haunted dreams from coming nightly for months.
On many occasions during their period of mourning, Luke had heard her crying and sacrificed sleep to sit with her until she had surrendered to slumber again. He truly hoped she was free from the horror and despair that had accompanied her dreams all those months as Johanna had claimed.
He found his mother at her desk, scribbling on a piece of foolscap. “Rearranging the seating for this evening, or are you making last-minute changes to the menu again?”
She grinned up at him and replaced her quill. “I’m afraid poor Mrs. Winchcombe would be beside herself if I altered dinner this late in the day. Where have you been hiding?”
“Not hiding. Richard and I have been reconciling the accounts and answering correspondence.” He moved behind her to place a kiss on her dark hair. A few silver strands grew at her temples, but her face remained remarkably unlined for a lady her age.
She gestured toward the settee. “Please join me. Would you like refreshment? I could ring for tea.”
“I should get back to my work soon. There’s still much to sift through and arrangements to be made in Town if Lady Vivian and I are to take up residence at Talliah House after the honeymoon.”
As he and his mother settled on the lavender sofa, she patted his hand. Her eyes shone with tears, her emotions still fragile under the surface. “Your father would be proud.”
He shrugged, uncomfortable with her assertion. Luke had yet to do much to make his father proud of him, but he wouldn’t turn his back on his duties again. “Perhaps you and my sisters would like to join us in Town come spring.”
They hadn’t spoken of his mother rejoining London society yet, but his sister, Gabby, should return next Season to continue husband hunting.
His mother nodded slowly and dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief. “Perhaps.”
That seemed the most he would receive from her at the moment, so he didn’t pursue the topic.
She shifted toward him and pursed her lips, a worry line appearing between her brows.
“What is troubling you, Mother? Did you ask Miss Truax to keep it secret that you had another of your dreams last night?”
She made a dismissive sound. “Nothing like that. I am beyond such things now. You have enough demands on your time that you shouldn’t spend it fretting over me. It’s just that I received an annoying letter in the post this morning from a lady I have never met. A Mrs. Honeywell from Dunstable. She claims to know Lady Vivian.”
The busybody from the church picnic? His jaw tightened. “And what does she want?”
“I assume what most ladies desire, an elevation in social status. I believe she is hoping for an invitation to the castle. She insinuated we would get on well together.” His mother stood and retreated to her desk to pull a letter from the neat stack at the edge. She waved it as she carried it back to the settee. “Lord knows why Mrs. Honeywell thinks threatening my future daughter-in-law will further her cause.”
“She threatened Vivian?” Luke snatched the letter when his mother held it out to him and scanned the contents. He felt sick to his stomach. The woman was insinuating Vivian had taken another man to her bed. Vivian hadn’t even known how to kiss properly their first time. He crumbled the letter into a ball. “It is a lie.”
“Of course it is. Your father was not a foolish man. He suspected something was amiss when Lady Vivian’s brother approached him about a union between our families.”
Luke recoiled. “Father had her investigated?”
“He did what any father would do, and it is a good thing he did. Otherwise, this Mrs. Honeywell might have convinced us Lady Vivian is not as she seems.”
“What did Father learn?”
His mother crossed her arms and fixed him with a challenging stare. “As Mrs. Honeywell suggested, Lady Vivian was discovered in the stables with a groom in a state of dishabille. Further inquires by your father’s hired man suggested Lady Vivian might have been judged unfairly. Her activities were perhaps a bit unorthodox, but certainly nothing immoral was uncovered. Your father confronted Ashden about the rumors, and he was satisfied her brother was telling the truth about her remaining an innocent.”
“I still can’t believe Father sent a man to uncover Vivian’s secrets.”
“Really, darling, why would you think poorly of your father for trying to protect his family’s honor? You always were too harsh with him.”
She was