Regency Mistletoe & Marriages: A Countess by Christmas / The Earl's Mistletoe Bride. Joanna MaitlandЧитать онлайн книгу.
the services of my housekeeper.’ His voice dripped with disdain. ‘She seems to think she has the right to order my servants about simply because she once used to live here herself. In retrospect I admit I should have taken a firmer stance over the matter, and personally ensured that at least one maid was not engaged in running round after Lady Thrapston. For which I apologise.’
‘That is magnanimous of you,’ she said, in some surprise. An apology from a man of his rank was almost unheard of!
She bit back the temptation to point out that during the course of his explanation he had proved that her accusation had, in fact, been correct. Or partially. For his staff had been so busy seeing to Lady Thrapston’s demands that her aunt had been neglected. Only it had not been done deliberately. But after a brief struggle with herself she decided that it would not be wise to say so. She had more important things to consider than scoring points with this man. To start with she was going to have to go down to the kitchens and apologise in person to all the people she had offended down there. There was nothing worse than mistreating servants—simply because they could not answer back without risk of losing their employment.
And, for another thing, she had still not achieved her ultimate goal.
‘I do hope,’ she said, clasping her hands together tightly under cover of her shawl, ‘that our misunderstanding will not cause you to think any less of my aunt.’
‘Ah, yes,’ he said, his face suddenly wiped of all expression. ‘Cadwallader informs me that she has requested an interview with me to discuss a matter of some urgency.’
In the end, no matter how attractive he found her, it came down to this. Both she and her aunt were here because they felt that he, as head of the family, owed them something.
His face closed up further. Gone was the footman who had teased her and argued with her. In his place sat that cold, hard, remote man who had presided over the dining table the night before. ‘Only slightly less urgent than your own request, I believe?’ he added sarcastically.
Helen sat forward on her chair. His abrupt changes of mood were unsettling, but she could not waste this opportunity, since the conversation had swung in the direction she’d wished it to go.
‘Yes, it was imperative I speak with you before she came to plead her case. I did not want you to be prejudiced against her on my account.’
‘You think I am the kind of man who would take some petty revenge on a third party in order to punish someone who has offended me? Is that it?’
Oh, Lord, how had she managed to make it sound so insulting?
‘N…no—no, of course not…’
‘And yet you insist it was imperative you see me first? What did you think this interview would achieve, Miss Forrest?’
Had she thought to seduce him into a more amenable frame of mind? Dear God, if that was her game…
‘I have told you. I wished to apologise for the way I spoke to you and ask that you hear my aunt out on her own account…’
‘Which brings us neatly to the matter about which I wanted to see you,’ he said. ‘A remark was made at table last night which gave me cause for concern. That you are not a person who ought to have been brought to Alvanley Hall at all. Would you care to explain what General Forrest meant?’
Chapter Four
‘Oh…’ She regarded him guiltily. ‘Well, I am not strictly speaking a family member. Only Aunt Bella said that it would not matter so long as she notified you. Other people, she said, would be bringing maids and valets and grooms, and heaven knew who else, and you would be making provision for all of them…’
It struck her again, that if Aunt Bella had been thinking along those lines when she had written her acceptance note it was no wonder the housekeeper had assumed she actually was a servant.
His eyes narrowed. ‘That is not the issue. What I wish to uncover is how your association with Isabella Forrest might affect any decision I make regarding the way I deal with her. General Forrest implied that there is some scandal regarding your connection with his sister.’
‘That is exactly what Aunt Bella was afraid of! But she has done nothing of which she need be ashamed. The General just cannot stand the fact that she will not bow to his wishes—that is what I think!’
‘From what I have so far heard, it is you, Miss Forrest, who has caused the most trouble between the two of them. I believe that her continued association with you—nay, her open acknowledgement of you—has in fact caused a complete breach between them.’
‘That is simply not true! Aunt Bella was already at loggerheads with both her brothers before she even knew I existed. You see, much to everyone’s surprise, she inherited a substantial fortune when she came of age.’ Helen did not think she was betraying a confidence by telling him this much. It was public knowledge. ‘She decided to use it to set up house on her own, even though both brothers fiercely opposed her bid for independence. If she no longer wished to live with either of them, they maintained, then she should regard it as a dowry and find herself a suitable husband. They insisted it was scandalous behaviour for an unmarried female to remove herself from their sphere of influence. Taking me in and declaring she would raise me as her own was just the last straw. I admit that neither of them have set foot in her house since the day she formally adopted me, but—’
‘She adopted you? You are not, then, her natural daughter?’
‘Good heavens, no! Who told you such a dreadful thing?’
He shook his head. ‘It was implied…’
General Forrest had sidled up to him in the withdrawing room after dinner the night before and begun to drop a series of vague hints. Which, when added together, had left him with the distinct impression that Isabella Forrest had been a wild, ungovernable girl, who had been forcibly evicted from his life because of the advent of Helen into it.
What kind of man deliberately blackened his own sister’s reputation? God knew, he had no great love for either of his, but even as General Forrest had been making those sly innuendoes he had felt revolted by the man’s attitude, knowing he would never disparage anyone so closely related to him to a third party even if what he had implied was true. But Miss Forrest was now telling him a completely different version of events.
‘If you maintain you are not Isabella Forrest’s natural daughter, who exactly are you?’
‘My father,’ she said, tight-lipped with anger, ‘was the Comte de Bois de St Pierre. A penniless French émigré when he met and married my mother, in spite of opposition from her family. They lived a simple but happy life together until their death. At which time I was ten years old. None of my father’s family were left alive to take me in. And none of my mother’s family wanted me. I was passed from one to another for several months before Aunt Bella came to my rescue. Though strictly speaking she is not really my aunt at all. We are only connected through General Forrest’s marriage to one of my mother’s sisters,’ she explained.
‘However, she declared she would be a better guardian to me than any of those more nearly related, since she would not resent my presence in her house. As I have already told you, she was already on poor terms with her brothers, on account of her lifestyle. Taking me in and legally adopting me was only the last straw. I admit they did break with her entirely after that…’
The Earl frowned. ‘I fail to understand why that should be. What business was it of anyone else’s if she chose to take in and raise a child nobody else wanted?’
‘Exactly!’
The Earl was still frowning. ‘What do you mean by “her lifestyle”? What was wrong with it?’
‘Nothing at all!’ Helen flashed. ‘Except for the fact that she refused to marry.’
Helen’s mouth twisted with wry amusement. When she had asked Aunt Bella, not