Page 95 of Brave New Earl (The Way to a Lord's Heart 1)

“In the nursery,” he answered, bargaining.

The cat needed more space, Jean thought. She continually felt guilty shutting the door in his face when she left her bedchamber. And she was going to be busier from now on. Tab would enjoy the nursery. She’d make sure Geoffrey treated him well. “Yes,” she said.

Geoffrey grinned.

Benjamin rose. She followed suit. Geoffrey scampered ahead as they walked back toward the stables. “Does he think he traded approval of our marriage for the cat?” Benjamin asked.

“It almost seemed so.”

“Cheap at the price,” he joked.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “At least he looked pleased.”

“He would be stupid not to be, and Geoffrey is anything but stupid.”

They found Lord Macklin and Mrs. Thorpe and gave them the good news, with predictably celebratory results. Benjamin announced it to the rest of the household later that day. “Send someone over to the Wandrells and tell them,” he instructed the housekeeper after general congratulations.

“So soon?” Jean asked.

“We must share our happiness with our nearest neighbors,” Benjamin replied. His uncle and Mrs. Thorpe nodded. “And discourage any more evening visits. Or research projects.”

A messenger was dispatched, and wine and ale broken out to toast the new mistress. Word would be spreading across the estate, Benjamin thought, like ripples in a pond. Most people would be glad, though none as glad as he was. He began calculating how long it would be before he could get Jean all to himself again.

It turned out to be hours. But at last they slipped away to the library, nestling on the settee where they had kissed when barely acquainted. Benjamin kissed his new fiancée now and would kiss her again, he thought, at every opportunity.

“Do you think Anna Wandrell will be made unhappy by our engagement?” Jean asked after a while.

“I never gave her any reason to be,” he said.

“That is an evasive answer.”

“Mrs. Wandrell will be angry.” He repeated the tale Teddy Wandrell had told him. “And so I suppose she’ll scold Anna. Even though Anna did nothing wrong.”

“We must do something to help her!”

“I don’t see what we can do. I imagine they’ll settle the matter between themselves.”

“You refuse to fight oppression?”

“A strong word.”

Jean pulled away from him, spine rigid, eyes flashing. “Not strong enough! When a parent becomes a tyrant, something should be done. Why should they have absolute power over their children? It’s a disgrace.” She went on in this vein for a while. Gradually her outrage cooled. “You’re very quiet,” she noted then.

“Letting you have your say.”

“You think I’m exaggerating.”

“About Anna Wandrell, yes. Her mother may be irascible, but Anna has endured no more than many young ladies whose families are looking to settle their futures. And I suspect her brother will take her side. Her father, too, perhaps.”

“She shouldn’t need defenders. And she should be able to choose her destiny. And how it is to be achieved.”

“That is a rare gift which very few people are granted. And not only young ladies.”

Jean drooped a little. “I suppose that’s true. But how many even try?”

“Well, they don’t have your resolution. Very few could march in here the way you did and capture me.”

“I did no such thing!”

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