“That might be true,” Leonard agreed. “You may be a good match for one another. Goodness knows, you’re the two people I’ve had the least success in trying to control in my own life.”
As he said it, he felt a niggling sense of doubt in the back of his mind. There was something wrong with the theory he was putting forward. Would they really benefit one another because they were so similar? Or would that actually turn out to be a recipe for chaos?
Well, if it is, it will be for them to deal with. Not me. I’ve played my part in all of this, and the Lord knows it hasn’t gone well at all
“You have my permission for all of this,” he said. “You may speak to Prudence about it. And if she likes your idea, I’ll go along with it. I’ll get the annulment, and she can marry you instead.Ifshe agrees. Only if she wants to.”
He found himself hoping, strangely, that she wouldn’t want to.If she could leave me behind that easily for Peter, would our time together have meant anything at all?
Then again, he had left her behind first. He had as good as abandoned her by coming out to the country, and she had told him that she didn’t want him to go.
Could he blame her now if she decided to give up on a marriage that he had, to all intents and purposes, given up on already?
I couldn’t possibly hold it against her.
If she chooses Peter now, it will be no more than I deserve.
CHAPTER 36
“Your Grace, I have some rather unexpected news,” Hawkins said, lingering in the doorway of the breakfast room.
“Say what you have to say, Hawkins.” Prudence didn’t look up from the toast to which she was busily applying jam. “I have a busy day ahead.”
Prudence hadn’t allowed herself to sit still after those first two days of distress. Today’s ambition was to visit the gardens and come up with a new plan for their design. She hoped to integrate more color into the flowers. It was an area of the house Leonard had never given much attention to, and she’d had a mind to begin working on it for some time now. It had always been her plan to do this once Leonard left for the country, but she had allowed herself to forget that plan in hopes that he might stay after all.
But now that he was gone, she would return to her goal. And when the garden was ready to go, she would have a big party to celebrate her achievements. That would give her something to look forward to in the days to come.
“I understand, Your Grace,” Hawkins said. “It’s just that we have a visitor. Or… perhaps visitor is not the appropriate word in this instance.”
“What do you mean?” A shiver ran down her spine.Nota visitor? Someone who belonged here, then? But that had to be Leonard! Had he thought better of his plans and come home after all?
A figure rounded the corner.
It took Prudence a moment to process what—who—she was seeing. At first, the only thing that registered wasnot Leonard, and she was filled with a bitter disappointment.
Then she placed him. “Peter.”
“Your Grace,” he said, bowing to her.
“You’ve come back.”
“I have.”
“You’re too late, I’m afraid. Leonard is no longer here,” she said. “But I can tell you where he’s gone.”
“No, Your Grace. I came to see you,” Peter replied.
She raised her eyebrows. “To see me? You and I have nothing to discuss, do we?”
“I think we do, as a matter of fact,” he said. “You see, I’ve already been to see my brother, and I know the state of things between the two of you.”
“I see,” she said slowly. “Are you here to reprimand me, then?”
“To reprimand you? Of course not. Why would I do that?”
“Perhaps you feel that I let you down,” she suggested. “Maybe you think I didn’t do a satisfactory job in my marriage to your brother. Obviously, I failed to make him happy.”
“A Herculean task if ever there was one,” Peter said. “You forget, I have known Leonard all my life. I never expected him to be happy in a marriage. In any marriage. I wouldn’t blame yourself, Your Grace. I don’t think anyone could have done more than you did.”
