Page 61 of Rescued from Betrayal
He crossed the room and offered his arm to her. She gently slipped her hand onto his forearm, and they led the way to the drawing room.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I find I am loath to be alone this evening.”
It was the most she had ever admitted to him of her unhappiness and he cherished her willingness to share her feelings. After last evening, he’d been concerned she’d not believed him when he’d claimed she could confide in him.
“I can understand. Havencrest has been awfully dull these last few weeks, but I hope to remedy that.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. First I must publish about that I have taken a wife.”
“But the people about Maidstone know that already.”
“Not because of me. I am ashamed to admit that after our quarrel in the carriage I was remiss in sending out the requisite announcements. The only reason you have received any visitors is due to my mother’s refusal to listen to my objections.”
She stopped and faced him. “You asked your mother not to tell her friends?”
“I did, but I know now—”
“Not here,” she hissed, glancing over his shoulder as the others approached.
The anger that lined her brow and pinched her lips frightened him. They’d made so much headway. Had he ruined it?
She propelled them back into motion. “We can speak of this later.”
Later? She was going to give him a later? That was far more promising than he’d hoped. Why had he been so petty?
And yet, he’d not done it all out of spite. He’d wanted her to have space to adjust. That was what he’d wanted. Time and space.
He watched the others fall into an easy conversation about music. Was that really it? Had it been for Melior’s sake… or his own, because he did not want visitors? How selfish he’d been.
Eddie gestured with his head toward the far windows and Nathaniel followed without question, leaving Melior with John and her uncle.
“Are you well? You have not been yourself since I returned this evening.”
“Simply some unexpected news of my past. Well, more particularly my parents.”
“Anything you wish to speak of?”
“Eddie, has your father ever spoken of courting any other woman than your mother?”
His eyes snapped to Nathaniel’s, and the truth of it was written there.
“You knew.”
Eddie bowed his head. “I am sorry, Nate. My father tried to convince me not to be your friend when I was younger. He claimed some nonsense about your mother breaking off their courtship because she’d run off with your father. I did not believe him, nor did I think it important enough to bring up with you. We’d been friends for several years by that point, and I think he was only concerned because you were coming to visit for the first time.”
“Concerned how?”
Eddie’s gaze darted to Melior.
“Impossible.”
“Look, my mother has been molding Melior for a high title for as long as I can remember. The best tutors and governesses, dancing instructors, and painting masters. You would not believe the amount of hope they held out for her to make a brilliant match. Why do you think they disliked any of you coming over so much?”
“I assumed it was simply because they wished for you to associate with higher-born gentlemen.”
Eddie’s bark of laughter caught Nathaniel by surprise. “Hardly. I am a second son, only useful if the first goes and gets himself killed. Otherwise I am a burden. Since Osborne seems to be whole and healthy, there is no need for me. They care little for what I am about as long as I stay out of the way and marry well.”
