The Dangers of Doing Good (Arrangements, Book 4) Read online

  Suddenly, the siblings turned to her and Marianne’s expression changed from delight to disbelief.

  “Marianne, I would like you to meet Miss Annie Ramsey, from Yorkshire.”

  Was she supposed to bow or curtsey? She had no idea, so she simply stood there.

  Marianne looked at her brother in confusion, then back at Annie. Her eyes were wide, confused, and a bit pitying. She turned her head towards the hallway. “Tibby!” she called, her voice musically echoing off of everything. “Come quickly! Duncan has brought home a stray!”

  Duncan swatted his sister sharply, his face burning at her rudeness. Annie’s cheeks flamed a brilliant pink, her eyes lowered, and her fingers clenched their hold on each other. She was positively mortified. “Marianne!” he hissed.

  She looked up at him innocently. “Yes?”

  He hardened his jaw and glowered at her. “Be nice.”

  She quirked her brows at him. “You have a better description?”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled quickly. This was not going well. “You are being intolerably rude to our guest.”

  Now Marianne looked thunderstruck. “Our guest? Surely you do not…”

  “Marianne,” he interrupted as gently as he could with his teeth grinding, “she is standing right there.”

  She looked over at Annie and Duncan could see her superior expression soften as she really looked. There was the sister he so adored, not the creature she had taken to being.

  “My apologies, Miss Ramsey,” Marianne said in a very kind voice. “Please, forgive my rudeness.”

  “It’s fine,” Annie murmured so softly Duncan could hardly hear it. Her eyes were still trained on the floor.

  Marianne looked up at him. “What did she say?” she mouthed at him.

  “She said it was fine,” he whispered. “But obviously, it is not.”

  Marianne had the good sense to look ashamed. “I am sorry.”

  “Then act like it.”

  She nodded once and cleared her throat. “How long are you here for, Miss Ramsey?” she asked, keeping her voice kind and polite.

  Annie looked up sharply, her eyes panicked, and she glanced at Duncan, biting her lip. “Um…”

  “What is all this? Have we been invaded by gypsies?” Tibby’s voice echoed in the halls before she made her presence known.

  Duncan rolled his eyes heavenward. This day could not get any worse.

  Annie jumped as if startled when Tibby came from the room nearest her and grandly entered the entryway. And much to Tibby’s credit, it was an entrance to be proud of. The woman was dressed in a vibrant Alexandria blue silk dress and a matching turban, which made her fiery red hair seem more violently red than normal. Her eyes appeared the very color of her dress and turban, and her wrap and slippers were apparently made from pure spun gold. And for some inexplicable reason, she had colored her cheeks, making her look more like a star of the stage than a well-colored lady of fashion. It was impossible to look anywhere except at her.

  But she was, after all, Tabitha, Lady Raeburn. She never did anything by half measures.

  “Oh, it is just you, nephew,” she crowed, smiling brightly at him. “My, my, you look quite unchanged. I expected your dear cousins to send you home in a tartan and raving on and on about the delights of haggis, but I am pleased you still seem resoundingly English.”

  He could not help but to grin at her. “Lovely to see you, Tibby, as always. To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence in our home?”

  Tibby laughed a tinkling trill of a laugh. “Oh, darling boy, I am living here now.”

  Duncan could only blink his shock. “You’re what now?”

  “Living here, Duncan,” Marianne said from his side, her voice thick with amusement. “Isn’t it grand?”

  “Not forever, mind you,” Tibby said with a dramatic wave of her hand, her many rings glinting in the light of the day. “Just until the renovations of my own house are completed.”

  “Renovations,” he repeated, feeling rather staggered by the news. “When did those begin?”

  Tibby put a finger to her chin in thought. “Hmmmm, two weeks, was it, Marianne?”

  “Nearly, yes,” his sister confirmed.

  “And they will be finished…?” Duncan asked, glancing over at Annie, who seemed positively transfixed by Tibby. In fact, she looked terrified.

  Tibby gave him a hard look. “Why, when I approve of the work, my dear. I should not expect them to even be ready for inspection for another month, perhaps two. And then it may be some time until I approve it.”

  Two months. With Tibby, and Annie, under his roof.

  He swallowed and tried to look complacent. “I see.”

  “It has been a vastly entertaining Christmas,” Marianne quipped, nudging him with her elbow.

  He could only imagine.

  Tibby looked at Marianne now. “What were you saying, dear? Duncan brought home a stray?”

  Marianne bit her lip hard to keep from laughing.

  Tibby looked back at him with a scolding glare. “How many times have I told you to stop saving animals? I have four dogs as it is, all living here with us, and your two pointers will not appreciate any further intruders. Really, I wish you had a harder heart, my love, you are so generous and soft, despite your gigantesque stature.”

  Duncan had the absurd urge to laugh, but he resisted. “I did not bring home a dog, Tibby.”

  “I am relieved to hear it,” she said with a heaving sigh. “So what did you bring, then?”

  He smiled and looked at Annie. “I have brought a young lady.” He gestured politely in Annie’s direction, pleased that her fearful expression seemed to have faded to one of utter bewilderment that was quite charming.

  “Praised be the heavenly saints! I never thought I would see the day!” Tibby crowed, raising her hands to the sky and turning on the spot to see who he had indicated. Her eyes widened, her arms slowly dropped, and she was somehow able to only look mildly surprised. “Oh my. You are a tiny wisp of a girl, are you not, my dear?”

  Annie looked horrified at being addressed.

  Tibby turned back to Duncan with an expression of concern. “Is she well?”

  “Very,” he said, still smiling. “Her name is Annie Ramsey, Tibby. Annie, this is my aunt, Lady Raeburn.”

  Tibby turned back and nodded regally. “Charmed, my dear, charmed. Tell me, did my nephew fish you out of a rustic and filthy wishing well and wed you on the journey home?”

  Annie flushed so suddenly Duncan thought she would either swoon or burst into flames.

  “She is not my wife, Tibby,” Duncan said, feeling his neck heat under his collar. “I have brought her back for you.”

  “For me?” Tibby asked, her brow furrowing. “Whatever for?”

  “She is to be a companion for you.”

  Tibby looked at him for a long moment, looked back to Annie and appraised her, then turned back to him and put her hands on her hips. “What in heaven’s name gave you the idea that I need a companion?”

  Chapter Five

  Annie wondered if she could sink into the marble floor beneath her feet. It would probably be painful, but not nearly as agonizing as being forced to stand here and endure what had just happened.

  Duncan had been mortified by his relations, but Annie had expected nothing less. She did not, however, expect Lady Raeburn to have no desire for a companion.

  So even in London she was useless.

  Brilliant.

  Duncan had pulled both of the other women into a near room, begging Annie to excuse them for a moment, and shut the door. It took all of her strength not to go listen at the door. So instead she stood where he had left her, fingers mangling each other, clothing tattered and torn, looking like a clump of dirt on a pristine floor.

  If she had anywhere to go, she would leave this instant.

  But she did not.

  So she stayed.

  And waited.

  “When have I ev
er needed a companion?”

  Duncan paced back and forth in his study a bit frantically, running his hands through his hair. “You are always saying how lonely you are and how no one pays any attention to you.”

  Tibby sighed and put a hand to her brow. “Darling, I was being dramatic. I have many, many friends. Far too many, in fact,” she added as an afterthought. “I am due to cut some out. I am ridiculously popular and invited everywhere. It is an exhausting way of life.”

  Marianne giggled from where she sat in his chair, then covered her mouth.

  He threw his hands up in the air. “Then why would you say differently?”

  “Because, my dear, I want you to pay attention to me.” She looked at him as if that should have been obvious.

  He gave her an exasperated look and put his hands on his hips. “I do! I always have; I am very attentive to you and your needs.”

  She smiled fondly. “Yes, dear, of course you are, that is why you are my favorite and will inherit my vast fortune and my massive collection of antiquities. But it is always a bit more fun when you think you are being the hero.”

  Duncan gaped at her for a long moment. “I never think I’m being a hero,” he finally stammered.

  Tibby’s smile turned a bit patronizing. “Yes, you do. You always have. It’s really very sweet.”

  “You do, Duncan. You save everyone and everything,” Marianne pointed out with a smile.

  “I do?” he asked, looking between the two of them.

  Both women nodded.

  He leaned back against the nearest wall a bit inelegantly as he took in the impact of those words. “I had no idea.”

  Tibby let him digest in silence for a bit, then cleared her throat. “So, to answer your query; no, I do not need a companion. Besides, I always have Marianne.” She waved a hand in the direction of his sister.

  He glanced over and saw Marianne meet his gaze with an expression of pure and unfettered panic. She quickly recovered and turned back to their aunt.

  “But Tibby, think how fun it would be to have a companion of your very own,” Marianne said in a would-be calm voice. Duncan could hear her straining for a note of excitement and he had to restrain the urge to grin.

  Tibby gave her a strange look. “How do you mean?”

  Marianne seemed to choose her words with great care. “Miss Ramsey would be entirely at your disposal. When Duncan is with his friends or I with mine, she could be available for you, to read or play or escort you wherever you wish to go. You could have a great influence on her. Think of that.”

  “I have a great influence on everyone,” Tibby said with a sniff, winking at Duncan.

  Marianne rolled her eyes. “I am trying to be encouraging, Tibby.”

  “Oh, really? After you called her a stray?”

  “You asked if she was fetched from a dirty wishing well.”

  “Well, did you see the poor thing? She looks like a starving waif!”

  Both turned their eyes to Duncan expectantly. He was unprepared for such intensity. “What?”

  “Really, Duncan, what were you thinking?” Marianne asked with pity.

  “Wherever did you find that girl and why in heaven’s name did you bring her here?” Tibby shook her head sadly. “If I wanted a companion, there are several more suitable, not to mention better fed, candidates floating around London. Why that one?”

  “Her name,” he said, losing a bit of his patience, “is Annie. And you both can think whatever you like about me, but let me tell you a little bit about her.”

  Quietly, and trying to leave as much emotion out of it as possible, he relayed the facts of Annie’s story and situation and how they had met. He didn’t elaborate, nor did he speculate. He fully admitted to not knowing everything, but told what he could. He spoke of his meeting her, of her fear and her injury, of seeing her again at the inn and her fresh wounds, of the indifference of nearly everyone there. Perhaps he ought to have been more delicate, but they deserved to know the facts as they stood.

  When he finished, Tibby had sunk onto the sofa nearest her, a handkerchief over her mouth, whimpering. Marianne sat still, tears streaming down her cheeks. Duncan looked at them both and relaxed a little.

  “And now you know why I have brought her,” he said softly. “You can only imagine what else she has endured in her life. It was not easy for her to come with me. She was probably terrified the entire time. But she did come. The strength that must have taken… It might not have been the most proper thing in the world, but I could not leave her there, not like that.”

  “Of course not!” Marianne sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with her own handkerchief. “I am a horrible creature,” she wailed.

  Duncan moved to her and pulled her into his arms. “No, sweet, you are not.”

  “That poor thing!” Tibby cried, her voice wavering dangerously. She blew her nose loudly into her handkerchief. “Duncan, you… you saved her!”

  He pulled away from his sister, shaking his head. “I did no such thing, Tibby. She saved herself. I simply gave her a way. And I hope that I can count on the two of you to continue to help me and her in this. She is starting a new life without family or friends.”

  “Except for us,” Marianne said fiercely with a final sniffle. “I am adopting her.”

  “As am I!” Tibby announced, getting to her feet. “She will be my companion and my godchild. I always thought I would make an excellent godmother, and here is my chance.”

  Duncan grinned and looked at the both of them. “And this is why I adore you both.”

  “We know,” they replied as one, then burst into laughter.

  Duncan shook his head. “Now, don’t mention anything to Annie. She is uncomfortable as it is, I’m not sure she would enjoy being reminded of what she has left behind. So please, try to be tactful and sweet.”

  “When are we anything but?” Marianne asked as she pinched at her cheeks and headed for the door. “Honestly, it is like you expect us to be cruel.”

  He could have said so many things to that, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.

  He knew when he could not win.

  The two of them swung the door open and headed directly for Annie, who instinctively backed up at their approach. Duncan followed with his own reservations, but he kept those carefully hidden. Annie would need someone who appeared calm and comfortable.

  “It seems, Miss Ramsey, that I have need of you after all,” Tibby said with a wave of her hand. “Truly, I have always wanted a companion, but not a loud or ostentatious one, and you shall suit perfectly.”

  Annie looked at Duncan in bewilderment, but he merely smiled and shrugged. What could he say? There was no explaining Tibby.

  “Miss Ramsey,” Marianne began, taking Annie’s hand in hers, “I do hope you will forgive my abominable rudeness. I am really not that heartless. Slightly heartless, but not entirely. I should never welcome anyone into my home with such behavior. Say you will forgive me, Miss Ramsey, and allow me to make amends.”

  “Annie,” she replied in her soft, shy tone, still looking confused.

  “Pardon?” Marianne asked, rubbing her hand.

  “Call me Annie,” she said louder, her cheeks turning pink at her apparent daring. “Please.”

  Marianne smiled brightly. “Annie, then. You must call me Marianne. And am I to be forgiven?”

  Annie looked surprised at the question. “Of course,” she replied in her simple, soft way.

  “Oh, you delightful child!” Tibby squealed, embracing her quite suddenly. Then she stepped back and wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Darling, you smell like a wet dog.”

  “Tibby!” Marianne and Duncan cried together.

  “What?” she asked, looking around at them both. “She does.”

  “I’m sorry,” Anne murmured, ducking her head and stepping back as far as she could.

  Tibby waved her hands dismissively. “It is not your fault, dear girl. If my nephew were any sort of gentleman, he would have seen to yo
ur comfort properly. But all men are useless, and as you have, I am sure, noticed, he falls rather soundly into that category.” She clucked her tongue. “But really, we must have a warm bath drawn for you and a fresh set of clothes, you must be positively perishing with dirt and fatigue from all that travelling.”

  “Yes, yes, where are your things?” Marianne asked, peeling Annie’s shawl from her shoulders, hiding her appalled expression from her. She handed the garment off to a servant who also wrinkled her nose and carried it away with only two fingers touching it.

  Annie looked down at the floor again. “This is all that I have.”

  The women stilled and looked at each other with wide eyes. Even Duncan had no idea what to say. He had not said anything to Annie as yet about her lack of luggage or belongings. It had occurred to him, of course, but what could he say? She could hardly have brought everything she owned with her.

  Or had she done so?

  The girls sprang into action.

  “I will write to Mary Harris straight away,” Marianne said as she recovered. “She will have several things that will suit until we can get her some proper things.”

  “I don’t want to cause a fuss,” Annie replied, her eyes startled.

  “Mary Harris?” Tibby squawked. “She is far too tall. Our Annie will be walking on more of the dress than she wears.”

  “Mary is not so tall,” Marianne countered, peeling the fingerless gloves from Annie’s hands.

  Tibby gave Marianne a look. “She is half a head taller than you, dear, and though her figure is as slender as a reed, everything will still be too long.”

  Marianne sighed in irritation. “Diana Beckham?”

  “Better, but she has gotten so plump with her child bearing that she will be too large. Annie will swim in it.”

  “Please don’t make a fuss,” Annie tried again, looking between them.

  “Well, I am sorry that I do not know anybody as small as Annie, Tibby, but she has to have something to wear,” Marianne huffed, signaling for Annie to remove her shoes.