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“Yes,” he confirmed. “All of our investments are safe.”
“I am glad.” She looked at him intently. “Last night…”
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “There is no need to apologize. You did nothing wrong.”
“I know,” she said. “I know I did nothing wrong.”
“Oh,” he murmured, feeling foolish.
Why would she apologize? He had kissed her, after all. Or had she kissed him first?
He let his hand slide lightly, his fingers brushing the small of her back.
“Rhys,” she said, her voice softer. “There is something I wish to discuss. Now that we have both nearly reached our goals—my school, my reputation restored, and you, apparently, a most promising gentleman, if rumors are to be believed—we must talk about the future. And I thought… the kiss last night?—”
Rhys coughed lightly. “Let us not speak of it now. Let us simply enjoy the dance. Forever it seems we quarrel and then draw close, quarrel again and draw close once more. Can’t we just enjoy the present moment for one night?”
He felt her muscles relax beneath his touch.
Why was he saying that when he knew they must talk? Knew they could not carry on this way?
They had been forever trapped in their back-and-forth. The time for the future was now. Yet he was not ready. He needed an evening in which he did not think, but merely existed.
And to his delight, she agreed.
A smile softened her face. “Yes. Let us simply exist, for tonight.”
Rhys smiled, and they danced.
They danced the waltz, then the quadrille. Dangerous territory, he knew. Yet had he not always lived life according to his best judgment?
Perhaps living in the moment would bring him the clarity he so desperately needed. And even if it did not, he was already committed for this night. Whatever tomorrow might hold, it must wait.
CHAPTER 31
“Iwish to thank you,” Charlotte said, midway through the quadrille. “For your help with the school.”
“Now you wish to thank me? You were decidedly displeased when I first spoke to Lord Woodhaven.”
“I was,” she admitted, feeling the old resentment stir within her. “But I see now that you did me a kindness. You opened the door. I walked through it, yet it might never have opened had it not been for you.”
Rhys smiled. “Then I am glad we are in agreement, at least in this regard. Have you spoken to Lady Woodhaven this evening?”
“I have,” she replied. “She will raise the funds. Once that is done, she will purchase the property, and we will begin making repairs, turning it into what we desire. Meanwhile, I will work with a friend of Lady Sherwood—one well-versed in differentmethods of instruction—who will aid me in finding good teachers. We hope to open the school next year.”
“That is wonderful,” he said.
His smile touched her heart, for she knew it was genuine. How pleasant it felt to converse without pretense, as though they were an ordinary couple.
Perhaps they were. Perhaps they were becoming so.
She had dreaded speaking with him all evening—dreaded it all the more after Lord Emery had planted his poisonous seeds in her mind. She could not deny they lingered still, whispering, attempting to take root. But she knew Emery for what he was: a vicious man, a liar, one who would do anything to destroy her happiness.
And yet, was it not true that even a lie might conceal some seed of truth? Had she not already doubted Rhys?
Even so, in this moment, as they danced, she could not picture him returning to the rookeries, to his old life. Not the man she had kissed so passionately the night before. Not the man now twirling her beneath the watchful eyes of the entire ton, though all had already been convinced they were a perfectly contented couple.
And yet, when she had tried to speak of their future, he had postponed it.
