Page 85 of As the Earl Likes
“That would be beneficial, I think.” Mrs. Ingram, a sometimes stoic woman with assessing blue eyes, studied Sheff a moment. “You’ve not left the house in a few days, at least.”
Five, but who was counting? Sheff’s outings had dwindled after his father had returned to London.
“I can see you are moping about. Is it because your father left? Your friends will be here by the end of the week, won’t they?”
Somerton, Wellesbourne, Droxford, and Price were all departing London the day after tomorrow for their annual holiday together. They would, indeed, arrive in Weston by the end of the week.
“Surely that will cheer you,” she added with a nod.
Sheff grunted as he stood. He deposited the book on a table. “I know you don’t approve of some of our activities, but rest assured that with most everyone married now, things will be far more sedate. Furthermore, only Price will be staying here.” Sheff was fairly certain she already knew that but felt it worth repeating. Mrs. Ingram clearly preferred Min and Ellis to Sheff and his friends.
“Along with your sister and Miss Dangerfield,” the housekeeper said. “We will be prepared.” She hesitated, but seemed as though she wanted to say something more.
“Is there something else?” Sheff asked.
“I only wondered if perhaps you were missing the woman you spent the evening with at the party. I would have expected you to invite her back.”
“What woman?”
“I saw a woman visiting your room late that night.” She shrugged. “I should not have mentioned it. You just seem sad, and I wondered if that was why.”
Sheff exhaled his frustration away. It wasn’t the housekeeper’s fault that she assumed him to be a lothario. He had been for a very long time. “That woman came to my room, and I turned her away. I am not the same man you’ve known.”
“But there were those women in the garden too,” Mrs. Ingram said, her brow furrowing.
“Like the woman you saw outside my room, they presumed I would want to spend time with them and pushed themselves upon me without my consent. I was not interested in their attentions, nor am I now.”
The housekeeper blanched. “How were they to know that?”
“They could have asked instead of assuming.” He gave her a pointed look. “Just as you could have not assumed I spent the night with the woman you saw.”
She pressed her lips together into a flat line. “I did make an assumption. But I did so based on years of behavior. I’m sure those women thought you wanted their attention. I’m sorry that you did not and were made to suffer it anyway.”
Her words made Sheff think about his own behavior in the past. Had he ever made assumptions or taken advantage of a situation? He hoped not, but he couldn’t be entirely sure. At least these women had left him alone after he’d made it clear he wasn’t interested—and he’d always done the same with women.
“I must make it known that I am no longer the rake I used to be, I suppose.”
“And why is that? What prompted you to change?” Mrs. Ingram asked, seeming genuinely curious.
Sheff smiled sadly. “I lost my heart.” He touched his chest. “It belongs to the loveliest woman, and I truly thought it would be a temporary loan. Alas, I fear she will own it forever.”
Mrs. Ingram’s brow pleated again. “She rejected you?”
The housekeeper’s reaction and frank question somewhat surprised him. He hadn’t been rejected, but why did he feel as if that were the case? “She is not interested in marriage.”
“Her refusal must have been upsetting. I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t actually ask her.” Not for real. What would happen if he did? If he told her that he was desperately in love with her, and that he was nearly certain he would always be?
“Then you’re daft,” Mrs. Ingram said with a shake of her head. “Go and ask her and see if she really would reject you. Then you can mope about.”
He could go to London—which his father had suggested several times and Sheff had declined. Now the housekeeper was going to persuade him to fight for Jo? He would have asked if the duke had put her up to this, but Mrs. Ingram had seemed unaware of Jo until now.
“Who is this young lady?” Mrs. Ingram asked, confirming Sheff’s supposition.
“She’s a friend of my sister’s. In London.”
The housekeeper’s eyes rounded, then she grimaced. “I’m afraid I wrote to your sister about the woman outside your room. I thought you had spent the night together.”
