Kissing the Rake (Howertys #2)

Chapter 34: Sisterly Concern

Jessica stirred her tea as she sat in the parlour with her sister, trying to focus on Rain's chattering about her friends but failing. Something had shifted in her relationship with Jacob, and she didn't know why. He'd retreated to his study again, avoiding her for the past two days. Ever since returning from seeing Lady Hearn. There was definitely something he wasn't telling her, and she didn't appreciate it.

"Is something wrong?" Rain suddenly said, breaking her out of her reverie. "You aren't listening."

"I beg your pardon." She gave her sister an apologetic smile. "I fear I was woolgathering."

"Because of Jacob?"

It never ceased to amaze her how astute her sister had become. She almost missed the rambunctious girl who spent most of her time quarrelling with their youngest sister. In less than a year now, Rain would have her own Season and she had grown up so much recently.

"I suppose," she admitted. "He's avoiding me. I'm alone when I fall asleep and alone when I wake up. For all I know, he's not even sleeping at home anymore. "

"Do you think he's with that woman?"

"If by 'that woman' you mean Lady Hearn, then no, I don't believe so."

"There are a lot of rumours about those two." Rain leaned back in her chair, pushing a dark lock of hair out of her face. "My friends always seem to know all the gossip."

Unlike Jessica, Rain was a social butterfly and had spent many mornings and afternoons visiting with friends living in London.

"Jacob's told me the truth. The rumours aren't true, or at least only partially so."

"That's a relief," Rain said. "I heard he ruined her and then refused to marry her. Then he apparently left London to avoid a confrontation with her father. I think the old man wanted to challenge him to a duel, so it was probably the best thing for him to do. It simply wouldn't have been seemly to kill an old man in a gunfight."

She smiled at her sister's matter-of-fact tone. "Do you know what happened to Lady Hearn when he disappeared?"

"Of course!" Rain grinned. "My friend Lucy is nothing if not well-informed. Lady Hearn, or Lady Merilyn Boothby, was married off to a penniless viscount who would have her despite her condition. From what I understand he sorely needed her dowry, but he wasn't a very good man and I doubt they had a great marriage."

Pondering Rain's words, Jessica almost felt sorry for the other woman. She couldn't have had a pleasant life, and no one deserved that. She'd been young, not much older than Rain, when she'd tried to trap Jacob into marriage. It was easy to imagine someone young and immature hatching a scheme like that. Especially if desperate after getting themselves with child.

"What I find interesting," Rain continued, bringing Jessica's attention back to her, "is that he apparently returned to London soon after the marriage, and some say he intended to marry her when he came back. That he'd thought it over and had decided to take his responsibility."

Or provide for a foolish girl who had made a mistake. It was typical of Jacob. Not of the version of him that society knew, but the Jacob she was coming to know. The thoughtful one who gave his old nanny a job, became a patron of a particular inn he'd visited as a child, and held his wife's hair when she was heaving into the chamber pot. The Jacob that probably very few people even knew existed.

"Do you suppose he loved her?"

She shook her head. "No. He's made it very clear he's never loved anyone." Even me. She pushed the thought away. "But he would have married her to save her from scandal. Like he did me."