Page 56 of Wager for a Wife

Louisa gazed at his face. There were no crinkles at the corners of his eyes, no smile lurking behind his lips. His face was as impassive as it had been the first time they’d met, save the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced. “Yes,” she said at last. “I have learned that if your father left the estate in tatters, it was due to selfishness. The house here in London is in excellent condition, which means that he lived well, and I must, therefore, presume that he did so beyond his means.

“There was no portrait of your mother, no mementos of any kind, nothing of sentimental value anywhere that I could see. I doubt it is because you cleared away anything of his, although I suppose you may have instructed Mrs. Gideon to remove them. I am sorry, William.”

William stared out the window beyond her, but she suspected he saw nothing but shadows from his past. He was far away. “When one is reared by such a person and it is all one knows, it is difficult to change.”

Louisa wanted to reach for him, to take his hand in hers and comfort him, but she did not. He had shown her a glimpse into his life but only a glimpse, and it was not enough. Not yet. Not when he still wore a mask he kept so firmly in place. Not when he still had so many secrets. He was making the attempt to keep his promise to her, but she wasn’t sure it would be enough, that he could open himself enough to address her concerns and give her the reassurances she desired.

A week from today, the last of the banns would be read, and then there would be no excuse to delay the marriage further. She had asked him for three weeks, and he would have given them to her.

She must have her answers before she was out of time.

* * *

When William and Louisa returned to Ashworth House, they found her family in the drawing room, with a sleepy Halford also in attendance. Conversation was polite and amiable. Halford and Lord Anthony were rather serious in their questions toward him and prodded him further about his time at Oxford and his years in Scotland.

“But why Scotland, Farleigh?” Halford asked him. “No offense, but it seems to me there is plenty to see and do here, by comparison, and with somewhat better weather . . . although, arguably, not by much.”

“There is an extraordinary group of academics and innovators in Edinburgh,” William replied. “And I discovered not long after I arrived that I enjoyed their association and, therefore, decided to stay. I confess that I had little to contribute to the group but found it humbling—and enlightening—to be a part of that society.” The fact that it was several hundred miles from Buckinghamshire had only added to its appeal.

His answer seemed to carry some weight with Louisa’s parents, who doubtless suspected he was a reprobate like his father had been. Lord Ashworth gave the slightest of nods at his words, and Lady Ashworth looked up from her needlework.

Even with William seated on an elegant sofa with Louisa next to him, he was unsettled by the experience, which, today, felt more like he was standing before a magistrate than contributing to a casual conversation.

After luncheon, Alex and Anthony invited him to join them in a game of billiards, which William agreed to after a quick glance at Louisa since he’d promised her they would get better acquainted this afternoon. Her smile seemed to indicate that she would be fine with him spending an hour or so with her brothers.

Playing billiards was usually intended to be an enjoyable pastime, but William quickly discovered he was facing more interrogation. He was a decent player—one had to be to survive Eton and Oxford—but wasn’t nearly in the league of either Halford or his brother, he immediately discerned as they took shots to warm up. They had obviously spent many hours bent over this very table, hitting balls into pockets.

“Scotland. And academia,” Halford drawled, leaning against the wall, while Lord Anthony prepared to take his first shot. They had decided amongst themselves that Lord Anthony would challenge William to the first game. “I confess, I was only too glad to put Cambridge behind me when I completed university. But you chose to go to Edinburgh to study further. Are you a glutton for punishment, Farleigh?”

“He must be; he wants to marry Weezy, after all,” Lord Anthony said. He took his shot, sending his ball across the table, short of its mark. “Blast it, Alex. Stop speaking when I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Edinburgh is an amiable city, full of history and interesting people,” William said. Definitely more interrogation disguised as small talk.

“I knew you weren’t going to put that ball in the pocket; your angle was completely wrong,” Halford remarked to Lord Anthony. “Amiable, eh?” he asked while William studied the table for his next shot. “Amiable as in long-winded lectures on mechanics and philosophy, or amiable as in assemblies and balls and flirtations, by any chance?”

William hadn’t been entirely virtuous since arriving at his majority, but the few liaisons he’d had as a very young man had left him feeling empty inside. His father had hurt his mother with his own infidelities. Even as a boy, William had understood that something had been amiss between the two of them, and it hadn’t taken much time after arriving at Eton for him to put two and two together. Boys will be boys, after all, and boys will talk about such things with crassness and bravado.

“Edinburgh is amiable in all those ways,” William replied as obliquely as possible to Halford’s question before shooting his ball into the corner pocket.

Lord Anthony eventually won the first game, and Halford had just challenged William to the next when a footman arrived to tell them Lord Ashworth requested a few minutes of Lord Farleigh’s time.

“That’s too bad,” Halford said, “as I’m quite certain I could have won a bit of money from Tony over who would beat you by the most points. Well, we shall have to give it a go another time.”

“Another time,” William replied. He had no plan to return to the billiards room after his meeting with Lord Ashworth, especially not if there was to be wagering involved. Besides, it would be past time to be with Louisa.

The footman knocked on the door to Lord Ashworth’s study.

“Enter,” the marquess replied.

“Lord Farleigh,” John said.

“Thank you, John. Come in, Farleigh; have a seat. We have unfinished business to attend to.” He gestured to the seat across from his own, next to the fireplace. William had expected the marquess to be seated at his desk in a position of power, with William on the opposite side. Instead, they were seated informally. William’s mind began to scramble: did the marquess intend their meeting to be informal and open, then? Or was it a strategy to catch William off guard? Read the clues; look for the tells.

“For a man intent on wooing my daughter, you have been remarkably absent this week,” the marquess said, getting right to the point. “Or have you decided you need not bother since she has chosen to act with honor and marry you regardless?”

“I am here today to woo your daughter,” William replied as coolly as possible. “But it would seem the men in her family think time with me and asking pointed questions, which I am willing to answer, by the way, are part of that wooing.”

“She is our diamond and our delight. You will forgive us if we are protective of her and entirely suspicious of you until proven otherwise.”

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