Joan Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page B

cousin, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes.” I went back to my chair, and the dogs settled themselves on the floor at my feet. “Her name is Dorothy Grandville and she lives in Bath.” I bent down to scratch Portia’s long silky ears. “I offered to help with Nell’s come-out, but Aunt Fanny didn’t seem to want me.”
    I tried not to sound hurt, but the fact was I had been hurt. After all, Nell was almost like my little sister. I had always assumed that I would assist in her come-out.
    Jack was regarding me with amusement in his pale blue eyes. “Annabelle, darling, no mama in her right mind would want to exhibit her daughter with you alongside for comparison. The point of coming out is that people are supposed to pay attention to you—not to your chaperone.”
    Merlin pushed his muzzle against my hand, and I switched from Portia’s ears to his. I didn’t reply.
    Jack said, “Do you think you might coax this Dorothy Grandville to come and stay with you at Weston Hall?”
    I looked up in astonishment. “Why should I want to do that?”
    “To chaperone you, of course,” Jack said. “You can’t keep asking me to put up at Adam’s, Annabelle. Aunt Fanny will drive me straight to Bedlam.”
    “I wasn’t expecting you to be visiting quite so frequently, Jack,” I said tartly. “The hunting season is over.”
    “Stephen will expect to stay here when he comes home,” Jack pointed out.
    I gave Merlin’s head one last pat and folded my hands in my lap. “I don’t even know if Stephen is coming home.”
    “Gerald is dead,” Jack said. “Of course Stephen will come home.”
    I kept my eyes on my folded hands. “I suppose he will have to. After all, he is Giles’s guardian.”
    “He would have come home anyway, Annabelle,” Jack said, “and you know it.”
    I felt myself getting into dangerous waters and tried to extricate myself by saying briskly, “Weston is Stephen’s home. Of course he will stay here.”
    “Your mother will kick up stiff if you and Stephen are alone together,” Jack said.
    I remembered Mama’s words the day of the reading of the will and had to acknowledge that Jack was probably right.
    I said bitterly, “I am twenty-three years of age. I have a four-year-old child, and my husband has not been dead a month. Why is everyone treating me as if I were a girl in her first Season?”
    Jack said bluntly, “You aren’t a fool, Annabelle. You must know how many men would love to take Gerald’s place.”
    I could feel the pulses beginning to throb in my temples. I stood up. “If you will excuse me, Jack, I’ve promised to join Giles in the schoolroom for luncheon.”
    Jack accepted his dismissal gracefully. “Very well, I will make my dutiful way to the Dower House.” He gave me a pained look. “Do I have to dine there as well?”
    I found a smile. “No, come to the hall for dinner. In fact, if you wait a moment, I’ll write a quick note to Aunt Fanny and ask her and Adam and Nell to join us.”
    Jack made a face, but he waited while I wrote the invitation. We went out of the library together, and in the passageway in front of the staircase we ran into Giles and Miss Stedham.
    “We were out in the garden getting a little air before luncheon,” Miss Stedham explained.
    “Miss Stedham, allow me to introduce my cousin, Mr. Jack Grandville,” I said.
    The two of them shook hands, Jack’s eyes glinting with appreciation of Eugenia Stedham’s deep auburn hair and magnolia fresh skin. A little color stained her cheeks at the frank look of admiration in his blue eyes.
    “Good-bye Jack,” I said with amusement.
    As he turned to leave he murmured to me, “Invite Miss Stedham to dinner, too, Annabelle.”
    I thought it was a good idea, so I did.
    * * * *
    My maid, Marianne, laid out an evening dress made of plain black bombazine, one of several that my mother had had made for me after Gerald’s death. I had scarcely worn any of them, as I was in the habit of dining in the schoolroom with