Never Fall for Your Fiancee

“Stay in England?”

“Yes.… We haven’t told Hugh yet. But for a while now, Jeremiah has been talking about selling his business holdings in America.”

“Isn’t that a bit hasty?”

“If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that home is here. We both miss Hampshire dreadfully, and with you and Hugh finally getting married, and the promise of those grandchildren on the horizon, it seems like all the fates are aligned. Jeremiah has already sold his shipping company. He signed the final papers the week before we sailed. He’s going to send a letter to his lawyers to instruct them to sell the rest and the house in Boston. It seems silly keeping a house we have no further use of.”

Panic and remorse warred, making her gut clench with guilt. This was all getting out of hand.

It was one thing to allow herself to be measured for a ridiculously expensive gown she wouldn’t wear, it was quite another to allow two innocent people to completely upheave their life to be closer to the grandchildren who would never come.

“Perhaps he should keep the remaining businesses and the house and simply extend this visit here? You never know, in a few months you might miss Boston, too.”

“There is nothing holding us in Boston. Jeremiah was an only child and his parents are long dead. Besides, he spent so many years living here when he was a diplomat, most of his friends are here, too. Alongside a few canny investments he made along the way. He has always had a peculiar talent for speculation and can do that just as well here as across the Atlantic. No.… We are agreed. It is better to move on with a clean slate. You can help me look for a house! Won’t that be fun?”

“Olivia, there is something you should know.…” The words died in her mouth. As much as she didn’t want to lie to his mother, she couldn’t betray Hugh either. She owed him that at least. “We would prefer you to remain at Standish House.”

“Good heavens no! As much as I love this place, a new bride needs to become mistress of her house and not have an interfering mother-in-law poking her nose in. Which obviously, I will not be able to resist doing. You might have noticed I am quite a bossy woman.”

“Not at all…”

“You are such a bad liar, Minerva. It is one of the things I like most about you.”

If only she knew.

But it wasn’t her place to tell Olivia the truth—it was Hugh’s and tonight she would tell him in no uncertain terms. “In fact, there is nothing I dislike … apart from your singing, of course.”

“Diana says my singing sounds like a bag of cats being strangled.”

Olivia chuckled and grabbed a handful of hairpins. “Hugh is such a naughty boy to have set us both up like that. But with hindsight, it was a funny evening. Your singing … your mother … the sherry…” Sharp blue eyes assessed her in the mirror. “How is your mother now that we are a house of temperance?”

Vee had saved the day over dinner that fateful day of the kiss on the beach, when it became apparent a servant had apprised Olivia of the inebriated Lucretia in her bedchamber. When Minerva was too emotionally drained and had nothing left in her to think of an excuse, her baby sister had stared down at her plate mournfully and said their mother had taken to drinking too much in the dark days after their father died but was working hard to control her habit. Miraculously, it worked, and both Olivia and Jeremiah had had nothing but sympathy for the woman and had bent over backward to support her since. All the decanters had disappeared, the spirits were locked away, and only water or elderflower cordial was served at mealtimes. They were such good people.

Another thing Minerva felt guilty about. Lies heaped upon lies. So many it took all her wits to keep up with them. She was starting to wish Lord Bellingham would return simply to bring an end to them. And an end to seeing Hugh every day and hurting.