A Spinster for the Earl: A Steamy Historical Regency Romance Novel (The Hale Sisters Book 3)
A Spinster for the Earl: Chapter 20

Lucy stared at the letter in her hands. The carriage went over a bump in the road, jostling her to the side. She caught herself. The carriage ride had been a bit longer than she had expected, but the Ramsbury Estate was not much farther out than Terrel.

She opened the letter, staring at the shaky handwriting. When she had first received the letter from the Dowager Countess, she had been surprised. She had thought perhaps it had been a mistake, but Lady Ramsbury had made herself very clear.

Dear Miss Lucy Hale,

I hope this letter replaces you well. You and I have not formally been introduced, and for that, I apologize. I recognize this may have met you better if we had found the opportunity to speak. My last intention is to disrespect you or your family. I am perhaps not as well-trained in the unwritten rules of Society as I would like to be. It has been many years since I have had to play the game, as it were.

I am the Dowager Countess of Ramsbury, the mother of the Earl. I am not sure how familiar you are with my name or the reasons for my silence. Even I will be the first to agree that every rumor is based on a grain of truth. Ill intentioned, however, I am not.

My son and I would like to extend an invitation for you to meet us at the Ramsbury Estate for tea on Thursday, the 15th. I have been looking forward to meeting you for some time. Your name has been spoken of in the highest regard. If I am being honest, I simply hope to see you for myself.

Sincerely,

Arabella Robins, the Dowager Countess of Ramsbury.

Lucy wasn’t certain what to make of it at first. Isaac had been so guarded about his mother, and it had crossed her mind that he might not know about the letter. She had decided, though, that it would be unlikely that the Dowager Countess would request an audience alone with not only a lady she’d never met but a lady that her son hadn’t formally been courting.

In fact, Lucy hadn’t seen Isaac in a few days, so there was no reason for her to think the letter was odd. Perhaps she might have worried that his mother knew about the improper relationship they had, but it didn’t seem possible. They had been very careful.

And if Isaac was going to be there…

Lucy hadn’t seen him since their third promenade. She had been daydreaming about it all week. In fact, it was solely accountable for just how distracted she had been as of late. It was rather hard to concentrate when so many things had the potential to remind her of exactly what Isaac had done to her. But more than just that, she had realized something she was hardly prepared for: she loved him.

Behind all their passionate moments and heated touches, there had been a quiet subtext to every conversation they had had. Had he felt it too, or was it just wishful thinking?

The carriage pulled to a stop. Lucy quickly folded up her letter and tucked it into her reticule, before she was helped by a footman onto the driveway. The Ramsbury Estate was much grander than Isaac’s London house. The manor had three levels and was grand enough to accommodate a large family. The front steps were adorned with marble statues of Greco-Roman beauties. Each window on the second level was adorned with a Romeo and Juliet balcony. Lush trees and bushes lined the entrance, and to the left, a clear pond looked to be the home of a family of ducks.

The manor was equally beautiful inside, but Lucy hadn’t much time to look before she was led out back. As she exited the back door, she found herself on a backyard lawn filled with beautiful trees and blooming bushes. On the patio was a small table. A woman sat there.

Although Lucy had only seen the Dowager Countess once, she recognized her instantly.

Arabella was tall and gaunt. Her hair was a long silky brown that—with little regard for the current fashions—she wore down. It was long and smooth, and it sheltered her body like a protective cocoon. With piercing blue eyes, she examined Lucy before gesturing toward the chair across from her.

Lucy curtsied, looking around warily. Isaac was nowhere to be found. It was just her and Arabella. Immediately, she felt uneasy, worrying that Isaac would be mad that she had come without discussing it first. She was here, however, and she didn’t want to be rude, especially to the Dowager Countess.

“Sit, please,” Arabella said. Her voice was fragile, like a porcelain cup or the last threads holding a poorly stitched seam together.

Lucy obliged. “Thank you for your invitation, Lady Ramsbury.” She paused, looking up at a footman who poured her tea for her. “When will Lord Ramsbury be joining us?”

Arabella shook her head and absentmindedly stirred her tea, the spoon rhythmically clinking against the sides of the cup. “The truth is, he has no idea I have invited you today.”

“Oh,” Lucy breathed. With her worst fears confirmed, she began to panic, wondering why she was even here. There was a heavy pause in the air before she stood up once more and curtsied. “I am Lucy Hale, the daughter of the Baron of Wilkes.”

Arabella glanced at her briefly before glancing back down at her tea, obviously not moved by her attempt to be extra polite. “Your father is a very wealthy man.”

Lucy hesitated before nodding. “To some, yes.” It wasn’t the most polite question to ask, but she didn’t want to dwell on it.

“Your brother-in-law is the Duke of Radford?”

Lucy nodded.

“You have quite the connections. That explains why you are so certain that you need not marry,” Arabella said. “And I cannot blame you. While marriage can be a great joy, it can also be a pain unlike any other. They say it is better to love and lose than to never love at all, but I cannot say I am certain that I agree. If you know my son as well as I assume, then you know that us, Robins, do not like to lose.”

Lucy nodded again, slower this time. She was thrown off by the conversation. Arabella seemed to know a lot about her, but it wasn’t clear why. Despite being the subject of gossip, the Dowager Countess was not as well known to Lucy. The promenades must have caused a much bigger stir than Lucy was even aware of.

“Pardon me, Lady Ramsbury,” Lucy said. “Does this have to do with the charity auction?”

Arabella shrugged lightly, taking a loud sip of her tea. “That is how it started. But I wonder, does it still feel like charity?”

Lucy made a noise in the back of her throat but found herself short of a meaningful response. She shook her head. “I would say that… I would say that Lord Ramsbury is a friend of mine now.”

Arabella tilted her head, her expression softening. She looked back down at her teacup. She seemed incapable of holding eye contact for much longer than a minute. “Tell me, how is he these days?”

“Pardon?”

“How is he? Do you think he is happy?”

Lucy was surprised to hear Arabella talk about the son that she lived with as if he was an old friend that she hadn’t seen in years.

“Well,” she began. “I think most of us have the capability to be happy, but sometimes, our stubbornness gets in the way. Life, happiness, prosperity, it is all a great balancing act, and I feel I am rather clumsy.” She laughed awkwardly, but Arabella remained unmoved, still waiting for something more. “But Lord Ramsbury isn’t all that clumsy, after all. I believe he’s replaceing his way, whatever that may be.”

“I hope so,” Arabella said. “You seem rather well-spoken. I suppose that’s a rare replace these days.”

Lucy wasn’t sure if she ought to take that as a jab. Some thought she could use to be quieter and more obedient, but she had far too much on her mind at any given time to laugh politely and always on cue.

As if she could read Lucy’s mind, Arabella continued. “I appreciate that. At your age, I had a similar candor, although these days, I tend to have trouble expressing myself fully.”

“I am like that regarding certain things,” Lucy said. She bit her cheek. “But sometimes, all you need is someone patient who is willing to listen to understand, not to respond.”

“Is he like that?”

Arabella was pleasant, but her questions had a way of making Lucy feel uneasy. She didn’t expect a mother to speak of her son as if he was a stranger. Moreover, Lucy was fearful of her own answers. She didn’t want to reveal just how close of a relationship she and Isaac had.

“That is why I value his friendship,” she said.

“Interesting,” Arabella uttered, never elaborating on why that was. “You are an intelligent woman. Why subject yourself to five promenades if your goal never was to marry?”

“I did not,” Lucy replied. “My sister offered my time without asking me.”

“And my son did not give you so much as a choice? That does not sound like him.”

“No… he…” Lucy’s eyes widened slightly, feeling like she had been cornered. She couldn’t tell what Arabella was trying to imply. “He did give me a choice, and I agreed to go with him for charity’s sake.”

Arabella nodded, sipping her tea once more. “And his intention originally was to court you?”

“He knew from the very beginning, even before he made the bid, that I was not willing to marry,” Lucy explained. “It was never my intention to mislead him.”

“Correct me if I am wrong, then.” Arabella set her cup down. “You, despite every opportunity to back out, agreed to five promenades that served no purpose to you. And he, despite having no reason to promenade with you, bid five hundred pounds and still asked you to go?”

“I—” Lucy’s mouth felt dry. “Yes, that is entirely what happened.”

“So, you understand why I am confused.”

“I do.”

Arabella leaned back in her chair and admired the landscape around them for much longer than Lucy was comfortable with. It was as if she was giving Lucy every opportunity to really think about the predicament she had found herself in. They both knew that Lucy had neglected to mention something very important. And at first, Lucy had floundered because she wasn’t willing to discuss the arrangement she and Isaac had made on their first promenade, but that wasn’t why she had gone in the first place.

Lucy had gone in the first place because Isaac Robins was magnetic. Since she had seen him distractedly walking into a pitcher of ice water, to when he had stopped her at the refreshments table and spoken candidly with her as if they had felt effortlessly comfortable around each other, she couldn’t deny just how special he was. Knowing full well that agreeing to the promenades was a surefire way to get herself hurt, Lucy still went.

“I disagree with you, Lady Ramsbury,” she claimed assuredly. Arabella turned her head, not taken aback at all by words that had the potential to sound disrespectful. “It is better. It is so much better to love and lose somebody than to have never known their love at all. I am stubborn, and I struggle with replaceing balance. If I cannot overcome myself, then I may lose him, but so be it. I am much better off having loved him because he has helped me love myself. That is something I can never lose.”

Arabella opened her mouth, but no words followed. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. She sat still for a while, looking over the world around them. The clear sky, every springtime shade of green that adorned the earth, the birds hopping across the stone patio and playing in the birdbath. Then, without much warning, a tear ran down her cheek.

“I have become bitter since my husband’s death,” she admitted. “You are right, I am grateful for the love I had for him. I take my son for granted. Maybe I even resent how much he makes me miss his father, but—” She sniffled, her tears falling faster. “But God, if I had never loved my husband, then I would have never had Isaac.”

Lucy had no idea what to say. Her throat was tight, and she wasn’t sure if she was uncomfortable or moved.

Arabella took in a breath before continuing. “I am bitter, and I have no one to blame for my bitterness but myself.”

Lucy felt her chest constrict. She stood up at once. Propriety was the least of Arabella’s worries, so Lucy didn’t feel strange comforting her with a hug. The Dowager Countess cried, leaning into her.

Lucy was bitter too. She had spent her entire life distrusting men and believing romance was the death of freedom. But here she was, feeling like a fool, because there was no one she trusted more than Isaac, and never had she felt freer than when she had been with him. She sympathized with Arabella because, in some ways, she was Arabella.

“Trust that I am in no position to give you advice,” she murmured. She wasn’t always very good at that. Isaac had been the only person she’d tried comforting. She had long been known as a giver of tough love. “Nor do you need it. I believe it is clear what we both must do.”

At that, Arabella nodded.

Lucy hated to be wrong. Perhaps the greatest act of love that she could offer was admitting that she had the ability to feel it too.

“Oh, goodness me, what is this?”

Lucy straightened up, letting go of Arabella and turning toward the door, where an old woman stood, resting her weight on a cane. The woman stepped over and clumsily tumbled into the seat that Lucy had been using, leaving Lucy nowhere to sit.

The elderly woman looked Lucy up and down with a perplexed look on her face. “The unattainable spinster,” she said. “In the flesh.”

Lucy grimaced. “I wouldn’t call myself that.”

“Hmm. Well, everyone else would.”

“Mother,” Arabella huffed. “Be kind to Miss Lucy.”

“Does our Isaac know that his little firework is here?”

“I also wouldn’t call myself that,” Lucy added.

The Grand Dowager Countess glanced at Lucy but ignored her.

“No,” Arabella replied.

“Oh my,” the elderly woman hummed. She frowned at Lucy. “Looks like I will have a front-row seat to the boxing match of the century.”

Lucy felt her stomach drop. She’d suspected that Isaac would be upset about this, but his grandmother had made it sound much worse than she imagined.

The elderly woman gently touched Lucy on the arm. “Maybe it is best you leave before he returns home,” she advised. “Let me walk you out.”

Lucy nodded, feeling an uneasiness bubbling up inside her. With one final curtsy to Arabella, she followed Isaac’s grandmother to the door. Once they were inside the quiet of the house, the old woman let out a frustrated sigh.

“I apologize greatly. You know Lady Ramsbury is not in any position to be sending out invitations for tea, especially with young ladies she had not met.”

“I really thought Lord Ramsbury would be here.”

“I will try my best to smooth things over. I know this is hardly your fault. She is trying her hardest to reconnect with her son, but she cannot seem to do it right.”

When they reached the door, Lucy curtsied again, feeling awkward but still hoping to make a good first impression.

Isaac’s grandmother looked her up and down once more. “What did the letter you received say?”

“Oh, actually…” Lucy opened her reticule and pulled the letter out. She handed it off to the elderly woman.

Without asking, Isaac’s grandmother pocketed it. “Thank you, Miss Lucy. Once again, I apologize, and I promise to do what I can. You are a good match for Isaac, whether you believe it or not. I can tell by your spirit.”

Things had been going so well with Isaac. Lucy was scared to tell him that she loved him. She also didn’t want to be scared to tell him about her accidental meeting with his mother. If his relationship with Arabella was as fractured as Arabella had made it seem, then he had every reason to be upset.