“Oh, I didn’t realize,” Blythe said faintly.
Audrey could already feel her sister’s mind working, as she imagined that yet another man was connected to Audrey, besides her late husband. And Audrey wanted this new connection. She didn’t want to hurt Blythe, but for once, she had to put herself first.
“Surely you weren’t planning to share tea and then leave,” Lord Collins blustered. “We have several young men arriving for my son’s shooting party. Do stay, Knightsbridge. We have plenty of room.”
On cue, Lord Knightsbridge said, “That is a gracious invitation, sir. I accept. I’ve been away nine years, so it will do me good to reacquaint myself with other young men.”
“Oh, I am so glad, my lord,” Blythe gushed.
“Perhaps you wish to retire and rest before dinner?” Audrey asked.
Sometimes it was good not to be able to see, if her sister was angry to have the earl snatched away from her so soon.
“I imagine I look dusty from the road,” the earl said lightly, then his voice sobered. “Forgive me, Mrs. Blake, of course you cannot see that?—”
She put up a hand and interrupted. “My lord, figures of speech are not offensive to me, so do not be concerned. I understand you are probably not used to dealing with the blind.” But she felt rather relieved that he was considerate. After all, she’d just recklessly asked him, a stranger, to take her away from home. Perhaps it was good that theybothlearned about each other.
But he wasn’t a stranger—he’d been a friend of Martin’s. That didn’t exactly recommend him in her eyes.
“You are very understanding, ma’am.”
“I’ll have a footman escort you to your room.” Audrey rose to her feet. She was always very careful to sit at the end of furnituregroups, so she wouldn’t have to stumble over people. At the door, she leaned out to give instructions to the footman.
She could hear the party rise behind her as Lord Knightsbridge thanked her father once again before following her to the entrance hall.
“Rest well, my lord,” Blythe called.
They were all briefly silent as the earl’s footsteps faded away up the stairs. Then Audrey heard her sister excitedly whisper, “Oh, Father! An earl?—”
Audrey heard her father rubbing his hands together.
“I know something of Knightsbridge,” he said. “Though he has not taken his place in the House of Lords for these nine years, there is gossip to be had.”
Blythe asked, “What kind of gossip?”
Audrey did not want to be a part of passing along rumors, but she could not pretend disinterest.
“I believe when he became the earl at twenty, he was considered by some to be too arrogant for his own good.”
“And it seems the army cured him of that,” Blythe countered.
“Maturity and experience help, too,” Audrey added.
“There was something about a business investment that failed, and a man involved took his own life. That was when the young earl bought his commission.”
Audrey frowned. “His lordship could be innocent or guilty of … anything.”
“No one believes the earl had a hand in this man’s death,” Lord Collins assured them, his voice full of blustery conviction.
“Then it was the investment that people questioned?” Audrey asked warily. Had she just beseeched an unscrupulous man to take her away from her home?
“This doesn’t concern you, Audrey,” her father said.
She’d heard that her whole life.
“But, no, nothing underhanded was discovered, only bad judgment.”
“And he was only twenty,” Blythe said. “Anyone can make foolish mistakes at twenty.”
