The Temporary Wife/A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh Page B

as anyone.”
    “What in thunder are you talking about?” He frowned moodily. “Have
you
been longing for his return?”
    “I cannot believe it,” the Countess of Twynham said, sinking gracefully onto a sofa. “I cannot believe it. How
could
he? It is one thing to run away to town for a fewyears—I would imagine it is many a young man’s dream to do so. It is one thing to live wildly there and to gain a reputation as a—” She glanced at Augusta. “Well, it is one thing. It is another thing entirely to
marry
without his grace’s permission and to bring his bride home here without a word to anyone. Did you
see
her, Claudia? I would die of humiliation if my
maid
were seen in such garments.”
    Claudia, Lady William, had led Augusta to the window and had sat with her in the window seat. “Perhaps, Marianne,” she said, “they had a trying journey. There was all that rain yesterday, you will remember. Who would wish to wear good clothes in that weather?”
    “But who the devil
is
she?” the Earl of Twynham muttered while busying himself at the sideboard, pouring a glass of brandy while there was still time. No hard liquor was permitted during tea at Enfield. “Did Staunton say? He would have if she had been anyone, you may be sure. It will be a trifle embarrassing when Lady Marie arrives tomorrow, eh?”
    “Oh!” Marianne waved a handkerchief in the air as if she were about to succumb to a fit of the vapors, and then pressed it to her nose. “I shall
die
. And it is too late for his grace to stop her from coming. And Tony knew about her coming. He must have known. How could he do this to us? I cannot believe it. He has married a nobody and brought her here to humiliate us all. And she is a dreadfully vulgar creature, as was plain for all to see.”
    Lord William combed his fingers through his hair. “She called his grace
Father
,” he said and winced. “She had not been in the house five minutes. Can you imagine Lady Marie calling him
Father
? She would know better. I would not be in his grace’s shoes tomorrow for all the tea in China.”
    “But Lady Staunton does have a lovely smile,” Claudia said. “Perhaps we should wait and make her acquaintancebefore making any hasty judgments. What do you think, Charles?”
    Lieutenant Lord Charles Earheart was standing beside her and Augusta, looking out of the window.
    “I would not have come home on leave if his grace had not summoned me,” he said. “Not when I knew that Staunton had been invited too. I have no thoughts on his arrival or on the fact that he has brought a wife with him. It is nothing to me.”
    If he had intended to speak with cold dignity, he failed miserably. His voice shook with youthful passion. Claudia reached out and touched his hand. He did not pull away, but neither did he turn his head to acknowledge her smile of sympathy.
    “And what do you think of your eldest brother, Augusta?” Claudia asked.
    “I think his lordship looks very like his grace,” Augusta said. “I think he looks disagreeable. And I think her ladyship is very ugly.”
    The Earl of Twynham sniggered while his wife waved her handkerchief before her face again. “ ‘Out of the mouths of babes …’ ” she said. “You are quite right, Augusta. He looked very disagreeable indeed, as if he were enjoying the whole dreadful scene. And
she
has no pretense to beauty or anything else either, I daresay. It would not surprise me to learn that Tony had found her in someone’s kitchen—or in someone’s schoolroom more like. One wonders if she is even a gentlewoman. I will find it extremely difficult to be civil to her.”
    “His grace will be civil, you may be sure, Marianne,” Lord William said. “And he will expect no less of us. She
is
Lady Staunton, after all, whoever or whatever she was before Staunton decided to marry her.”
    “And she will be the duchess in time,” his sister said in deepest disgust. “She will be the head of this family and will