Lady Valeria blushed. “Yes,” she agreed. “That has also been an enjoyable part of the experience.”
“And it’s just the same with this party,” Henry said. “There are people here I’m happy to see, people with whom I always enjoy spending my time. Like yourself, My Lady, and of course your family here, and the Baron of Woodsford. All very fine people. But some of the other guests can be a bit… wearing on a gentleman’s patience.”
“Why did you invite them, then?” She was smiling. She wasn’t expressing unhappiness that he had invited Lord Milton.
“In Society, everything is about appearances,” Henry said. “I’m sure you’ve experiencedthat.”
“Oh, yes,” she said quietly. “I’ve experienced more of that than I’d like to admit.”
Rather than ask her about her experiences—Thomas thought he would have done that, but perhaps it would have been a mistake, perhaps Henry could see that she didn’t want to talk—Henry nodded and said, “I’m trying to make sure that all of Society knows me as the kind of gentleman who opens my home to others. I don’t want to be thought of as someone who is only willing to socialize with his closest friends—even though I do feel that way sometimes.”
“Well, it was kind of you to do that for everyone tonight,” Lady Valeria said.
The gentleman on Henry’s other side captured his attention, and Henry turned away.
Lady Valeria turned toward Thomas. “He’s quite the gentleman, isn’t he?” she said.
“He is.” Thomas knew that he would never speak a word against his friend. “He’s a wonderful person to know, truly.”
“How do the two of you know one another?”
“We were in school together,” Thomas said. “Your cousin was there with us. That’s where we all became friends.”
“I’m very glad to know that Duncan has such good friends,” Lady Valeria said with a smile. “He always worries so much about the needs of others. Sometimes I wonder whether he’s taking as much care of himself as he ought to.”
“He is a very caring person,” Thomas agreed.
She looked at him appraisingly for a moment. “I think I might owe you an apology, Lord Woodsford,” she said.
“An apology? Whatever for?”
“If I made you believe that I thought less of you because of the title you hold—well, that’s not something I would ever want someone to think,” she said. “You told me, when you were in the foyer, that you didn’t want me to get the wrong idea about you. You didn’t want me to think you a more callous, heartless person than you were.”
“Yes,” he said. “That’s true.”
“Well, it’s a feeling I can relate to now,” she said. “I don’t want you to think of me as the kind of unfeeling person who would dismiss a gentleman based solely on his station in life.”
“I don’t think of you that way,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t have held it against you if you wanted to marry a gentleman of higher standing than myself.”
“But I don’t,” she said hurriedly. “I mean… I never thought of things that way. I have no desire to be courted byanyone.”
That hit him like a ton of bricks. He glanced over her shoulder instinctively to see whether Henry had heard, but his friend was still deep in conversation with the gentleman on his other side and was not listening to what Thomas and Lady Valeria were discussing.
“Not by anyone?” he asked. “Not ever?”
“I won’t say notever,” she said. “But I have so much going on in my life right now that it’s difficult to imagine making room—or time—for a courtship.”
“I can understand that,” he admitted. “What with everything that’s going on with your brother, and relocating to a new home—of course you’re overwhelmed right now. It only makes sense.”
She looked at him. “Do you think so?”
“Of course,” he said. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
“It’s just that everyone else I’ve tried to speak to about this has suggested that I try to move beyond my feelings,” she explained. “Everyone else has suggested that it’s for the best that I focus on my marriage prospects, so that I can ensure the damage my brother has wrought on my life isn’t too destructive in the long term.”
“I can understand that, too,” he said. “I suppose they’re trying to look out for you. Still, that must be very trying. A courtship is supposed to be a joyous occasion, not a time for more heartache and trouble. If it isn’t going to make you happy, perhaps now is the wrong time to go about it.”
She smiled. There was something about that smile. It was different than the one she had given to Henry—less full of mirth, but more open, somehow. It seemed to extend to her eyes. “I wish my aunt could hear you say that,” she said.
