Gemma watched the interplay between the Lisle brothers as Viscount Paley introduced Sophia and Ben to his godfather.
Benedick, it turned out, was a far better actor than she’d supposed because it was obvious to her, at least, that he wanted nothing more than to drag his brother out of the drawing room by the ear.
For his part, Lord Crutchley just seemed delighted to have more visitors.
“It’s delightful to see you both again so soon,” said Lord Paley as he rang for refreshments. It was clear to Gemma, at least, that he spent a great deal of time in Crutchley’s house, which made her feel somewhat better for the elderly man’s situation. It had bothered her once she learned of his connection with Lady Celeste that he seemed to be lonely for company.
“It’s certainly a surprise,” Benedick agreed as he moved to stand with his back to the fire. “Though you mustn’t allow us to burden you with unexpected visitors. We merely wished to assuage my wife’s worry for her sister’s welfare. Now that we’ve done that, we will all leave you to your peace and quiet, of course.”
“But that’s absurd,” Lord Crutchley protested. “You cannot mean to make the drive back to Little Seaford without a meal at the very least.”
And that was how the party from Beauchamp House ended up partaking of the midday meal at the home of Lord Crutchley.
It felt somewhat absurd, Gemma thought, considering that she and Cam were pretending to be married, while her sister and brother-in-law pretended to believe it. And Lord Crutchley and Lord Paley believed the pretense to be the truth.
Sheridan couldn’t have written a more absurd farce.
The delay of their departure, however, allowed her and Cam to explain what they’d learned from Lord Crutchley about his time spent with Lady Celeste and just how much they’d not known about Maximillian Pearson’s history with her.
“What a dreadful time Lady Celeste must have had with him watching her all the time,” Sophia said with a frown. “I am no longer surprised that she chose not to marry. I wonder that she ever entertained the prospect at all.”
“Oh, she was made of stern stuff,” Lord Crutchley assured her. “Your benefactress was one of the most intelligent and strong-minded ladies I ever had the pleasure to meet.”
He gave a wink in Gemma’s direction. “Though I believe your sister may be the first I’ve met in years to hold a candle to Celeste. If I were twenty years younger, and I’d met her first, I’d have given Lord Cameron a run for his money.”
Gemma blushed at the elderly gentleman’s blandishments. “I’m quite sure I don’t deserve such praise, my lord.”
But Cam surprised her by agreeing with their host. “Gemma is the cleverest lady of my acquaintance, Crutchley. But I must admit to a bit a relief at having won her before she made your acquaintance, for I feel quite sure I’d have had a time convincing her I was worthy.”
“If you would believe it, Crutchley,” said Ben drolly, “these two were at loggerheads with one another only a week ago. I still can’t quite believe they’re wed.”
Gemma suppressed her desire to kick her brother-in-law in the shin. But Sophia must have done it for her if his sudden yelp were anything to go by.
The meal passed without further incident, and soon enough, the sisters and brothers were taking their leave of Crutchley and his godson.
“Thank you all for giving an old man a chance to relive happy memories,” their host said as he took Gemma’s hands in his. “I know without a doubt that Celeste would have been pleased as punch to know she’d left her collection in the hands of such a special lady.”
“Thank you for sharing your stories,” she told him, then kissing him on the cheek. “I feel as if I know Lady Celeste even better now. And I hope we’ll be able to find her Beauchamp Lizard and put it back in her collection where it belongs.”
When Lord Paley took his leave of them, Gemma noticed that he pulled Cam to the side and they talked quietly for a few minutes while the carriages were brought around. She filed that bit of information away to query him about later.
It was decided that since Benedick and Sophia had brought the brougham from Beauchamp House, Gemma and Cam would ride in the more comfortable closed carriage with them while one of the grooms drove Cam’s curricle back to Little Seaford. She couldn’t have imagined a less congenial prospect than a four-hour drive with her angry sister and brother-in-law—because she was under no illusion that their sunny conversation at Lord Crutchley’s had been anything but a polite fiction for the sake of their host—seated across from them.
And once the carriage pulled away from Crutchley’s house, the fireworks began.
“Of all the mutton-headed, arrogant, reckless things you have ever done, Cameron,” Ben said, his voice eerily calm despite the tenor of his words, “this is by far the worst.”
Something about the way he immediately blamed their situation on Cam made Gemma’s hackles rise. “I am not a young innocent being led into misbehavior, Benedick,” she argued. “It was my idea for us to travel to meet Crutchley in the first place. And we couldn’t have accounted for what would happen with the weather. So, you may keep your sharp words to yourself.”
“Do you know what could happen to you if word gets out that the two of you spent the night together in an inn, Gemma?” Benedick asked, not backing down from his position one bit. “If you thought the risk from what happened in Pearson Close was great, then this escapade is far worse. You were even seen by Paley, for heaven’s sake.”
“But Paley thinks we’re wed,” Cam said, squeezing Gemma’s hand as she slipped it into his. “And we will be as soon as I can procure a special license.”
She felt a pang of conscience over the rift she’d caused between the brothers. She’d never considered that Benedick would take his role as her pseudo-guardian so seriously. A glance at Sophia revealed her sister was concerned about his anger over the situation as well.
“That’s not the point,” Ben was saying in response to Cam. “And lying about your marital status is hardly the way to begin your life together.”
“Dearest,” Sophia said, placing a hand on her husband’s arm. “You must remember that none of us at Beauchamp House has precisely followed the usual order of things when it comes to marriage. Even you and I didn’t wait until we—”
“But that was different,” Benedick said with a frown. “We didn’t go about telling people we were wed when we were not. And I dashed well knew I intended to make good on my promise to marry you.”
As soon as he spoke the words, Gemma felt Cam stiffen beside her. A glance in her sister’s direction told her that she’d also realized just how far over the line Benedick’s words had been.
“What. Did. You. Say?” Cam asked, his tone as deadly quiet as his brother’s had been.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it like it came out, did you, Benedick?” Gemma clung to Cam’s arm as if she feared he would launch himself across the carriage at the vicar.
To his credit, Ben sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know, damn it. I don’t know anything anymore.”
“You just suggested that I seduced and intend to abandon your sister-in-law,” Cam said coldly, “so I think if you didn’t believe it, you were being just as reckless as you accused me of being.”
“It was badly worded,” Ben said with a shrug, “but you must admit that you’ve never shown any inclination to marriage. And you certainly had no particular fondness for Gemma before this business with the Beauchamp Lizard.”
“Nor did you show any particular desire to marry before you met Sophia,” Cam protested. “And relationships change. Gemma and I may have argued a great deal, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want her.”
At that confession, Gemma wanted to tell him she’d wanted him too, but decided that might be too intimate a conversation for the present moment.
“I didn’t say you didn’t want her,” Benedick said. “Just that you didn’t want to marry her.”
“Perhaps we can save this conversation for later,” Sophia said before Cam could speak up. “After all, you may both wish to speak more freely and that doesn’t seem possible while Gemma and I are here, does it?”
Ben had the grace to look abashed. “I hadn’t considered your feelings, Gemma,” he said with a look of apology. “Perhaps we had better save this until later, as Sophia suggested.”
But Cam shook his head. “I have no secrets from Gemma. She knows that we’ve both undergone a change of heart over the last week or so. And I freely admit that I had no intention of marrying last week. This week is different, however.”
“Is that what you want, Gemma?” Ben asked her, his sympathy now making her want to throw it back in his face for the way he’d hurt his brother. “For us to speak freely, I mean.”
“Yes,” she said. “Don’t hold back on my account.”
Sophia made a sound of dismay, but didn’t speak up.
“Very well,” Benedick said with the air of a man who was doing his duty but not with any kind of relish, “didn’t you tell me just a few days ago that you preferred to marry someone entirely different from Gemma?”
Since this confession on Cam’s part had been one that Gemma herself overheard, she should be inured to its power to hurt her. And yet, it still stung.
“That was a stupid thing said in the heat of the moment,” Cam said, and he brought Gemma’s hand up to kiss her palm. “Gemma and I discussed it and she knows I regretted saying it.”
She had forgiven him the slight days ago, but she could feel from the tension in his body that Cam still carried the guilt of it.
“I think perhaps rather than calling your brother to account,” she said to Benedick with a scowl, “you should consider that I am the one who was more against the notion of marriage. If anyone is likely to run away before we are married, it will most certainly be me.”
She felt three sets of eyes on her.
“What?” Cam demanded, turning to face her. “Why would you do that?”
She patted him on the hand. “I didn’t say I would do it, just that of the two of us, I would be the one more likely to scarper off. You know it’s true. If you are stubborn, I am positively a brick wall of will.”
Sophia laughed. “My money would be on Gemma as the one to run as well.”
Ben looked at his wife in disbelief.
“What?” she asked with a shrug. “I know my sister. She’s quite correct about her stubbornness.”
Her husband pinched the bridge of his nose. Gemma had no doubt that he was regretting his decision to bring up the matter at all.
Cam, meanwhile, was still concerned about the possibility that Gemma would follow through on her hypothetical plan to run away. “You won’t leave before we marry, though, right?”
She was touched to hear the tinge of worry in his voice. “Of course I won’t,” she said, hugging his arm. “It was just a silly comparison. I have no intention of leaving before you marry me.”
He relaxed a little. And mindless of the presence of the other couple in the carriage, he kissed her.
Then, realizing exactly what she’d just said, she pulled away and added, “Nor after you marry me either.”
They all laughed, and the mood inside the carriage lightened considerably.
“Good,” he said, lifting her hand to his lips, “because I love you.”
* * *
The rest of the drive was far less eventful, though Cam felt as if he’d run naked through the streets of Little Seaford after confessing his love to Gemma in front of his brother and sister-in-law.
It was not lost on him that she didn’t say she loved him too, but of course that wasn’t something he required. After all, it had only been a few days—as had been pointed out to him multiple times today—since they’d even come to like one another. He could hardly expect her to tumble head over ears into love at the same rate he had.
Still, the ease with which she took his decision that he would return to stay at the vicarage when the brougham drew up before Beauchamp House was troubling.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she told him as he handed her down from the carriage. “We need to pay a call on Pearson to question him about the fossil but I am far too fatigued to do so now.”
Her knowing smile reminded him of the reasons why she was so tired, and he felt a bit better at her sending him away.
But only a bit.
Her next words, however, made some degree of sense.
“I wish you could stay here,” she said as she leaned into him, “but I don’t wish to add more reason for strife between you and your brother. I’m quite cross with him already.”
At her defense of him, Cam smiled. “Do not be too angry with him,” he told her. “Ben has had to endure years of my selfishness and I think he genuinely doesn’t want to see you hurt.”
“But what about you?” she asked, still not convinced. “I could just as easily hurt you.”
He kissed her quickly. “You could, at that. But I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive him. For my sake as well as Sophia’s. Because I think it would be very uncomfortable for her if you loathed her beloved husband.”
She lifted her chin. “I don’t loathe him.”
“Good.” He grinned at her. “Now, you’d better get inside and show yourself to Serena. I have a feeling she will have a few words for you.”
At the mention of her chaperone, she sighed. “I cannot wait until we are wed in truth so that I need only answer to myself.”
Cam considered telling her that she would have to answer to him, but he’d had enough arguments for one day.
He escorted her up the steps of Beauchamp House then jogged back down them and climbed into the carriage with his brother and his wife.
Soon, he thought as he watched the house fade from view. Soon he would be entitled to go inside with Gemma and shut the door behind them.