Barstow, the butler, appeared in the hallway door opposite the sitting room. “Lady Latimer is waiting,” he prodded. “You’d need go to her now.”
None of the senior servants hesitated in giving Gemma an order. They realized she had no power. She wasn’t a servant and yet, as an in-law she wasn’t quite considered family, either. She was an unwanted burden.
Pride stirred in her. Her father had been a very wealthy merchant. She had brought a substantial dowry to her marriage. If Lord Latimer would give her even a widow’s portion of what he’d inherited, she could leave.
“Where is Lord Latimer?” Gemma asked, surprised by how calm her voice was because inside, she churned with anger. “I wish to speak to him.”
“His lordship is busy.”
Busy? Reading more of her mail?
“He will see me now.” Grief had beaten her down for too long. She needed to act. She walked to the door, ignoring the calls coming from the adjacent sitting room.
The heavyset butler blocked her passage with his body. “What is the matter with you? I said his lordship is busy. Lady Latimer bid you to bring her a scrap of paper and you shall do so now. In fact, this is nonsense. Give me what you have in your hand and I will deliver it.”
Gemma wasn’t about to let go of the letter. She backed away from him, holding up her free hand to ward him off, and then moved toward the sitting room. Seeing she was going where he wished, Barstow straightened his clothes and retreated, all the better for her.
“There you are, Gemma,” Lady Latimer said peevishly, her mouth full of sweet bread. “I thought you would never return—No, wait, where are you going?”
Gemma ignored the question as she quickened her pace, rushing straight past the tables of card players, and moving toward the hallway door. She was out into the hall before Barstow, who had trailed behind her, apparently to ensure she did as he wished, realized he’d been tricked.
“Stop her,” he shouted to no one in particular since, at this time of day, the sole footman in the house would be in the kitchen flirting with the new scullery maid. And the ladies were not going to move fast, not with all that punch in them.
Behind Gemma, Lady Latimer and her friends were confused. “Barstow, where is she going?”
“Heavens, she looks as if she is being chased by a bear,” a guest boozily observed while another complained of there being no way yet to tally her winning points.
And Gemma felt free.
For the first time since her father’s illness had taken over her life, she was acting on her own behalf. Propelled by anger and her own sense of self-preservation, she raced down the hall to the library. Lord Latimer usually retired there every afternoon when he was at home. The door was shut. She turned the handle. It was locked.
He was in there.
Probably with Mrs. Sutton, the housekeeper. It was well-known that they enjoyed trysts. The only one who didn’t know this was his lady wife.
Of course, Lord Latimer wasn’t choosy. Gemma always kept a chair propped against the door handle of her bedroom to keep him at bay, and there wasn’t a maid in the house who didn’t know to avoid being caught on the back stairs with him.
She pounded on the door. The hardwood shook with the force of her anger. “My lord, I must speak to you,” she said with the authority of one who had finally found her voice.
“Gemma, you will leave his lordship alone,” Barstow commanded, marching toward her.
Her ladyship was right behind him. “What is she doing? What is she doing?” she tipsily repeated.
Gemma wished she did know what she was doing. Pure instinct and a long-dormant sense of outrage were in control now.
She pounded on the door harder. “Lord Latimer, open up.”
To her surprise, the door was flung open and the upstairs maid, a new girl by the name of Beth, came charging out. Her lips looked red and bruised. “Thank you,” she whispered under her breath at Gemma as she slid by. The maid hurried down the hall as if the hounds of hell were on her heels.
Gemma stepped in the doorway to face Lord Latimer, whose stare let her know she had interrupted him. The library was a big room with huge windows overlooking the back garden, and comfortable seating for enjoying a book by the fire.