The Wedding Game(49)

‘I am sure Mr Lovell is a good dancer as well,’ Amy said, trying to get her sister’s attention.

But Belle did not turn away from Mr Templeton. ‘I do not know. I have never danced with him before.’

In a lifetime of caring for her sister, Amy had learned to think of her disposition as placid, docile and agreeable. But never before had she been so consistently contrary for such a long period of time. She looked helplessly at Ben, readying another apology.

He warned her off with a slight shake of his head and then said, ‘That is true, Belle. But we will dance tonight and you will be able to judge for yourself.’

Then he turned to his friend. ‘It is clear that my fiancée is eager to speak with you, after so much time apart.’ He continued to smile as if there was nothing untoward in Belle’s reaction. If there was irony in the statement, it was very well concealed. ‘Perhaps you can be the one to escort her about my gardens. You know them almost as well as you do your own.’

‘I would be honoured.’ Templeton responded with a bow that was a trifle too formal to be given to a close friend. ‘Miss Arabella?’ He held out his arm to her.

Her sister embarrassed herself yet again by responding with such a relieved sigh that he might well have been rescuing her from a dungeon and not her own future home.

When they were gone, she turned to confront their host. ‘Are you sure that was wise?’

‘Allowing my best friend to escort my fiancée on a tour of the grounds?’

‘Some might say you are too good a friend in return,’ Amy said. ‘He was your rival before the engagement.’

‘As was every other man in London,’ Ben responded.

‘But none of the other men were such particular favourites of my sister,’ she reminded him.

‘Perhaps so. But I have faith that he will honour her commitment to me,’ Ben said.

It was surprising that a man who seemed so worldly could be so na?ve. Amy rolled her eyes. ‘You trust him. Very well. But now that she is engaged, Belle should not be cultivating the attentions of other men.’

‘You make your sister sound quite calculating, Amy. We both know that she is not.’

‘It is not a matter of subtlety,’ she said. ‘It is quite the opposite. She barely understands the effect she has on men, much less knows how to use it. It is why I have been guarding her so closely.’

‘And now it will be up to me to protect her,’ he said with a sigh.

Which meant that her job was ending. What would Belle do without her help? And what was left for her, if there was no Belle to give meaning to her life? She could imagine nothing ahead but emptiness. ‘I do not think she is ready to be married,’ she said. ‘Many things have changed for her in the last week.’

‘For all of us,’ Ben agreed.

As far as Amy could tell, the biggest change was that they were all less happy than they had been. ‘I have been trying to explain things to her,’ she said. ‘I must make her understand that you will be good to her and that what is happening is for the best. But until she is used to the idea of your marriage, it is best not to give her false hope.’

‘Is marrying me really such a repellent prospect?’ For a moment, he sounded genuinely hurt.

‘You know it is not that,’ she said softly.

He nodded and turned toward the stairs. ‘Let me show you to your rooms. Then you may go and retrieve your sister from the dangerous Mr Templeton.’

He was treating the situation as a joke. She opened her mouth to tell him so and to make him understand the risks involved with leaving Belle alone, even for a moment, with a man who could no longer be trusted.

And then she reminded herself that it was no longer her business. Belle did not want her help, nor did Ben. They would have each other, for better or worse, just as the ceremony said. And she would become the spinster everyone thought she already was. With time, her opinions would hold even less value than they did now. In time, they might forget her altogether.

She took a deep breath to banish the self-pity and followed Ben up the stairs to the bedrooms. Her room he called the blue room. It was charmingly decorated and looked out over the garden. She glanced down to see her sister and Mr Templeton in animated discussion next to a plot of rosemary.

‘See? They are perfectly safe together.’ Ben was standing behind her, looking out as well. He was close enough that his breath stirred her hair as he spoke.

They were together, alone. And her bed was only inches away. She stepped away from the window and went quickly toward the door. ‘They are safe together, but we are not.’

He followed her out into the hall, shutting the door behind them. ‘I am sorry, Miss Summoner, I meant no offence.’

Of course, he had not. Neither had she. And yet they had been about to forget themselves, just as they did each time they were together. She nodded an acceptance of the apology. ‘Show me Belle’s room so I might go to the garden and fetch her.’

Before something terrible happens.

At this point, she was no longer sure whose virtue most needed guarding. But it might be best if she stayed at Belle’s side for the rest of the visit.

Ben was standing before the next door and removed a key to unlock it. It opened on a room far larger than the blue room beside it, decorated in a cream and gold scheme very like the entryway below. By the size of the large canopied bed and the connecting door on the far wall, it appeared that Belle had been given the room reserved for the lady of the house.