“Was there a particular reason why?”
“Apparently, I used to tease her relentlessly when I was younger, and she was determined to hold that against me.”
“How have you kept your growing attachment to Rebecca from your parents?”
Mr. Drew’s smile dimmed. “As long as I fulfill my duties, my parents do not pay me much heed,” he shared. “It has been that way since I was a young lad.”
“I can relate.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” he said. “I do wish they would shower some attention on my younger sister, but they just sent her off to boarding school.”
“How old is she?”
“Twelve.”
“That seems young.”
A pained look came to his eyes. “I was sent away to school at that age,” he shared. “At times, I felt that my parents were pleased to be rid of me.”
“I am sure that wasn’t the case.”
He shifted his gaze away from hers as he admitted, “They rarely sent for me, even though I wrote them faithfully every week.”
“Did you attend Eton?”
He shook his head. “No, nothing that grand,” he said. “I attended a boarding school out of a parsonage house, and it was only a few hours away by coach. At any point, my parents could have sent the coach and had me come home for a holiday. But they never did.”
Henrietta could hear the sadness in Mr. Drew’s voice, and she felt compassion well up inside of her. “I am sorry that you were forced to endure that.”
“Thank you for that, but it was no more than I could handle.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
Mr. Drew’s horse pawed at the ground, drawing his attention. “It would appear that my horse has had enough of my wallowing.”
“I don’t think you are wallowing.”
He met her gaze. “Would you care to race back to your townhouse?”
“That hardly seems fair,” she replied.
“Why is that?”
“Because I already beat you pretty soundly.”
He gave her an amused look. “We shall see.”
As Charles shrugged on his blue jacket, he chided himself for how he had spoken to Henrietta the day before. He kept reliving that conversation over and over, and he couldn’t believe he had confided in her so easily. There was something about her that made him want to confide in her, to trust her. That was absurd. They hardly knew one another.
He realized he became lost to anything else when he stared deeply into her blue eyes. What was wrong with him? He had been around beautiful women before, but none of them captivated him like Henrietta did. If he didn’t learn to curb his tongue around her, he would lose her as a friend, and he didn’t want to do that. No, he had the strangest desire to hold on to Henrietta and never let her go.
His valet’s voice broke through his musings. “Will that be all, my lord?”
Blast it. Charles had been so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed Andrews was still in his bedchamber. “Yes, that will be all.”
Andrews gave him a concerned look. “Are you well?”
“I am,” he replied, walking over to the door. “I’m afraid that I have a lot on my mind.”
