‘No one’s friendship is that strong,’ Amy replied.
‘When I see Mr Lovell, I will ask him if it is all right.’ Belle was clearly not convinced.
Just then, a footman entered with the afternoon post. At the top of the stack was a letter from Mr Benjamin Lovell. It was addressed to The Misses Summoner. Amy stared at it for a moment, afraid to break the seal.
If the contents were in any way personal, he would not have addressed it to both of them. But that did not keep her from wishing that it was a billet doux. When she had been actively courting, no man would have had the nerve to send such a thing to Lord Summoner’s daughter. But if she was to spend her life alone, without even Belle for company, it might be nice to have a stack of ribbon-bound letters to remind herself of what might have been.
It would be even better if they were written in Ben Lovell’s elegantly masculine hand. She stared down at the folded paper in front of her, memorising each line and loop of the address, focusing on the sight of her surname. Without thinking, she ran a fingertip across the words, imagining the forceful pressure of his pen to the paper.
In response, she felt a rush of heat, sudden as a lightning strike. It coursed through her body to settle in the wet place between her legs. If this was all it took to make her want him, than he had been right. There was no way they could reside under the same roof. Even if nothing happened between them, ever again, people would have but to look at her to know what she wanted from him.
Now he’d sent a letter. It was better that it go directly to his intended, if only to teach Belle that future communications between them did not have to be shared. Amy took one last look at it, then handed it to her sister. ‘Mr Lovell has written you. Open it and see what he has to say.’
Belle cracked the wax that held the paper closed and looked at it only a moment before handing it back with a confused shrug. ‘Help me, Amy.’
No wonder she needed help. The tidy script on the outside degenerated into a confusion of crossed writing inside. Why had he bothered to turn the paper on its side to write the second half of the missive? There was no need for economy. They could more than afford the postage for a second sheet of paper.
She looked across at her baffled sister. Belle sometimes had trouble deciphering a regular letter, if the writer did not have a clear hand. Separating one direction of writing from another was far too difficult for her to manage. To send such a letter, Ben might as well have been writing in Latin.
Or in code.
There could be no more innocent way to get a private message to her than this.
‘What does it say?’ Belle was eagerly awaiting her half of the letter.
‘Let us see.’ Amy smiled at her sister as if the paper in her hand was just ordinary social correspondence and not the most important message she had ever received. Then she looked down, forcing herself to focus only on the first part of the letter, making no effort to let her eyes dart to the left to read the sideways writing crawling in and out between the words. ‘It seems we are invited to a house party at Mr Lovell’s estate in Surrey.’
‘A house party,’ Belle said, her worry over Guy Templeton forgotten. ‘I have never been to one of those.’
‘No, you have not,’ Amy agreed, glanced down at the letter again and then tucked it into her pocket so as not to be distracted by it.
‘What will it be like?’
Extremely difficult for all concerned, thought Amy. But she continued to smile. ‘This one is to celebrate your engagement to Mr Lovell. I suspect there will be fine dinners, parlour games and perhaps a ball where you can meet his friends.’ Belle would be under the scrutiny of everyone there for several days. Since she was the guest of honour, they could hardly creep away home if things got too difficult. Amy grew tense just thinking about it.
‘Dancing and games,’ Belle said happily.
‘It will also be a chance to see your new home,’ Amy said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.
‘And I will get to see Guy again,’ she said. Then she remembered she was not to be familiar and added, ‘Mr Templeton.’
‘Perhaps,’ Amy said, hoping that, after Vauxhall, Ben would know better than to trust him.
‘And it will be your new home, too,’ Belle finished, smiling as though relieved that it was all settled.
Amy wet her lips. ‘After you are married, things might be quite different than you expected. Still good,’ she added hurriedly. ‘But different.’
‘I like things the way they are,’ Belle said, with a surprising show of independence.
‘I know, dear. But we cannot always have things the way we want them.’
Belle frowned, trying to understand.
‘For one thing, even if Mr Templeton is there, you must not go off alone with him, as you did at Vauxhall. You must not go off into the dark with any gentlemen. It is not a polite thing to do.’