Rosie nodded agreeably, burying her nose in the blooms. "Are you coming to visit Mama, too, Mr. Crighton?"
"I shall certainly do myself the honor of calling to pay my respects to Lady Belmont," the lawyer declared ponderously.
"I'll warn Mama, then," Rosie said, as always saying exactly what she meant. Theo stifled her grin, hoping that Crighton hadn't noticed. Her mother found the lawyer a dead bore, not that she'd ever show it.
She swung herself up into the gig, dispensing with the lawyer's helping hand, and settled herself on the seat beside him, waving good-bye to Rosie as the pony set off up the drive again.
"Allow me to tender my congratulations, Lady Theo," the lawyer said with a little half bow. "A most satisfactory arrangement, if I might be so bold."
"Yes, I suppose it is," Theo said, thinking it was a somewhat lukewarm way of describing a marriage.
"There are a few outstanding matters to deal with," Crighton continued, taking out his handkerchief and pushing up the brim of his hat to mop his perspiring forehead. "But the details can be seen to after we've had our usual little discussion on the matter of the investments and the trusts, and the rent rolls."
"What outstanding matters?" Theo inquired with interest.
She sensed the sudden stiffness in the lawyer as he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Oh, just a few details," he said vaguely.
"Details?" Theo frowned. "My grandfather's will struck me as crystal clear."
The lawyer succumbed to a coughing fit, his face reddening under the paroxysm. When he'd recovered, he said, "Oh, dowries, Lady Stoneridge… that's it… the matter of your sisters' dowries. And your own jointure. It needs to be made all right and tight."
"I see." Theo's curiosity was well and truly roused. She didn't think Lawyer Crighton was telling the truth, or at least not the whole truth.
But they'd accomplished the short drive to the front door before she could decide on a fresh tack.
When they drove up, Sylvester was in his book room reading a pamphlet by Coke of Norfolk on the rotation of crops. It was a subject about which Theo and Beaumont were enthusiastically knowledgeable, and one about which he knew nothing. In fact, the mysteries of agriculture were a closed book, which wasn't that surprising, he supposed, considering that he'd been a soldier for the best part of the last fifteen years. But he was also aware that Theo's taunt about the Gilbraith estate being like Lilliput compared with the Stoneridge lands was not that far off the mark. The Gilbraiths were definitely the poor relations, and even if he'd been interested, he'd have had no opportunity to master the knowledge that Theo had acquired.
God, how it must have galled the old man to think of his great landed wealth falling into the hands of a man not educated for it. Someone who wouldn't know how to appreciate the complexities of estate management, the techniques of farming.
He shook his head with a rueful grimace. He'd probably have felt the same in the same circumstances. Maybe there was more than simple malice behind the old devil's trickery.
He glanced casually toward the open window behind him at the sound of wheels on the gravel sweep outside and then pushed back his chair to get a better view. What he saw brought a cold sweat to his forehead and sent the blood pounding through his veins.
Theo in the company of Lawyer Crighton.
What the hell was the man doing here? Without a word of warning? And dear God, what had he been saying to Theo?
He drew a deep breath, waiting for his pulse to steady. Stupid to panic. It wouldn't make a blind bit of difference now if Theo discovered the truth about her grandfather's will. He had his inheritance, and no one could take it from him.
But he knew he was fooling himself. The thought of that deception coming into the open filled him with a dreadful revulsion. It was a despicable secret that he must live with to his dying day… so long as Crighton had let nothing slip, nothing to provoke Theo's needle wit.
His expression schooled to a calm neutrality, he walked into the hall just as Theo and the lawyer came in from the bright sunshine.
"Oh, Sylvester," Theo greeted him, blinking and bedazzled in what seemed like darkness after the brilliance outside. "Lawyer Crighton has come from London for his quarterly business visit. I forgot to mention to you this morning that he always comes on the fifteenth." Sylvester might be affronted at her negligence, but at least the fib spared the lawyer's feelings.
"Just so, my lord," the lawyer said, advancing, hand outstretched. "I have several other prominent landowners in the area whose affairs I'm honored to be entrusted with, so I do the rounds." He gave a hearty laugh at this, but there was a touch of uncertainty to it. He was remembering that the fifth Earl of Stoneridge was inclined to be even more irascible and impatient than his predecessor.
"Indeed," Sylvester said coolly, taking the offered hand in a brief clasp. "Then pray come into my book room, and we'll get on with it." He glanced at Theo, standing in the shadows. He could detect nothing untoward in her manner or her posture. It would seem that the lawyer had let nothing slip to arouse her curiosity, and a smile of relief softened the harshness of his features.
"Theo, perhaps you'd ask Foster to bring some refreshment to the book room," he suggested, turning aside to usher the lawyer in the required direction.
"He'll do so of his own accord," Theo said cheerfully, following them.
He realized abruptly and with a sinking heart that she expected to take part in this business discussion. Presumably she'd always done so in her grandfather's day and couldn't see why anything should be different now.
At the door he let the lawyer walk past him into the room; then he drew the door half-closed and said quietly, "I don't know how long this will take, Theo, but perhaps later we could go duck hunting on Webster's Pond."
Theo blinked, frowning, for a moment not understanding what he was saying; but then he opened the door farther and stepped backward.
"Just a minute," Theo said as he began to pull the door closed. "I'm coming in too."
He sighed and said as quietly as before, "No, Theo, I'm afraid you're not. I prefer to conduct my business affairs alone. I always have done, and I see no reason to change the habits of a lifetime."
"Well, neither do I," she said in a fierce undertone. "For the last three years I have always taken part in Crighton's discussions with my grandfather – that's my habit and I'm not changing it."
Her pointed chin jutted at him, the wide, generous mouth set in a taut line, every inch of her slender frame bristling with anger and determination.
"In this instance I'm afraid you must," he said, curtly now, anxious not to prolong this any further. The lawyer must be wondering about the whispered colloquy. Firmly, he stepped back and closed the door in her face.
Theo stared in disbelief at the heavy oak timbers. Her hand lifted of its own accord to raise the latch, but some voice of caution stopped her in time. She couldn't cause a scene in front of the lawyer, and she knew that if she barged into the room, there would be one. Sylvester wouldn't yield simply because she put him in an embarrassing situation.
Seething, she swung on her heel just as Foster appeared with a tray of decanters and glasses. Three glasses – it wouldn't occur to him that Lady Theo would be banned from the book room.
Flushing with anger and mortification, she stalked outside into the sunlight. What was going on? What outstanding matters did the lawyer have to discuss with the earl? Was there something she wasn't to know about?
Theo was not suspicious by nature, but she had a logical mind, and she could see no logical reason for Sylvester to ban her from the discussions. She took part when they talked with the bailiff and the estate agent; why should the lawyer's affairs be any different?