Page 57 of Lady Controversial
‘But Miss Crawley proved strength is not the only requirement.’
‘Speed and agility are equally important.’
‘Quite. We men tend to fall back on brute strength. Miss Crawley knows she cannot enjoy that luxury, so she has learned to compensate through other means.’
Jemima glided into the room, looking radiant in pale pink silk, bringing Ellery’s discussion with his brother to an end.
‘Mama is wearing her diamonds!’ Jemima said with a dramatic role of her eyes.
‘God save us all,’ Ellery muttered, aware that their mother only got the family’s most valuable jewels out when she was intent upon a specifically spiteful bout of intimidation.
‘I liked your Miss Crawley very much, Ellery,’ Jemima said, accepting a glass of peach ratafia from their butler’s tray with a nod of thanks and taking a delicate sip. She screwed up her nose. ‘I don’t really care for this drink.’
‘Then why…’ Felix grinned and spread his hands.
‘Oh, I am told it’s quite the thing and that it grows on one. I would not like to seem out of step with the fashion when I go to London so I shall just have to grin and bear it. Anyway, I think it will take more than a few baubles to intimidate Miss Crawley, Ellery. She seems very forthright in the expression of her opinions. I like that about her, although Mama is bound to find it vulgar.’
‘Our mother finds anything she disagrees with vulgar,’ Felix pointed out.
All three of them greeted George Fox when he strolled into the room. He grunted an unintelligible response and headed straight for the whisky decanter. Ellery watched him, thinking it was beyond time that his sister’s husband learned to fend for himself. He was not a pauper but constantly found excuses not to return to his own modest house, preferring to live off Ellery’s charity. Since Sally enjoyed being with their mother, giving her an excuse to avoid her husband’s sole company, the arrangement appeared to suit them both.
It no longer suited Ellery.
With Sally’s support and encouragement, his mother’s pretentions were becoming noticeably more pronounced.
Ellery’s ruminations were brought to an end by the arrival of that lady herself, with Sally at her side. Both were decked out in such a vast array of valuable jewels that it was all Ellery could do not to laugh aloud. He restrained himself and greeted the pair politely, more in hope than expectation of setting the tone for a congenial evening.
‘I do hope the guests you insisted upon inviting to our quiet family dinner are punctual,’ his mother said. ‘I dislike being kept waiting.’
‘The Misses Crawley,’ the butler announced from the open doorway, his timing impeccable.
The countess grunted, clearly disappointed by the ladies’ punctuality. She lifted her chin and strode across the room to occupy a high-backed chair on a dais that resembled a throne. Her own back remained ramrod straight, her expression forbidding as Isolda and her sister walked into the room.
Isolda moved with the same lithe grace that she had displayed in the fencing arena, only this time she was dressed in demure white muslin that sculpted her body and whispered tantalisingly about her legs. Her ordinarily wayward hair had been tamed into an elegant style that showed off high cheekbones tinged with colour. Unlike his mother, she didn’t wear a scrap of jewellery, but then her smooth creamy skin required no adornment. The sleeves of her gown covered her arms and the dressing protecting her injury was, he could just about discern through the thin fabric, noticeably smaller.
‘Miss Crawley.’ Ellery stepped forward, bowed and offered her his hand.
She sent him an impish smile as she curtsied and then took the proffered hand as he raised her from it. ‘It is a great pleasure to see you again. Thank you so very much for coming to our rescue.’
‘The pleasure is all mine.’ He smiled at her, turned his attention to Jane and then prepared himself to introduce them both to his mother and the Foxes.
‘Are you ready to be interrogated?’ he asked Isolda in an undertone as he led her towards his mother’s throne.
‘She does not scare me.’
‘Given that I know you have faced up to much more violent opponents, that does not surprise me, but don’t make the mistake of underestimating her.’
Isolda smiled. ‘Thank you for the warning. Naturally, I am terrified.’
Ellery barked on a laugh. ‘Never!’ he said.
His mother pretended to be in intense conversation with Sally as Ellery neared her position, ignoring their approach. Ellery was not about to permit her to be so impolite, cleared his throat and raised his voice.
‘Mother, Sally must excuse you whilst I introduce our guests. Miss Isolda Crawley and Miss Jane Crawley.’
Both girls made their curtsies but in Isolda’s case, Ellery noticed an amused smile playing about her lips.
‘You are welcome,’ the countess said, her dismissive tone making it clear that they were anything but welcome at Finchdean Hall.
