A Gentleman for Lady Juniper (Clairvoir Castle #6)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

J ack Sterling counted backward from twenty to calm himself. He’d tried counting backward from ten, at first, but never achieved sufficient equilibrium by the time he came to ‘one’ for the counting to be effective. Twenty seemed the better number to try in this particular circumstance. Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen?—

“But who is Lord Dunmore?” his father asked, staring at the letter he held with narrowed eyes. They were in the study of the family’s inherited townhouse: a fine study, though thirty or forty years marked the furniture as out of date, and the books on the shelves were likely all out of print. Not a modern author existed among them.

Emily, the youngest and only unmarried sister Sterling possessed, stood next to her father’s desk. She picked up his spectacles and handed them to him. “Here, Papa. It is all explained in the note. Put your spectacles on.” At five-and-twenty, Emily ought to have found herself happily married and seeing to her own little family’s needs, yet their parents had never minded the idea of keeping her close.

Now, Jack hoped, she’d at least benefit from their rise in station by finding a man she deemed worthy of her hand. Miss Sterling, a poor man’s daughter, would never fare so well as Lady Emily.

Their father, now styled Lord Benwaith, perched the spectacles on the end of his nose and continued glowering at the expensive stationery in his hand. “An Irish baron. House of Lords. Friend to the Duke of Montfort.” He snorted. “Why do all the duke’s friends keep calling on us?”

Jack had to interrupt his counting. “His Grace has bestowed on our family a favor, Father, by telling people of the highest honor and rank to pay visits to us. Such notice will put all of us in a better position. We will be invited to the best clubs, parties, and events—Mother, my sisters-in-law, and Emily will all receive calls from ladies of importance. The duke is paving the way for our family’s success.”

With a grumble, his father put the letter down again. “It’s all a lot of stuff and nonsense—pretense! At home, I knew Benjamin Greers was my friend because he’d loan me the use of his good mule and send over a barrel of cider at the end of every harvest. I was his friend because I loaned him my best dog and gave him a share of the winter pig.”

Perhaps Jack should start counting down from fifty next time.

As though she sensed her brother’s patience wore thin, Emily gave her father a soothing pat on the shoulder. “There we traded possessions as favors and tokens of friendship. Here, people trade notice. Visits. Invitations. It is the same thing, Papa. Lord Dunmore will visit us here, and then we will visit his family. It is the visits that build relationships.”

Sterling gave her a grateful glance and she grinned at him. Truly, of the family, she seemed the most suited to their change in fortune. Emily had always been a pleasant child. Jack, only four years her senior, knew that much about her. He’d gone away to war when she’d started to sprout into young womanhood, and had rarely ever returned home.

Honestly, he looked forward to coming to know his sister better. The two of them needed to join forces to keep everyone else from causing an uproar—or worse, a scandal.

“He will arrive soon, Papa,” Emily added, picking up a stack of books from the desk and returning them to their places on the shelves. “I will see that Mama, Katherine, and Susan are well. Our new gowns arrive from the seamstress today, so be certain to compliment all of us when you see us at dinner.”

Their father tutted, allowed her to kiss his cheek, then sank into his chair when she left. “If Emily is the only one who benefits from this kerfuffle, I will be mighty pleased.”

Jack nodded his agreement, then added, “Everyone is benefitting, Father. My sisters who are not here now have generous annuities so their families will want for nothing. Richard is a viscount. George and his family have a house and land. If we ever track down Arthur, he will have the option to invest in his own merchant vessel rather than act as first mate. Emily has a dowry that ensures her happiness. All is well.”

“And what of you?” his father asked, raising bushy white eyebrows. He needed to find a barber but had yet to concede such a thing, despite Jack and Emily’s insistence. “Here you have been, shepherding all of us about, nipping and growling like a collie, yet you seem remarkably displeased with the whole situation.”

“I am not displeased,” Jack countered, turning to pace to the window, looking down at the street. A carriage had arrived bearing the crest of the Dunmore Barony. “I am…” He tried to find the right word for it. “Resigned, to my obligation as a member of this family.”

His father chuckled. “Displeased.”

Jack smirked and shook his head. “The nobility will devour us, Father, unless we make a good showing. Even if you would rather return to the cottage and the farm, Richard needs you here to help him build something of the earldom. Richard’s children need to hold their heads up in Society, to be on level with their peers.”

“And dear Emily,” the unready earl added quietly. “She can have a good life. Better than anything the rest of us have dreamed.”

“If she makes an advantageous marriage, she will find happiness and security the likes of which no gentleman farmer could ever provide,” Jack said with a frown out the window. “Her children need never know want. The world will be open for their exploration, their choice in what they do with their lives.”

“Unlike what my own children went through,” his father said, voice quiet in the stillness of the room.

Jack looked up at his father. “We have not turned out so terribly. My choice suited me, as the others’ have suited them.”

“Liked going off to war as a boy, did you?” his father asked, tone somewhat gruff—yet Jack didn’t miss the regret in his father’s gaze, even turned as it was toward the surface of the desk.

“I have appreciated growing into the man I am,” Jack said, no less solemn for his father’s display of feeling. “And I did have a choice, Father. One I do not regret. I merely want more—something different, for Emily and for my future nieces and nephews.”

“As do I.” His father heaved a sigh. “I suppose that means we keep putting our best foot forward.”

Nodding his agreement, Jack left the window to stand beside his father at the same moment a footman opened the door to announce the arrival of their guest. The family had agreed that Jack, with his close observation and understanding of the noble classes, would take lead in the unfamiliar matters whenever possible. Leaving his father and brothers to learn more of their station and their duties from land and estate agents, lawyers, and those who managed the previous earl’s vast wealth and holdings.

Jack, therefore, often stepped into the role of advisor. Acting as guide for his family as well as protector.

“My lord, Lord Dunmore to see you.”

The earl stood and tucked his hands behind his back as the Irish baron entered. Teague Frost, Lord Dunmore, immediately put on a friendly grin after his bow. Jack almost relaxed. He was familiar with the somewhat informal and optimistic Irishman from the man’s time visiting Castle Clairvoir.

As a member of the duke’s staff, Jack had liked Dunmore at once. The man was honorable, kind to a fault, and not nearly as stuffy or demanding as some of the duke’s other guests. Given that Dunmore’s sister had married into the family, the man had a more comfortable place at Clairvoir, too, and was a more frequent visitor.

After Jack made the introductions required, his father gestured to one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. “Please, Lord Dunmore, make yourself comfortable. My son has told me little enough about you, though I know you have his good opinion.”

Dunmore settled into the chair with a wide grin. “Mr. Sterling is too kind. I think I must have annoyed him on more than one occasion in his past life.” He appeared completely at ease as he sent an amused glance toward Jack. “How open will you be about your former place as the duke’s guard? You will likely find yourself in polite company with many who you knew and served while in that capacity.”

“I have not given it much thought,” Jack admitted, glancing at his father. It was the truth. He’d been too busy preparing his family for what was to come to focus on any awkwardness his former occupation might bring. Still, he continued with some confidence, “I doubt many of them will have bothered to remember me. Most thought me a mere footman. Who among the upper ranks bothers to know a servant’s name, let alone his face?”

His father chuckled. “It is almost as though you have been a spy all these years, gathering information on behavior and persons of interest, all to our benefit now.” He sighed and gave Dunmore a measured look. “You are the first who has openly spoken of Jack’s former work, though you are not the first sent to us through the duke’s good graces.”

“Likely the others have better manners than I do,” Dunmore quipped, his grin widening. “I see no need to pretend I haven’t met Mr. Sterling before. I benefitted from his astute observations. While all of this must seem something of a dream, I have seen reversals in fortune before—in both directions. It is imperative that you have allies, from the beginning, to ease your way into a Society that can be as cruel as it is exclusive. I know this from personal experience.”

“And you will be one such ally?” Jack asked as his father remained silent and thoughtful.

“Absolutely.” Dunmore tapped the arm of the chair. “My family is prepared to stand by you and assist in whatever way we can. My wife, Lady Dunmore, remembers you fondly, Mr. Sterling—as do our sisters, hers and my own. If there is anything we can do, you have but to ask it. To begin with, Lady Dunmore and I request your family join ours for dinner. As soon as you can, in fact.”

Jack had watched over Lady Dunmore, formerly Lady Ivy, and her sisters Ladies Juniper and Betony, while they stayed with the duke. The sisters had been as fascinating as they were entertaining, and he’d come to rather like the three of them.

That is, like them as much as a mere guardsman could. Of course.

Lord Benwaith relaxed. “There are eight of us that trot around together. I hope that will not put the baroness out?”

“Not in the least. I look forward to meeting the rest of your family.” He glanced from father to son. “Have either of you found a club to your liking yet? I imagine you have been invited to preview a few by now. I am a member at Brooks’s. I am on my way there next. Would either of you, or other gentlemen in the household, wish to join me?”

Jack glanced at his father, who visibly withered at the idea of leaving the house. Yet one shouldn’t reject invitations by peers, even if they were as accommodating as Lord Dunmore. It fell to him to make the decision, and his military training assisted him to make it in an instant. “I wouldn’t mind joining you, if you can do without me for a time, Father?”

“I think we will manage not to burn the house down in your absence,” his father said with a dry smile. They both knew Jack had put out several metaphorical fires in the weeks since he’d arrived from Clairvoir. No one had prepared his family for living in a house which needed more than a dozen servants to keep it running. The housekeeper had quit in a rage the day before he arrived, the butler had threatened to do the same, the maids were confused by the vague instructions the new countess gave them, and the cook tried to spend double the allotted budget for the kitchens to pocket half the funds for himself—though not for long.

Were all nobles cheated so swiftly by their servants?

“Excellent.” Dunmore took his leave of Lord Benwaith and Jack followed him out of the house and into his waiting carriage. The moment the door of the conveyance closed behind him, Dunmore folded his arms and gave Jack a solemn look.

The frank appraisal made Jack stiffen, his posture so straight his back did not touch the seat cushion behind him. “You look as though you wish to say something, Lord Dunmore.”

“Several somethings. I arrived last evening, and it only took a few pointed questions this morning to hear handfuls of rumors about your family. I am going to be blunt, Sterling, because I believe you are a man who appreciates plain-speaking.” He gave a slight shake of his head. “Your family needs help, and a lot of it, if they are going to survive this elevation, let alone this Season.”

Nothing about the statement held cruelty, and the sheer honesty of it startled a laugh from the former guard. “I must agree.”

“Did one of the women in your household truly try to hang laundry in the garden?” Dunmore winced in sympathy. “That must be a gross over-exaggeration.”

“She hung a dress out from her window, which overlooked the garden.” Jack hadn’t seen it but had been informed by a scandalized member of the staff. “Rinsed out a spot. Thought it would be faster to go about things that way rather than send it out to the laundress.” He wanted to groan and drop his face in his hands, but he stayed upright and kept his face a mask of calm. “They are not used to this. Nor am I, in all honesty. But we are doing our best.”

He’d hired a governess to act the part of lady’s companion to his mother and social instructor to his sister and sisters-in-law. The woman had accepted the generous salary in return for her slightly unorthodox duties. He’d also found a housekeeper with thirty years of experience in a former military commander’s home. He’d given the woman the control of a general on the battlefield, and she’d had the rest of the staff in hand in less than two days, to everyone’s mutual relief.

But there was still much to do—many mistakes that could be made.

Lord Dunmore appeared thoughtful a moment, his fingers tapping on the seat beside him as the carriage made its way over cobbled streets. “I want to assist you, Mr. Sterling. You were there when my sister and Farleigh were in danger. You have watched over Fiona, kept her and Lord James from harming themselves with their less-than- safe flights of fancy. You are a good man. Even had the Duke of Montfort not suggested it, I would offer you my friendship. Let me help you.”

The offer pricked at Jack’s pride, but his family needed people like Dunmore. The women in his family needed the friendship the ladies of Dunmore’s house would supply. Despite being a younger son, he was the only one present. Jack held the weight of the household on his shoulders.

The baroness and her sisters understood better than most the importance of keeping up appearances, a thing he had heard them bemoan on more than one occasion when he served as little more than a protective shadow.

“I accept your offer, your lordship. With gratitude.” Jack bowed his head slightly.

“Then no more ‘lording’ me. Dunmore is good enough, in company and out of it.”

“Then I prefer Jack.” He sighed. “Though I find it easier to answer to ‘Sterling’ than what I was christened with, I think those days are over.” He would forever be Mr. Sterling now, and when in company with his brothers Mr. John Sterling, or Mr. John.

“I imagine years of service in the military and as a member of the duke’s rather unique household would make that the more familiar thing to answer to.” Dunmore grinned and folded his arms, leaning back. “We will get you through the ensuing battles of Society, Jack Sterling. Eventually, we will win your family the war, too.”

Jack had every hope that was the truth, even though he didn’t think his troops—his family—ready yet for any kind of enemy engagement. With the allies the Duke of Montfort kept sending his way, it seemed less impossible than it had in the beginning.

Juniper paced for the better part of the morning. She’d seen her brother-in-law off on his visit to Lord Benwaith and she’d tried to read in the morning room that faced east. She had a delicious Gothic novel in her hands, with a highwayman and a young lady who needed saving, trapped by a wicked uncle in a dilapidated cottage, yet she’d been unable to focus.

All she’d thought of, all morning long, was the former guardsman. What would Teague find when he met Sterling on more equal footing? Would the stoic guard have turned into a horrid rake, like the men of her favorite novels did when their fortunes turned? Or would he have softened and become a gentleman of sophistication overnight?

She’d dared to say such a thing to Betony, while her younger sister carefully mended a beadwork reticule.

Betony had snorted. “This is why I do not read your sort of novels. I would be up every night fearing an evil uncle come to take me away.”

“Life is not in the least like novels, of course.” Juniper cut her sister a wry look. “As often as I have heard people say that real events and true stories inspire fictional tales, I doubt there are dozens of evil uncles holding hundreds of unfortunate and morally perfect orphans in crumbling towers throughout England.”

Betony’s smile turned into a crooked smirk. “In Scotland, perhaps, but not England.”

Juniper paused in her pacing as she laughed at that, just as Ivy walked in hand-in-hand with Fiona. “Look who I have kidnapped from her governess!”

Betony and Juniper exchanged a quick glance and both burst into a fit of giggles. “No cruel uncles, then, merely lovely baronesses.”

“What are you talking about?” Fiona asked, dark eyebrows raised at them before she looked at Ivy .

Clearing her throat, Juniper answered with amusement, “Novels, mostly. How are you doing today, Fi?”

“I am well enough,” the girl said, her Irish lilt somewhat fainter than her older brother’s and certainly less than her mother’s. “Despite being kidnapped.” She released Ivy’s hand and went to study Betony’s work. “I cannot stand to work with such tiny things as the beads you use, but it’s awfully pretty.”

“Thank you. If you like, I will bead a reticule for you.” Betony pointed to her box of tiny compartments, each little box full of sparkling glass beads of all colors. “Tell me your favorite colors.”

While the two of them discussed colors and beading, Ivy settled on a couch and patted the cushion for Juniper to join her. “I hear you were awake and up to see my husband off this morning. Is something troubling you? Normally, you lay abed as long as you can. Reading .” Her playful words, accompanied by a tilt to her head, told Juniper her sister sensed something amiss. Ivy’s curiosity was always fully pursued of late, thanks to the encouragement of her new husband.

Juniper settled onto the couch and folded her hands in her lap, pulling her posture and expression from every lesson about ‘proper ladies’ their overly concerned sister-in-law used to give them.

“I wanted to wish him well before he went to meet with the new Lord Benwaith and his family, that is all. Though I cannot think of a man better suited to putting others at ease than Teague, I thought he might appreciate a little encouragement.”

“Why the interest in that family?” Ivy’s eyebrows pulled together softly, not fully contracting to make the line between them appear. This matter appeared to be of light interest to her, thank goodness. “Besides the fact that we will all do our part, should they allow us, to help them grow accustomed to the dangerous topography of our Society, all its plains and pitfalls.”

Tightening her grip on her own hands, Juniper adopted an unconcerned tone. “It is something one rarely hears of, is all. An entire family elevated at once, unexpected by anyone including themselves, to such a position. It is the stuff of fiction. Of my novels.”

“I suppose.” Ivy reached down to the basket beside the couch. She’d left her sewing things there earlier, and she picked up an embroidery hoop already occupied by a swath of deep green material. “Though these are real people, Juniper. Not characters in a work of fiction. I do hope you will curb your imagination when it comes time to meet them, and assist where we can, without looking for anything untoward in their past or present.”

“Untoward?” Juniper repeated with raised eyebrows. “Oh. Like wives in attics or pirates in cellars, wicked uncles and decrepit towers. Those sorts of things?”

Ivy choked on a laugh and narrowed her eyes playfully at her sister. “Is that where your flights of fancy immediately go? No, dear. I was thinking more about the two single members of the family. It is a good thing so many of Lord Benwaith’s children are already wed. Two sons and two daughters, the duke’s letter informed Teague, already with their own spouses and homes. But he still has two unmarried sons, the youngest of our acquaintance the former guardsman, and a daughter near my age, who will now be swarmed with suitors.”

An immediate poke of disappointment assailed Juniper’s heart, trying to pop her pleasant daydreams of Sterling as a sewing needle popped a soap bubble. She hadn’t given that situation much thought—that was, she had thought greatly of him, but not of all the other young ladies who would, as her sister said, soon swarm.

She grimaced. “Oh. Suitors. You wish me to avoid…what? Matchmaking?”

“I wish you to avoid spectating.” Ivy shook her head a little. “ Gossiping . Romance is all well and good for one to eavesdrop upon within a novel, but in real life it is a shame so many study and dissect people’s relationships as though they have a right to. I am grateful beyond words that Teague and I had the chance to court and fall in love away from the eyes of Society.” She shuddered. “They will already be watched by many. Be a friend. Do not contribute to or pass on suppositions about their prospects. That is all I wish to suggest.”

Juniper let her gaze trail away to the window letting in the late-morning sunlight. “I will avoid romanticizing what will surely be a trial for them.” And for her, she supposed, as she watched an imaginary Mr. John Sterling navigate ballrooms full of ladies, all eyes on him, as both their newest and most intriguing option for ensnaring a husband.

He was new to their set, new to London, and entirely too handsome to be ignored. Juniper’s visions of him surrounded by elegant ladies in bright gowns was likely to come true.

Blast .

Why hadn’t she considered there would be competition for his attention? And when, precisely, had she decided that he was what she most wanted? Not merely to reacquaint herself with him, but to—for lack of a better term—set her cap for him?

Her heart gave a stutter at the realization.

“When we meet the whole family for dinner,” Ivy said, tone no longer one of concern, “we will know how best to help them, I am certain. At that point, we will likely need all the ideas you can spare for the best way to make them comfortable. I hope you are up for that challenge, Juniper.”

“So do I.” Among other things.