“Ouch.” Gemma made a face as Serena’s maid, Tilly, stuck a pin into the coil of curls she was transforming from a blowsy fright into the sort of elegant style Serena herself would be happy to wear.
“Now, Miss Gemma,” the maid scolded, “You know I’m as careful as an ewe with a newborn lamb with you.”
“She’s always been thus, Tilly,” Sophia, the traitor, said from her comfortable chair to the side of her sister’s dressing table.
If she weren’t attempting to convince the gentlemen from Pearson Close of her fitness for their company, Gemma would never have put this much effort into her attire. But Sophia and Serena had convinced her that perhaps her intellect alone was not enough to prove her bona fides to them. As much as it pained her to admit it, men seemed to care as much about a lady’s looks—perhaps more—than they did for the sharpness of her mind.
“You are here for moral support,” she reminded Sophia tartly. “Taking Tilly’s side against me is not that.”
“We’re all on the same side, miss,” said the maid reproachfully as she twisted another lock of hair into a coil. “I’m as intent on you showing those gents your smarts as anyone. It’s about time someone took us females serious-like.”
“Seriously, Tilly,” Gemma reminded her automatically. She’d taught the girl to read soon after the heiresses arrived at Beauchamp House and now they were working on her spoken language. Tilly had ambitions beyond life in service and Gemma was as invested as she was in making her dream of becoming an educator come true.
“Seriously,” the girl repeated. “Seriously.”
The sisters exchanged a smile in the mirror before Sophia responded to Gemma’s earlier rebuke. “I am here to ensure that you are as fine as a five pence when you go downstairs to greet your peers. It is frustrating, I know, that ladies are expected to be well turned out as well as intelligent amongst these sorts, but it is the way of things. Think of it as catching more flies with honey.”
Gemma frowned. “I’ve never liked that expression. I do not wish to catch flies in the first place.”
“Do not be so literal,” Sophia said, her exasperation evident in her tone. “You take my point. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here right now.”
Turning her attention to Tilly, she asked, “Which of the gowns I sent over did you settle on? The blue or the green?”
“The blue brings out her eyes very well, Lady Benedick,” the maid said before stepping back from the dressing table.
“There, Miss Gemma, all finished.”
Gemma, who had closed her eyes to the image in the glass, now opened them and was surprised at what she saw.
She’d never been particularly careful about her looks. Indeed, she could often be found with a pencil tucked into her messily coiled braid when she was in the library scouring the latest journals from the world of natural science. It had been a trial to her mother when she and Sophia still lived in Manchester. Aunt Dahlia had thought it a foolish concern. And unlike Sophia, who as the eldest, and the most intent on pleasing her elders, and who made an effort with both her appearance and her studies, Gemma had decided to please herself. Only when Sophia had insisted she pay lip service at the very least to society’s expectations, had she allowed herself to be pinned and coiffed and laced. But it had never felt comfortable. And certainly didn’t give her the sort of confidence it gave her sister.
Still, staring at the tidy, even elegant hairstyle she now wore, gave her a little glow of satisfaction.
Was this why Sophia had always made such a fuss over her hair then?
“Let those boors ignore your thoughts on the icthy-whatever now,” Sophia said with grin from behind her.
“Ichthysaurus,” Gemma said automatically, correcting her sister just as she’d corrected Tilly earlier.
“Come on, miss, and let’s get you into the blue velvet. It’s nearly ten thirty and the gentlemen are arriving at eleven.”
Dressing was not nearly the ordeal as the hairdressing had been, but once Gemma was buttoned into the long sleeved velvet, as beautifully made as it was practical, with a bright white fichu for warmth at the neck and finely embroidered red roses at the hem, she was once again feeling an uncustomary surge of pleasure at her appearance.
“If we aren’t careful, all of this elegance will go to my head and I will never have another thought for fossils or science,” she said wryly as she surveyed herself in the pier glass.
Careful not to wrinkle the gown, Sophia gave her a quick hug. “I’ve always tried to tell you, it’s possible to care about one’s coiffure and gown and whatever academic interest one has. You need not trade one for the other. Indeed, I think of my pretty gowns as armor. Maybe now you will view them in the same way?”
“That all depends on how this morning’s tour of the collection goes,” Gemma said with a rueful smile. “But I do admit that it’s nice to be pleased with my appearance in the glass rather than feeling as if I’ll disappoint you.”
Sophia blinked, her eyes narrowed with concern. “Dearest, you could never disappoint me. Not in a lifetime. I might tease you about your windblown hair and dirty hands, but you must know I don’t mean it.”
This time the hug she gave her was unmindful of the gown and Gemma felt a wave of affection for her sister wash over her. She’d missed her in these months since she’d married and moved just down the road.
“I know it,” she told Sophia, returning the hug. “I simply wish to please you. That’s all. And it feels as if a great deal of the time what pleases us is at cross-purposes.”
“I am on your side,” Sophia said. “Always.”
“And I’m on yours,” Gemma said, her smile wide. “Now, let’s go downstairs and show Serena how well I can look when I’m made to care about it.”
They found Lady Serena in the sitting room with a bit of darning, and her gasp when Gemma entered the room was what she’d hoped for.
“Gemma,” she said, beaming, “you look as fine as I’ve ever seen you. I hope these gentlemen are able to listen to your scientific talk without being distracted by your radiance.”
This was something that hadn’t occurred to Gemma and she turned to her sister with alarm. “Will they do that? I do not wish them to be inattentive because of my hair and a silly gown. I will go upstairs and change at once.”
But Sophia held her fast by the arm. “She’s only teasing, my dear. Do not, I pray, go destroy all of Tilly’s hard work because of a jest.”
Serena, her expression contrite, hastened to reassure her as well. “I know we say that gentlemen have very short spans of attention, but I feel sure they will be able to manage. Aunt Celeste was forever complaining about the way that lady scholars insisted upon being dowds to be taken seriously, too.”
“You never told me that,” Gemma said with a pang of distress. “I thought she was a devotee of sensible dress.”
“Only when it came to practicality,” Serena said with a shrug. “She was quite fond of pretty things, and I vow had more hats than any lady has a right to. But for those occasions when it was necessary to wear a less-than-fashionable gown—while digging in the sand and soil for fossils, for example—she did so.”
Gemma had been here for nearly a year and she still didn’t feel as if she truly knew everything there was to know about the woman who had bequeathed her estate to four strangers.
“So, if you needed it,” Sophia said with a grin, “you now know that Lady Celeste would have approved of your gown.”
The idea pleased Gemma, though she was not quite comfortable discussing it aloud. Instead she turned to the subject of the luncheon menu. In addition to touring Lady Celeste’s collection, the gentlemen from Pearson Close would also be sitting down to a light luncheon afterward. The idea had been Serena’s, who had thought it would be an opportunity for Gemma to have further conversation with them about her favorite subject rather than sending them on their way as soon as they’d seen the fossils.
Without Serena and Sophia, and even Tilly, Gemma was quite certain she’d have been able to conduct herself passably with her fellow fossil-hunters, but she would without doubt have done so without making much of an impression. At the very least, this way she had learned how much she appreciated having embroidered roses on her gown.
And that was something for which she’d be eternally grateful.
* * *
“Lady Celeste Beauchamp was rumored to have quite a collection,” said Sir Everard as he, Lord Paley, and Cam rode in the Pearson Close coach over the somewhat bumpy road to Beauchamp House. “I appreciate the invitation, Lord Cameron. I had thought to make a trek there myself before I left the area, but it’s much better to get in the door with a relation by my side.”
Perhaps realizing how that sounded, he amended, “To ease the introductions, of course. I find that having a male relation along makes the ladies much more comfortable in social situations.”
Cam rather thought the ladies of Beauchamp House would have some arguments with the assertion but decided to let the comment pass. After all, this trip had afforded him the opportunity to learn more about what Sir Everard’s motives were in both his midnight visit to the beach and the more conventional but no less suspicious visit to the collection. The man was after something, and Cam wanted to know what.
His own motives for this curiosity were not clear to him either. Logic would dictate that the familial connection between his family and Gemma’s made it incumbent upon him to protect her from whatever harm Sir Everard posed to her, and by extension, the Beauchamp House collection. But he could just as easily have informed his brother of the man’s suspicious activity and gone on about his own business.
Honesty meant admitting that as a collector himself, he wanted to know what it was Sir Everard thought to find on the cliffside property and how he might make use of it in his own studies. Fossil hunters were a competitive lot and there was a certain sense of anticipation at the idea of snatching an important find out from under the other man’s nose.
That, however, would also mean snatching whatever it was from beneath Gemma’s nose. And there was the rub. If she were a man he’d have no misgivings about it. Obviously he wouldn’t steal it. He wasn’t that competitive. But honor dictated he give her the opportunity to reject this mysterious prize (which he still didn’t know was actually a prize) before making his own claim upon it.
Life was far less complicated when one wasn’t bending over backward to please a woman. His brothers might all be cozily trussed up in the bonds of matrimony, but he, thank you very much, would prefer to keep his life simple.
Or at the very least, he would choose a bride who was sweet and biddable and did as she was told. Not someone like Gemma Hastings, who was quick-tempered and didn’t have a mild bone in her body.
“I have heard your brother’s wife is a very refined lady,” said Lord Paley, interrupting Cam’s brooding. “I believe the Hastings family is from Manchester?”
Wondering where this conversational gambit was headed, Cam nodded. “I believe they are, yes. Her father is some sort of merchant, I believe? But Sophia and her sister Gemma are both well mannered and intelligent.”
“I look forward to meeting them both,” the viscount said with an approving tone. “With the added inducement of the collection amassed by Lady Celeste and the estate, I should think Miss Hastings has quite a few suitors vying for her hand.”
It was said with the hint of a question in the tone. As if he were asking for Cam’s assessment of the situation.
Before Cam could respond, however, Sir Everard broke in. “Never say you’ve got your eye on the Beauchamp fortune, Paley? If the chit is pretty enough, perhaps I’ll make an attempt on her as well.”
Cam felt his temper rising at the words. “Do not forget, Sir Everard, that the lady in question is related to me by marriage. I won’t have you speak of her with such disrespect.”
The other man threw up his hands. “Of course. Of course, old man. No offense intended. I, of course, misspoke.”
“Of course,” Cam said with a lightness he didn’t feel. Aside from his distrust of the man in general, he also added a disgust for his attitude toward ladies to the marks against him. He hoped whatever it was that brought the fellow to Beauchamp House would prove to be worth the time he’d have to spend in his company.
“Besides,” Sir Everard continued, “even if Miss Hastings turns out to be a fright, it’s the Beauchamp Lizard I’m really after.”
Despite the fact that he’d been waiting for just such an admission from the man, Cam was still surprised by Sir Everard’s bald declaration.
Trying to maintain a sense of calm he didn’t feel, Cam asked casually, “What’s the Beauchamp Lizard?”
“Lady Celeste was said to have found it on the cliffs below her house,” Sir Everard said, his eyes bright with excitement. “If it makes up part of the collection, I mean to make an offer to Miss Hastings for it. She’s the owner of the collection now, is she not?”
“But what is it?” Cam asked again. For a man who liked the sound of his own voice, Sir Everard could be dashed skimpy on details when he wished to be. He still couldn’t figure out why, if it had already been unearthed, the other man had been trying to visit the place where it had come from. In the middle of the night.
Though it made some sort of sense to think that if one valuable fossil had been found in a place, others might also be had there. Assuming it was a fossil he spoke of.
“You don’t actually believe it exists?” Paley asked, his tone dismissive.
Then, perhaps noting that Cam was still looking at them as if they had branches growing from their ears, he took pity on him.
“About a dozen years ago,” Paley said, “a rumor ran through the collecting community hereabouts that Lady Celeste Beauchamp had found the skull of what had to be one of the largest of the ancient lizards to be unearthed in this part of England. But almost as quickly as the rumor spread, it was squelched by the lady herself who said it was all a misunderstanding. That it was only a horse skull that had been buried on the beach.”
“It’s quite easy to tell a horse skull from that of a lizard,” Cam said with a frown. “Why would she make that mistake? Lady Celeste was not a novice. She traveled to Paris to see Cuvier’s collections and has a quite thorough bit of scholarship in the library at Beauchamp House.”
“That’s just it,” Sir Everard said with a gleam in his eye. “What if she wasn’t mistaken? She was a canny enough sort. Perhaps she wished to protect herself from prying eyes. What if she simply hid the Lizard in her own collection, in plain sight? If I spy it among the contents I mean to purchase it without having Miss Hastings any wiser. If, of course, I don’t decide to marry the girl and have the entire collection.”
“Isn’t it a little early to be speaking of marriage?” Paley asked with a moue of distaste. “You haven’t even met the lady properly yet.”
“If the collection is as fine as it’s rumored to be, Paley, it doesn’t matter if she’s covered in scales under her petticoats,” the other man retorted.
Then, perhaps recalling that Cam was a sort of relation to the lady in question, he turned a narrow eyed gaze on him. “I hope I can count on your discretion, Lord Cameron? I know you wish to purchase the spinal column I outbid you for in that London auction last month.”
Cam gave a mental curse. It had been a particularly galling defeat at the auction held on behalf of Mary Anning and her family. He’d seen the fossilized spinal skeleton the year before as part of Lord Lawler’s collection and hadn’t had the ready cash to purchase it then. But when he was ready to do so at the auction, Sir Everard had bid almost five times the fossil’s worth. Cam was a devoted collector, but even he wasn’t prepared to pay a year’s allowance from his father for one artifact, no matter how important it might be. When Sir Everard had indicated to him that he might be willing to part with it for a far more reasonable sum, Cam had been thrilled, though outwardly noncommittal. The other man’s words now indicated that Cam’s motives hadn’t been as inscrutable as he’d hoped.
Now he calculated how serious Sir Everard was about his prize versus the likelihood that this Beauchamp Lizard even existed. How likely was it that Lady Celeste had found a lizard skull of such importance and chosen not to share it with the world? Thinking of what he knew of Lady Celeste’s character and how she prized scholarship, he doubted it.
“I will be silent as the grave,” he said with an inclination of his head to the other man. “I do not believe you’ll find the skull in her collection, but if you do, I will say nothing.”
He felt a pang of conscience at promising to keep quiet about something Gemma had a right to know about. But if it wasn’t in the collection, then he could speak freely to her. And, despite his impatience with her at times, he had enough faith in her abilities as a geologist to know that if there was a skull as fine as the one Sir Everard described in the collection, then she would have noticed it.
“Excellent,” said Sir Everard, who actually rubbed his hands together like the villain in a melodrama Cam had once seen on the stage.
Cam was suddenly grateful he knew what it was the baronet had been looking for on the shore now so that he needn’t spend more time in his company.
A few minutes later, they were welcomed into the entry hall of Beauchamp House by the newly appointed butler, George, or rather Stephens, who had been elevated from the position of first footman after the unfortunate dismissal of his predecessor.
“Lord Cameron,” said the young man with gravity. “The ladies are expecting you in the drawing room.”
Cam and the other men handed over their coats, hats, and gloves, then were ushered upstairs to the drawing room where the warm fire was welcome after the chill of the ground floor.
As they were announced he saw Sophia, Lady Serena and another, unfamiliar lady rise to welcome them.
“Gentlemen,” said Lady Serena, the portrait of elegance and grace, “we are so pleased you were able to come today.” Cam had long thought her to be one of the loveliest women he’d ever met. Though he had no particular attraction to her, it was someone with that sort of grace and charm that he wished for in a bride. She had also proven herself to be quite practical as a chaperone to the four heiresses, a quality he also found impressive. Not all ladies could claim that for themselves.
Of course, three of her charges had been married rather hastily, but nobody was perfect.
But who was the third lady? And where the devil was Gemma?
“Lady Serena,” said Lord Paley into the lull left by Cam’s silence, executing a perfect bow. “What a pleasure to see you again. I believe we’ve met in London once or twice.”
“Indeed we have, Lord Paley,” said Serena, offering the man her hand.
Turning she gestured to Sophia and the stranger. “May I present my friends Lady Benedick Lisle, and her sister, Miss Hastings?”
Cam felt his breath catch.
This lovely creature was Gemma?
He’d known she wasn’t a hideous monster, of course. Any man with a pair of eyes could see that she was attractive enough. But in that blue velvet gown that accentuated her small bosom and hinted at curves he’d never noticed before, coupled with an elegant chignon and a healthy glow in her cheeks, she was extraordinarily beautiful.
Something his two companions didn’t fail to note.
Beside him, he felt Sir Everard’s elbow in his rib. “Well, well, well. The Hastings chit cleaned up into a beauty, didn’t she? Perhaps I won’t need to purchase the Lizard after all, eh?”
Paley was bowing over Gemma’s hand and Cam noted that he lingered longer than was strictly appropriate.
It wasn’t that he was jealous, Cam assured himself. He simply didn’t wish for Gemma to be overly bothered by the blandishments of the two men. After all, she had pronounced her desire to remain unwed any number of times.
Bringing the men here had been a mistake. He would be sure to apologize to her later.
“I must admit,” Sir Everard said smoothly, “I was quite pleased at Lord Cameron’s invitation. I have long heard about the extraordinary collection dear Lady Celeste amassed before her untimely death. But I hadn’t realized her most impressive find was you, Miss Hastings.”
To Cam’s annoyance, Gemma actually blushed at the baronet’s flattery. What on earth was wrong with her? Where was the Gemma who would normally send this fool packing for being so presumptuous?
Perhaps recognizing the danger Sir Everard posed, Sophia stepped forward and slipped her arm through his, “I quite agree with you about my sister, Sir Everard. But I hope you won’t mind escorting me as we tour the collection? Precedence, you know. Lord Paley will escort Lady Serena, and dear Gemma will be with Lord Cameron. I do hope you’ll explain it to me. I’ve never had a head for such things, as Gemma will tell you.”
Despite his disappointment, Sir Everard couldn’t resist a captive audience and with a show of gallantry allowed Sophia to slide her arm through his and lead him away.
Paley, meanwhile, looked delighted to be paired off with Lady Serena. “I hope you’ll tell me more about your aunt, Lady Serena,” he said with an easy smile. “I’ve heard so many intriguing tales, but I can only imagine yours are far more interesting.”
They followed the other pair, leaving Cam and Gemma standing some three feet from one another.
She did not look pleased. He, on the other hand, was relieved. At least he needn’t strain himself to make sure the other two men didn’t say something untoward. That he had no fears for Sophia or Serena didn’t occur to him.
“Shall we?” he asked, offering Gemma his arm with a flourish.