Lady Eugenia nodded. “That’s my mother, I’m afraid.”
“Don’t worry,” Hugh said. “I don’t blame you for anything that happened. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I hope I can convince my cousin of that,” Lady Eugenia said.
“You’ll have your chance.”
They entered the carriage along with Betsy and pulled away from Harcourt Manor.
“By the way,” Hugh said as they started down the main road. “What your mother said back there—it wasn’t the truth.”
“Which part?” Lady Eugenia asked.
“The part about her begging me to agree to marry you, and me agreeing only out of pity,” Hugh said. “That isn’t how it was at all.”
“It’s not?”
Hugh felt for her. He could tell that she had genuinely believed her mother’s cruel description of the situation.
“No,” he said. “She came to me, and yes, I think she was prepared to beg. She doesn’t think a gentleman would accept you for his own sake. I don’t know why that is.”
“Because I’m not beautiful like my cousin,” Lady Eugenia explained, as if she was stating a fact.
“Gentlemen like different things,” Hugh said. “I’m sure you know that.”
“I’m beginning to learn,” Lady Eugenia admitted.
“Some gentlemen might like the look of your cousin,” Hugh said. “Others might like your looks. For my part, I find you perfectly lovely. Were it not for the fact that my heart belongs to Esther, I would have no objection to courting you.”
“I understand that,” Lady Eugenia said.
“Your mother started to plead with me, but I stopped her,” Hugh said. “I told her there was no need, and that I was perfectly happy to arrange an engagement. I was so eager to put my feelings for Esther behind me that I was in a great hurry to see it done. And there was certainly nothing troubling to me about you being the person to whom I was engaged.”
Lady Eugenia hesitated, then nodded. “Thank you for saying so,” she said. “I know my mother wanted me to feel ashamed.”
“She wants to control you,” Hugh said. “That’s why she says things like that. She wants you to feel small and unworthy. That way, when something good happens to you, it’s because she got it for you, not because you got it for yourself. She wants you to feel as if you can’t have a good life without her help.”
“Maybe she’s right,” Lady Eugenia said.
“No,” Hugh said. “She isn’t. What I told her was true, Lady Eugenia. I have a lot of respect and admiration for you, and if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure you find a match that makes you happy.”
“Happy,” Lady Eugenia said pensively. “No one’s ever suggested that that’s something I ought to be looking for. But it is, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely,” Hugh said. “You’ve made me aware of that. Esther made me happy in ways no one else ever has. That’s how I know I can’t bear to let her go.”
Lady Eugenia nodded.
“Do you think she’ll accept me?” Hugh asked. “She’d be within her rights to be angry with me, after everything that’s happened.”
“I don’t think she’ll be angry,” Lady Eugenia said. “I think she’ll be relieved. She was devastated when she thought you no longer wanted her.”
“Oh.” Hugh felt as if his heart was cracking in two. To think that he had inflicted such pain on Esther!
“I doubt she’ll be as happy to see me, though,” Lady Eugenia went on. “She thinks I betrayed her and took you for myself.”
“I’ll tell her the truth,” Hugh assured Lady Eugenia. “When we see her again, she’ll know what really happened. She’ll know that it was your mother manipulating the situation, not you.”
“I hope she believes that,” Lady Eugenia said.
