take action.
But then she met his eyes with her blue ones and his breath caught. The left corner of her lip curved up before she looked away.
“What do you think of this house party Kate has proposed?” Mr. Mansfield said.
The table went silent. Bianca’s expression froze, and then settled into that stoic one he was used to seeing whenever talk of Kate came up.
“I had no idea she had,” Bianca said slowly. “When and why?”
Luc, too, waited for the answer with bated breath. Because the event could change everything. Could endanger everything. The outside world pressing in, invading their idyll, cutting short their affair and the time he had to make things right.
“Henrietta wrote me of it,” Mansfield said. “I was certain Kate would have said as much in her letter. Did she not write to you?”
“I would not know,” Bianca returned. “I no longer read her letters.”
“A foolishness you will now regret,” Miss Smith admonished.
“I do not like such strife,” Mansfield complained. “I don’t know why you girls cannot get along. When you were children you always clung to each other.”
“Will I get to attend? How long will it be?” Thomas asked, ignoring the undercurrent of tension as he always seemed to do. For the first time, Luc wondered what the boy thought of the discordant dynamics of the family.
“For one week. In two weeks’ time.”
“So soon as that?” Bianca said faintly.
“Yes, but you should be pleased,” Mansfield said. “I’m certain you will enjoy meeting people.”
“Pleased?” Bianca said, her voice suddenly louder and more forceful, as if she’d recovered from the initial shock.
“Yes,” her father interrupted her. “And because I knew you would be concerned about such frivolous things, I thought you might wish to join me this week when I go to take possession of my new thoroughbreds. I’m certain Eastbourne has a dressmaker that would meet your tastes.”
“You’re trying to bribe my compliance.”
Mansfield laughed. “Yes, I suppose I am. But come, be my good girl and let it work.”
A small smile lifted Bianca’s lips. “I don’t suppose I have much of a choice about the house party. Kate wishes it and so it shall be.”
Luc left lunch morose and pensive. Kate wishes it and so it shall be . Mansfield hadn’t denied his daughter’s words, and it held ill portent for Luc’s chances of a successful proposal. Beyond that, now Bianca would be away for several days. And then, there was only a short amount of time before society descended on the house. Before his masquerade might be discovered. Which meant he had very little time left indeed.
K ate was coming home. For a house party. Even thinking about it, Bianca’s breath caught in her chest, which seemed terribly small. She couldn’t get any air. Of course, Kate would return home in several months for Christmas, but for the last two years, she had flitted from town to town, country house party to country house party, following society as it moved across England. Not once in two years had Kate attempted to bring that society home.
Why was she inviting guests to stay with them? It wasn’t as if she could very well have Bianca hide away here. Amends, perhaps? Unlikely. Then some other nefarious reason?
Two months ago Bianca would have been excited. After all, until Kate married, she would have no other way of meeting her peers outside of the neighborhood. But now . . . now it was a threat.
Acknowledging that understanding forced her to accept that Luc meant something to her. That she felt more for him than she should. That she’d been living in a world of make-believe in which a flirtation, a romance, between she and an impoverished tutor would even be possible.
Sitting in the schoolroom with her brother and the nursery maid on Mr. Dore’s day off merely made the tantalizing visions of the tutor even stronger in her mind.
“You like Mr. Dore.”
“What?” Bianca turned to Thomas in
But then she met his eyes with her blue ones and his breath caught. The left corner of her lip curved up before she looked away.
“What do you think of this house party Kate has proposed?” Mr. Mansfield said.
The table went silent. Bianca’s expression froze, and then settled into that stoic one he was used to seeing whenever talk of Kate came up.
“I had no idea she had,” Bianca said slowly. “When and why?”
Luc, too, waited for the answer with bated breath. Because the event could change everything. Could endanger everything. The outside world pressing in, invading their idyll, cutting short their affair and the time he had to make things right.
“Henrietta wrote me of it,” Mansfield said. “I was certain Kate would have said as much in her letter. Did she not write to you?”
“I would not know,” Bianca returned. “I no longer read her letters.”
“A foolishness you will now regret,” Miss Smith admonished.
“I do not like such strife,” Mansfield complained. “I don’t know why you girls cannot get along. When you were children you always clung to each other.”
“Will I get to attend? How long will it be?” Thomas asked, ignoring the undercurrent of tension as he always seemed to do. For the first time, Luc wondered what the boy thought of the discordant dynamics of the family.
“For one week. In two weeks’ time.”
“So soon as that?” Bianca said faintly.
“Yes, but you should be pleased,” Mansfield said. “I’m certain you will enjoy meeting people.”
“Pleased?” Bianca said, her voice suddenly louder and more forceful, as if she’d recovered from the initial shock.
“Yes,” her father interrupted her. “And because I knew you would be concerned about such frivolous things, I thought you might wish to join me this week when I go to take possession of my new thoroughbreds. I’m certain Eastbourne has a dressmaker that would meet your tastes.”
“You’re trying to bribe my compliance.”
Mansfield laughed. “Yes, I suppose I am. But come, be my good girl and let it work.”
A small smile lifted Bianca’s lips. “I don’t suppose I have much of a choice about the house party. Kate wishes it and so it shall be.”
Luc left lunch morose and pensive. Kate wishes it and so it shall be . Mansfield hadn’t denied his daughter’s words, and it held ill portent for Luc’s chances of a successful proposal. Beyond that, now Bianca would be away for several days. And then, there was only a short amount of time before society descended on the house. Before his masquerade might be discovered. Which meant he had very little time left indeed.
K ate was coming home. For a house party. Even thinking about it, Bianca’s breath caught in her chest, which seemed terribly small. She couldn’t get any air. Of course, Kate would return home in several months for Christmas, but for the last two years, she had flitted from town to town, country house party to country house party, following society as it moved across England. Not once in two years had Kate attempted to bring that society home.
Why was she inviting guests to stay with them? It wasn’t as if she could very well have Bianca hide away here. Amends, perhaps? Unlikely. Then some other nefarious reason?
Two months ago Bianca would have been excited. After all, until Kate married, she would have no other way of meeting her peers outside of the neighborhood. But now . . . now it was a threat.
Acknowledging that understanding forced her to accept that Luc meant something to her. That she felt more for him than she should. That she’d been living in a world of make-believe in which a flirtation, a romance, between she and an impoverished tutor would even be possible.
Sitting in the schoolroom with her brother and the nursery maid on Mr. Dore’s day off merely made the tantalizing visions of the tutor even stronger in her mind.
“You like Mr. Dore.”
“What?” Bianca turned to Thomas in
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