Font Size:

“You can be honest with me,” he told her. “I can keep a secret, Lady Eleanor. I can protect the thing you’ve been unwilling to tell me. I’ve figured it out for myself—but I would be overjoyed if you would choose to tell me anyway.”

She closed her eyes. Did he really know? He certainly seemed as if he did.

“It was me,” she admitted. “It was me that you met in the garden the other night. I was hiding under my cloak, but I knew it was you, of course. I didn’t want to tell you the truth, but if, as you say, you’ve figured it out, then there’s no reason for me to keep it to myself. But how did you know?”

“I recognized you by the scar on your hand,” he explained. “I noticed it the night we met, and ever since then, I’ve been looking for the lady who had that scar. I knew that if I could find her, she would be the one I’d been seeking.”

Eleanor groaned. “Of course it was my scar that gave me away,” she said. “That scar is the reason my parents compel me to wear gloves all the time. They’re sure someone will see it and find it hideous.”

“I don’t find it hideous at all,” the duke said. “I find it compelling, to be sure. It’s not often you encounter a lady with such a scar. But I would never have called it hideous, nor would I have expected you to keep it concealed. In fact, I’m glad that I saw it, for how else would I ever have found you? I’m glad I had a way to determine that I’d located the lady I was looking for.”

“Well, I suppose you had the right to come looking,” she said. “Itwasa pleasant evening that we shared.”

“More than one,” he told her.

“What do you mean?”

“That night at the masquerade. It was me you met there,” he said. “I know you didn’t realize it at the time. I didn’t either, of course. But I noticed your scar there as well, and that’s how I know I met the same lady twice.”

She gasped. “It wasyou? You were the one I met that night? I had no idea.”

“I knew that you didn’t,” he said. “There was no way you could have known, because we were both masked that night. There was no chance you could have known who I was, any more than I could have known who you were. I didn’t learn the truth until today when we played on the lawn. You removed your gloves to hold your mallet more securely, do you remember? I saw your scar then and I knew who you were.”

“Oh,” Eleanor murmured.

She should never have taken those gloves off. She should have listened when her parents had instructed her to wear them at all times.

And yet, there was a part of her that was glad she had done it. She was glad he knew who she was now, even though it made things extremely complicated. And although she didn’t know what she was going to do next, she had to admit that things were looking better than she would have expected. He had made the choice to approach her, to tell her what he had discovered. He’d wanted her to know.

“May I sit down?” he asked.

“I suppose so.” It would be a scandal if anyone ever found out that the two of them had sat out here and talked together without a chaperone, but then, they had already sat alone on multiple occasions with no chaperone. Eleanor knew that Marina would have said it was only good luck that they hadn’t been caught so far, and that she shouldn’t take chances, and while there was probably some truth to that, Eleanor tended to think that fate was on her side in this. She was ready to take the chance.

He came over and sat beside her on the rock. “You didn’t know that we’d met at the masquerade,” he said.

“No, I didn’t.”

“But you did know the second time that we met. Isn’t that right? You saw my face.”

“I did,” she admitted.

“And yet you chose not to tell me,” he said. “Why didn’t you want to tell me that we’d spent that evening together? I’ve been desperate to know who you were, but you must have thought it wasn’t a good idea. I wish I understood why.”

“You really don’t know?” she asked.

“I’ve guessed. But guessing is all I can do,” he said. “I thought we got along so well, but you mustn’t have felt that way. That’s all I can think.”

“That’s not it,” she said. “We got along very well. I had a great time when I spoke to you—both times.” It would take some adjusting to remember that she had in fact spoken with him twice, that there had been two clandestine meetings. “But Your Grace, you’re engaged to be married. You’re going to marry Lady Hannah—that’s what I’ve heard.”

“I’m not going to marry her,” the duke said. “She thinks I’m going to marry her, but she has no excuse for thinking so. I’ve told her many times that I have no intention of following through on that arrangement.”

“You may have told her that, but it’s clear that shedoesn’tknow it, even if she ought to,” Eleanor said. “It’s clear from her behavior that she thinks she may still be marrying you.”

“I can’t make it any clearer to her. I’ve told her that it won’t happen. I’ve told her father that it won’t happen.”

“And yet so much of society believes it will,” Eleanor said. Even Phineas hadn’t seemed entirely sure that the marriage wasn’t going to happen, though he’d mentioned that the duke hadn’t seemed to want to go through with it. Eleanor knew that her friend would have felt much more at ease if he had known for certain that the duke wasn’t going to marry the lady he loved—but it was clear that he didn’t know that with certainty, and that the not knowing troubled him. So how could Eleanor be expected to take it on faith that there was nothing to that marriage?

What Marina had said was true. If he wasn’t going to marry Lady Hannah, he ought to sort that out with her and make sure that everyone in society knew the truth of it. And yet…