Both women were kind and welcoming, funny and sharp. And though their friendship was more firmly with Amelia, Lizzie never felt anything but welcomed by any of the duchesses in their friend circle.
Welcomed, yes. Though not exactly comfortable. After all, the common factor for them all wasn’t their position, but the fact that they were all in love. Every duchess was head over heels for her duke. They all had faith that the future was a beautiful thing where that love would not, could not die.
And that was what kept Lizzie on the fringes of their circle more than anything. She wasn’t like them. She never would be.
“And how is Morgan settling in?” Katherine asked as she took her cup from Amelia with a smile. Lizzie stiffened at the mention of their unwanted new addition. “Robert has worried about him greatly, though he likes to pretend he isn’t fully invested in his half-brother’s success.”
“He has settled in well enough,” Amelia said. “He’s only been here a few days, but has been studying Hugh’s books.”
“Tell me more about him,” Charlotte said. “I’m endlessly fascinated by Robert’s pursuit of his half-siblings.”
Katherine nodded. “Well, Robert’s father is where they all got their wild streak. He was an unkind man, but he must have had charm like his sons and daughters, for he never had a deficit of lovers at his door.” She glanced at Lizzie. “I’m sorry, my dear.”
Lizzie shrugged one shoulder even though her throat felt like it would close at the uncouth subject. “I’m fine.”
“The old duke supported his by-blows, obviously,” Charlotte pressed.
Katherine frowned. “Financially. And I think there were some he tried to influence personally. But there was little relationship there. Robert decided a few years ago that he wanted to change that. He has always continued the financial support of the estate, but also begun to forge relationships with his siblings where he can. Some are…easier than others.”
Lizzie frowned at this new bit of information about Morgan Banfield. “I assume this means Mr. Banfield is one of the difficult ones,” she said softly. “Does that bode well for Hugh and his goals?”
Katherine glanced at her from the corner of her eye and then toward Amelia. “Don’t mistake me. Morgan is…yes, he is a challenge at times. He’s wild, but that’s not his entire personality. He’s very intelligent and a good judge of other people. It’s amazing sometimes to watch him call out the truth of a person with just one look.”
Lizzie’s lips parted. This man could read people so easily? She didn’t like that idea. She didn’t want to be read by a stranger. She didn’t want the truth that she protected so jealously to be revealed by a cavalier person like Morgan Banfield.
“That’s a good skill for a man of affairs,” Charlotte mused. “The ability to read people could mean he will sense their intentions all the easier. Ewan can do the same, I think. See into a person’s heart.”
“Yes,” Katherine said. “Morgan is also of an artistic bent. He plays the pianoforte beautifully, though it’s almost impossible to get him to do it for company. And he is…good. I just see it in him, behind all the other foolishness he chooses to share with the world. In the end, I think he is much like Robert before…”
“Before you,” Charlotte said with a laugh the other two women joined in. Lizzie couldn’t bring herself to do the same, especially when Charlotte added, “That would solve the problem, wouldn’t it? We just need to find this Mr. Banfield his Katherine and he’ll come right in line, the best reformed rake in the country.”
“Second best,” Katherine said with a giggle. “I refuse to think that anyone else could reform better than my Robert has. But perhaps you’re right. We need to match the young man, that is all.”
Lizzie had been shifting as this conversation unfolded, but now she couldn’t stay still any longer. With a gasp, she got up and paced away to the sideboard, where she fiddled with the teapot as she tried to regain her equilibrium.
“Lizzie, are you quite well?” Amelia called out, and concern was thick in her tone.
Lizzie glanced back to find all three women staring at her with open, warm expressions. They were so loving and nonjudgmental. She knew she could talk to them about anything, and yet what would she say? That Morgan Banfield made her nervous due to his mere existence? That sounded so foolish and churlish when the man had done nothing more than harmlessly flirt with her a little in the library.
So she pushed her thoughts aside and shook her head. “I’m very well, pardon my woolgathering. I’m only thinking about a project I’m working on.”
“What project is that?” Charlotte asked, her eyes lighting up with interest. Everyone in their circle knew that the Duchess of Donburrow was always finding something new to pursue. She seemed to be an expert at every pastime she tried.
“The garden,” Lizzie admitted, and her anxiety eased as she said the words. Yes, that’s what she needed to do. Refocus. Nothing else mattered but this, did it?
“Hugh and Lizzie’s mother left a redesign behind at her death,” Amelia explained more fully. “We found the plans last Christmas, and Lizzie has been determined to see them through this summer, which is why we came here.”
“Rather than finish your Season, my dear?” Katherine asked, her brow wrinkling with confusion. “I would think you’d want to dance away at balls and return to this in the autumn.”
Before Lizzie could answer the question, she saw Amelia give her head the very tiniest shake, and the look that came over Katherine and Charlotte’s faces was humiliating. She knew their entire circle was aware of her fall from grace years before. Their club didn’t keep secrets from each other. No one had ever spoken of it to her beyond Amelia and Hugh.
But seeing the dawn of understanding felt like it yanked her past from under her feet and caused her to fall flat on her back. Her breath came shorter and she dug her fingernails into her palms as she fought to remain light and carefree.
“I do not care much for London,” she managed to choke out.
Amelia got to her feet and hustled over. She took the pot of tea Lizzie didn’t even realize she was still holding and freshened first her cup, then Amelia’s own. She smiled at her kindly. “You know, perhaps this would be a place where Mr. Banfield could assist you. Katherine says he is of an artistic bent. I’m certainly not.”
The room laughed, for if Charlotte was a master at any craft she tried, Amelia was the opposite. Everyone had received her crooked needlepoint for one holiday or another. Lizzie tried to join in on the inside joke, but her throat was closing all the faster.
“Mr. Banfield said something about assisting me, as well,” she said with a shake of her head as she tried to forget the way he’d held her stare, the cheeky wink that had haunted her ever since. “But I don’t need help.”
Katherine’s smile fell. “That’s too bad. I think Morgan does.”
Lizzie gaped at those words. Morgan Banfield needed help? She wanted to doubt it, but she’d never known Katherine to be anything but honest, and her expression was filled with genuine worry. Everyone had talked about Mr. Banfield being wild and also…lost.