Page 52 of The Viscount's Unwanted Bride
With each meeting of their gazes, he felt worse. This wasn’t how it was meant to be. She hadn’t liked him in the beginning, and while that was hardly an ideal state of affairs, he preferred it to the tentative hopefulness he saw in her expression now.
He had to get control of this. There had to be something he could do to ensure a safe emotional distance remained between them.
Then, it struck him.
As they were leaving, he took her aside and summoned all of his courage, hoping this wouldn’t upset her. Whatever the case, it would be better to get it over with now and set the expectation between them rather than blindside her later.
“What is it?” she asked, a mix of curiosity and caution on her face.
He drew in a slow breath. “I think that perhaps after we’re married, you should remain in London over Christmas. That way, you can be closer to your family. I intend to retire to the country estate in Oxfordshire.”
She looked stricken. “But why? My family won’t be here anyway. They’re also going to the country.”
Drat, he hadn’t considered that possibility.
“You could go with them,” he suggested.
Her eyes widened and her lower lip trembled. “Don’t you want me to come with you?”
His heart squeezed. She was taking this as a rejection, and it killed him. “I just think it’s for the best. Will you?”
Her lips pinched together, and she stalked away from him without a word.
CHAPTER 17
“What are you in a snit about?”Amelia asked from where she stood in the doorway of Kate’s bedroom the night before her wedding.
“Nothing,” Kate replied irritably.
Amelia took a step inside. “Brigid and Andrew are worried about you. I am too. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
Kate crossed her arms, feeling far too vulnerable for this conversation. She’d already changed into her nightgown, and her hair had been brushed and hung loosely down her back. “So they sent you to figure out what’s wrong with me?”
That was surprising, since communicating about feelings wasn’t exactly Amelia’s strong point.
Apparently reading Kate’s thoughts, Amelia laughed. “I know, it seems strange, but Andrew is a man and doesn’t understand the problems women face. He can’t imagine what’s going through your head right now. I can. I married someone I was uncertain of.”
Ah, that made more sense.
“And Mother?”
Amelia raised one shoulder and dropped it. “She loved your father dearly. She can relate to womanly problems more thanyour brother can, but she’s never been in the situation we have. I know they aren’t the same, but there are similarities.”
That was true. Amelia’s parents had forced her to marry. Her options had been few because most members of thetonlooked down on her because she was the daughter of a businessman and not of their class. Andrew might not have even considered marrying her if he hadn’t needed money to bail him out of a difficult financial spot.
Kate sighed. “When he visited earlier today, Lord Blackwell said that he would like me to remain in London or go with you to the country for Christmas rather than travelling to his estate in Oxfordshire. I know that he didn’t plan to marry, but I didn’t think he disliked me so much that he wouldn’t even want me near him.”
Amelia wandered over and sat on the edge of the bed. Kate sat beside her but kept a little distance between them, choosing to lean on one of the posts of the four-poster bed rather than on her sister-in-law. She felt too raw for any closeness right now.
She noted that Amelia’s expression hadn’t changed, and she frowned. “You expected this?”
“Not this, exactly,” Amelia said, looking down at her hands. “But men can be foolish when their hearts are concerned.”
Kate scoffed. “I don’t think his heart is involved.”
And that hurt. Not only her ego, but her feelings too. She’d thought they really could build a solid relationship, but if he wasn’t willing to, then any efforts on her side would be doomed from the start.
Amelia turned to her. “Did you ever hear what happened between Emma and Ashford when they were first married?”
