Page 44 of The Banished Bride
Aurora crumbled the rest of her biscuit between her fingers. “Don’t be silly. I know how much you would enjoy it and I would be a selfish beast were I to deny you the pleasure of it.” She exhaled deeply. “After all, I lived with the dratted man for more than a—” Her voice cut off sharply as her face turned a vivid shade of crimson. “Er, that did not come out exactly as I meant it.”
Miss Robertson ducked her head to hide a grin. “Ah, well, that finally answers that.”
“That answers what?”
The former governess deliberately took her time in buttering a piece of toast and applying a dollop of strawberry preserves. “You have always been a bit vague about what, exactly, happened between you and the dashing major during your little adventure. But now, things have become a trifle clearer since this morning.”
“What do you mean?” Aurora’s voice sounded as if a large hand were around her throat and squeezing very hard.
“For one thing, I saw the way you looked at the man. And the way he looked at you.”
“Ha! Both of us were no doubt looking at each other as if we were contemplating murder,” she muttered, keeping her eyes studiously averted from the keen gaze of her companion.
Miss Robertson slowly brushed a crumb from her chin with a pat of the thick damask napkin. “Ha! The crime of passion youlooked to be contemplating was most definitely not murder.” The last morsel went into her mouth and she took her time in swallowing it. “Not that what you were thinking of was by any means a crime, mind you. The two of you are, after all, married.”
Aurora made a choking sound.
“There is just one other question I would like to ask, if you don’t mind, my dear.”
The choking ceased, replaced by utter silence.
“Is falling in love at all like it is described in the horrid novels?”
Her mouth fell agape. For several moments it hung slack, then its movement began to resemble the actions of a fish out of water. Finally, a strangled squeak made its way out. “Robbie! You don’t really think for one instant that I am in love with the Earl of Woodbridge!”
“Well, I know that among thetonit is not considered very fashionable to have a tendre for one’s husband, but there are exceptions.”
“I donothave a tendre for that odious, arrogant, insufferable, overbearing, ill-tempered …” She paused, sputtering, as if groping for more words.
“If you are searching for additional adjectives, you forgot ‘devilishly handsome,’ and ‘wittily amusing,’” murmured Miss Robertson with an air of great innocence. “Though to maintain the parallel construction of grammar, it will be necessary to omit the modifier.”
“Robbie!”
“You’re right, it’s not quite the appropriate time for an English lesson. I can see that at the present moment you are in no mood to discuss the nuances of sentence structure,” she went on airily. “So both subjects can certainly wait until another time. In any case, I wish to make a quick trip to the milliner on Bond Street to pick up your new bonnet, which will look quite dashingwith your new carriage dress. Then I think I shall take a nap so that I am ready for when His Lordship arrives.”
The napkin came up for a final pat at Miss Robinson’s mouth, its heavy folds hiding the look of unholy amusement tugging at its corners. “Good gracious, this stay in London is promising to become even more interesting than I imagined. I do hope my elderly nerves will hold up to all the excitement.”
Robbie’selderly nerves seemed to be surviving the ordeal quite well, fumed Aurora some hours later. It was her own frayed temper she was worried about. A mild breeze ruffled the emerald ribbons of her new bonnet and caused a lock of hair to fall over her cheek. She brushed it back, trying hard to keep a scowl off her face.
“That is Lady Trenboro,” murmured Alex to Miss Robertson. He then nodded a polite greeting to a buxom blond of uncertain years who sported an unusual frogged jacket designed to accentuate her rather obvious assets. The bright canary yellow silk was matched to perfection by the color of the stylish phaeton that she drove herself. “She is considered to be a bit of an eccentric,” he added as her team of jet black horses maneuvered through the crush of carriages.
“Isn’t the word more like outrageous, milord.” Miss Robertson gave a little snort. “From what I have gleaned from the newspapers, she is considered to have an appetite for men that rivals that of Catherine the Great. Aren’t both Lord Atherton and Viscount Havlock rumored to be her latest paramours?”
Alex stifled a chuckle. “It seems you are particularly well-read, Miss Robertson. What other subjects do you favor, besides history and, er, current events?”
“The works of Mrs. Radcliffe,” muttered Aurora under her breath.
A mischievous twinkle came to his eyes. “You seem to have more than a passing interest in books too, as I recall.”
If one had been at hand, she thought, it would have landed smack between those two glittering sapphire orbs. “Actually, I tend to spend more of my time writing up my reports.” She smiled sweetly at four turbaned matrons who were practically falling over each other in the back of their open landau order to gain a peek at the new Earl of Woodbridge’s companions. “On the subject of married men and their various lies and peccadilloes. But then, you no doubt recall that as well.”
That wiped the grin from his face rather quickly, she noted with some satisfaction as she settled back against the soft leather seat and watched two dandies on horseback vie for the attention of a fetching young lady walking with dour-faced chaperone.
Miss Robertson made a reproving sound in the back of her throat. “Really, my dear, there is no need to snap at Alex?—”
“Alex!” repeated Aurora in some amazement. This was outside of enough! No more than twenty minutes had passed and already the dratted man had charmed so formidable a female adversary as Robbie. She would have to keep a more careful eye on this whole charade lest things really get out of hand.
Two spots of color came to the older woman’s wrinkled cheeks. “I-I—that is, Lord Woodbridge insisted that we mustn’t rest on formalities if we are to present to Society that we are friends.”
