“About your brother again?”
“You’re too clever, Charlotte.”
“No, My Lady. I just know you very well.”
Valeria sighed. “I don’t know how he could have done it,” she said. “Spent all that money we didn’t have. Didn’t he realize that he would be putting me in debt, too? Destroying my prospects? Could he really have cared only for himself?”
“People can surprise you, I’m afraid,” Charlotte said gently. “I don’t doubt your brother cared for you—”
“He had a strange way of showing it.”
“Well, he was irresponsible,” Charlotte said. “I suppose some people find it more difficult than others to do the right thing. I try to be grateful every time I find myself with the strength to know what I ought to do, and to do it.”
Valeria nodded. “If only he had come to me,” she said. “Or perhaps sought other counsel, even, when he realized his debts were out of control. But trading in stolen goods to pay off his debts—he knew that was wrong, Charlotte. You can’t tell me he didn’t know.”
“Ah, well,” Charlotte said. “He made a bad decision, true enough.”
“A bad decision? My brother is a criminal, Charlotte. Richard has been convicted of a crime. Who knows whether he’ll ever be released?” Valeria shook her head. “And that disgraces me even more. Though I suppose it’s awful that I’m thinking about myself right now.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Charlotte took her arm. “You’re allowed to consider your own needs, My Lady. You needed a brother you could trust, one who would look after you and provide for you. Lord Midford was supposed to give you that, and he didn’t.”
Valeria turned and looked back at her home. “I’m really going to miss this place,” she said quietly. “It’s meant so much to me over the years, and it’s only now that I’m realizing how important it was. How big a part of me it was.”
“Whatever happens next, My Lady, it will become just as big a part of you,” Charlotte assured her. “I know you feel that you’re leaving something behind—and you are. But you’re also embarking on your life’s next great adventure. Who knows—something wonderful could be waiting right around the corner.”
Chapter 3
“Only one drink tonight,” Duncan said, joining Thomas at the bar. “I have to be home early.”
“That’s unusual for you,” Thomas said with a little laugh. He took one of the drinks he had already ordered and pushed it toward his friend. “You’re usually the last to leave the bar.”
“I know,” Duncan said. “But Mother wants me at home early tonight—”
“How is your mother?” Thomas asked. “She was ill recently, wasn’t she?”
“She was, but she’s recovered well,” Duncan said, taking a sip of his ale. “You know Mother. She’s as strong as a horse. Nothing will keep her down.”
“Yes, Lady Earlington has quite the reputation in that regard,” Thomas laughed. The thought of his friend’s mother, who was a formidable woman despite her advancing years, filled him with mirth. “I’ll have to call on her sometime soon.”
“Yes, you should,” Duncan agreed. “Especially as my cousin is coming to town, and I know you’ll like to seeher.”
He grinned broadly.
Thomas nearly spat out his ale. He swallowed it, then said, “What? Your cousin?”
“Yes, Valeria,” Duncan said. “That’s why Mother’s asked me to come home early tonight. I’m to greet her and help her settle in.”
“But she won’t want to seeme,” Thomas said, his heart sinking suddenly at the memory of his last interaction with Lady Valeria. “She doesn’t like me at all, Duncan, or don’t you remember?”
“Nonsense,” Duncan said. “She’s shy, that’s all.”
“I don’t think so,” Thomas said. “Remember, we saw one another at your mother’s Christmas ball a year ago. I asked her to dance and she turned up her nose and walked away!”
“I don’t remember anything likethattaking place,” Duncan said. “Are you certain that’s what happened?”
“Of course I am,” Thomas said. He didn’t think he would soon forget the way it had felt to watch her walk away from him, as if she was too good to give him the time of day. She hadn’t seemed like a lady who was simplyshy. She had seemed haughty and unpleasant.
For several weeks following the ball, he had told himself that he had no desire to see her again. That if that was the way she was going to treat him, he wasn’t going to waste his time.
