Releasing a shaky breath, Arabella stammered, “I have no dowry, Gregory. In all my years married, I never conceived. There is nothing I can bring to you.”
With a taunting leer, Mr. Harrow countered, “I have very little interest in children or money, destitute Imp.”
Arabella could not help but roll her eyes at the outright falseness of his statement.
“I speak the truth. It was never riches that motivated me.” He leaned down just a little, the flash in his eyes intimidating as was the hidden grip of his hand on hers. “I will educate your boy, but I will not stomach him at my table.”
Raising her chin, defiant, Arabella challenged, “Yes, you will. And he will spend the holidays with us as my ward.”
Full lips thinned, Mr. Harrow looking equal parts irritated and amused. Before he could retort, another voice cut between them. Like a smooth moving fog, Lilly came to stand between their argument. “And just what has our distinguished baroness said to make you scowl so, Mr. Harrow?”
“I was commenting on her ring,” Gregory explained, face full of mischief. “A gift, she told me, you so kindly bestowed upon her.”
Lilly looked down at the slender fingers Harrow stiffly lifted and saw the carved silver band.
“I believe the baroness finds herself worthy of such a token.” Gregory continued, “After all, she has taken to Crescent Barrows as no other could.”
Possessive of the house and in no mood for Gregory’s games, Arabella agreed. “I seem to get on well with the ghosts.”
“And the thorns?”
“I find their name fitting.” Pulled her bloodless fingers from his grip, Arabella took a step away. “And now I know better than to grab at them with my bare hands.”
Turning his attention to Lilly, Mr. Harrow asked, “Wherever did you find it, Miss Jenkins?”
“The ring?” Lilly shrugged, batting her eyelashes prettily. “A gypsy peddler at the fairgrounds.”
Laughing meanly, Mr. Harrow proclaimed, “How brave you are for bartering with such a one. The Romani are known to push a hard bargain.”
Arabella was not going to stand there and listen to nonsense. She left, ignoring the titters to seek out her favorite of the Jenkins siblings.
“At least Lilly will stop all her pouting now,” Lizzy whispered once Arabella was near enough to hear.
One of the other young ladies, a Miss Brand, grinned wickedly and added, “I wish you could have seen the look on Mr. Harrow's face when he came in and found the game. What a joke that you went straight to him!”
“Was he angry?” Arabella asked, smoothing her skirt to hide her irritation.
“He was startled, I would say,” Miss Brand teased, flaxen ringlets bouncing by her eyes.
Unsure if such a man could be startled by anything, Arabella looked Gregory's way again. He was smiling with Lilly, laughing lightheartedly in a way that he never laughed with her.
* * *
Dinner came and went. Arabella made it through the meal ignoring Mr. Harrow's indifference and Lilly's mean jibes. And when it ended, she made it through the compulsory sequestering of the ladies in the drawing room so the gentlemen might stay behind to drink port and misbehave. When the eleventh hour arrived and the chaperones ordered the girls off to bed, Arabella was more than happy to retreat—but not nearly as pleased as Lilly, who led the party to the lady's quarters without one complaint that the day's festivities were called to an end before the men returned to entertain them.
Arabella had been afforded the finest guest room in the house, and privacy that the lower ranking women forced to share rooms lacked. It did not stop Lizzy from coming to her and shooing off Magdala so that they might whisper nonsense by the candlelight.
While Lizzy braided the long waves of Arabella’s blood red hair, she droned on like a lovesick swain. “What is it like to kiss a man?”
Arabella understood that they were near the same age, but Lizzy had been sheltered, reared gently, and was not quite ready for the world of men. “It can be very nice, overwhelming even—which is why you must wait until you are married to entertain such thoughts.”
“I would so like to kiss Mr. Bosworth.”
Pursing her lips, Arabella teased, “From the way he was looking at you tonight, I do believe the sentiment is mutual.”
“Could you imagine if I were to marry before Lilly?” Wicked excitement flowed from the girl as she grabbed a pillow in a sly attempt to whack her friend
with it. “Her understanding with Mr. Harrow has been kept quiet for so long, I am amazed she has not already begun planning a trip with mama to London so she might buy her wedding trousseau.”