“Oh, I’m sure there will be,” Thomas said. “Lady Earlington wants to throw abigparty, though that isn’t what Lady Valeria wants, necessarily. They had begun to argue about it when I left Earlington Manor.”
“I never took Lady Valeria for an argumentative sort,” Henry said.
“Oh, yes, she’s very spirited, actually,” Thomas said. “Though I do recognize what you mean. It’s not a quality one necessarily sees in her right away, is it?”
“No, it isn’t,” Henry said. “I thought of her as rather quiet and accommodating.”
And what was he to understand by this? That shewasthe sort of young lady to insist upon what she wanted?
If that was true, how had she allowed herself to be pressured into a courtship that was not of her choosing?
Henry was baffled by the whole affair.
But if Lady Valeriahadbeen pressured—by her aunt, or perhaps her cousin, or maybe even by Thomas himself—to accept a courtship she did not want, she might need someone to help her extricate herself.
Don’t assume anything,he told himself firmly.Attend the ball and speak to her for yourself, and then you’ll be able to get an idea of how she really feels about all of this.
Duncan returned with the drinks. Thomas jumped up to help him settle them on the table. One was passed to Henry and he drank deeply from it, saying nothing.
“Well, then,” Duncan said. “A toast to my cousin, Lady Valeria, and to Lord Woodsford, as they embark upon her courtship.” He raised his mug.
“Hear, hear,” Henry said, though he said it rather absently. Though Duncan didn’t seem to notice, Thomas glanced at him for a moment and frowned quizzically.
Henry shook his head, indicating, he hoped, that Thomas shouldn’t concern himself. Thomas nodded and looked away.
They passed the next several hours at the pub, laughing and drinking and enjoying one another’s company, and for several long stretches of time, Henry was able to put Lady Valeria entirely from his thoughts. He was able to return to the way he had always felt in the company of his friends—as though he was the most vivacious and the most charming of the three, as though if anyone were to approach their group, he would be the one who would naturally attract attention.
But every now and then, a thought would creep in. An unpleasant reminder that things weren’t necessarily that way at all.
For example, when a group of gentlemen they didn’t know came into the pub, Duncan immediately stood up to greet them. Ordinarily, Henry would have done the same, but he was so mired in his thoughts that it was a few moments before his manners caught up with him, and he was actually the very last to leave his seat, rising only moments before they turned to find a table of their own. They received his greetings politely, but they certainly hadn’t been as charmed by him as he might have hoped.
And when they were leaving the pub, when they had stepped out onto the sidewalk and set off toward home, they passed a carriage with a young lady leaning out of the window. She giggled and waved, and once again it was Duncan who quickly stepped forward and returned the gesture.
What’s the matter with me? I’m not myself lately.
He bid farewell to his friends and made his way home quickly, hurrying through the foyer and up to his library.
He closed the door and bolted it shut, desiring nothing more than to be alone with his thoughts.
The evening out at the pub had not been nearly as much fun as it ought to have been, and he found himself wishing he hadn’t gone. It was bad enough that he had missed his opportunity with Lady Valeria, but now he was questioning everything he thought he had known about himself.
The best thing to do, he decided, was to wait until the ball. He would see her there. He would gain a better understanding of why she had chosen Thomas over him.
Maybe it has nothing to do with me at all. Maybe I’m allowing myself to worry over nothing.
If he could find an appropriate way to do so, maybe he would let Lady Valeria know, at the ball, that she had options. That Thomas wasn’t the only one who was interested in her.
He would see how she responded to that. Perhaps it would change things.
And if it didn’t make a difference—if he saw that she was happy in her choice—then he would stand aside for Thomas. He could do that for his friend.
Chapter 20
“You look lovely,” Thomas whispered to Lady Valeria as they stood in the foyer of Earlington Manor, waiting on the arrival of the guests. “Truly, I’ve never known anyone to look more beautiful.”
She blushed and smiled, shaking her head as though she thought this was idle flattery, but it was the truth. She was wearing a gown of pale gold, and her hair had been woven into an elaborate style that looked to Thomas as though it must have taken all day.
He found himself wanting to put his arms around her, to pull her close, but he knew he would have to restrain himself. He had promised that this courtship would move slowly, and that was a promise he intended to keep.
