Page 39 of Bargaining for the Barrister
His voice came out as a whisper. “Miss Cox, I must know one thing, and you have thirty seconds to answer me. Whose side are you on? My mother’s? Mrs. Sheldon’s? Or our mutual friend, Paul’s?” He said Paul’s name like only he had permission to use it.
She thought about his question. She was on everyone’s side. No, that wasn’t wholly true. While Lady Kellen and Mrs. Sheldon had both offered their homes and their ready acceptance, Paul had touched her heart in a way no one else had. Only he had dug beneath the surface long enough to forge a real connection with her. But they all had their own agendas, putting their needs first.
“I’m on my own side,” she finally said with a small smile. It sounded selfish, but really, she was the only one who had her best interests at heart. Until she found someone who cared more for her than for themselves or her money, she would have to look out for herself.
“That’ll have to be good enough,” Lord Reynolds whispered. “Any moment, the room next to us is going to fill to the brim with Brookeside’s musical club. It’s code for a meddlesome group of matchmaking mamas.”
Louisa’s eyes widened. “And?” She hardly dared ask.
“And,” Lord Reynolds said with a scowl, “the walls between this room and the music room are paper thin. Listen well, dear Miss Cox, because you are likely the reason for this meeting and will be thoroughly discussed. But listening comes with an obligation. You must keep everything you hear to yourself. Under no circumstances must you ever divulge the secrets you are about to hear. Just as you have the luxury of having a say in your future, the unwed adults of this town deserve the same consideration.”
Just as he’d said, there was a commotion on the opposite side of the wall, preventing Louisa from responding. She looked to Lord Reynolds, who only nodded knowingly. Eavesdropping wasn’t in her nature, but her ear slid to the wall of its own accord.
“Two meetings in one week? Is this necessary?”
Lord Reynolds leaned toward her and, in a barely audible voice, said, “That’s Mrs. Manning, Paul’s neighbor.”
“It is most necessary, but I promise to be brief,” Lady Kellen said. “Since our last meeting, rumors about Paul and Miss Cox have passed to not one but three estates. Are we ready to push for a wedding?”
Humiliation coursed through Louisa, and heat scorched her cheeks.
“Are they showing any signs of progression on their own?” someone said.
Lord Reynolds threw out another whispered name. “That’s Mrs. Felcroft, a baroness.”
“I’d like to think so,” Mrs. Sheldon said. “Just yesterday they went on a long walk together. They both returned rather happy.”
“Until my son showed his face.” Lady Kellen gave a sigh heavy enough to penetrate the wall. “We couldn’t hear what he said from our view out the window, but it completely changed the dynamics between the couple. But who is to say what they feel? If we don’t push for a wedding and the rumors die down, we might miss our window. If the rumors don’t die, then we risk their reputations. Either way, a wedding must happen.”
Louisa scrunched her nose. A wedding must happen? “I’m confused—”
“Just listen,” Lord Reynolds instructed, cutting her off. “We can talk afterward.”
“Don’t set the wedding date yet,” an older woman said. “If you rush these young ones too much, they’ll never have a chance to fall in love naturally. That was part of the arrangement, was it not?”
“Well, yes,” Lady Kellen began, “but we must consider every angle. I am determined to see right by Miss Cox as if she were my own daughter, and Mr. Sheldon is here so often, I love him as if he were mine too.”
“Perhaps we should do as Mrs. Fielding says and wait a little longer.” Louisa could see the lines of concern on Mrs. Sheldon’s face just as sure as if they were in the same room. “We simply need to throw them together more.”
“The house party will take care of that,” Lady Kellen said. “My guests should arrive by the end of the week, and I hope to plan a schedule with a dozen opportunities for sparks to fly.”
Lord Reynolds groaned quietly next to her. “Please, not that!”
“You kept the numbers small, like we planned?” Mrs. Sheldon asked. “We would not want another to steal Miss Cox’s attention from Paul.”
“Or do we?” Lady Kellen asked. “That might be just the thing for him to take this seriously.”
Lord Reynolds pushed away from the wall. “I can’t listen for another moment,” he hissed. “I don’t care what their intentions are. They’re nothing but a bunch of busybodies interfering where they ought not to interfere!”
Louisa wrapped her arms around herself as a wave of sickness curled in her stomach. It had been easy to agree to meet Paul, but she couldn’t agree to this backhanded form of courtship. She’d thought no one was forcing him to do anything, but he was being manipulated like a puppet on strings. No wonder he resisted her at every turn. Maybe if she’d stayed home and met him by accident, love would have happened all on its own.
She turned her head and pressed her forehead on the wall. She’d heard her father’s dying words echoing in her mind when Lady Kellen had extended the offer to help Louisa find a good match, and the heavenly influence of those words had encouraged her to accept. And seeing the butterfly in the gardens after meeting Paul for the first time had felt like a sign from her mother. Even the lilacs at Rothbrier and the painted screen in the drawing room had called to her. But this meeting on the other side of the wall did not feel right. Two deep breaths quieted her most desperate thoughts.
What could she control? She was a guest for some weeks yet, but she could cut the time of her visit down as Logan had suggested. What else? Avoiding Paul seemed the most obvious. It would give him time to sort out his own feelings. But she could not tell Lady Kellen who she could or couldn’t invite to her own house. That decision lay completely in Lady Kellen’s hands.
Be happy, and let what happens happen.
Her father’s words stilled the last of the turmoil in her heart. Louisa did not have long to wait until the meeting ended and the room next to theirs was emptied. She turned to find Lord Reynolds sitting in a chair with his feet propped on the arm of the one perpendicular to it. Moving to a chair across from him and away from his feet, she perched on the edge of its cushion.
