The Apothecary's Poison (Glass and Steele #3)(9)

"Coward."

"Clever, more like. I don't have to put up with 'em." She gave me a smug look. "Do you?"

She had me there.

"How did it go at the hospital?" she asked Matt.

"Positively," he said. "We'll talk later."

She screwed up her nose and nodded at the drawing room. "You seem eager to get in."

"I don't think all of my cousins are silly twits, Willie."

"Don't you go getting any ideas about that Hope," she warned. "Englishwomen don't do so well in the California sun."

"I have no plans on taking anyone back to America."

"And Letty don't like her," she went on, as if he hadn't spoken. "I trust your aunt's opinion more than I trust yours. Men get turned too easily by a pretty face and fine figure."

I tended to agree with her; not so much by the pretty face observation but her faith in Miss Glass's opinion. From what I'd seen of Hope Glass, she wasn't always the sweet girl she pretended to be. She was very aware of her appeal to men and, I suspected, knew how to manipulate them. I felt a little cruel for thinking such a thing when I had no proof of it. Perhaps I'd put too much stock in what Miss Glass thought of her niece.

Or perhaps I was jealous. Matt certainly seemed keen to see her. He was already striding toward the drawing room. He waited at the door for me to catch up and allowed me to walk ahead of him.

"There you are," Lady Rycroft said as we entered. "We've been waiting an age for you, Matthew."

"An age," Miss Glass echoed with a glare at her nephew. "They arrived shortly after we returned from our walk. Willemina, Cyclops and Duke scattered, of course."

"You didn't honestly expect them to have tea with us," Lady Rycroft said with a flare of her nostrils. "The girl may be Matthew's relative, but she's rougher than a navvy. And the men!" She shuddered. "That dark one with the eye patch looks like a convict."

I waited for Matt to say something in Cyclops's defense, but he simply sat on the piano stool while I occupied the chair beside Miss Glass.

"Mama," Hope whined.

"I think the eye patch lends a dashing quality," the middle sister, Charity, said. She wasn't as pretty as Hope, or as witty, but she seemed to have the strongest sense of adventure of all three. At least she could hold a conversation. The eldest, Patience, was very shy and rarely lifted her gaze from her lap. "It makes him look like a pirate," Charity went on. "Pirates are so romantic."

Hope rolled her eyes. "You do say the silliest things, sometimes."

"Cyclops is rather sweet," Miss Glass said. "I like him."

"As do I," I chimed in.

Matt gave me a small smile, but no one else paid me any attention. I continued anyway.

"And he most certainly is not an outlaw."

Matt shifted his weight. I frowned at him but he didn't meet my gaze.

"India, pour yourselves tea," Miss Glass said. "Now that Matthew is here, I'm sure my sister-in-law will stay a little longer."

I did as told and handed a cup to Matt. He looked even more tired, and I feared he needed to use his watch. He would not hurry this visit along, however. He was much too proud to reveal his exhaustion, even to family.

"We have news, Matthew," Lady Rycroft said with a triumphant smile that lifted her dour features. "Patience is getting married in the summer at Rycroft. If you're still in the country, you will be invited."

"Congratulations," Matt said to Patience. "I'm very pleased for you."

She managed to lift her chin long enough to murmur her thanks and blush profusely.

"Who is the lucky fellow?"

"A baron by the name of Cox," Lady Rycroft said.

"Widowed last year," Charity added with a sly smile. "He has four small children all the way up at the Cox's Yorkshire estate. Oh yes, he's quite a catch for our oldest sister."

Patience's chin lowered further.

"Don't be so waspish," Hope scolded.

Charity sniffed, in perfect imitation of her mother, and turned away from her younger sister.

"One down, two to go," Hope said more cheerfully. "It's a start."

Her mother clicked her tongue. "Really, Hope. There's no need for sarcasm."

"Does Lord Cox have brothers?" Miss Glass asked. "Or eligible friends? Hope is quite correct in that we have to find suitable husbands for her and Charity. You cannot put any store in Matthew choosing one of them, Beatrice."

"Exactly," Matt said, not for the first time. "I have no intention of marrying anyone at the moment."

"So you keep insisting," Lady Rycroft said, picking up her teacup. "But all men must marry, Matthew. You are no exception. It makes sense to choose a girl already familiar with the house and estate."

Conversations with Lady Rycroft always circled back to Matt marrying one of her daughters, sooner or later. Usually he managed to change the subject without too much fuss, but this time he looked impatient. I wanted to remind him that it was he who'd quite willingly entered the drawing room.

"Tell me what you've been up to today, Matt," Hope said before the tension stretched to breaking point.