Page 44 of Surrender to the Earl
“You, of course. I did promise to assist you however I could. Don’t tell me you’ve gone to visit all your tenants without me, or made a triumphant appearance in the village.”
She laughed. “No, nothing like that. I’ve been here sitting with Molly. What have you been up to?”
“I’ve been receiving the first congratulatory notes about our engagement. They are all expressing surprise, for they’ve never heard of you.”
Her lips parted in shock, and then she covered them with her fingertips. “Oh no,” she murmured. “I am so sorry. And when they find out I’m blind?—”
“You know I don’t care about that. And why are you sorry? The engagement was my idea, and it was bound to become common knowledge.”
“But you do realize how itbecamecommon knowledge,” she said, reaching behind her quite accurately for a padded chair, and sinking back into it.
“Servants talk.”
“Oh, not just servants. My sister went to London, and it’s not even the Season. What else would she have to do but spread the gossip that she would soon be sister-by-marriage to an earl?”
“Aah,” he said.
“You sound amused.”
“I am. And remember, she’s not the only one who left your house for London.”
“My brother’s friends,” Audrey agreed, shaking her head in bemusement.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“But it is an inconvenience to you, Robert, and I never wanted that.”
“The engagement wasn’t your idea, remember?” He pulled up a chair and sat before her. “I knew what I was getting into.”
“Days have passed now, Robert,” she said, lowering her voice. “It’s time to end this farce.”
“It’s too soon. I will not harm your reputation, so stop asking it of me.”
“Very well,” she said, her nose tilted in the air.
Something out of place caught his eye, and he glanced past her. “There’s a coal bucket—empty it seems—on its side in the middle of your carpet.”
She winced. “I forgot to pick it up. That’s what I was looking for when you came.”
“You are not the only one who can interpret voices, madam. Now tell me the truth. I may be ignorant of household duties, but I know the maid takes away the coal bucket when she’s done.”
“Not always.”
“You’re right—she could forget. You tripped, didn’t you?”
She sighed. “I’m all right.”
He rose to his feet. “It’s time for me to?—”
“No!” She reached for him, and he caught her hand. “I am dealing with this, Robert. This is not any easier for me than it is for them.”
“They’reservants,” he said angrily. “They surely know what they’re doing. I’ve always believed that, unlike the rest of the army.”
“What do you mean?”
She gave his hand a tug, and he reluctantly sat back down. “In the army, the assumption is always that uneducated people are unintelligent.”
“They just haven’t had the same access to knowledge that we’ve had,” she said, her expression bewildered.
