The Heiress Companion by Madeleine E. Robins

sweetheart —” Ulysses began. By the time he had finished
explaining the whys and wherefores, with satisfactory demonstrations of his
concern, Rowena had closed the door behind her.
    Standing in the hallway, she smiled. Perhaps Lady Bradwell
was right after all; this matchmaking business, when handled correctly, was a
greater amusement than she would have thought. With a shrug, she went to find
Jane and the very damp Eliza, with word that Lully would shortly be ready to
return to Wilesby House.

Chapter Seven
    It would be difficult to determine who was the more
delighted at the news of Margaret’s engagement to Ulysses Ambercot: Lady
Bradwell or Mrs. Ambercot. Of course, Ulysses himself protested that his
delight must take precedence over theirs, but he was immediately shouted down
by the dowagers, and told to mind his manners. Margaret, who was privy to a
great deal of this rejoicing from the vantage of her sofa, smiled and dimpled
prettily no matter who was delighted,
nursing a secret surety that no one could be as happy as she. Together with
Rowena, Margaret summoned up the courage to compose a letter to her mother
informing her of her engagement; when it was done Rowena regarded the document
with pride and a touch of malice, remarking that this would put a crimp in her Aunt Doro’s bonnet for sure.
    “She can’t object, surely,” Margaret protested fearfully.
    “Mind it? Lamb, if I know your mamma she will be aux anges — only furious that she had no part in
engineering the coup!”
    Jane Ambercot professed herself ready and willing to welcome
her new sister into the family at any time, and she and, Margaret were happy to
spend hours closeted together discussing Ulysses’ talents and vagaries. Both
the Bradwell men congratulated him and felicitated Miss Margaret, and Lyn
Bradwell privately assured a somewhat apprehensive Ulysses that there were no
hard feelings cherished on the matter. Anne Ambercot rode over from Wilesby
House practically every day, as much to gossip happily with Lady Bradwell as to
further her acquaintance with her daughter-to-be, and privately assured Rowena
that, short of herself, there was no one in the world she could better like for
Ulysses than Margaret.
    The only person, in fact, who was not delighted was Eliza
Ambercot. The worst of it was, in her eyes, that she had brought it all about.
While she was publicly all that was sweet and sisterly, in private she would
have gnashed her teeth had she not feared for the effect of such a practice on
her teeth. It was these Cherwood women, Eliza decided, who had caused all the
mischief With very little effort she found herself growing to hate the sound of
her soon-to-be-sister’s voice. As for Rowena Cherwood...
    Suddenly Eliza began to recall ills done her in times past
by Rowena. The fact that Rowena twelve years before had been rather less aware
of her than of the stable boy, and much less likely to have deliberately done
her a mischief did not weigh with her. Moreover, Lyndon Bradwell, who had
treated her so infuriatingly on their last meeting, had taken to chatting
quietly with Miss Cherwood after dinner until the tea table was brought in.
Clearly, now that Margaret was to be treated, perforce, as a sister, her cousin
was left to become the enemy.
    Rowena was aware of none of this.
    Jane had been at last released entirely from the sickroom,
although her lace mitts still covered light bandages, but with an almost-sister
to minister to, it was not considered strange that she opted to remain at Broak
awhile longer. Lord Bradwell insisted that she was not fit to travel (although
he offered more than once to show her ’round the stables: A short, refreshing
turn in the close air and noise of the stables could clearly do her nothing but
good, he reasoned). Mrs. Ambercot put up no resistance to her daughter’s
protracted visit; Lady Bradwell confided to Rowena that she and Jane’s mother
had made wagers as to when Jack would finally come to