Page 35 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
Ivor held out his empty glass, and Hugo added brandy with more forbearance than he’d imagined that he’d feel when his friend arrived.“Then I don’t understand why she won’t have you.”
Hugo did, but that didn’t make rejection any easier to bear.“It doesn’t matter why.The fact is she’s refused me.”
“How many times did you ask her?”
“Once,” Hugo bit out.In truth, he’d asked her several times with increasing desperation, all on that one glorious, heartbreaking evening when he’d briefly believed that he’d found his destiny.
He picked up his glass to refill it, then replaced it empty on the tray.He didn’t want any more.That first night when Athene sent him on his way, he’d tried to drown his woes in brandy.All he’d got for his trouble was a headache to go with his heartache.
Ivor relaxed back in his chair with a relieved laugh.“That’s it, then.”
“That’s what?”
“That’s your answer.Ask her again.Woo her.Show her what a dashed fine husband you’ll make.”
“She said—”
“Pah!Females say all sorts of things they don’t mean.It’s part of the game.”
“She’s not like that.”Hugo couldn’t think of anyone less likely to play at silly flirtation than Athene.
“Are you sure?”Ivor sent him a reproachful look.“So you intend to crawl away at the first setback?You used to have more backbone.I remember you digging in on the cricket pitch when all seemed lost and we were ready to give the trophy to those blighters at Eton.You carried the team that afternoon.Hell’s bells, you carried the day.It was like watching bally Wellington at Waterloo.”
Hugo’s lips adopted a humorless smile.“That was sport.This is love.”
Was it?He hadn’t dared to put the true source of his malaise into words before.Another sign that Ivor was right to call him a coward.He tried to tell himself that he hadn’t known Athene long enough to fall in love with her.But the weight in his heart insisted that sometimes time didn’t matter.
When he looked up, he caught sympathy in Ivor’s gaze.“If it’s love, real love, all the more reason to keep trying.Even a numbskull like me knows that.”
Could it hurt to try again?Stupid question.Of course it would.Like blazes.But perhaps this last fortnight had been painful for Athene, too.Perhaps she wasn’t nearly as sure of her decision now as she’d been at Sylvie’s.If she’d missed him even a tenth as much as he’d missed her, she’d had a tough time of it.“Perhaps you’re right,” he said slowly.
“Of course I’m right.Faint heart never won fair lady.”
For the first time in a week, Hugo found himself smiling.“You know, old cheese, I wanted to consign you to the devil when you turned up tonight.But I might just be ready to call my firstborn Ivor.”
Ivor beamed back.“Glad to hear it, chum.Can’t have you slouching back to Yorkshire with your tail between your legs while there’s still some bounce in the wicket.It’s just not cricket.”
Chapter 10
What’s right?What’s wrong?
I cannot say.
You make me long.
Don’t go away.
“You look like I feel,” Sir Hugo said from the doorway to her office.
Athene shoved away from the desk and lurched to her feet.Her heart crashed against her ribs, and the breath punched out of her lungs.Elation and alarm collided inside her.
“Sir…Sir Hugo, what are you doing here?”she stammered, placing a trembling hand over her chest like a heroine in some bedamned play.
“You know why I’ve come.”
She did.“Sylvie!”she called out in fury.
Her friend appeared behind Sir Hugo and gave her a wave, the insouciance of which made Athene want to pelt her with the shop’s famous sugared almonds.“I couldn’t keep him out.”
