Discovering the Baron (The Bluestocking Scandals Book 3) Read online

  Celeste was aware of where her mother’s opinion came from. Her own Aunt Agatha depended upon her father for an allowance, which was not well accepted by her mother.

  “I understand.”

  “And you should not have to work for the rest of your life. Not after all that your father has done.”

  “I enjoy my work,” Celeste said softly.

  “Which is fine — for now,” her mother replied before leaving the subject. “Now, have you invited anyone for the party? It’s in two days now.”

  “I did mention it to my friends at tea last week,” she said. “I believe they will all be attending.”

  “Good. It never hurts to have a duke attend — even if he is not particularly popular with the rest of the ton.”

  “Mother, you are beginning to sound quite conceited.”

  Her mother laughed. “Oh, Celeste, I can always count on you to tell me how it truly is. You are right. I should mind myself. I am beginning to sound rather too much like Mrs. St. Vincent, who I have seen quite often as of late. At any rate, your brother has invited all of the members of the Astronomical Society of London, so please, do not miss tomorrow evening, do you understand?”

  “I suppose so,” she replied with restraint, though inside her emotions were awhirl.

  The Astronomical Society of London. Meaning Lord Essex.

  For once, she was looking forward to her mother’s function.

  8

  “Lord Essex?”

  Oliver looked up at her voice, pushing back his chair and standing abruptly as she entered.

  “Miss Keswick,” he greeted her. “Thank you for coming.”

  “Of course,” she said, her cheeks flushed as she entered the study, followed by her maid. “I couldn’t pass by the opportunity to see the lunar eclipse from a telescope the likes of yours.”

  He cocked his head at her words. “You’re here for my telescope?”

  Hearing how the words came out of his mouth, he cleared his throat to stifle the chuckle, but it seemed Miss Keswick’s thoughts were far more innocent than his.

  “I am,” she said with a nod. “My brother has told me of it.”

  “It’s nearly half past ten,” he said, “so we best be going. I have it set up in the greens outside. My neighbors think me a bit peculiar, but it’s a quiet square so I am not much bothered.”

  “Are none of them interested in using it themselves?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m afraid that they have no interest in such a thing.”

  He nearly laughed at the shock on her face.

  “One would think it would be difficult to resist,” she said, “although I have also found that few people share such an interest. I cannot understand why not.”

  He lit a lantern, taking it in hand as he began to lead her out the door, his other hand at the small of her back. “Then we are lucky we found one another, are we not?”

  He stopped suddenly. It seemed he was having quite a bit of difficulty finding the right words today. She may have missed his previous innuendo, but she certainly seemed to catch how he misspoke in this instance.

  “I… I am pleased to have the opportunity to work with you, my lord.”

  “Oliver.”

  “Pardon me?” she turned suddenly toward him, the scent of jasmine wafting from her as she did so.

  “Call me Oliver,” he said, crooking a smile as he shrugged in what he hoped was a show of nonchalance. “We are working closely enough together, so you might as well. I get a bit tired of hearing ‘my lord’ all day long.”

  “Very well,” she said softly, although she dropped her eyes. “Celeste is fine for me as well.”

  He nodded. “Celeste it is, then.” He considered her name for a moment. “You were destined to love the stars.”

  “What do you mean?” she said, quirking a brow.

  “Celeste — does it not mean from the heavenly sky?”

  She nodded slowly. “It does. My father has always had an interest in the heavens himself, although not in the scientific sense. He enjoys the beauty of it.”

  “Does your mother as well?” Oliver asked as he steered her out the door leading outside, and she laughed at his words.

  “She does not. She thinks it’s rather ridiculous that we all seem to care so much, but she humors us at least.”

  “I see,” he said with a nod. “My mother has also lost hope regarding the amount of time I spend on my work. She thinks I have far more to do as the Baron of Essex— and she’s probably right. But it’s difficult to ignore the longing of one’s heart.”

  “Isn’t that the truth?”

  Her smile was sad and far away, and he wondered what nerve he had touched upon, although he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

  “Miss Keswick?”

  They turned at the voice from behind them, and Oliver was surprised to find her maid awaiting Celeste. He had nearly forgotten the girl was even there. She flushed as she looked down. “I will be but a moment, if you do not mind? I—I forgot something within.”

  “That is fine, Sophia,” Celeste said with a small smile. “We will be in full view of the entire neighborhood so there is hardly a need for me to be chaperoned.”

  The maid’s face lit up in a smile of joy, and as she ran off to return to the house, Oliver couldn’t help a snort of laughter.

  “Forgot something,” he said, raising an eyebrow at Celeste. “Forgot that she was interested in meeting with my butler, perhaps?”

  Celeste lifted her hand to her mouth, hiding a tiny giggle.

  “It is rather dark,” she said, with some hesitation.

  “I’ve a lantern,” he said, and Celeste nodded. The truth was, she didn’t mind being alone with Oliver, as much as she knew she shouldn’t be.

  He led her around a copse of trees to where he had set up his telescope.

  She gave a little cry when she saw it, as though he had led her to a stunning view in the middle of the country.

  “Oh, Oliver!” she exclaimed. “It’s beautiful. And you’ve hidden it away so very well, despite its size.”

  He had spent a painstaking number of hours building the telescope, based on William Herschel’s designs, though this was not nearly the size of his idol’s. It was, however, too large and heavy for anyone to make off with it.

  Celeste ran her hand over it nearly lovingly before she bent to peer through it. When she finally leaned back and looked up toward him, her eyes were shining in rapture.

  “It’s magnificent!” she said, her eyes wide as she pressed her palms to her cheeks.

  A strange sense of pride filled him, knowing she so admired something he had built himself.

  “Thank you,” he said, attempting nonchalance. “Is there any glimpse of the lunar eclipse yet?”

  She nodded her head slightly. “It’s beginning, I think. There is the slightest hint of shadow over the moon.”

  He bent down next to her, taking a look through the lens himself. He was pleased when she didn’t move particularly far away, but rather stayed close.

  “We see eclipses often enough,” she murmured, “that sometimes we forget that it is rather phenomenal to think that sometimes things just happen to line up exactly right — like the sun, the moon, and the earth being in near-perfect alignment like they will be in moments. It’s rare, but when it happens… everything just falls into place.”

  He listened to her words, reflecting on the fact that for him, it seemed the opposite had occurred. He had finally found a woman who shared his interests, who he could see himself spending every day with, whose thoughts he looked forward to hearing more of, and it was but a few months too late.

  “Here,” he said, stepping back. “The shadow is beginning to cover the moon. Take a look.”

  She leaned in, lifting her hand to the lens to try to focus it. “I can’t quite seem to get it right,” she said with some frustration, and he leaned in to help.

  “Here,” he said softly, trying to ignore the softness of
her hair where it caressed his cheek, “just turn it like this.”

  She lifted her hand, brushing his when she attempted to do as he said.

  “Like this?”

  “Exactly,” he said, but the word came out more like a groan at his inability to step back, to walk away from her. As the moon high above, visible in the dark of night, began to fall into shadow, all he could think of was that it didn’t seem like anything could ever block Celeste’s sunlight. She was fresh and light in a world that often seemed to be dim and shadowed — a star in an otherwise dark night.

  “I see it,” she said, her voice nearly breathless. “Oh, Oliver, it is so clear.”

  She moved back hurriedly. “Here, you mustn’t miss it.”

  He shook his head. “Seeing you enjoy it is enough for me.”

  Her eyes widened. “You must! I refuse to look again until you do.”

  Amused by her determination as she crossed her arms over her chest, he did as she said. It was an interesting wonder to behold, though the moon was small and the shadow a mere partial eclipse. He looked over at Celeste and smiled, pleased they were able to share the moment together.

  Suddenly she lost her smile as she brought a hand to her mouth. “Oh dear,” she said. “I was to be assisting you — making notes and calculations so that you could be publishing your observations. Yet I have done absolutely nothing but gaze at the moon in wonder like a fool.”

  “You, Celeste, could never be thought to be a fool.”

  She tilted her head and shot him a gaze. “Others have thought so. Perhaps not in the ways of science, but in ways that matter.”

  “What matters is a matter of perspective.”

  She laughed then, an easy, tinkling laugh, one that warmed him through. “You are a wordsmith as well, it seems.”

  “Far from it,” he said, shaking his head. “There are times that I can hardly find the right thing to say.”

  “You’re not alone,” she agreed with a small smile. “Sometimes…” she looked down, “sometimes it seems as though words are as fleeting as the glimpse of a comet. By the time I have decided how and what to say, the moment is lost.” She paused. “But please, do not allow that to concern you. I promise that I shall still make you a fine assistant, as what I lack in words, I make up for with my skill in mathematics.”

  Her earnestness was endearing.

  “I can assure you, Celeste, that I have no fear for the work you are able to do as my assistant. There is something that has been troubling me, though.”

  “Yes?” Why did she look so wary?

  “Your brother is involved enough in the profession that he remains a member of the Astronomical Society. Yet he told me that he currently has no need for your services. Why ever not?”

  “Oh,” she said, taking her bottom pink lip between her teeth, “well, for one, he has lost some interest and is now expected to begin learning the family business — importing and exporting — from my father.”

  “I see.”

  “But besides that…” she looked straight in front of her, meaning that her eyes were fixed somewhere in the middle of his chest, but Oliver could tell that she wasn’t really focused on anything. She took a breath. “There is something I must tell—”

  “Miss Keswick?”

  Oliver could have cursed at the interruption as Celeste’s maid ran up to join them. Celeste obviously had something of importance to tell him — something regarding her brother. He seemed a nice enough chap, but there was something there that he couldn’t quite put his finger on…

  “Sophia,” Celeste turned to her maid, “is all well?”

  “Yes,” the girl said, though she was breathing rather hard and some of her hair was plastered to the side of her face. “I simply… I couldn’t find you. I had to go back to the house and ask Sebast… that is, Mr. Woodward, to point me in the right direction as to where you might be. I finally saw the light. My apologies, my lady, I—”

  “Not your fault at all, Sophia,” Celeste said with a smile. “I became so caught up in… the eclipse and the telescope that I had forgotten I gave you no indication of where we might be. As long as we do not report this to my mother, neither of us should have anything to fear.”

  At her raised eyebrow and pointed stare, the maid nodded, a look of understanding passing between them. Interesting, Oliver mused.

  “I should likely be getting back, for I have provided you with no actual assistance today,” Celeste said, returning her attention to him.

  “On the contrary,” he said, “you have reminded me of the sheer wonder that should accompany looking at the sky above. Sometimes I become so bogged down in my work that I forget to take the moments to simply enjoy it.”

  “True words, my lord,” she said, and they turned back toward the house and began walking. “How do you enjoy being a member of the Astronomical Society?” The question caught him off guard, and he considered it for a moment.

  “It is reassuring to know there are others who have similar interests and hobbies as myself,” he said, thinking further on her words. “However, it is rather humbling as well. Particularly when one considers the quality of minds in the group.”

  She nodded. “I wish I could go and be a part of such a society,” she said wistfully. “I am fortunate in that I have friends who are supportive of my work, as is my family. Besides my brother, I never speak to people who fully understand my love for all things celestial, who I can speak to for hours on end about various phenomena without positively boring them to tears.” She looked over at him shyly. “Until you, that is.”

  He couldn’t help the grin that emerged at her words, pleased to know that she appreciated this newfound relationship between them, whatever it was or turned into — friendship or business associates.

  “I agree with you, Celeste,” he said, turning toward her with a slight nod as they approached the house, his hands still behind his back. “We have much work to do if we are going to discover our planet.”

  She nodded. “I look forward to it. I have been working quite diligently on calculations, and I am beginning to form some hypothesis on where this disturbance-causing body could be.”

  “We shall have to compare our notes with one another,” he said, his smile slowly building in a mock challenge.

  “We shall.”

  They had arrived back at his townhouse, and he turned to her, unwilling to say farewell but unsure for what reason he could ask her to remain.

  “It’s getting late. Perhaps we shall reconvene tomorrow?” he asked, and she brightened.

  “I would enjoy that,” she said, but then her smile fell. “Oh, but I cannot. Tomorrow my family is hosting an event and my mother will expect me to be in attendance all day to assist her.” She looked up at him, a hopeful expression on her face. “Are you, by chance, considering attending? My brother said he had invited all of his colleagues at the Astronomical Society, although I am aware that it is unlikely all will choose to attend such a thing.”

  Come to think of it, Keswick had sent round an invitation, although at the time, Oliver had thought nothing of it and had tossed it away. Now that the invitation was coming from Celeste, however, everything changed.

  “Of course,” he said, “I am looking forward to attending.”

  “Lovely,” she said, clasping her hands together. “I shall see you there, then.”

  “I can hardly wait,” he murmured.

  9

  “How exciting — another Keswick party that will be the talk of London for weeks to come,” Jemima said as she swung her head around the room, taking in all of the party goers.

  “Yes,” Celeste sighed, “although most will likely be for the wrong reasons.”

  Her parents’ parties included quite the eclectic mix of people, from those within the ton who could not bring themselves to miss firsthand what could be gossip for the coming days, to many of the newly rich like the Keswick family themselves.

  Celeste’s mother was in her element, gre
eting all to their home, of which the ground and first floors had been transformed for this event.

  “Ours are much the same,” Rebecca chimed in with a good-natured smile. “At least no one in your family has threatened to fight anyone when they refused to leave.”

  Celeste laughed at the memory of Rebecca’s husband putting his renown as a pugilist to use when guests had become a slight bit unruly.

  “As someone who has seen her fair share of ton events through the years, these are much more enjoyable,” Freddie, now Lady Dorrington, assured them.

  The four ladies sat at the edge of the makeshift dance floor, awaiting the majority of the guests to arrive. Celeste was grateful that her friends had appeared early enough that she could excuse herself to entertain them instead of welcoming guests with her parents.

  “Who are you looking for?” Jemima asked, and Celeste shook her head.

  “No one,” she said, “no one at all.”

  Jemima peered at her, knowing her well enough to likely be aware that she was omitting something, but before she could ask her anything further, Nicholas joined their circle.

  “Ladies,” he said, bowing to them as he smiled charmingly.

  “Mr. Keswick,” Jemima returned. “Lovely to see you.”

  “And you, as always,” he said. “So glad you could all make it tonight, so as to spare Celeste from her hatred of such events.”

  “We enjoy your family’s affairs,” Rebecca said, inclining her head, and Nicholas laughed, likely at her politeness.

  “They are entertaining, if nothing else,” he said.

  “Nicholas has invited all of his colleagues from the Astronomical Society,” Celeste said, not adding that she was waiting for one colleague in particular.

  “Oh, have you?” Jemima said with interest. “I should like to meet some of them. I’m sure they will be interesting characters.”

  Nicholas shrugged. “Some are rather eccentric. Others are as boring as you might imagine. I would be shocked if many of them come, however, for this isn’t their typical atmosphere.”