Gwen hardened herself to not think about that. Thinking of that led to deep disappointment. “It was an act.”
Octavia came to a stop. “Have you no faith?”
Her lip quivered, and the sting of tears blurred her vision. “Not in this.”
Octavia swung around, narrowing her bulbous eyes into a sharp glare. “Not in you!”
Gwen averted her eyes, rising to her feet to stand by the window. The night was black without a moon to light the way. A fitting allegory for her obliterated dreams of love and happiness at Aidan’s side as his true partner.
Partners do not keep secrets from each other.
“I have plenty of faith in me as an individual, but I am not a great beauty to inspire the love of someone like Aidan. Ijust do not believe that a man would find me attractive after all these years. I was practically on the shelf when I met him.”
Octavia grunted in exasperation. “The men you met were pompous idiots who were too terrified of a tall, intelligent woman. You are too original for those men.”
“Will you help me discuss my options, or must we end this conversation for the night?”
Octavia sighed, her bony shoulders drooping in defeat. “Perhaps you will view this differently once you sleep. Why not discuss something else?”
Nodding, Gwen took her seat. “I had high hopes. It is ever so lonely with only you and Papa to talk to.”
Octavia chuckled. “What of Lady Hays and Lady Astley? They converse with you at every event you attend.”
Gwen groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “I wish they would not. Lady Hays is a sweet old woman, but she quite forgets what she was speaking about, and Lady Astley is a spiteful harridan. If her husband were not so important and wealthy, she would not get away with half the things she says.”
Octavia must have moved back to the bench, her tone defiant when she responded. “I think it’s all going to work out and you’ll have many wonderful friends if you allow yourself to believe.”
The ache in her heart increased, threatening to overwhelm her with the memories of what had been and ideas of what could be.
The night before, she had been locked in Aidan’s embrace while he explored her body with his lips.
Tonight she sat with Octavia arguing in her room, and the most notable thing to look forward to this evening was her dinner tray. “I gave it a chance. I opened my heart only to discover that I was still Gwen, Gwen the Spotted Giraffe.”
CHAPTER 17
“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”
Aristotle
Aidan was still frantic for an idea of how to convince his wife of his deep regard when Jenson announced that the wives of the guests present had arrived for dinner.
He had some hazy ideas of what he might like to do, but not a solid plan. Beneath his breath, he cursed. Further interruptions to stall his thoughts! He needed to formulate a proper plan from the pieces he had gathered, but they refused to form into a whole!
The gentlemen adjourned to the small drawing room where Aidan’s sister, his cousin, his mother, and the duchess were gathered. Lily stood in the middle of the room, hopping up and down while holding something unrecognizable in her hand.
The moment she saw him, she ran forward eagerly.
“Aidan! I brought something for you. Annabel had it in her attic. It took us the longest time to find it. Actually, there was a whole crate of them, but we just brought the one because we thought it might be useful.”
Aidan ignored his sister’s excited chatter to stare at what she was holding. “What is it?”
Lily held it up, then carefully pulled and pushed to reveal that it telescoped out into a large sphere. “It is a Chinese lantern. Annabel had them strung for a ball that she and the duke held a few months ago. See!” Lily held it up again, spinning it slowly. “We thought it would be just the thing. To show Gwen that you love her.” Lily stopped, frowning at the paper contrivance before tilting her chin to glare at him.
“You do love her, do you not? That is why we are here?”
Aidan lifted his hand to chuck her under the chin affectionately. Lily’s thoughts sometimes jumbled out of her mouth faster than most could comprehend. He knew the trick was to respond to the most important one first.
“Of course I do.”
