The Discreet Charm of Lady Mary (A Howertys Novella)

Chapter 3: Brooding

It's not too late to turn back.

John stared out the window at the shadowy landscape passing by outside the carriage carrying him and Mary towards the estate of Archibald Hayes. They had been travelling for most of the day, exchanging only a few words before she brought out a book to read. He didn't mind; he had little interest in conversing. Why had he agreed to this? If anyone recognised them, Mary would be ruined. But she'd be ruined if anyone found out about her sister, too. He sighed. That was why he was doing this.

While he might not be particularly fond of Mary, she was still a friend—of sorts. And she deserved better than to have her family's reputation ruined because her younger sister had made an impulsive, foolish decision. Olivia would never forgive him if she discovered he could have done something to save her best friend, and he had chosen not to. He would do anything for Olivia, fool that he was.

Turning his head to look at his travelling companion, he found her watching him with a thoughtful expression on her face; the book folded away on the seat beside her.

"What?" It came out a little testier than intended, but she didn't flinch. A shadow of the smirk that always irked him so tugged at her lips.

"Are you always this brooding?"

He scowled. "I don't brood."

"The way you're pensively staring out of that window begs to differ." She leaned forward slightly, her eyebrows raised in mock sympathy. "Are you sad to leave Olivia? Worried that she will find someone else in your absence?"

"It's not the first time I leave London." He didn't want to admit that he worried about that very thing every time he left. That their friend Dash would finally realise that Olivia loved him and claim her as his. Or that Olivia would finally give up on Dash and accept another suitor without John ever telling her how he felt. But he could never quite bring himself to declare himself. He was a bloody coward, and he knew it. So did Mary, judging from her smirk.

"You should just tell her." She leaned back in her seat again.

"So you've said," he muttered. "It's not quite that simple."

"It is that simple. And that hard."

"So when you fall in love, you will simply tell the gentleman in question?" He watched her as she considered his question. She was wearing the same large cloak she'd worn at the agency a few days ago, and it covered most of her dress, only showing the white muslin at the bottom. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face and arranged into a bun at the top of her head, a few loose tendrils left to frame her face. With the receding light outside, the carriage was getting darker too, and her expressions harder to read.

"I don't know," she finally admitted with a shrug. "I would like to think I would be forthcoming, but I have never been in such a situation, so how can I know how I'd react? Observing you lot and your unwitting love triangle does not bring me much hope. Maybe love makes one stupid."

Her directness forced a wry smile to his lips. "Not quite a triangle."

She chuckled. "Maybe more of a never-ending maze. You love Olivia. Olivia loves Dash. Dash loves R—" Her eyes widened, and she cut herself short as he sat up straighter.

"Dash loves who?" he said, trying to tamp down his excitement at the idea of their friend loving someone else since it made it more unlikely that he would want Olivia.

"I've said too much. It is not my secret to tell." Mary pulled absently on a curl by her temple. "And I do not know for certain. He's never told me. It's only an assumption based on my observations."

Judging from how she had surmised John's feelings for Olivia, he was rather inclined to trust her judgement on these things. Who did they know with a name starting with R? He frowned. No, surely not. "He's in love with Rain? His sister-in-law?"