Page 82 of A Virgin for the Duke of Thorns

Throughout all of this, Alice chose to remain silent and let the rumors die down on their own as Lady Brandon had advised her. She still went out on promenades in the Park with Phoebe and Scarlett. She also attended two balls with her sister, where it soon became the consensus that aside from her exceptional beauty, Lady Alice Barkley was also an extraordinary dancer.

This particular discovery meant that she would never again find her dance card empty, and gentlemen were soon flocking to ask for a gavotte or a quadrille or so.

It was after one particular ball that she found herself sitting on her favorite window seat in Brandon Estate with a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets lying forgotten on her lap as she stared out the window.

In the week since their betrothal had been called off, she had not seen Colin, although she and Lady Evelyn crossed paths. Aside from that one time when Evie apologized for her brother’s “abominable behavior,” there was no mention of him again.

I wonder how he is doing.

She stared out at the street below. It was not as busy as the rest of London, so there was hardly anything to watch.

The sound of a throat being cleared jolted her out of her thoughts and she jumped a little when she saw her father smiling at her.

“May I join you, my dear?” he asked her gently.

Alice nodded and scooted over to the side to give him some space. She surreptitiously studied her father, noting that in spite of her failed engagement, he did not seem more sickly or pallid as he had been at the start of the Season.

“How are you doing, dear one?” he asked her.

“I am… well,” she murmured. “As well as can be expected, I suppose.”

Her father made a noise of assent, and for a moment, a companionable silence descended upon them.

“The Duke was most gracious when I told him that you intended to call off the betrothal,” he told her softly. He raised an eyebrow as he glanced at her. “One might even say that he expected it beforehand.”

Alice smiled wryly at that. “Well, it was a mutual decision between us both. We decided that our temperaments simply did not match.”

“Oh, yes, I had a feeling that they would not,” Lord Brandon agreed with a most sagacious nod. “I had seen it the moment he first came to seek your hand in marriage.”

“If that is so,” Alice frowned at him, “then why did you allow the betrothal, Papa?”

The Marquess chuckled softly. “Oh, he was most insistent on it, and I did tell him that if you would have him, then I would not stand in the way—and you wanted him, did you not?”

More than you can ever imagine…

“Most tempers are never a true match, Alice,” he sighed softly. “As you can see, your mama and I… well, anyone would say that we are as different as night and day.”

She managed to laugh softly at that. “Yes, it does boggle the mind how well you both managed.”

“We did not, at first,” Lord Brandon admitted with a twinkle in his eyes. “But we managed simply because we wanted to. If one of us had decided to cry off, then things would be much more different today.”

Alice lowered her gaze and bit her lower lip. What her papa said was true—even if she wanted it so much that she was willing to do anything, it was all useless if Colin himself did not want it.

And he did not.

“Well, your mama tells me that you have caught the eye of several gentlemen of good standing.” Her father smiled at her and stood up. “If there is anyone you have your eye on, you may tell me. As for the rest—well, I have my ways of taking care of them.”

Alice laughed as he once more left her to her own thoughts. Her mama had been right yet again—breaking off the betrothal had only gained her more suitors, not less. Now, there were callers for her as well as for Phoebe.

The only problem was that none of them was Colin, and she did not know how she was ever going to tell her parents that.

CHAPTER 34

I hate it when I am right, but I can do absolutely nothing about it!

Colin glowered at the pile of documents on his desk that demanded his attention. Managing several estates and businesses was tedious work, but at least it kept his mind off Alice, which was rather hard, as Evie had taken to frequently updating him about her every opportunity she got.

I can see where her loyalties lie.

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