Widow in White

Chapter Twenty: Something Less than Love

Richard did not expect Lord Brocket to give up so easily, and he wasn't wrong. It was only the next morning that Brocket called again. This time, he did not ask to see Laura, instead confining his attack to Richard. Despite Richard's best efforts to obscure his feelings, it wasn't long before Brocket managed to elicit a reluctant confession from Richard that if Laura wished to marry him, he would do so.

It wasn't even for honour alone. Not now. The past two months with Laura had convinced Richard of the one thing he'd been in denial of all his life: he was lonely. And where once the solution to loneliness had seemed love or nothing, Richard was now beginning to realize that something less than love might suffice. His feelings for Laura were a bittersweet cocktail of lust and compassion and fondness, garnished with a generous sprig of frustration, but they were feelings enough that, when she left his bed as she did every night, he would feel a twinge of disappointment, a shadow of the loneliness returning.

He tried to keep that hidden from Brocket. Perhaps he succeeded. As soon as Brocket realized it was Laura who was his foe, not Richard, he switched tack, arguing that, if Richard himself attempted to persuade her, Laura would submit to marriage. Here, Richard at least had the relief of being able to argue in accordance with his feelings: he believed nothing could persuade Laura.

They were still arguing, some hour after Brocket had first arrived, when the doorbell rang for a second time that morning, and a moment later Elizabeth came sailing into Richard's study like a man of war, fluttering three fingers at the butler and telling him not to bother announcing her.

Brocket stood up, though Richard didn't, and bowed.

"Oh," Elizabeth said, sliding her gaze over to Brocket. "Do stay, my lord. I came here to quibble with Richie about your daughter."

There was nothing Richard hated more than being called Richie. And Elizabeth knew it. She gave him a sweet smile.

"It's really a tragic situation. They must either marry or be removed from each other. It's only the proper thing."

"I agree," said Brocket. "And exactly why I'm here is to persuade your brother to marry her."

Elizabeth's eyelids flickered. "How shrewd of you."From her tone of voice, Richard could tell it was not the option Elizabeth favoured.

"What I've been saying," Brocket said, "is that Richard should hold a dinner party, a family affair, for me, and Laura, and you, and Farthingdale, and that between us we must persuade her to see reason."

It was not what Brocket had been saying. His dinner party had been for him, Richard, and Laura alone. And Richard had flatly refused to entertain the idea of it.

Elizabeth bit her forefinger. "Hmm. It might be a clever idea, my lord."

"Laura will not attend," Richard said.

"Then make her," Brocket and Elizabeth said simultaneously.

Richard raised an eyebrow. "What? Carry her downstairs and tie her to a chair? No. I think not."

Brocket pursed his lips. "Your powers of persuasion over her could surely manage that."

"I doubt it."

"And once that is done," Elizabeth added, "between us all I'm sure we can make her see reason. I don't remember her ever being a stupid girl."

"Yes," agreed Brocket. "You persuade her to come to dinner, and we'll do the rest. Tell me when it's done."

He got to his feet, bowed to Elizabeth, and took his leave. Elizabeth waited in silence until the front door shut before turning to Richard.

"You're not going to give that dinner, are you?"