked the teacup on the table and rose, addressing the earl as she turned to make her way out. “I apologize, my lord, I have taken up too much of your hospitality already.”
