Page 15 of Dangerous Games of a Broken Lady
As a new dance started up and the revelers took to the floor, Ephraim was reminded of his own youth. Times were different then, though high-society courtship rarely changed much. He smiled at the memory of his younger self, looking smart and handsome in freshly tailored clothes. Many a young lady had fluttered her eyelashes in his direction back then. He had been charming and amusing in equal measure.
Truth be told, he had never had much chance to fall in love. Love was a luxury that few of his class were granted. One morning, he had descended the stairs for breakfast and been told of the lady he was going to marry. He had never met her, and nor had his parents. It was a business contract in everything but name.
A sadness drifted through him as he thought back to his wedding day. It was the first time he had met Margaret Delancey—the lady who would become the Countess of Leeds. He recalled turning to look down the aisle, and finding a remarkable angel floating towards him in a gown of cream silk and blushed lace. Lifting the gauzy veil, he had been startled by her beauty and horrified by the look of fear in her eyes. Neither of them had wanted to marry one another. Duty had forced them into it.
In all their years of marriage, he had never asked her if there had been another gentleman. A man she might have loved as he loved her. A mutual adoration. He realized he had never asked because he feared the answer.
In truth, he had never felt as though he deserved her. All their married life, he’d worried that he’d stolen her chance for true love. A romantic notion, but he had always been quixotic in that way. Watching the dancers, he wondered if that was why they had never fallen in love with one another.
Was it all my fault that we ended up this way?he mused.If I had told her of my love, might we have fallen into it? Might we have created something rare and beautiful? I know love can grow like that. Perhaps, I did not nurture it the way I ought to have done. Perhaps, neither of us did.
He had always loved her, in his own way. She had always loved him, too. They had confessed as much to one another on rare occasions. He had heard her whisper it to him once, when she thought he was asleep. If he had only turned around and whispered it back, might things have been different? He did not know. And yet, he was not sure he would give up their companionship for any kind of passionate love. Not now. With her friendship, warmth, and intellect, she completed him.
If only I had listened, he thought.If only I had listened when she told me not to invest in those ships.
It seemed that, even now, he had not quite learnt how to make the right decisions. If Lord Rowntree’s plan did not run smoothly, he stood to lose everything.
Chapter 6
“What did you say to her, Adelaide?” Jasper asked sharply, bursting into the room unannounced.
Adelaide sat up with a jolt. Ink skated across the crisp vellum, ruining the letter she had been halfway through writing. “Jasper, what is the meaning of this? You cannot simply stride in here like this.”
She felt groggy from the previous evening and was in no mood for an unwanted altercation. Especially as she had her own troubles to contend with. Reuben was supposed to have been at the Assembly Rooms last night, but he had not appeared. Many people had offered their congratulations, but it had felt somewhat awkward without Reuben there to support the news.
“What did you say to Miss Green?”
Adelaide set her quill down. “I did not say anything to Miss Green. It may have escaped your notice, but I was busy with my own endeavors.” She frowned. “Why, what appears to be the matter? You seemed to be enjoying one another’s company well enough.”
“I thought we were, too.” Jasper moved across the room and sank down onto one of the jacquard chaises. He held his head in his hands. By the looks of it, he had sampled one glass too many of champagne, too.
“Then why have you stampeded in here like an angry bullock and launched your accusations at me?”
He sighed. “I presumed you must have said something to dissuade her.”
“Why would I have done such a thing?”
“I do not know… for amusement?”
Adelaide pushed back her chair and stood sharply. “You think me so callous as to take pleasure in your suffering?”
He glanced at her for a moment. “No, of course I do not think you capable of such cruelty. Sit down, I beg of you,” he urged, kicking at the floor with the toe of his shoe. “I just cannot understand it, that is all. I did not mean to vent my frustrations at you in such a way.”
“Evidently, you did,” she retorted, as she sat back down.
“Then I apologize. It was ungentlemanly of me.”
She smiled. “That is a little better. Now, talk me through the situation. I shall demystify the complexities of female behavior for you.”
“Am I not interrupting you?”
Adelaide glanced down at the spoiled letter on the desk. Her cursive blended together in a pooling mass of black ink. There was no salvaging it now. Not when all she could make out were two words— “Duke” and “love.”
Ironic choices,she mused. No matter how worried she was about her position with Reuben, she would have to rewrite the message. It was entirely useless. So, what did it matter if she spoke to Jasper awhile? If Reuben no longer wished to marry her, half an hour would make no difference.
“I was writing a note, but it can wait.”
“To your husband-to-be?”
