“Even your argument is unlike you,” Leah said gently. “You have a golden heart, Anna, and would do anything to help your friends, but you would at least hesitate first if it meant breaking rules. There was no hesitation in you. Come now, has someone upset you? Does punch need to be “accidentally” thrown upon someone?”
Anna crossed her arms tighter, hugging herself. “I… did not want to mention it, as I did not believe it, but I have just seen something that makes me think it might be true.”
“Anna, dearest, you are speaking in riddles,” Leah remarked, her stomach uneasy.
The poor, shy creature drew in a breath, staring down at the floor. “Upon entering the manor, I heard some ladies gossiping that the Viscount would be here tonight. The Viscountess, too.”
Anna did not need to name them fully, for Leah knew precisely who she meant. Clenching her free hand into a fist, Leah downed the contents of her punch glass, her heart beating so hard she could hear it in her ears. For three years, she had avoided the wretched fellow with moderate success, bumping into him and his wife very rarely. But she had never encountered him at a gathering so small where ignoring him would be nigh-on impossible.
“Perhaps, itismere gossip,” Leah suggested, refusing to show her anger and panic. She refilled her cup, using the potent punch to hide her true feelings.
Anna chewed her lower lip and shook her head slowly. “No, dear Leah, for I think I have just seen the Viscountess pass by the door to this room.”
“Well… I shall not let it ruin my evening,” Leah said, a note too cheerfully. “So what if they are here? Why should they not be here? It is no concern of mine. Jonathan is nothing to me, now. Goodness, it is not as if I loved the fellow! Do you not remember how depressed I was on the morning of my wedding? I was grateful he did not appear at the church. Indeed, once the humiliation subsided, I was glad he did not marry me. You know all of this, so take those worried looks off your faces at once!”
Her voice sounded shrill; she could hear and feel her throat tightening with the memory of the worst possible embarrassment. Yet, her words were not entirely untrue. Having only just turned one-and-twenty when the match was arranged, she had been too young to know what love was. She had tricked herself into believing she loved Jonathan because he was destined to be her husband, but in hindsight, he had merely been the man her father had chosen for her. Now, it was the fact that Jonathan had wounded her pride and embarrassed her so completely that she could not abide.
“It is your choice, Leah,” Matilda said, chinning toward the door. “Should we stay, or should we sneak away?”
Leah sipped her punch and stared longingly at the door. Whatever her decision, she needed to make up her mind quickly before old ghosts walked into the refreshment room and haunted her afresh, stirring the gossip mill into a frenzy that would, undoubtedly, trickle down into the scandal sheets.
I cannot be ridiculed again,she knew, making her choice.
CHAPTERTWO
“Imust say, I am surprised you are not sailing toward foreign shores in pursuit of greater fame and fortune,” Nathaniel Forbes said to the man standing at his side: Daniel Barnet, the Earl of Westyork. “Whenever I write to you, it is months before I receive a reply, and you always have a thousand outlandish stories to tell of where you have been. It almost makes being ignored worthwhile.”
Daniel chuckled. “Since the wedding, I have decided to be more present with my family. I have put the care of my sister and mother in my cousin’s hands for much too long, and it was high time I remedied that. As such, I have no intention of traveling outside the country for the time being.”
“The wedding?” Nathaniel stared at his long-time friend. “You have a wife?”
Daniel pulled a face. “Not me, Forbes. My cousin.”
“Evanhas a wife?” Somehow, that was even more shocking. “What manner of woman would be foolish enough? I thought he was the most atrocious rake.”
Nathaniel had never been close to Evan, Daniel’s cousin, but they had been long-standing acquaintances ever since a summer introduction at the Westyork Estate some years ago.
Daniel raised a curious eyebrow. “Tell me, Forbes, do you perpetually live under a rock? You are worse than I am for missing society news, and I, at least, have the excuse of voyaging to the Continent for business.” He smiled. “Evan has never been a rake. It was all false to keep the ladies away. I thought I had told you of that?”
“If you did, I do not remember,” Nathaniel replied.
Daniel shrugged. “Well, a match was made, and though the pair tried not to like one another, and both attempted to sabotage the engagement several times, they ended up falling in love instead. Quite sweet, really. Now, they are blissfully—almost sickeningly, in truth—happy.”
“Evan?”
Daniel laughed. “Yes, Evan. They are residing in what used to be the Dowager House at Westyork, and to look at them, it makes one think that marriage might not be so bad.”
“Do not tell me that you are in pursuit of a wife?” Nathaniel shuddered.
“Goodness, no.” Daniel echoed the shudder. “I am far too busy for such things, but when I am fifty and have amassed enough wealth to ensure my family’s security for generations to come, perhaps I shall consider it. Until then, I am afraid I shall be married only to my work.”
Nathaniel snorted. “Fifty? That is much too soon.” He paused. “Goodness, I really cannot believe that Evan is married.”
“Marriedandvindicated,” Daniel replied. “You really have not seen the scandal sheets lately or even the newspapers? I suppose itwasa couple of months ago, now, but there was a rather incendiary story about Evan’s father that I think you would have appreciated. I shall have to find the papers and send them to you.”
Nathaniel’s stomach twisted, remembering something he had seen in the papers. “No need,” he said firmly. “I do believe Ididsee the story you are referring to. I did not realize it was Evan’s father it pertained to, though. My eyes tend to skim such things. I see the word “Duke”, and it creates a sort of blindness.”
“Why, are you worried you might see your own name there?” Daniel nudged his friend in the arm.
