Tears threatened to spill over. She was not going to cry. Not for him. After all his trickery, he wasn’t worth it.
She turned toward the servants’ stairs. They were steeper and narrower than the main staircase, but Elizabeth ran up them, gasping for air when she reached the second floor. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm herself before going the rest of the way to her chamber.
If only she could escape to her father’s home, but he would just tell her to return to her husband. Even Gavin and her aunt would tell her she must try to make her marriage work.
Straightening her shoulders, she stepped into the corridor and strode to the apartment she and Geoffrey shared. Once in the entry, she turned toward her room.
Since their wedding she had slept in his bedchamber. Beginning tonight she would sleep in hers.
Vickers was closing a trunk when Elizabeth entered. She hadn’t thought of what she would say to her maid. Mayhap nothing yet.
“I’m not feeling well,” she said, avoiding her maid’s sharp eyes. “I shall take a tray in my room this evening.”
“I knew all this hustle and bustle was going to wear you to a thread.” Vickers hurried to Elizabeth. “Just give me a minute, and I’ll have you in your nightgown.”
Blinking her eyes to keep the tears at bay, she stood while her maid unlaced the gown. Despite all her efforts, one tear, then two slid down her cheeks. She dashed them away, hoping Vickers would not notice.
But when Elizabeth sat at her toilet table, her maid met her eyes in the mirror. “What’s this now?”
“I can’t talk about it.” She shook her head. “Not yet. Tell his lordship”—if he should ask—“that I am indisposed.”
“Yes, my lady. A cool cloth dipped in lavender water might help, and some chamomile tea.”
“I just want to rest for a while.” Elizabeth could barely think.
She did not know what she was going to do next. All she knew was that she could not share a bed with him until she worked it out. The thought that she had given herself to him so willingly made her ill.
How could she have been so wrong? At least she wasn’t the only one. He had deceived her friends as well, and they were watching him closely.
Her chest ached as if her heart was actually breaking in two. She felt as if she was sinking into a black pit and could not climb out. All she wanted to do was sleep until all the pain went away.
Tears pooled in her eyes again. She blinked them back.
I will not weep, I will not weep, I will not weep.
For a moment, she considered marching into the study and telling him what she thought. Unfortunately, his father would be present. And what would she do if he told her that of course he didn’t love her and she had been a goose for believing he did? Well, she might have to travel with him, but that was all she was going to do. She would be hisqualifiedwife.
If that is all Geoffrey Harrington wants from me, that is all he shall get!
If only she had known now deceitful he was. If only she could disappear.
* * *
Geoff finished his conversation with his father, and made his way to the main stairs.
“My lord,” Gibson said. “Did Lady Harrington find you?”
“No, she did not. Do you know where she is?” The way she had been running around, she could be anywhere from the attics to the kitchen.
“I am sorry to say I do not, my lord.”
“Very well. I’ll find her.” Elizabeth had talked about a basket for the journey. She might be with the cook.
When he got to the kitchen, he discovered she had already been and gone. He searched the main parts of the house and sent a footman to the attic.
After looking in at his grandmother’s apartment he went to his own. She wasn’t in his bedchamber or their parlor. Where the devil could she be?
Finally, he remembered she had a room of her own. Not that she had spent any time in it. When he knocked on the door her maid came out.
