A Spinster to Heal the Duke

Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

" S urely you are unfit to travel," Lady Diana Campbell said to her brother, ignoring the rest of the people in the room. "One would not stay in this place otherwise. It is so, so poor."

Noah stood and looked frustrated, but Anne couldn't tell if it was his sister's unannounced presence or if her words made him feel some sort of shame. She hoped it was the former and not the latter though this woman's presence raised questions in her mind.

She is his sister? He never talks about her, even when we shared the loss of our parents. Is he going to allow her to speak of my home this way? I want to say something, but coming between them right now does not seem appropriate, Anne thought.

"I mean really, brother, look around you? If you are well enough to at least get about, why not come home or at least to the nearest cousin of peerage with adequate lodging," Diana continued, frowning more as she assessed the room and those in it.

"Sister, your manners," Noah chided her gently though Diana only tilted her head in dismissal. "I am improved but not in perfect health yet."

"You appear to be fine," Diana responded, looking her brother up and down. "Perhaps a little thicker."

Noah changed his stance and looked down at his person.

"I think I look very well," he said, glancing at Anne. "A good meal makes a difference."

"You could have written home to say as much, rather than leaving those who care about you to worry without a word since your predicament began," Lady Diana scolded, not acknowledging her brother's response and nearly speaking over him.

"Diana," he said firmly, drawing her attention.

They stared at each other across the room until she relaxed her posture and replied, "Yes, Your Grace?"

"We can continue this conversation privately in a moment if it is necessary, but please pause your rant so that I might have a moment to properly introduce you to the people who reside in the home in which you stand," Noah said, looking at his sister sternly.

Lady Diana huffed, but made her best effort to smile politely as she could tell her brother wanted. She went further to make a tight-lipped apology.

"I have forgotten my manners in concern for my brother's safety and well-being. Please, forgive me," she apologized.

"Lady Diana , welcome to Reedley Manor. I am pleased to introduce you to Lord Reedley, his grandson, Mr. Charles Drowton, and his granddaughter, Miss Anne Drowton. They have taken excellent care of me during my time of invalidity. They are gracious hosts and delightful company," he said with a pleased smile as he introduced the Drowton family. With somewhat less grandeur, he added, "Lord Reedley, Charles, Anne, please meet my sister, Lady Diana Campbell. She does not spend a lot of time away from London."

His sister sniffed and tilted her head higher.

"I'm sure it is very nice to meet you all," she said. "Thank you for caring for His Grace, but I believe he is well enough to travel home. Noah, I have the carriage waiting."

"I cannot leave," he almost blurted. Composing himself, Noah explained. "A banquet is being prepared in my honor. Prominent families and business owners of the area wish to share an evening with their duke, but we can depart a day or two later after I have rested from the evening."

"I will give you until the following evening," Lady Diana said, smiling though her face did not match the tone of her words. "When is the banquet?"

She looked around the room with her forced smile, and the only person who smiled in return was Charles. He had been enamored with her grace, elegance, and air since she entered the room.

"It is at the end of the week," he replied, taking a small step closer to her.

Diana's smile crinkled and returned as she took a small step toward her brother.

"Yes, very well then. I believe I have something suitable to wear. So I shall remain, but we must leave the following afternoon, Noah. You have matters to attend to at home," she stated.

"I am aware," said Noah.

The tension in the room was thick, and no one seemed sure of the best way to move the conversation forward.

The Baron said, "Well, we had just discussed taking the carriage into Reedley to purchase a few things to decorate the assembly and a little shopping in general. Would you care to join us, or perhaps you have had a long journey and would like to be shown to a room to rest?"

"I hope the bedrooms are better decorated than what I have seen so far," Diana said.

"Diana," Noah corrected her once more.

She rolled her eyes.

"I will need to see the room and have an hour to settle in. That will allow me to make a list if there is anything I need to purchase for my stay," Lady Diana requested.

"That is no trouble at all," the Baron said cheerfully. "We are glad to have your company on our outing, and we look forward to you staying with us."

He smiled as he had when he welcomed the Duke into his home and felt certain the young woman just needed time to settle in as her brother had. Anne looked at Diana and didn't feel as sure.

"I will show you to your room and have Peggy bring tea and biscuits. You must be hungry after your journey,"

"Thank you," Diana replied.

She made faces and snide comments about nearly everything she passed as Anne led the way to her room.

"These flower arrangements are so gauche; I will oversee the arrangements for the banquet. And your statuary could use a polish. Your home is so quaint," she prattled on. However, as they reached the stairs, she noted to herself, "Well, I at least know why my brother has a fuller build now. Something does smell good."

Anne wanted to smile and say thank you, but instead, she only silently continued up the stairs. She was too mad to think about the compliment.

She is even more rude than Noah was when he arrived. She has no restraint in speaking every judgment she has about our home. Surely, she has the manners to be a gracious guest, Anne thought. I'm sure she would faint if I told her that Noah and I selected those flowers together and he does not share he views that my arrangements are ‘gauche.'

At the top of the stairs, Anne led the way to the room she believed would be most acceptable to their new guest though it happened to be the farthest down the hall. Diana trailed behind her and glanced over each room with an open door.

"Where is my brother sleeping?" she asked before entering her own room.

"Two doors down, across the hall," replied Anne. "Your room has a lovely view of a portion of our orchard. With the windows open the breeze is nicely fragrant."

"As long as I don't wake with the sun in my eyes, that should be fine," Lady Diana said, stepping past Anne and into the bedroom.

The room was covered in peach floral wallpaper and decorated with dark cherrywood furnishings and red fabrics on the bed cover, seat of the chair, and curtains. Diana looked inside the armoire, the top of the vanity, and the dresser.

"This should do. Certainly, more so than any of the rooms we passed," she said, nodding approvingly. "Have you given me your room?"

"This was the room my parents would stay in when we visited when I was a child," Anne admitted. "It is tended and cleaned as often as the others, but no one has stayed in here since. I would say it is the nicest room in the house, next to Grandfather's room."

Diana looked like she didn't know whether to offer a kind word or continue in her more judgmental tone.

Rather than doing either, she only repeated, "Well, it shall do. Thank you."

"Would you like me to send Peggy to assist you?" Anne asked.

"I will be fine for now, but she can assist me as I dress for dinner," Lady Diana instructed.

With a nod, Anne took her leave. Then, as quickly as Anne stepped out of the room, Lady Diana closed the door.

Anne walked quickly and quietly back down the stairs and to the parlor where she found her grandfather sitting and smoking his pipe outside his usual times while Charles was bending Noah's ear with questions about his sister.

"And she's your younger sister?" he asked.

"Twenty-three," Noah replied.

"Probably wouldn't turn her head at me, but she is lovely," Charles said wistfully.

"Thank you, but do not feel down. Her head rarely turns for anyone, and never yet for someone I would approve of. In a few years, you will likely meet someone you prefer much more, especially once you get to know Diana," the Duke replied without a laugh though Jeremy laughed heartily.

"I suppose I have just never seen anyone so elegant and poised," Charles observed. "She's so different from everyone I have met."

"Keep living. Meet a few more people from London," Noah replied.

When he realized Anne had reentered the room, Noah's attention was solely on her, and he crossed the room quickly to be at her side. He had to refrain from holding her hand or touching her cheek.

"I know my sister was ill-mannered toward you," he noted.

He looked concerned and prepared to be angry on Anne's behalf.

"She made a few more comments about the house but nothing terrible," Anne admitted. "I will be honest, I'm not fond of her, but you and I did not get along immediately."

"I was blinded with pain and frustration. Diana is being her usual, charming self," Noah said, sitting with his elbow resting on the arm of the couch as he rubbed his temple.

"I still say she's lovely," Charles replied. "Maybe we just aren't used to such grace and etiquette."

"Maybe you aren't used to a woman over sixteen from a large city, my boy," Jeremy teased, smiling and exhaling smoke from his pipe. "Perhaps our outing will relax her. She has been travelling and worried for you, Grandon. She is your sister, but she is also our guest."

Anne sat down between Noah and her grandfather.

"I had hoped she would leave when I told her I needed to stay longer," Noah confessed. "I hoped she would see me, know I was okay, and leave since I intend to stay for the banquet. Really, I hoped she wouldn't come or ask about me at all."

"Then at least she has the merit of being a sister who worries about her brother," Anne said, trying to find something good to say about the woman she had left upstairs.

"If she is here and choosing to stay, it has little to do with concern for me," Noah considered thoughtfully.

Then, he looked at Anne once more. She looked at him as well. They shared a disappointed smile and similar concerns of his sister affecting their budding romance, moments alone, and now, causing a hasty departure after the banquet.