“Let’s go back in and finish our dinner,” she suggested. “We don’t need to worry about him anymore.”
Lady Milton strode through the foyer looking haughty and offended. Everyone watched as she made her way down the stairs and into the night.
Lord Woodsford nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, you’re quite right, Lady Valeria. We should return to our meal.”
“That’s right,” Lord Harlston said, appearing at her other side. He raised his voice slightly. “If everyone will proceed back into the dining room—we really don’t want dinner to get cold.”
Slowly, people began to make their way back into the dining room.
Duncan came up behind Valeria. “Are you all right?” he asked her. “Mother says she’s only too happy to go home now, if that’s what you would prefer.”
“Truly?” Valeria was surprised. She had known that her cousin would take her home, if she had asked him. But she’d expected that her aunt would want to stay. Aunt Alberta had stressed how important it was for her to do her best in social situations, to not allow people like Lord Milton to get to her.
The fact that Aunt Alberta was willing to leave felt like a big deal. It was an acknowledgement of just how bad that scene had really been.
But to her own surprise, Valeria found that she didn’t want to go.
She felt aware of Lord Woodsford’s presence beside her in a way she hadn’t until now. She had enjoyed talking to him, but now she felt as though she could perceive the beating of his heart, the rise and fall of his shoulders. His anger seemed to crackle in the air around him.
He had gotten angry because ofher. Because he couldn’t stand to see her treated badly.
Valeria took his arm.
He looked down at her in surprise.
“Come and eat,” she said quietly.
“Are you all right?” he asked her.
“No,” she admitted. “That was horrible. But I’ll survive. I really just want to go back to dinner, and back to pleasant conversation that isn’t about what a terrible person I am.”
“You’re not a terrible person,” Lord Woodsford said sharply.
She smiled. “You seem very sure of that.”
“I am,” he said simply.
“You’ve never doubted? You’ve never wondered?”
“Do you need to ask?”
“I wouldn’t blame you for wondering if I had been an accomplice to Richard in his crimes,” she said. “Declaring it in front of an entire dinner party is something else. Butwondering—I wouldn’t hold that against you if you had questioned.”
“Of course I didn’t,” he said. “I always knew you couldn’t have had anything to do with it.”
“But how?” she asked. “You didn’t know me. I could have been a terrible person.”
He shook his head. “No,” he said. “You couldn’t.”
“You thought I was the kind of person to dismiss a potential courtship because the gentleman in question was a Baron!”
“Even that never felt quite right,” he said. “It wasn’t so much that Ibelievedthat. I just couldn’t see any other reason for why you were so determined to avoid contact with me. But even if it had been true—Lady Valeria, it is no crime to want to marry well. I wouldn’t have judged you harshly, if that had been the truth.”
“I would judge any lady quite harshly for thinking herself above you,” Valeria said.
She eased back into her seat. Around her, the rest of the guests seemed to be rather studiously looking away from her. She got the feeling that they were determined not to make eye contact, as if they were worried she might become hysterical over what had happened.
It was strange—she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so at ease.
