Lord Loxley's Lover by Katherine Marlowe

Author:Katherine Marlowe [Marlowe, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Honeywine Publishing
Published: 2015-08-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

There was no further talk of Mr. Rochester leaving, though he would not be lured into bed a second time and continued to avoid Lord Loxley. Even the occasional touches had stopped, and Mr. Rochester no longer hovered possessively when he accompanied Lord Loxley into the village. It was all very disappointing and perplexing, but Lord Loxley resigned himself to give up the chase, if only because he could not bear to press his affections where they were genuinely unwanted.

When he went to visit the residence of Miss Sarah Meriwether, he did not take his valet along.

He was greeted in the hallway by Miss Lucy and another, younger sister, Anne, the two of whom introduced him in a whirlwind way to their father and then showed him into a parlor where he might speak privately with Miss Sarah. It was strongly indicated by both younger sisters, and more subtly indicated by their father, that Lord Loxley no doubt had a Very Important Matter to discuss with the eldest Miss Meriwether. This had the effect of making Lord Loxley feel like a fraud and a cheat, and by the time he was shut into the room alone with Miss Sarah, for the purposes of imminent proposal, he was utterly flustered and beginning to stammer.

“Miss Sarah,” he said. “I, um.” He cleared his throat.

“Please, my lord Loxley,” she interrupted, having seated herself on a straight-backed chair near the center of the room, and showing a considerable amount more dignity and composure than Lord Loxley. “I must speak. I know why you have come, and I fear that the enthusiasm of my parents and Lady Loxley has quite misrepresented my situation.”

Startled speechless by this unexpected development, Lord Loxley blinked at her.

“I do not wish to marry,” Miss Sarah Meriwether told him. “I will not marry, my lord, and should I be forced to marry, I shall never willingly share my husband’s bed, nor do I ever intend to bear any man’s children, and so I must beg that you give up your suit, and I hope that you will forgive me for allowing things to get this far.”

Feeling addled, Lord Loxley found the nearest chair and sat. He searched for words.

When he produced none, Miss Sarah Meriwether got to her feet. “I pray you excuse me, Lord Loxley.”

“Miss Meriwether,” Lord Loxley said quickly.

She hesitated.

“If you please,” he said, struggling to compose his thoughts, and then blurted: “I rather—that seems a highly desirable state of matrimony, to me.”

Miss Sarah Meriwether sat back down, watching him uncertainly. “I hope you don’t—you don’t mean to imply, that is, that you would prefer a wife to be unwilling—”

Lord Loxley nearly fell off his chair in horror. “No! No. I meant, rather, that I would prefer to have a wife, um, never in my bed and rather disinclined toward the act of procreation entirely.”

Miss Sarah Meriwether continued to observe him.

“I must marry,” Lord Loxley said, at length. His ears were burning, and he wished, as he often did, that Miles were here to tease him about it.

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