She felt unaccountably nervous, suddenly. It took her a moment to realize why, and when she did, she was horrified.
Richard had behaved like this.
When she had asked her brother how his day had been—on the days he hadn’t been angry or violent—he had been cold and withdrawn, just like this. And when she had tried to investigate further, to discover what had been upsetting him—well, that had been when his anger had burst forth.
She was afraid of what might happen if she continued to apply this pressure to Lord Woodsford.
And suddenly, more than anything, she wanted him to go.
She didn’t know how to tell him that. He didn’t seem to know what to say, either. So they passed the rest of their visit in relative silence, sipping their tea, commenting on things that didn’t matter, things like the weather or the quality of the biscuits they had been served.
And when, at last, the time came for Lord Woodsford to go, Valeria was grieved to find that she wasn’t sorry to see the back of him at all. She felt nothing but relief. She was happy that their visit was over.
Will I end the courtship?
No, she couldn’t do that. Not over one bad day. For all she knew, whatever was wrong had nothing to do with her. Perhaps Lord Woodsford had other problems, problems he simply didn’t want to share with her.
But why wouldn’t he share them with me? I thought we had reached a point at which we could tell one another everything.
Maybe she had been quicker to let go of her hesitation than he had. Maybe this was more difficult for him than it was for her.
Or maybe he simply doesn’t care about me the way I do about him.
Feeling lost and bereft, she wandered up the stairs to her bedroom, knowing that she wouldn’t be emerging for the rest of the evening. Her dinner would have to be sent up to her. She had no energy to discuss this terrible afternoon with her aunt and cousin.
I just hope they don’t try to question me about it.
Chapter 23
“Lady Valeria?”
Valeria looked toward the door. Charlotte was standing there, looking rather timid, a tray of food in her hands.
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” she said quietly. “Lady Earlington asked me to bring this up.”
“Oh, thank you, Charlotte,” Valeria said quietly. “You may put it on the bed there.”
Charlotte nodded and crossed to the bed, setting the tray down carefully so as not to spill anything. Then she turned and faced Valeria, looking very determined, indeed.
“Everyone is worried,” she said.
“They’re not planning on coming up here, I hope?” Valeria asked. It had been five hours since Lord Woodsford had left, and no one had tried to ask her about his visit. Valeria hoped that they had assumed by the fact that she was hiding out in her room that things hadn’t gone well, and that they had decided to leave her alone.
“No, no one is planning on disturbing you,” Charlotte said. “I heard Lady Earlington talking to one of the maids, saying that you were to be left in peace tonight, that no one was to come to your room—I think I’m the only one who’s permitted to be here, actually.”
Valeria nodded. “That’s good,” she said. “You’re the only one I have any interest in seeing right now.”
“Valeria…” Charlotte dropped the formal address, as she sometimes did when the two of them were alone and when they were speaking of very personal things, calling back to their lifelong friendship. “Will you tell me what happened? I can tell you’re very upset about something that happened today. Was it something with Lord Woodsford?”
“Oh, Charlotte, you saw how he was when he was here!” She hadn’t thought that she would want to talk about it, but suddenly the words were bursting from her. “It couldn’t have been more obvious that his thoughts were a million miles away. He seemed as though he was only here because he wasforcedto be!”
“But that doesn’t make sense at all,” Charlotte said, frowning. “No one was forcing him. And think back to the way he’s been around you before now. He’s always given every indication that he wanted to be around you. He’s always cared deeply about you.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” Valeria said. “And at the ball announcing our courtship, things felt so right. We were so close, that evening. It felt as though we could tell one another everything. So to have him acting distant from me again…it’s alarming, Charlotte. I don’t know what to make of it. How could he possibly change so quickly, when I’m not aware of anything at all having happened between us?”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte admitted. “It does seem surprising.”
“You did notice it, didn’t you?” Valeria asked, rather desperate to have her perception of events confirmed. “It wasn’t just me? He was acting strangely?”
