“I have no doubt. You always know how to help someone enjoy themselves.” Alex paused, sliding his wedding ring up and down his finger before settling it back in place. Henry hated the resentment brewing in his belly, the knowledge that he had chosen his path, one ending with a marriage of convenience and never love.
“Henry,” Alex said, as though reading his mind, “if you decide you don’t want to go through with the marriage, you know I’d help you figure it out.”
Henry scoffed. He had made his own sinful bed, and now he must lie in it.
“I appreciate the offer.” Henry shrugged. “I still have some time. Perhaps I’ll find some adventure first.”
Chapter 4
“Isthisseattaken?”
Ellie looked up with a start and felt the thrum of pleasure that always warmed her chest when Henry was near. She shot him a playful glare, then shifted her bag out of the way. Henry sat down as he always did, spreading himself out and taking up space, not at all bothered by the fact that the lecture had started ten minutes ago.
A week had passed since they had last seen each other, which was not uncommon. They rarely interacted outside the context of these lectures and taking tea afterwards; as much as she enjoyed his company, she liked it that way. The boundaries between them were clear; if she did not hold him too close, she could let him when he inevitably disappeared again.
He withdrew a pen and small notebook from his inside jacket pocket but made no moves to open it, instead leaning over. “I figured something out.”
She shot him a warning glance and gestured with her pen towards Doctor Egglesford. “Tell me after the lecture,” she hissed out of the corner of her mouth.
“I’m terrible at waiting,” Henry replied, his voice slightly louder.
Ellie glared at him, then looked pointedly back at the lecturer. Henry huffed and scooted his chair closer to hers. “You’ll want to hear this. I figured out how you can see Rome.”
She spun to face him and completely forgot to keep her voice down. “You did?”
Henry gave her a shocked look and shushed her—loudly. She flushed to the tips of her ears before slinking back into her seat as Egglesford glared in their direction. Henry’s face split into a wide grin.
“You did?” she repeated in a whisper.
He nodded and gestured at their professor. “I’ll tell you about it after the lecture.”
Ellie suppressed a smile, pushing her glasses up her nose and turning her attention back to the lecture. The pleasure of being the center of Henry's attention was almost too much to bear. Anyone could see her best friend was an objectively handsome man. With hair as black as a raven’s wing, olive skin, and eyes like pools of the darkest chocolate, he was exotic looking, like a mystery needing to be solved. High cheekbones, a Romanesque nose, and full lips gave his face its natural roguish quality. His effortless charm and sparkling wit simply filled in the pieces. Women were helpless to resist the power of his charisma. Fortunately, Ellie had never been at the receiving end of his seductive charms, and never intended to be.
The next fifty minutes seemed to last a lifetime. When dismissed, she spared only a moment to gather her belongings before grabbing Henry’s sleeve and dragging him into the gallery proper. “All right, tell me.”
He gave her a look of mock innocence. “Tell you what?”
She pushed him—hard—on the shoulder as he grinned at her. “You’re incorrigible. What did you figure out?”
Henry looked at the gentlemen milling around them and lowered his voice. “Walk with me to the gardens. This may take some explaining.”
Ellie’s stomach sank with dread, wondering what wild scheme he had concocted. Henry was well known in London for his creative use of free time. The scandal sheets routinely chronicled his exploits in lurid detail, and Ellie could never tell what was true and what was merely rumor.
Having witnessed her best friend climbing a trellis to retrieve her bonnet after it had blown away, she could believe he would have climbed a fence—and gotten his pants stuck—when attempting to reach the bedroom of a married viscountess. She teased him mercilessly about his misadventures, watching his cheeks glow pink as he searched for a clever turn of phrase to summarize his hijinks.
While she disapproved of the specifics, Ellie was desperately jealous of his freedom. Yes, his name was a legend in the London gossip rags, but he never faced consequences for his actions. Society lauded Henry for his roguish behavior and gave him tacit freedom to chase pleasure at every turn. She, however, only found freedom in widowhood, and society strictly defined even that liberty.
They crossed into Bedford Square and he opened the gate to the gardens to let Ellie through, the heady scents of late spring flowers buffeting her from all sides. “No more waiting.” She planted her hands on her hips. “Tell me.”
Henry lifted her glasses from her nose as he withdrew his handkerchief; after giving the lenses a quick polishing, he returned them to their perch, then gave her a sheepish grin. “I’ll go with you to Italy.”
Her heart soared, then crashed to the earth. “We can’t go alone, it would be—”
“Completely inappropriate, I know,” he finished for her. “But you won’t be allowed to go all alone, and I cannot act as your chaperone.”
Ellie narrowed her gaze at him. “And how would our going together be better?”
Henry drew a deep breath and exhaled through his teeth, as though preparing himself to deliver bad news. “I can pretend to be your husband.”
