Page 40 of A Virgin to Tame the Duke
“In which case, we will wait for them in whatever rooms you have offered them.”
Once again, the innkeeper looked to his wife, and once again she nodded. He started toward the stairs. “Right this way, Yer Grace.”
Leading the group, Aaron followed the innkeeper up a narrow flight of stairs to a small private parlor on the first floor and inside to where it was plain someone had been living. There were cards across a small table and used glasses that the innkeeper had not yet cleared away. He did so now as Aaron took a seat.
“Do not inform Mr. and Mrs. Calore that we are here,” he said. “I am prepared to wait as long as it takes for them to return.”
His aunt sat beside him as the innkeeper bowed and left the room. “Do you not think you are being a little heavy-handed?” she asked quietly. Charlotte, who would no doubt have asked him the same thing if she could, wandered through the room examining its meagre contents. Aaron tried not to look at her, hating the way he had snapped at her before.
Presuming she was responsible for the actions of her cousin was a foolish one on his part, and she had rightly taken him to task. No, he could not think of her when his attention should be on his sister.
“Constance has made a fool of us all,” he said in an equally low tone. “She chose to elope in scandal rather than allowing Mr. Calore to court her, or better still, informing me of the match.”
Octavia glanced up at him with an expression that was, for once, serious. “And would you have allowed the match, Aaron?”
“I would not have forbidden it outright,” he said. That much was true although he would not have condoned the match immediately if she could have been persuaded to turn her attention to worthier gentlemen. “A doctor’s wife is hardly a seemly occupation for the sister of a Duke.”
Charlotte glanced up from where she had chosen to sit. “Is that not a decision for the lady in question to make?”
“She is but nineteen.”
“That is a perfectly reasonable age for her to know the contents of her heart and the consequences of her actions,” Charlotte returned, and unwilling to argue with her, he turned away.
“We could still change our minds and our hearts,” Octavia said. “You could choose to greet her with love.”
“My anger does not mean I don’t love her,” Aaron snapped, “but she must be held responsible.”
“What do you intend to do?” Charlotte challenged. “Cut her off? Force her to pay penance?”
“It might surprise you all to learn that I merely wish to talk to her,” Aaron said coldly.
“Perhaps we might order some tea,” Lady Lowood suggested, when the door opened, and Constance stepped in.
She looked just the same as she had a little over two weeks ago when he had last seen her. Marriage had changed little but brought a flush of happiness to her face that drained when she saw him.
“Aaron,” she gasped.
“Hello, Sister,” he said, rising. “It seems a lot has taken place since last we met. I presume you wish to introduce your husband to me, considering we have yet to meet.” The flush reappeared in her cheeks, but before she could say anything, she was joined by a serious-faced man in his mid-twenties, who reached out a hand to Aaron immediately.
“Deuced awkward business, and that’s the truth,” he said. “If I’m frank, Your Grace, I wanted to meet you many times these past few months, but Con insisted we do it this way.” He glanced around the room and saw Charlotte and her mother. “Cousin! Aunt! I declare, you are the last people I expected to see here.”
“Frankly, Edward, so are you,” Charlotte said, keeping her voice steady though Aaron noticed her hands were clenched in her skirts. “How did you come to be mixed up with this? Last we knew, you were on the Continent.”
An odd coldness came over Aaron, and he sank into a seat. “Yes, please do tell us what occurred, both of you. You see, Constance, as far as I was aware, you were to be married to the Earl of Newtown. Now, if you had not wished to marry him, I could quite understand it, but you betrayed not a word of that to me.”
Constance swallowed and glanced at her aunt. “Would you have accepted my not wishing to marry him?”
“Perfectly readily. If you had said anything other thanyes, I would have informed him that the match could not go ahead. But you did no such thing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“And, moreover, you waited for your wedding day to elope. In short, you and Mr. Calore, however intentional, chose to elope in the way that most humiliated me.” Aaron refused to let his resolve slip at the way she flinched. “You brought scandal on our name and thought to give no word.”
“I wrote to tell you I was safe.”
“I believed some form of foul play had occurred,” he snapped, the thin leash on his temper fraying. “I thought it likely something terrible had happened, and a small note—though written, I will concede, in your hand—did nothing to alleviate my suspicions.”
“I told you we should have done this properly,” Mr. Calore said, taking Constance’s hand. “No matter, it’s done now.”
