Page 111 of The Duelist for the Ton
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bloody, fucking hell!
Stephen gritted his teeth as he strode away from the Foxton residence.
How could he have been so blind? The signs had been there, only he’d been too weak-minded to notice them—her insistence on justifying dishonesty, her defense of that creature the Farthing.
No…shewas that creature.
Fuck! Fuck, fuck,fuck!
“Ibegyour pardon, young man?”
He looked up and startled as he almost collided with a couple strolling arm in arm along the pavement.
Bloody hell, that was all he needed—Earl sodding Thorpe and his mother.
The dowager countess tilted her head to one side and glared at him, her eyes the color of ice. Then slowly she arched a perfectly formed brow and waited.
“Lady Thorpe, I must apologize,” Stephen said. “That was most unseemly of me.” He bowed, offering his hand. But she made no move to take it.
“What are you about, Reid?” Thorpe said. Then he glanced toward the white-fronted building from which Stephen had emerged. “Ah! Foxton gave you a hard time about bolting from his sister?”
“Giles, please refrain from being so coarse,” the dowager said, her gaze still fixed on Stephen. “No matter the provocation.”
Stephen opened his mouth to tell Thorpe exactly what he thought of Foxton’s sister, then he closed it again.
“Lady Thorpe, I’ve had a somewhat trying afternoon—but that is no reason to act so dishonorably in your distinguished presence. Please accept my unreserved apology.”
The eyebrow lowered, but the frown remained. Then she turned to Thorpe.
“Giles, darling, is Society so unchanged that young men still seek to flatter a woman with vacuous words? I’d rather subject myself to brutish honesty than flattery any day.”
“But you’re more intelligent than most, Mother,” Thorpe said. “Perhaps the colonel has encountered few women who are truly immune to flattery.”
Stephen ignored the little voice in his head telling him of the one woman he knew who cared nothing for flattery.
“We cannot waste our day standing around on the street,” Lady Thorpe said. “Henrietta will be waiting for us.”
For a heartbeat, Thorpe’s expression softened and Stephen tempered the spike of jealousy when faced with a man who loved his wife, and whose wife loved him.
He tipped his hat, then resumed his journey home.
Inside, he heard soft music. Angela was singing in the morning room, accompanied by Mrs. Stowe on the pianoforte. As he entered, Angela rushed toward him, arms outstretched.
“Brother!” She buried her head in his chest while he embraced her, and his heart filled with love. He’d feared that her sweet innocence and joy for life had been irrevocably crushed.
Over the top of his sister’s golden head, he saw Mrs. Stowe watching them, a mixture of wariness and sorrow in her soft gray eyes.
“Angela has been coming along very well with her music, colonel,” she said. “We were about to take tea—but perhaps you’d like to spend some time alone with your sister. I’ve several errands to run and have no wish to be in your way.”
“You could never be in my way, Mrs. Stowe,” he said. “I’m only glad that you agreed to resume your duties, given how unfairly I treated you.”
She colored, then moved to the pianoforte to gather the music. “Your desire to protect your sister is to be admired,” she said. “You have taken on the responsibility of a parent, and a parent always places their child above all other considerations.”
“We’ve been learning a love song,” Angela said. “In Italian, would you believe! I found the language difficult at first, but I can speak a few phrases. I thought it might be useful if ever you took me to Rome. Lady Hardwick told me that Rome is the most beautiful city in the whole world, and…”
She rattled on excitedly. At the far end of the room, Mrs. Stowe bustled about, tidying up the various papers. She reached for a book, then cringed. It slipped out of her grasp and fell to the floor with a clatter. She bowed her head, eyes closed, and massaged the fingers of her right hand. At length, she opened her eyes, which were bright with moisture. She met Stephen’s gaze and lowered her arms, moving her right hand to conceal it behind her back. Her lips curled into a smile that did not reach her eyes.
