Page 57 of When the Viscount Seduces
Min was right, but it didn’t erase the feelings Gwen now realized she had for Lazarus. Feelings that were not reciprocated.
“He was very kind to help me in my moment of need.” Gwen would always remember the way he’d swooped in and rescued her after the debacle with Eberforce at Almack’s. He’d behaved like anything other than a rogue when he’d saved her from one.
“He was.” Min adjusted one of the petals on her gown. “He’s not the worst sort of rogue, just not a man you would wed, unfortunately.”
Gwen wasn’t sure she agreed. After all, he was Tamsin’s cousin. In fact, several of them were related to “rogues,” including Gwen and Min, whose brothers, particularly Min’s, definitely resided in that category.
Lazarus had been attentive and sweet. And he’d revealed a part of himself to her that he’d kept hidden. How could she not feel a special connection to him?
Still, he’d broken things off with her entirely. He hadn’t even responded to her sending the reading exercise. Then today in the park, he’d been with another young woman. Looking roguish.
Actually, he hadn’t appeared happy. Gwen wasn’t sure what was going on, but it hadn’t seemed to be a flirtatious encounter. Or was that merely her hoping it wasn’t?
“I can see he’s affected you,” Ellis said. “I’m sorry he’s treated you callously.”
Gwen sprung to his defense. “He hasn’t. He doesn’t know how I feel. I didn’t even realize it myself until just now.”
Min’s brows rose. “You aren’t going to tell him, are you? I don’t think any good can come from that.” Her gaze softened with sympathy. “Why not focus on the gentlemen who wish to court you?”
That was the sensible thing, of course. “I am trying to. As I said, I danced with Mr. Fortescue and I’m due to dance with Lord Mayhew, though I think he’s a little old.”
“He also has children,” Min noted. “He tried to court me last year, but I wasn’t ready to be a mother. I’m still not, so it’s good I’m in no danger of that,” she added with a light laugh.
“Don’t look now, but here comes Lord Mayhew,” Ellis said. Tall with angular features, Lord Mayhew was in his middlethirties. His wife had died two years earlier, leaving him with three children.
“We aren’t due to dance yet,” Gwen murmured.
The three of them curtsied as he arrived. He glanced toward Gwen with a faint smile, ignored Ellis entirely, and fixed his attention on Min. “Lady Minerva, would you honor me by dancing with me for the next set?”
“Certainly,” Min said with a smile that said she was not enthused. Taking his arm, she looked back at Gwen and Ellis as she moved away, and quickly stuck out her tongue while wrinkling her nose.
They laughed. “Poor Min,” Ellis said. “Now she’s dancing with men she’s already refused.”
“I’m surprised he would ask her if she declined his suit last year.”
“It’s possible he sees her fortunes may have changed and thinks his chances are renewed.” Ellis lifted a shoulder. “These are problems I thankfully never have to worry about.”
At twenty-five, she was old enough to be on the shelf, but could one be on the shelf if one hadn’t really ever participated in the Marriage Mart? Gwen asked a question that had long lingered at the back of her mind. “What will you do when—or if—Min weds?”
“Ask her to hire me as her paid companion?” she responded with a wide smile. “I imagine I will find employment, which I actually look forward to.”
“As a paid companion?”
“I’d rather do something that requires more intellect. In truth, I would love to be someone’s secretary,” she said rather wistfully.
“You’d be wonderful.” Gwen and she had conversed at length on a great many subjects. Ellis had a keen mind and perhaps read nearly as much as Gwen.
“Thank you. I can’t imagine I’ll ever have the opportunity, but I would dearly love it.” She held Gwen’s gaze. “I think you should tell Somerton how you feel.”
Gwen stared at her. “You do?”
“What’s the worst that could happen? He tells you he doesn’t feel the same. But at least you know for sure. That way, there is no room for regret.”
“I’d also just like to…share how I feel with him. We’d become friends.” She couldn’t explain the ways in which they’d bonded. Helping him improve his reading had encouraged a level of intimacy that perhaps went beyond friendship.
Ellis smiled. “That’s lovely. So you will?”
“I think so.” But how to do it since they weren’t supposed to publicly associate? Perhaps she could steal a moment or two with him tonight. If he even came to the ball. She would need an alternative plan.
