Page 27 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
Was it possible she may not have spared William a thought?
Perhaps she really was mourning Dunstable, for William had to remember the talk of impending nuptials during the afternoon he’d spent with them at the zoological gardens.That was why he was here.
That was why Lady Perry was as somber as Miss Tarot, having no doubt helped broker the marriage.Yet no mention was made of any understanding between Miss Tarot and Lord Dunstable during their sober, stilted conversation.
In the corner, Lady Perry’s knitting needles clicked, her head bent as William and Miss Tarot stared at one another.
He remembered the way she’d looked at him when she’d seen him for the first time after the train crash.The flare of surprise … and delight.
Yes, and longing.The same look she’d failed to completely conceal just now.
But with Lady Perry sitting in on their conversation, there was little of what was truly in his heart that could be said.
When the requisite condolences and offers of assistance had been made, William rose.
“Evelina,” said Lady Perry without looking up, “why don’t you see Lord Bellingham out?”
To his relief, he saw she liked the idea.Perhaps even more telling was the way she tried to hide the fact.
“Of course, Lady Perry.”
Oh, she was good.Miss Tarot naturally had to restrain her true feelings.It was what any well-bred young woman was trained to do, especially under such circumstances.
Her composure only reinforced her suitability for being his bride.A man forging a career in politics needed a wife who could keep her passions in check while projecting the veneer required by the polite society she would navigate.
She was a woman of infinite resources—he had already discovered that — and, he suspected, she was quick to passion—he wanted to discover this to be equally true.
Yet she could subdue her true feelings when necessary.
He stopped in the passage outside the drawing room, far enough away to be out of earshot of Lady Perry.“I saw no notices of your forthcoming engagement in the newspapers, Miss Tarot.I wonder if that means I can look forward to your presence at forthcoming entertainments this season?Perhaps at Lady Gilray’s ball tonight?”
He glanced at her hands, clasped demurely in front of her, the fingers pale and slender.Bare and vulnerable, like her expression as she offered an almost imperceptible nod.
“I would like to offer you the time you need to mourn, Miss Tarot, so—”
“I would thank you not to tell others of the … understanding … Lord Dunstable and I had at the time of his tragic death,” she interrupted.
William nodded, trying for the restraint she’d managed.Otherwise, he’d have whisked her into his arms and kissed her there and then.“Of course not.Tragic though his death is, an association with Lord Dunstable, murdered in such a brutal manner, would hinder your chances of making another match.”
She winced at the words and murmured, “Who could have done such a thing?”
And William realized that the question had not even occurred to him.He’d been interested only in establishing his own claim to her attentions and regard.
Surely this visit, today, would make clear to her he viewed her as a potential wife?Little Harriet’s words at the zoo had made this clear—embarrassing though they’d been at the time—but with Dunstable’s death, there was no impediment to William courting her.
“I hope he will be apprehended directly,” he said.
To his delight, Miss Tarot now brought up his daughter as she asked, “Little Harriet is well.What a sweet child she is.I take it she is no longer in London?”
“Her nursemaid took her back to my home, Cransley, in Essex yesterday.”He smiled, glancing at Miss Tarot’s clasped hands, wishing he could clasp them to his breast, as he added, “Harriet liked you very much.She asked if you would be visiting us at Cransley.”
“I should like that very much.”
“You would?”He realised with a rush of delight that it really was this easy.The events of several weeks ago had established Miss Tarot as a woman of valor beneath her beauty.Dunstable’s betrothal had established that she had the credentials to be a worthy nobleman’s bride.
No association had been made public of Lord Dunstable and Miss Tarot’s relationship.
And the way Miss Tarot was looking at him made clear that Miss Tarot’s feelings matched his own.
