Louisa closed her mouth on a protest as she was steered towards the kindly older couple, flushing at how disheveled and startled she must look. It was no use. She would not be able to explain herself, not now, not here. She would simply have to find another way.
CHAPTER TWO
"Come along, Louisa," Penelope said, impatience stark in her voice. "You have been dallying all day! If we are not to be late for the wedding itself we really must hurry!"
Louisa brought herself back to reality with a start. The ride over to the fine old church where the Earl of St Vincent was to wed his fiancée had been entirely taken up with her practicing in her head what she would say to him when they met.
Your fiancée is pregnant? No, that's too blunt. And I am not meant to know the fact, it would be cruel to declare it in front of others.
Perhaps instead I could pretend to be terribly sick and that he was now infected and would have to put off the wedding, then I might try to get him alone and tell him in private?
Would an earl allow himself to be in private with an unmarried woman who had informed him that she had leprosy and he was now infected?
There was no easy way to say what she needed to say! Oh how she wished she had confided in one of her sisters before now. But how she could explain how she knew what she knew completely escaped her. It was so terrible a thing that when she tried her words ran out and she found herself stumbling or stammering until the person she was trying to speak to grew frustrated and left her to it.
She slid out of the carriage to follow Penelope, who had grown weary of waiting for her and headed towards the rest of their family alone. Penelope would be able to work this out if it had been her to hear the news. Or Alexandra, or Evelina or even Margaret. If they could not figure it out they would simply share with their husbands who would surely know the best way to approach their friend.
Instead she had heard it, mousy little Louisa who could barely speak to a stranger without blushing and forgetting all the wonderful words that she spent her life reading.
"Isn't it lovely?" Alexandra asked, her face aglow as she took Louisa's arm. The chapel seemed to have been drowned in white roses adorned with white ribbons and tiny little sprigs of apple blossom. It was a dreamily scented space and it took Louisa's breath away for a moment as they joined Evelina and Margaret who were standing with their husbands talking to a smartly dressed gentleman with his backs to them.
"Oh here they are now, dear fellow," Theodore said cheerfully. "Come sisters, let me introduce you to my dear friend and the man of the day, Cedric, Earl of St Vincent. Cedric, these are Louisa and Alexandra Balfour, my sisters in law."
The gentleman turned, the groom! It was the groom! Tall, so tall and with broad shoulders – he seemed to tower above her. She got a hazy impression of blue eyes and a coronet of fair hair in her panic as he bowed graciously, one hand on his heart. Louisa could feel Alexandra curtsy and followed suit almost mechanically for how was she meant to continue thinking when looking into those eyes?
"A pleasure to meet you, my lord," Alexandra said.
Louisa murmured something, hopefully something that made sense because she was no longer quite in control of herself. When she had heard the rumors that Cedric St Vincent was charming she had not guessed at how well he would look! She had only ever seen him in the distance while she had been trying to fade into the background of a ball or escape from yet another social engagement. She had never been able to see the tones of gold and brown in his hair or how clear his blue eyes were.
"The pleasure is certainly mine," Cedric said warmly, a faint smile on his lips. "I have heard a great deal about the Balfour ladies from my dear friends, and I have to say that neither of these gentlemen have done justice to the fairness of your faces."
Am I blushing?Louisa thought frantically, feeling an unusual heat rush through her face as Theodore and Gabriel immediately started to protest.
"I told you that every sister was a beauty!" Gabriel said, laughing. "It's not my fault, sir, that you do not take heed of my words."
"Nor mine," Theodore added dryly. "I would have thought that seeing the loveliness of my wife would have told you all you needed to know about the fairness of her sisters."
"He is simply trying to make us look bad so that he can be all the more charming by comparison, Dunmore, what shall we do about it?"
"We shall have to let him, Notley, it is his wedding day."
Cedric laughed and raised his hands placatingly but that simple statement had brought Louisa's focus back into sharp relief. It was the wedding day and she had still not done her duty and told this man what she needed to say to him.
"Lord St Vincent," she said softly. "May I speak with you?"
He turned that gaze on her and inclined his head. "Miss Balfour."
"I - I mean - that is - " Louisa felt a rush of horror curdle at her insides. "I - I just have to - I need you to un-understand…" Oh she would not be able to! She couldn't say the words!
Her sisters peered at her with concern, Alexandra squeezing her arm. "What is it, Louisa? Are you well? Have you taken the sun while in the carriage?"
"Do not concern yourself, Miss Alexandra," Cedric said, that smile a little broader on his lips, his gaze distracted. "It is not the first time that I have had this effect on a lady."
For a moment Louisa could not speak at all, but instead of the feelings of anxiety that she had been fighting with, a little flame of irritation flickered alight in her chest. She fought past it and doggedly tried again. "Excuse me, my lord, I really have to talk to you about something very important…"
The Earl smiled again at her, charming and dismissive. "Thank you indeed for the compliment of your admiration and for your attendance today. You must excuse me, I am wanted elsewhere."
Without having any control over it, Louisa let out a sound that was suspiciously like a scoff.
