Page 3 of A Sense of Injustice
‘That’s very thoughtful of you.’
‘Who’s thoughtful?’ Emma asked, walking slowly into the room and kissing all the ladies in it. ‘Happy birthday, Flora. I do hope you like the brushes we gave you.’
‘The silver backing is exquisite, Emma. You are so generous,’ Flora replied.
‘It is not every day that a lady comes of age.’ Emma eased herself into the chair beside the countess and placed a hand protectively over her distended stomach. ‘The occasion should be marked appropriately.’
‘Where is your husband?’ the countess asked. ‘And Mary’s fiancé, come to that. In the library with Luke and my other grandsons, I dare say, drinking brandy and telling ribald tales. That’s always that way when they get together with Archie Hardwick.’
Hardwick had been the current earl’s closest friend during their Oxford days, together with Alvin Watson—who was now married to Emma—and Paul, Mary’s intended. Archie had fallen from a lady’s bedroom window when her husband came home unexpectedly and had fled to France to avoid the ensuing scandal. Now back on English soil, he was badly crippled but as flamboyantly outrageous as ever. Flora found him charming.
‘It’s true,’ Luke’s sister-in-law Miranda entered the room, smiling. ‘Happy birthday, Flora. Good evening, ma’am.’ She bobbed a curtsey for the countess’s benefit and exchanged warm greetings with the girls. She was married to Luke’s brother Charlie and had become great friends with his sisters. ‘This is for you, Flora.’ She handed over a wrapped package. ‘I do hope you like it. And yes, the gentlemen are closeted in the library. Charlie promised to go and fetch them all, but I suspect that I won’t see him again—or any of them for that matter—for a long while.’
Flora smiled. ‘I dare say not.’
‘Do open your gift, Flora.’ Mary bounced on her toes. ‘I so adore receiving presents myself.’
Flora untied the pretty ribbon, pulled back the wrapping and found an exquisitely embroidered, very delicate shawl made from the exact same silk as her gown. She gasped her appreciation.
‘But this must have taken you hours,’ she said, feeling very emotional as she looked up at Miranda. ‘You are too kind. How did you know about the fabric?’
‘I am not nearly kind enough, given that you saved my life and ensured my happiness into the bargain.’
‘Hardly.’
Flora had helped Miranda and Charlie to overcome various obstacles, but she couldn’t take all the credit for that. Remus, a Roman warrior and her self-appointed spirit guide, had been there to alert her when danger threatened, acting as an early-warning system courtesy of her second sight. Luke had benefited from it too, but stubbornly refused to believe that it was anything other than coincidence when she’d been able to warn him before disaster struck. His refusal to open his mind to her abilities saddened her, since in all other respects the two of them got along very well.
‘I knew the countess had commissioned a new gown for you, so it was simply a matter of consulting the modiste, who advised me on the fabric.’
Flora draped the shawl over her arms and smiled at Miranda. ‘Well, I am very grateful that you went to so much trouble on my behalf. I am quite overwhelmed.’
Woodley, the butler, produced a bottle of champagne. Since the gentlemen had not yet deigned to join them, the countess decreed that they should open the bottle and share its contents.
‘You can be sure thattheywon’t be sipping tea,’ she said, disgruntled.
The others agreed. Glasses were poured and everyone drank to Flora’s health. Flora smiled and laughed and thanked them all, thinking that she had grown closer to these people in a few short months than she had with her own family in over twenty years. This was where she belonged. Soon the gentlemen would join them, and she would have the pleasure of Luke’s company, and that of Archie Hardwick. She was half in love with them both, but she felt it was a harmless obsession since neither gentleman looked at her with responding interest.
She didn’t care that no one from her family had bothered to send her their good wishes today. The Berangers were her family now, Beranger Court her home. But she felt perplexed by niggling concerns that had wormed their way into her brain, today of all days when she ought not to have a care in the world. She had learned long since not to doubt her instincts, but had no idea what they were telling her to expect, especially since Remus hadn’t bothered to show up. She comforted herself with the knowledge that he would probably tear himself away from his hedonistic other-worldly pursuits for long enough to enlighten her sooner rather than later. He always did in the end, even if he amused himself sometimes by making his warnings far from clear.
Remus did so enjoy his little jokes.
‘Where are those tiresome boys?’ the countess demanded crossly, draining her sherry glass, and taking a new one brimming with champagne from Woodley’s tray. ‘The rest of the guests will be here soon. Really, if they will insist upon telling bawdy stories, they might be courteous enough to relate them in my presence.’
?????
Luke Beranger laughed at Archie’s outrageous account about a female who’d gone to extraordinary lengths to gain admittance to Felsham Hall, his ancestral home.
‘She claimed she was my childhood sweetheart in France and that we were forcibly separated when her family took her to Italy,’ he said. ‘I might have believed her, given that I am not my cousin and wasn’t in France at the time she referred to, but for the fact that I spoke to her in French and she didn’t understand a word I said.’
‘For my part, I would feel some sympathy for you,’ Luke said, ‘if you hadn’t let us think that you were dead and buried for the last ten years.’
‘I still want to know who was in that coffin we broke our backs carrying into the church,’ Alvin added.
‘Probably full of rocks, a bit like Archie’s head,’ Paul suggested.
The door opened and Charlie strolled in. He greeted everyone, including his and Luke’s two younger brothers, Henry and Sam.
‘I have been sent to fetch you all,’ he said. ‘The ladies are down and wondering where you’ve got to.’
