Page 122 of Rivals at Ashmore Castle

‘Why does this keep happening at Christmas!’ Giles exclaimed.

‘It’s never happened before,’ Kitty said.

‘Have you forgotten Tullamore and Uncle Fergus appearing on our doorstep on Christmas Eve? Does everyone and his dog think they can invite themselves here?’

‘Giles, please don’t exaggerate,’ Kitty said. ‘And do smile. The poor child must be feeling dreadful.’

Arabella did look as though she felt dreadful – an expression that combined misery and defiance. Giles’s eyes went over her head to her attendant, and widened as he recognised her. ‘Good grief, it’s Miss Taylor,’ he exclaimed. ‘Now what on earth is going on?’

Miss Taylor was as unhappy as Arabella, though Arabella was more easily comforted. Kitty had only to tell her that she was welcome and would not be sent away against her will, and quite a lot of her misery lifted.

Miss Taylor’s story was told through gritted teeth under Kitty’s questioning in the ante-room away from ears and eyes. She had been dismissed, and given the choice of being turned off in Germany, or having her passage paid back to England as travelling companion to Arabella.

‘But why were you dismissed?’ Kitty asked anxiously, hoping it was not something delinquent.

‘I could not say, my lady,’ Taylor said, grey-faced and mauve-lipped. ‘I have always endeavoured to give satisfaction.’ It went against the grain to criticise her employer, but she continued, ‘Her highness can be capricious, my lady.’ Then she shut her mouth tight to indicate she would say no more.

‘We have to let them stay, Giles,’ Kitty said, alone with him in her bedchamber.

‘Damnit, Linda ought to shoulder her own responsibilities. But I suppose we set a precedent when we took her children in before.’

‘And the poor child is obviously very unhappy.’

‘Arabella is one thing, but I don’t see why we should be responsible for Miss Taylor.’

‘We can’t just turn her out to fend for herself, like a stray dog,’ Kitty said.

‘I believe we can do exactly that,’ said Giles.

‘This place was her home for all those years when your mother was mistress here. She has no other.’

‘You’re too soft-hearted, Kitty. We’re not running an asylum for waifs and strays.’

Kitty had a scalding moment of thinking about High Beeches, the lost and lonely creatures there, and the old earl, Giles’s father, using it to ‘tidy up after him’. She had sent money since her visit, and wished she could do more. She wasn’t sure why, but taking in Miss Taylor helped to ease her feeling that she was letting them down.

‘As a lady’s maid she’s used to doing fine needlework,’ she told Giles, ‘and we lack a sewing-maid since Dory left us. She can earn her keep.’ He still looked obdurate, and she said, ‘Please, Giles.’

‘Oh, Kitty!’ he said, in exasperation. ‘You’ll ruin us at this rate.’

‘I don’t suppose Taylor eats much, she’s so thin.’

He smiled reluctantly. ‘I suppose it would make you unhappy to turn her away.’

‘Very unhappy.’

‘Then I have no choice.’

She went up on tiptoe to kiss him. ‘You’re very good to me.’

He caught her to stop her moving away. ‘No, you’re very good. Too good for this world. I’m afraid you may be snatched aloft in a cloud.’

Her lips lingered on his, her cool fingers touched the back of his neck. Things stirred inside him. ‘Shall I come and see you later?’ he murmured, against her mouth.

‘Yes, please,’ she whispered back.

At the table in her private sitting-room (oh, how she loved that room!), Nina tied the last bow on the last present and looked with satisfaction at the heap. The thing she loved best about being a rich man’s wife was buying lovely presents for people.

She had exchanged gifts with Bobby the day before, as they would be away for Christmas, and Bobby had given her a lecture.