Claire’s eyes prickled with tears she had forgotten how to shed. She couldn’t bear to push the matter so hard it caused an irreparable breach between her and Tessa.
She returned her sister’s embrace, then drew back, taking Tessa’s hands in hers. “I’m not doing this to you, dearest. I’m doing it for you. And for Brancasters. I truly believe Ewan Geddes means trouble for all of us.”
“Brancasters!” Tessa spat the word out like some vile oath as she wrenched her fingers out of Claire’s grasp. “I should have known. You’re more concerned with protecting your grandfather’s precious company than with my happiness.”
“Now, Tessa, you know that’s not true.”
Lady Lydiard could hold her tongue no longer. “Apologize to Claire, at once, Tessa.” She rose from the settee. “Your sister would never have involved herself in this unsavory business if I had not appealed to her for help. If you must be angry with someone, let it be me.”
Claire wasn’t certain which of them her stepmother’s words surprised more—her, Tessa, or Lady Lydiard herself.
Surprised or not, Tessa made no effort to apologize. “This is worse than I thought, if both of you are allied against me. I don’t care, though. I will not let you spoil my chance of happiness!”
With that, she spun away and ran out of the morning room, slamming the door behind her.
Claire and Lady Lydiard stood frozen for a moment, listening to the muted pounding of footsteps up the stairs. Then her ladyship wilted down onto the settee again.
“This is worse than I thought.” She echoed her daughter’s words. “Tessa has always been such a willful child. And I fear I’ve only made it worse by indulging her so often. What if she runs away to Scotland and marries the fellow, just to spite us?”
Runs away to Scotland. Those words stirred an idea in Claire’s mind.
She sank back onto her chair and took a drink of her tea, only to find it had gone cold. “I’m afraid that’s just what might happen if we push her too far. We need to let her feelings cool to the point where she can be reasoned with.”
“What are you suggesting?” In spite of the early hour, Lady Lydiard appeared in need of a stronger drink than tea. “That we should look the other way while this fellow continues to pursue my daughter all over London in such a scandalous fashion?”
“Not quite.” Suddenly Claire’s plan took shape with brilliant clarity. For only the second time in her cautious life, she tasted the heady draft of reckless zeal. “We need to keep them apart long enough for Tessa to come to her senses. In the meantime, we must force Ewan Geddes to tip his hand, so she can see him for the fortune-hunting troublemaker he is.”
“And how are we to accomplish that?”
A tiny secretive smile tugged at a corner of Claire’s mouth. The more details she added to her plan, the better she liked it.
“We must present Mr. Geddes with an even more tempting target for his schemes.”
Her ladyship’s eyes widened. “You?”
Claire nodded. Then she remembered another bold plan of hers that had involved Ewan Geddes, and how disastrously it had gone awry.
“This is a pleasant surprise, I must say.” Two evenings later, Ewan looked around the table at the three Talbot ladies, his eyes coming to rest upon Tessa, seated opposite him.
Ten years ago, if anyone had told him the day would come when he’d be sitting down to dine at Lydiard House, he wouldn’t have believed them. It felt as though he was in sight of the crest of a tall peak he’d been scaling for as long as he could remember.
“I was afraid ye ladies might not take kindly to my renewing Miss Tessa’s acquaintance after all these years.”
Lady Lydiard didn’t take kindly to it. Ewan could feel her critical gaze trained upon him, as if she was just waiting for him to fumble his forks or drink the contents of his finger bowl.
He would not be sorry to disappoint her.
From the foot of the table, Claire Talbot spoke up. “I won’t attempt to deceive you, Mr. Geddes. Tessa’s mother and I are concerned about the…haste with which she is making important decisions concerning her future.”
“Claire…” murmured her sister, a distinct note of warning in her voice.
Ewan caught Tessa’s eye, then gave a subtle shake of his head. A great family row wasn’t likely to win him sympathy from her mother and sister. “It’s fine. Honestly. I have no objection to hearing the truth.”
They ate their soup in awkward silence for a while before Claire Talbot spoke again.
“As you may recall from our younger years, my sister has a strong will and knows her own mind. Since her mother and I both love her very much, we do not wish to cause an unfortunate breach in our family, as can sometimes occur under these circumstances.”
“A wise and compassionate course, Miss Talbot.” Ewan found himself warming to Claire in spite of himself.
It couldn’t have been easy for a woman of her spirit to back down from the defiant challenge she’d flung at him on the night of the Fortescues’ ball. But she recognized that opposing him too forcefully might push her sister straight into his arms. And she cared too much about Tessa to risk estranging her.
“A practical course, sir.” Miss Talbot seemed pleased by his praise. “My years in the world of commerce have taught me to be practical, even when it comes to matters of the heart.”
A serving maid stepped forward to collect their soup bowls. Ewan murmured a word of thanks when she took his. Was it his imagination, or did she look a bit familiar? Could she be one of the wee lasses from Strathandrew, brought south to serve in the family’s London home?
Claire Talbot spoke again, distracting Ewan from his thoughts. “The reason we invited you here this evening was so we might begin to get better acquainted with you. Of course, we remember you from our summers in Strathandrew, but that was quite some time ago. Tell me, do you get much opportunity to hunt and fish over in America?”
“Not as much as I’d like,” Ewan admitted, as the serving maid placed the fish course before him—poached Highland salmon.
A gillie on the estate must have caught it and sent it south by train, packed in ice.
“My work has kept me pretty busy, ye know. It’s only in the past year or two that I’ve been able to take my nose from the grindstone.”
He took a bite of the salmon. The soft pink flesh melted on his tongue with a familiar salty-sweet flavor so delicious Ewan closed his eyes, the better to savor it. If Lady Lydiard hadn’t been watching him so closely, he might have let out a faint groan of pleasure.
“I know what you mean,” said Claire. “Since taking over at Brancasters, I have not had much opportunity for leisure, myself. Why, just this morning, I realized that it has been fully three years since I last spent any time at Strathandrew. It used to be the highlight of the year, when Tessa and I were children.”
Her gaze took on a far-off look, and Ewan thought he detected a hint of wistful softness in her eyes.
He remembered the Talbots’ summer visits, too. The flurry of anticipation as the great house was opened up and cleaned from cellar to attic. The larder stocked with all sorts of delicacies brought from the south. Fishing tackle sorted and line mended. Guns hauled out and cleaned in preparation for lots of hunting parties.
Then, on the day the Talbots’ yacht moored in the firth, he would steal down to watch the family and their guests disembark. And to take his first, private look at Tessa, to see how much taller she’d grown. How her figure was beginning to fill out in just the right places. If she was wearing her hair