Page 125 of The Seaside Homecoming
“It’s no use. He had his coach-and-four awaiting him. We’d have to go on foot or wait for the Huttons’ carriage to be readied. We’d never arrive before him.”
Viola jogged up the lane and into the house a few minutes later. She joined them in Mamma’s room, and once the door had closed behind her and she’d caught her breath, Sarah explained the situation.
Viola’s eyes widened. “Why is he here?”
“He came to Sidmouth last summer with the Cravens,” Emily said. “Perhaps he has only come to see them again.”
“I don’t know...” Sarah mused. “He did not seem especially keen to see them. Or at least, not Miss Craven. And he seemed to think Claire was here at Sea View. He asked for her.”
“Why would he seek her out?” Georgie asked. “This is the snake who convinced her to elope and then abandoned her, right?”
Viola nodded and said, “At the concert, Claire mentionedseeing him in Edinburgh when he visited Aunt Mercer. She said they spoke briefly, and he apologized for what happened between them but did not renew his addresses to her.”
Mamma frowned in concentration. “Then what did he mean when he said, ‘I trust you will forgive me when you learn why I’ve come’?”
“Has he reformed, do you think?” Sarah asked. “Come to rectify the situation? Marry her?”
Emily shuddered. “I hope not.”
Mamma’s frown remained. She stared vaguely into the distance, looking worried and uncertain.
“Mamma? What is it?”
“I am thinking. Of course I despise the man, but if he’s come to make an honest woman of Claire, should we meddle? Claire must have loved him once. Perhaps she still does.”
“She was deceived in his character, Mamma,” Emily insisted. “Caroline warned me about him, remember?”
“Let’s also remember the Cravens have their own reasons for warning us against Lord Bertram,” Sarah said. “Miss Craven wants him for herself. We must not credit everything she and her sister say.”
“As much as it pains me to say it,” Mamma began, “it would be best for us and especially for Claire if they married.”
Emily’s mouth fell open. “You can’t mean it, Mamma! Marriage to such a man would render her miserable for the rest of her life!”
Georgie nodded her agreement. “I don’t want that snake for a brother. What awkward family holidays we’d have!”
“I hardly think our pleasure at holidays is the priority here, Georgiana. Now, you girls leave me in peace for a while.” Mamma said it almost brusquely, but Sarah saw the torment in the taut lines of her face.
“It’s nearly time for luncheon,” Sarah reminded her.
“I am not hungry. You go on without me.”
The door knocker sounded. Already on her way to the morning room, Claire diverted to the front door and answered it, a cheerful greeting on her lips.
The greeting faded. Her throat seemed to close at the sight of the man standing there.
Lord Bertram.
Again.
She glanced behind him and saw his grand coach-and-four blocking the street. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
“How did you know where I was?”
“I assumed you returned to your family, so I went to Sea View first. Craven told me you were here.”
“I am not welcome at Sea View—thanks to you.”
