Alone once more, she allowed herself a moment to breathe deeply, to shake off the weight of Ambrose’s presence.
CHAPTER 12
“Your behavior was absolutely reckless.”
Philip held his head in his hands as his mother paced back and forth in the parlor, waving the scandal sheets above her head.
“Do you even understand what you have done, Philip? The way that you acted at the soiree was utterly ridiculous. It’s as if you were not even thinking about our family’s reputation when associating with a jilted spinster.”
“You are making far too much of a fuss, Mother.”
“The ton are all talking about it. It’s in the scandal sheets.”
Philip shook his head sadly. “It was merely one dance…”
“This is your sister’s debut Season, Philip. We don’t want attention on our family for all the wrong reasons. You have to be more careful with your interactions, Philip.”
“I don’t know what I have done wrong…”
“Lord Cedric Fitzwilliam was once betrothed to Lady Verity Sinclair,” his mother informed him firmly. “Four years ago, but he called off the engagement.”
“But why?” Philip could not image any reason for ruining his chances with such a beautiful and captivating woman, it made no sense to him at all.
“I don’t know. But I do know that a gentleman would never break off an engagement without good reason.” His mother waved the scandal sheets at him once more. “Which this has proven. There must be something very scandalous about that woman.”
“I… I don’t know what to say,” Philip admitted.
“Well, then perhaps I should remind you that we are hosting the Fitzwilliams later this evening for dinner.”
“But…”
Adelaide shot him a look, instantly silencing him. “But nothing. This is also the perfect time to try and overcome this scandal. It’s incredibly important to maintain appearances and foster advantageous connections. That is exactly what tonight will do.”
Just as Philip suspected. Now she was going to become even more unbearable with her desire to match him with someone. And if she had set her eyes on Lady Rosalind then it was going to be incredibly hard for him to put a halt to this.
Rising to his feet, Philip knew that if he did not escape this terrible environment very quickly then he would end up saying something that he would go on to regret.
“I am going for a ride in Hyde Park.”
“I don’t think that this is the time,” his mother tried, but Philip did not want to hear it.
“I think it would be best for me to have a clear mind before tonight. Is that not something you agree with?”
He knew that his mother would not disagree with that. If she wanted him to be on his best behavior tonight, then she needed to give him some much needed space.
She nodded sharply, just the once, and stepped aside to let him free.
Philip stomped from the house and headed straight for the stables. He needed some time with Midnight now more than ever before. His head was spinning far too quickly and he could not settle for even a moment. He hated the words that his mother spoke about Lady Verity, and that was what struck him the most, the way that she had been so dismissive and rude about someone who’s company he actually enjoyed. Perhaps there was a broken engagement in the past, but anything could have happened.
There was absolutely no reason to blame Verity for it.
He straddled Midnight and took off cantering towards Hyde Park, hoping that the fresh air would cool his temper down.
There is more to Lady Verity, he thought decisively as Midnight rode through the greenery of the park. I am sure of it.
He could not imagine why any man would ruin the chance to be married to Lady Verity. She was pretty and sweet and truly wonderful to talk to. There had to be some terrible reason why things fell apart, but Philip’s instinct wasn’t to immediately blame Verity for it.
There were people enjoying the sun, wandering around Hyde Park, living their happy and comfortable lives. Of course Philip did not know that for sure, he had no idea what was going on behind closed doors, but he could not imagine that anyone was as plagued as him. He could not imagine anyone was suffering under the same pressure as him.
