Hudson bowed his head, for this was the worst part. “She told me that she loved me.”
“Oh no...” Elias sighed. “Hudson, that is... perhaps another drink?”
“You told him that you love him?” Albina’s mouth hung open.
“I did...”
“And?” she pressed. “What did he say back?”
Florentia’s head dropped. She was no longer crying, but that did not mean the pain was still not there. “He did not tell me that he loved me back. That is all which matters.”
“Oh, Florentia...” Albina rose from her seat, walked around her best friend, and then wrapped her arms about her from behind. “I am so sorry.”
“It is my fault.”
“Do not do that,” Albina said. “Do not blame yourself. If anyone is to blame, it is His Grace.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she insisted. “I saw you both together—we all did! You had every right to say what you said. And to think he would feel the same. Every right!”
“No...” She sniffed and shook her head. “He is right. He told me on the first day what our marriage was, what was expected of him. I am the one who?—”
“Things change!”
“Apparently not.”
“And I know you, Florentia. As well as anyone. I know that you would not say such words if you did not believe them. You arenot one to flout your feelings like some love-struck maiden. And it is not as if you were trying to fall for him or make him fall for you. He knows this!”
That was what made it so hard. And so real. Florentia had never meant to fall in love with Hudson. The truth was, she’d never wanted to. All she had wanted was a companionable marriage that might see her and her husband have a child together. Love, she had thought, might blossom one day, but it was never the goal. Never sought after or chased!
“It does not matter what he knows. What matters is what I said...” She sniffed again, wiping at her nose as she ignored the horrid pain that wrecked her body. “I have ruined everything.”
“Surely, it is not as bad as you think?”
“It is worse, Albina...” She shook her head. “If I had just kept my mouth shut. My thoughts to myself. If I had just remembered who it was that I was dealing with, I might have avoided this travesty altogether! But now...” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Now he wants nothing to do with me.”
Albina sighed, releasing her arms from around Florentia as she took her seat again. “The words you spoke. They are true?” She looked sadly at her friend; her expression one of deep sympathy. “You love him?”
Florentia nodded. “Even now, after all that has happened. Yes, I do.”
“Then you did the right thing,” Albina said with a firm nod. “Best to say what you felt, rather than live a lie. And if the duke cannot accept that, if he cannot see you for what you are—if he cannot accept how he feels, then that is on him.”
“No, Albina. It is on me.”
“She knew what this was,” Hudson said into his tankard of ale. “What was she thinking, telling me that she loved me?”
Elias sighed. “I suspect she was thinking about how much she loves you.”
“She ruined everything,” he snapped. He was angry at her. Angry at his brother. Angry at himself, most of all. “Our marriage was going so well, Elias. Perfectly. We were happy...I was happy. And you know how rare that is.”
He laughed softly. “I do.”
“I have no choice but to avoid her now,” he sighed and took another deep sip. “I have thought about this for days, and it is all I can do. A few more weeks, perhaps a month or two. Surely, if I give her time away from me, she will realize that whatever she thinks she feels is not as strong as she suspects. That she will get over it.”
“You clearly do not know how love works.”
“What does that mean?”
