Audrey winced. “Blythe, perhaps they don’t want their personal business discussed so openly.”
“Oh, no,” Lady Blackthorne said, “Miss Collins is correct.”
“We make a handsome couple,” Lord Blackthorne said somberly.
Everyone laughed.
“But in truth,” he continued, “we were very lucky to fall in love.”
“I do believe it was destiny,” his wife responded softly, “since I had had no intention of ever even meeting Michael, or having a proper marriage.”
Audrey could hear the emotion in their voices, imagined them looking into each other’s eyes, and felt her own heart constrict. She’d been telling herself all along she’d never marry, just like Lady Blackthorne, but since she’d met Robert, one by one her defenses were falling apart, until she was left vulnerable to him. She hated feeling needy, but did every woman feel that way when confronted with the enormity of her growing emotional attachment to a man?
“And she must be in love with me,” Lord Blackthorne said, “because I’ll be remaining with the army, and she’ll be living at least half of each year in India with me.”
“Didn’t you spend much of your childhood there, Lady Blackthorne?” Robert asked. “I remember your father speaking of you often and fondly.”
“Thank you for telling me, Lord Knightsbridge,” she said. “Not all of my memories of India are good ones, yet I will have much to occupy myself when we live there.”
“It seems she has a better head for estate management than I do,” Lord Blackthorne said. “My brother used to oversee my estate, but Cecilia will be taking over.”
Surprised, Audrey added another intriguing layer to the puzzle of Robert’s friends.
“Brilliant,” Robert said, clapping his hands together. “Lady Blackthorne and Audrey should have much to discuss. Audreyinherited Blake’s estate and has been in charge for several weeks now. It’s going very well.”
“You’ve been of much help, Robert,” Audrey insisted, feeling her cheeks heat.
“Won’t you all call me Cecilia?” she said. “We have so many interesting conversations ahead of us.”
They all went into luncheon together, and Audrey thought about these two military men, each involved with unconventional women, and not threatened by it. How many other men could be like them? Could she risk letting Robert go, all because she was afraid?
And did she want to be alone? When she’d sent him away, she’d been so sad and lonely at the prospect of a day without a visit from him.
But maybe she was being selfish. Robert professed to admire her and like her, but no words of love had ever been exchanged. And she didn’t even know if she lovedhim! How was she supposed to decide what was best for them both, if she didn’t even know her own mind?
Throughout luncheon,Robert found his gaze returning again and again to Audrey from his place at the head of the table. She sat on his left, Michael on his right, two very important people in his life.
He hadn’t known how the day might go, if Audrey would allow her embarrassment over their false engagement to leave her stilted with Michael and his wife, but that hadn’t happened. Audrey had been as taken with Cecilia as Robert was, and was already plying her with many questions about the Appertan estates, which she’d been managing during her brother’sminority. Robert guessed that there was more going on behind the Blackthornes’ words, that their relationship had perhaps a rockier start than they were letting on, but that was something to question Michael about later.
During a lull in the conversation, he asked Michael, “Have you heard from Rothford?”
“The Duke of Rothford?” Blythe interjected, wide-eyed. “Robert, how do you know so many peers when you’ve been in India for so long?”
He smiled. “Rothford returned from India with us. He, too, had been with the Eighth Dragoons.”
“I haven’t gone to London since our initial arrival,” Michael said. “You stayed there longer than I.”
“And he was quite absent from any event I attended,” Robert admitted. “I will be very curious when he finally does return to Society.”
He saw Audrey looking intrigued, and Cecilia, staring down as she ate, wearing a knowing smile. Had Michael told Cecilia everything—every reason they had come to England? And had she accepted that guilt motivated their actions? Michael had tried to deny it to himself, felt he’d made a battlefield decision and should not feel guilty. And how hadthatworked out for him with his wife?
Robert steered the conversation away from Rothford and any other guilty memories. After luncheon, Cecilia asked for a tour of the mansion, and he obliged them, listening as Blythe expounded in detail where she thought her sister should know more.
He watched Audrey more than anyone, wondered if the thought of this old mausoleum would set her even further against him, but she seemed interested, asking questions about the history of the hall and his family.
At last, the ladies decided to rest before dinner, and Robert looked at Michael. “Shall we have a brandy?”
“Most definitely.”
