Chapter Ten

“This is lunacy, James. Utter lunacy.”

James walked beside his brother as they made their way from his London rooms toward Techney House. Bennett had arrived unexpectedly in Town only that morning.

“I have never once heard you mention this Miss Lancaster, and then word arrives from Father announcing that you are courting her? It is madness.”

James completely agreed, but giving voice to that opinion would not be helpful. He straightened his cuffs, attempting to appear at ease despite the weight in his chest and the oppressive heat of the late-summer day. The heavy clouds did little to improve conditions.

“I am certain all will work out fine in the end.” He’d been telling himself that ever since signing his deal with the devil the night before.

“By whose estimation?” Bennett demanded. “Mother wept when she read Father’s letter, and not tears of joy. I would certainly never advocate you marrying someone I know you do not love. Lands, I doubt you even care for her. You could not have known her before this Season.”

“I am sure I have met her in the past,” James said. “She looked familiar.”

“She looked familiar?” Bennett laughed humorlessly. “What kind of a beginning is that to a courtship?” He grasped James’s arm, stopping their forward progress. “Did she trap you into this? Trick you into compromising her?”

“No.” Miss Lancaster wasn’t the type to do anything so underhanded. “Father was more than a little presumptuous in what he wrote in that letter.” And even more presumptuous in his timing. For Bennett to have received the letter and come to Town, arriving less than twenty-four hours after James himself had been forced to agree to the courtship, Father had to have sent the letter several days ago. “A betrothal between us is not a foregone conclusion. I would wager Miss Lancaster would be shocked to hear that any kind of future between us is being discussed at all.”

Bennett did not look relieved. “You have never been one to act rashly, and such a swift courtship is inarguably rash.” He shook his head as they turned a corner. “I’d sooner expect the Duke of Kielder to run you through than allow you to compromise his sister-in-law.” Bennett’s voice suddenly dropped in volume. “Did the Dangerous Duke force your hand?”

“No.” There’d been no true force from anyone but Father. Despite having been the one to first propose a courtship between James and Miss Lancaster, His Grace watched James with suspicion. “No, he didn’t.”

James could see Bennett’s posture stiffen. Realization, it seemed, was dawning. “Father is forcing you, isn’t he?”

He didn’t answer. He knew he didn’t have to.

They turned onto the street where the family home sat. It was not the most fashionable address, something Father no doubt wished to rectify by means of his heir’s marriage. If there was any justice or mercy in the world, James would yet find a way to avoid that heart-wrenching conclusion to his father’s schemes. Neither he nor Miss Lancaster ought to be doomed to a loveless marriage.

“What is he holding over your head this time?” Bennett asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it matters what Father used to entrap you. This is your entire life, James. Your future, your children. Marriage is final, irrevocable. Deuce take it, it blasted well better be worth it.”

Backing out of the courtship would have cost Bennett his land and, with it, his very future. James had placed in the keeping of the Bank of England one copy of Father’s sworn and signed promise to never deprive Bennett or Mother of their incomes or to ever force Bennett’s hand in marriage. He kept another copy in his portable writing desk. Father’s scheming and planning would stop with him.

“It was worth it,” he whispered.

“You’re not going to tell me what it was?”

And allow Bennett to feel guilty about the entire debacle? “No, I’m not.”

James could see disappointment in his brother’s eyes.

Bennett waited only a moment to light into him. “What happened to ‘the bird slipping from its cage,’ James? You have talked all these years about fighting for our freedom, of not letting Father take control of our lives. How could you let him win like this?”

“If I could have found a way around this, I would have.” James did an admirable job of maintaining his calm in the face of his brother’s onslaught. “Until and unless I stumble upon something miraculous that disentangles me, I have no choice, Ben. No choice.”

They were within sight of Techney House. A traveling carriage sat out front, servants rushing back and forth.

“Mother must have arrived,” Bennett said.

“Mother?” James could not have been more shocked. “Our mother?”

Bennett gave him a look of annoyed impatience. “Her oldest son has, according to the post, quite suddenly undertaken a serious courtship with a young lady none of us has ever met. Of course Mother came to Town.”

Mother feared London. She had for decades. His promise to Father had brought her to Town. He could not allow her to be miserable here once again.

They hurried up the front steps. The chaos in the entryway spoke volumes of everyone’s unfamiliarity with the arrival of the mistress of the house. Trunks sat stacked whilst footmen looked to the butler in obvious confusion. A maid hovered near the doorway, her brow knit as she listened to a chain of garbled instructions from the housekeeper.

“Were you not warned of Lady Techney’s arrival?” James asked the harried housekeeper.

“We were not, Lord Tilburn,” she said, apology and pleading coupled in her tone and expression. “I am afraid she isn’t seeing us at our best.”

Had Mother ever been in residence with Mrs. Green as the housekeeper? James didn’t think she had. No wonder the poor woman was beside herself.

“I am certain you have kept the mistress’s chambers tidied.”

Mrs. Green pulled herself up quite proudly. “Of course I have.”

“And your menus are always beyond reproach,” James added. “The secret to pleasing Lady Techney is a comfortable, quiet room and soft bread with her dinner. She is excessively fond of bread.”

Mrs. Green’s expression turned very thoughtful. “Cook is a genius with breads of every kind.”

James agreed with a nod. “And we’ve already established that you take prodigiously good care of the bedchambers. I believe, Mrs. Green, you have nothing to fear in pleasing your mistress.”

A flicker of relief passed across Mrs. Green’s face before she straightened her shoulders once more. Her air of command firmly in place again, she instructed the quaking maids on their duties. In the meantime, the butler seized control of the situation and the traveling trunks were on their way to the appropriate chambers.

James kept his further concerns to himself. The already shaken staff hardly needed to see that his faith in them was wavering. All was running smoothly for the moment. He would wait to explain the necessity of having a footman ready to send for a physician or apothecary at all hours.

Mother could settle in while James readied himself to explain to her his intention to pay particular attention to a young lady entirely unknown to her. Somehow he would soothe her fears as he always did. He would act as a buffer between his parents, keeping their unhappy relationship from souring further. Somehow he would prevent Bennett and Father from coming to blows. And in the midst of it all, he would attempt to unsuccessfully court an innocent and unsuspecting young lady.

He rather hated himself for that last part.

He knocked lightly on Mother’s bedchamber door. Her lady’s maid opened it a moment later. “Good afternoon, Jenny. I’ve come to bid my mother welcome.”

Jenny nodded, pulling the door open. James stepped inside. Mother sat with her feet up on the room’s fainting couch. Her coloring was poor, even more so than usual. She looked up as he stepped nearer.

She held her hands out to him. He took them, then sat beside her on the couch.

“Oh, James. What a journey I had. Never have I been so thrown about in all my life.”

“I am sorry, Mother.” James didn’t at all like the redness he saw in her eyes. “You are not feverish, are you?”

“No,” she answered. “But I am exhausted. The puppy did not at all care for the carriage ride.”

“Puppy?”

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I have taken in a puppy.”

Again? James had spent the better part of a fortnight searching out a home for the last pup Mother had saved from some horrific fate or other.

“He is a little terrier,” Mother continued. “The most adorable little puppy and so very well behaved. He does jump about a lot and likes to chew on things he really rather shouldn’t. And when he gets it in his head to bark, nothing can dissuade him from it. But otherwise, he is perfectly lovely.”

“A terrier, you say?” He sounds far more like a terror.

“Mrs. Allen threatened to have my little pup banished to the stables. All he’d done was chew up a leg on one of the dining room chairs. Only one leg on one chair.”

Mrs. Allen was the long-suffering housekeeper at the family’s country estate. She had endured a long line of Mother’s destructive puppies.

“I was quite distraught,” Mother said. “My poor little puppy would have been so very lonely in the stables, and Mrs. Allen would not listen to my pleadings. You were not there to talk to her. She only listens to you.”

“I was here in Town, Mother.”

“I know, dearest. And I do not fault you for that. You are a young gentleman with social obligations. I am so happy you have found your footing in London Society. Not everyone does, you know.”

Father’s account of her disastrous attempt to find her own footing returned with force to his memory. “I do know, Mother. I know.”

“My little pup has been such a comfort this past week as I have endured a sore throat. I simply couldn’t bear to leave him behind, so he has made the journey here. I do hope he takes to Town and isn’t too miserable. But I know you will know precisely what is to be done.”

James nodded. He’d deal with the puppy eventually. The sore throat was the more pressing matter. Mother’s health had always been uncertain, her throat being particularly vulnerable. He would speak with an apothecary. Cook could be counted upon to provide a warm posset. As always, James would see that all was well.

“This journey must have taken a toll on your strength,” he said. “I am certain Jenny will have a bath drawn at once, then you can rest for the remainder of the afternoon.”

Jenny made a quick curtsy and left to draw the bath. Alone at last, James struck at the topic he knew he must broach with his very sensitive mother.

“Bennett told me why you have come,” he said. “I wish you had spared yourself the effort, Mother. I would not see you ill for the world.”

“And I would not see you unhappy for the world,” Mother answered. “I needed to see for myself that you are making a wise choice in courting this young lady. I need to know you are happy.”

“Father was a bit hasty in his letter,” James said. “There is no understanding between Miss Lancaster and myself, no determined course for our future. I am coming to know her, and Father, in his eagerness for a beneficial match, has chosen to interpret that as something just shy of a betrothal.”

He left unspoken his obligation to move in that direction. Mother worried greatly over even the smallest of things. He had learned long ago not to burden her with his troubles.

“Your father said he meant to invite her family to take dinner with us,” Mother said.

It was the first James had heard of this plan. “I shall have to ask Father about that,” he muttered.

“How did you meet this Miss Lancaster?” Mother asked. “You haven’t mentioned her before.”

“I have a very slight acquaintance with her brother-in-law.” James intended to do his utmost not to be any less forthright than was necessary. “I had met her briefly on a few occasions before. This is her first Season and the first time I have spent any length of time with her.”

Mother’s brow drew inward. “Do you like her?”

“I do.” He knew the moment he spoke the words that they were true. He did like Miss Lancaster. He didn’t love her, nor did he truly wish to marry her, but he most definitely liked her. “I believe you will like her as well.”

Mother’s concern only seemed to grow. “I do not know that she will take much notice of me. Your father said her sister is a duchess. Duchesses do not care for unimportant people.”

“They will all be very kind to you.” James prayed that proved true. He held out no hope of civility from His Grace, but what he knew of Miss Lancaster told him he could depend upon her kindness. “Rest now, Mother.”

“Will you check on my puppy?”

He nodded his agreement.

“And see if the housekeeper can tell us of a reliable physician?”

He nodded again.

“And where the nearest apothecary can be found?”

“Of course, Mother.” He pulled a light throw from the back of the couch, settling it over her as she lay down once more. “I will see to it all.”

She reached up a frail hand and lightly touched his face. “You’ll make everything right. You always do.”

So he did. Mother’s well-being and Bennett’s future had always been his responsibility. For years, he’d held them all together. He had dedicated himself to caring for his family, to sacrificing for their happiness. That was forever the role he fulfilled, and it was an often lonely one.