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“Jimmy says your brother is looking for you, miss,” Harriet’s maid, (name of maid), said to her the next morning when she came to help Harriet with her hair.
“Has he been to his study so early?” A smile of deep satisfaction settled peacefully on Harriet’s lips and in her heart. Edmund would not be able to say she was incapable of being married to a man involved in a secretive business.
“Apparently, he was there an hour ago with some gent – you know the sort. Though neither of us are to know that.” She winked at Harriet in the mirror. (name of maid) was an incredible asset. Not only could she care for clothes and pin hair, she was also excellent at gathering information to relay to her mistress.
“It does seem rather early for him to be welcoming callers of any sort,” Harriet said. “I wonder what it was about?”
“It’s hard to say, miss. Your brother likes to keep his association with some even more private than the rest of his business.”
Harriet would have commented on this, but a loud knock at the door kept her from it.
“I dare say that is him,” (name of maid) whispered.
“I am not presentable,” Harriet called out.
“Harriet!”
“It is most certainly Edmund,” she whispered to her maid as they both only allowed a short soft burst of laughter to escape their lips.
“I am not presentable,” she called again. “I will see you in the breakfast room in half an hour.”
“That is unacceptable,” he replied through the door. “I must see you as soon as possible. You will be in my study. In ten minutes.”
“Fifteen,” Harriet called. “And not a minute sooner, but possibly a few later.”
“Ten.”
Oh, he was testy this morning.
“Fifteen.”
“Harriet!”
“Fifteen. That is my final offer. I simply cannot be seen until my hair is complete, and I am wearing clothes. Why, what if you had an early caller, and I was thoroughly disheveled looking. The news of such a thing could get around town by next Tuesday.” She doubted anyone calling on her brother at such an early hour of the day would be the sort to gossip about how they had seen her without her hair tamed and in a dressing gown and slippers.
“Harriet.” The name rumbled through the door in a growl.
“Has something happened?” she asked. “You seem rather disgruntled with your state in life this morning.”
“Miss, you are wicked,” (maid’s name) whispered. “Teasing him as you do.”
She was fortunate that her brother was more long-suffering than some, and she knew it.
“I cannot tell you about itl,” he answered.
“Do you mean that you cannot tell me now because you do not wish to shout it through the keyhole? Or is it one of those things that you cannot tell me at any time and would rather leave for me to discover on my own.”
“Harriet, you go too far.”
“Thank you. My hair looks just right.” Harriet stood before the mirror and looked herself over from front to back before tip-toeing across the floor and swiftly opening the door. “You are in luck. I am ready before my fifteen minutes are up. However, I will need a cup of tea if I am to forego eating as I normally would at this time of day.” She stepped around him. “Shall I bring it to your study?”
“You will take yourself to my study without a cup of tea.”
Oh, he looked decidedly put out. Something was most certainly afoot. However, a lady who intended to convince her brother that she could face danger was not the sort to be cowed by a few harshly spoken words and a glower.
“That will not do. Would it be acceptable to have a cup brought to me in your study?” She fluttered her lashes.
“Have you always been this impossible?” her brother muttered.
“No,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I fear it is you who brings out the best in my ability to be…” She tapped her lip as if searching for a word. “Passionately independent.”
“Passionately independent?” he cried incredulously before blowing out a breath in exasperation. “Staunchly recalcitrant is more like it! You do realize that most ladies, who speak to their guardian as you have just now, do not do so without suffering for it.”
She swallowed. It was rare that Edmund threatened punishment. Still, she held his gaze without wavering. “Yes. But how else am I to prove to you that I am not the sort of lady who faints at the first sign of danger or flutters and flies about when touched by the smallest amount of anxiety?”
“Of all the stupid things, Harriet.” He pressed his lips together so firmly that they formed a thin line. She had well and truly pushed him to the limits of his patience. However…
“My tea. How shall it be retrieved?”
“I will have it brought to you, but I will not call for it until you are seated in front of my desk. Do I make myself plain?” His shoulders were lifting and lowering noticeably, which normally would be her sign to desist, but she had a point to carry.
Therefore, she patted his cheek and smiled at him. “A simple, ‘we will have tea in my study’ would have sufficed. I am not slow of understanding, and there is no need to overexert yourself.” She turned toward her open bedchamber door. “(maid’s name) could you please see that a cup of tea finds me in Edmund’s study when you are through with my room?” She turned back to Edmund. “There. It is done. Now, if you would offer me your arm, we could reach your study before (maid’s name) is done with her work.”
“Harriet,” he rumbled in a low and somewhat dangerous tone as he extended his arm, “I ought to…” He shook his head.
“What? Lock me in my room?” she asked as they began a quick march towards his office. “Banish me to the country? Require me to drink only watered down port for three days and not else? You are no longer in the army, my dear brother, and flogging one’s sister is frowned upon.”
“I was not going to say have you flogged. What kind of monster do you think I am?” The words were said with some force and a hint of hurt.
Harriet chuckled, though it was a forced thing. “I know you would never be so cruel to me. However, that being said, I am also aware that I have pushed and prodded you to a place where, if I were not your beloved sister, you might have considered it.”
“Why must you torment me as you do?” he asked in a pleading tone. “I do not remember you ever being so obstinate for Andrew or Father.”
She leaned into his arm so that her shoulder bumped his. “Father died before I had to wage a campaign against his opinions about whom I was allowed to marry, and Andrew? Well, you were on the continent for a time, so you do not know how I tried him on the topic, and, as it turns out, he is not as stubborn as you are.”
“Then, this is all about my reluctance to allow Richard to present an offer to you?” he asked.
“That is the main reason, but it is not the only reason.” She released her hold on his arm so that he could open his study door for her.
“What other reason is there?”
She shook her head. “Some things should not be discussed in the corridor,” she whispered before entering his study and taking a seat.
