Page 97 of My Rogue, My Ruin
“A storm is coming,” Lana said as she selected a riding habit for her mistress. “Are you sure you want to go out?”
Brynn stood at her window, trailing her fingers along the edge of the cool glass. She pushed a smile to her lips, despite the hollow ache that rested like a stone in her middle.
Brynn studied the band of thunderclouds and sighed—she’d faced worse storms and knew that this one, too, would pass. “Of course. It’s a beautiful evening. Those clouds will fade, you’ll see.”
“It’s good to be back, isn’t it, my lady?”
Brynn turned, hearing an odd note in Lana’s voice. “You didn’t enjoy being in London for the season?”
Lana shook her head. “It’s too busy, too many people. I prefer the solitude and the quiet of the country.”
“But didn’t you live in the city while you were in Russia?”
“We spent the winters there,” Lana said, nostalgia flashing in her eyes for a moment. “My mother was very busy during those months. With the dressmaking, I mean,” she added hastily. “But the rest of the time, we spent in the country.”
Brynn shook her head. “You’re like Gray, then. My parents usually have to threaten him to attend social events. Homebodies, the two of you.” Lana didn’t respond as she helped Brynn take off the gown she had been wearing. “I do love being back,” Brynn continued with a wistful smile. “I will miss the balls and the parties, though. I would have enjoyed the spectacle of so many ladies being whisked off their feet by their gallant suitors.”
“Like you were?” Lana asked.
She forced a cheerful note into her voice. “Come now, Lana, you and I both know that was a farce, which is thankfully over. It’s official now.”
“Is it?”
Brynn smiled, pretending to be distracted. “Is it what? Official? See for yourself. It’s in the papers on the mantel.”
“No, is ittrulyover with the duke?”
As if she were standing on the edge of a precipice that had suddenly given way to the abyss below, Brynn felt her stomach plunge. Trust Lana to ask such a blunt, astute question. Her hands fluttered as she tried to steady herself, drawing a sharp breath into her constricted lungs. It was over. Ithadto be over. Archer had never wanted marriage in the first place. He had called her his love in the mews, and she had thought of that whispered word time and again the last few weeks, but Brynn knew he’d only been overwrought. He didn’t love her, and what she felt for him was her burden alone.
She shrugged and forced a smile, even though she knew Lana would see right through it. “I expect so. We concocted the engagement, after all. His Grace does not wish to marry.”
“I saw the way he looked at you at Lady Eloise’s funeral,” Lana said. “And it was not that of a man who wished to escape an unfortunate betrothal.”
“He did not look at me once.”
He’d been thinking of other, more important things to be sure.
“He could barely take his eyes off you.”
Brynn quashed the bloom of hope that unfurled in her chest. “You are an incurable romantic, Lana. I assure you, His Grace has no further interest in me.”
“If my lady insists.” Lana shook her head, opening her mouth as if she had more to say. She clamped her lips together but then turned around, her eyes flashing. “You English are so blind. When something is right in front of you, you cannot see it, even with your eyes wide open. How can you not see that you and the duke are perfectly suited to each other? In my country, if a man wants to court a woman, he does not give up until she is in his arms.”
“And you know this from your vast experience with men?” Brynn said drily, but not unkindly. She and Lana were close enough in age for her to know that Lana was as sheltered as she.
“No, it is because I have two perfectly good eyes.”
Brynn grinned at Lana’s unexpected display of temper and threw her hands into the air in surrender. Sensing that she wouldn’t convince Lana otherwise of Archer’s intentions, she changed the subject. “I haven’t gotten a chance to thank you properly, by the way, for what you did at the mews. You saved my life, and the duke’s.” She paused, clearing her throat. “You were right to confide in Gray. It was a stroke of luck that brought you to Hadley Gardens.” Brynn shot her maid a circumspect look. “Though I can’t imagine telling him was easy, given his temper. He was furious with me for hours afterward. Was he very angry?”
“No, my lady,” Lana said, the animation disappearing from her face as she busied herself with removing Brynn’s stays and securing her hair into a single braid. “Lord Northridge seemed more concerned with your safety. And it wasn’t luck. I’ve never seen him so deadly focused on anything. Once I told him of your plans with the duke, he was intent on pursuing every possible path. Hadley Gardens was simply the first. He would have left no stone unturned to find you.” Lana’s voice was soft, holding a strange warm tone as her fingers finished their task, tucking in the last of the combs.
“He was splendid, wasn’t he?” Brynn murmured as Lana fussed with her hair. “I thought it was over, and then he showed up like a knight in shining armor. I’ve never been more pleased to see my brother in all my life.”
“Lord Northridge does have his moments.”
Brynn glanced up at the odd tone of pride in Lana’s voice but couldn’t see her face from where she stood braiding her hair.
“There, that should hold,” she said, watching as Brynn then donned Gray’s old breeches and one of his old shirts. “Shall I put this riding habit away?” she asked, with a resigned look. She knew better than to argue with her mistress’s choice of dress.
