Anne nodded. “You must have felt so rejected,” she murmured.
Something in her voice made him stop skating. He turned to her, so that he blocked his sister’s view of Anne, and so that his back was to them. They were on the other side of the pond, but he did not want them viewing this private exchange. “Ye sound as if ye know a great deal about how it feels to be rejected.” He brushed a hand down the lovely slope of her cheek.
She captured his fingers in her gloved hand and pressed his palm to her face for a brief moment. She released him. “I do. My father abandoned my mother, and therefore, he also abandoned Jemma and me. And then, of course, I never had a suitor until Ian, and he rejected me, too.”
Simon was livid at all men on her behalf, and he was extremely glad he had visited his solicitor and set in motion a plan to take Ian Frazier’s company from him. Until the deed was done, though, he’d not tell Anne. “Ian Frazier is a fool, and though I’m of the opinion that most men are fools, I cannot believe ye never turned a man’s eye. Ye are beautiful inside and out.”
She made a face and shook her head. “Your vision must be atrocious.”
“No, Anne. I see perfectly.”
She cocked her head as if in thought. “I suppose it is possible that my own fear of being rejected might have made me overly guarded around men.”
He understood that completely. He had been guarded with women, as well.
“Have you considered,” she started slowly, “that your grandfather might have feared you would reject him because he had turned you away?”
“I hadn’t, no. But I might have rejected him,” Simon admitted. Yet, there was a voice in his head that had not been there before, one that Anne had awoken, and it told him that he might have forgiven his grandfather if he had admitted he’d been wrong about Simon and about his mother. He wasn’t sure if he had that much forgiveness in him, though, so he remained quiet.
They fell silent then, so Simon began to skate faster, still leading Anne, and gradually, she no longer needed him to hold her waist, of which he was both proud and regretful.
By the time the day was nearly over, Anne was skating on her own. She had even mastered a very shaky twirl. She departed his estate with pinked cheeks, laughter on her lips, and a promise to return tomorrow for her next dance lesson.
The next morning, an invitation from Fanny’s sister, Lady Jocelyn Simpell, arrived for Elizabeth and Caitlin. It seemed Lady Jocelyn wished to move their tea a day earlier, if that suited them, and they could be at her home at half past two. Simon hated to miss his chance to dance with Anne again—and to simply see her—but he might not get another opportunity to talk to Lady Fanny and persuade her to tell the truth of what had occurred with Rutledge. And because Simon could not risk Rowan intercepting a note Simon might send telling Anne that he would not be home, he left a note for her with Perceval.
It didn’t take long to arrive at Lady Jocelyn and Lady Fanny’s father’s home, where both unmarried ladies lived, and it took even less time for his sisters to manipulate Lady Jocelyn into showing them their gardens. Conveniently, Lady Jocelyn had mentioned to Elizabeth that Lady Fanny had refused to come to tea because she feared Simon and his sisters might have heard of her unfortunate incident in the library with Rutledge.
“She’d rather hide behind her pianoforte in the sitting room for the rest of her days than face the shame of the gossip.” Lady Jocelyn gave a rather uncaring shrug, then smiled at Simon.
“Your Grace, would you care to see the gardens with us?”
Simon could hear the notes of the pianoforte drifting on the air, so he knew Lady Fanny could not be too far away. He shook his head. “I’ll await my sisters’ return here.”
Lady Jocelyn pouted, turned on her heel, and waved at his sisters. Once the three women were out of sight, Simon followed the sound of the pianoforte to the open door of the sitting room, pleased to see with one sweeping glance that Lady Fanny, or at least he believed it to be her, was alone.
He stepped into the room and cleared his throat. Immediately, the music stopped and Lady Fanny looked up. Her eyes grew wide as she scrambled to her feet and dipped into a curtsy. When she came back up and her cheeks were colored a deep ruby red, Simon was shocked at not only how lovely she was but that she would be blushing so. He had assumed she would be a bold woman, but she seemed rather shy.
“Are ye Lady Fanny?” he asked.
“Yes.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I’m afraid I don’t recall who you are,” she mumbled, gazing down at her slippers.
“I’m the Duke of Kilmartin,” he replied softly, fully aware he was breaking a rule of thetonby introducing himself to a young lady without another party making the proper introductions. “I’m sorry to be so forward and barge in on ye like this.”
“It’s quite all right,” she said, still staring at her feet.
He did not have time to broach the subject of her disgrace delicately. Their sisters could return at any moment, or her mother or father could walk in on them. “I’m a close friend of Lord Rutledge’s.”
Her gaze whipped to his, as he had hoped it might.
“Ye are wronging him,” Simon said without preamble. Immediately, her lip began to tremble. He felt bad for her, but he pressed on. “Rutledge told me what truly occurred in the library, and ye have spread malicious lies that are already hurting his sisters.” That last part was a bit of an untruth. So far, the damage had been contained to Rutledge, but Simon knew it was only a matter of time before Rutledge’s supposedly questionable character harmed his sisters.
“I—” Lady Fanny began. Then, quite unexpectedly, she burst into tears.
Simon went to her and offered her a handkerchief. Once she had managed to get herself under control, he said, “Why don’t ye tell me why ye lied? Perhaps I can help ye find a way to set the truth straight.”
“I don’t see how!” she wailed. “I only ever hoped Lord Rutledge would take notice of me. I thought perhaps he would develop a tendre for me if I kissed him.” She paused and tried to take a deep breath. “I have had a fondness for him for as long as I can remember, and my silliness ruined everything!” Fresh tears burst forth once more, followed by loud, racking sobs that he was sure would bring her father or mother into the room.
“Are yer parents in residence today?”
