“I know he made promises?—”
“And broke them,” she cut in. “What does it matter now?”
There was sorrow in his eyes. “I don’t wish to cause you more pain. I only want you to know I’m here if you need to talk.”
Olivia shook her head, blinking rapidly. “Thank you, but I have no desire to dwell on him. I am a married woman now.”
He pressed his lips together. “Yes, I have heard.”
Olivia gave him a brittle smile. “Shall we enjoy a cup of tea and speak of more pleasant things?”
But Mr. Addington did not sit. His eyes, filled with quiet intensity, remained fixed on her. “Feelings are not so easily dismissed, Olivia. I’ve known you since childhood. I can tell when you’re pretending.”
Olivia met his gaze with open defiance. “And what would you have me do? Languish over a man who discarded me like yesterday’s newssheets?”
The pain in her voice struck Theodosia like a blow. She could feel her friend’s heartbreak pulsing in the very air.
Mr. Addington’s voice was heavy with regret. “I know how much he meant to you...”
Olivia’s hand came up, stilling his words. “He lied. He promised me a future, and then he married another. That is the whole of it.”
He took another step towards her. “Tell me how I can make it right.”
“You can’t,” she whispered, her voice tight with unshed tears. “And that is the greatest cruelty of all. Excuse me.”
She turned abruptly and fled the room, her skirts brushing the doorframe as she disappeared.
Theodosia made to follow, but Mr. Addington’s quiet words halted her.
“Poor Olivia,” he murmured, gazing after her. “She’s always been so brave.”
Theodosia remained silent, unsure of what to say.
Mr. Addington continued. “She once fell from a tree and broke her arm clean through. She didn’t shed a single tear—not even when the doctor set the bone. But heartbreak… heartbreak is harder to hide.”
Curiosity tugged at her. “Why did Lord Harwood marry another?”
Mr. Addington’s expression darkened. “Because he’s selfish. Always has been. I suspect it had to do with his new wife’s dowry.”
“But Olivia had a dowry of twenty thousand pounds. That is no small sum.”
With a frown, Mr. Addington revealed, “His bride brought forty.”
Theodosia drew in a quiet breath. So that was the price of a broken heart.
“I believe I should take my leave,” Mr. Addington said, his voice tinged with regret. “It seems I may have only added to the distress rather than soothed it.”
“You meant well,” Theodosia responded. “You are a loyal friend.”
At that, a shadow flickered across his face, and his jaw tightened. “Yes… a friend,” he echoed. “Olivia and I have been through a lot over the years, and I need to know she is all right.”
There was something in the way he said it that gave Theodosia pause. He might not have declared it aloud, but his feelings for Olivia surely went deeper than friendship. She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could speak, a familiar voice cut through the room.
“Addington,” Lord Wilton said from the threshold, his tone unmistakably curt. “What brings you by?”
Mr. Addington turned towards Lord Wilton. “I came to speak with Olivia.”
“And yet you are here alone… with Miss Theodosia,” Lord Wilton replied, each word slow and clipped.
