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“Yes.”
“That could be for the best.” Again, Theresa patiently tucked away a stray wisp of hair, immediately dislodging three additional strands, which fell in disarray to her nape.
Ariana sat up straighten “There is no one I care to marry, Theresa. No one I love.”
“Do you know so many gentlemen then?”
“Of course not. It’s just that I’ve never met a single one for whom I could feel anything. …” She broke off, appalled at herself when an image of Trenton Kingsley sprang unbidden to her mind.
“You were saying …” Theresa prompted.
“I don’t remember.”
“That is because you’re confused. Wasn’t that what we were discussing?”
“I don’t know what we were discussing.”
“The former.”
“What?”
“The former. Your confusion. It is time to confront it.”
“Yes.” It was a whisper.
“You are confused over your brother’s reasons for wishing you wed?”
“Of course not. Baxter wants me to marry a wealthy man, someone with enough money and generosity to satisfy all my brother’s debts and restore his respectability.”
Theresa nodded. “Well said. Then what is the cause of your confusion? Has it something to do with your fall?”
“No … yes …” Ariana buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know.”
“The precise definition of confusion.”
Ariana raised her head. “Trenton Kingsley is the man who found me in the maze and brought me back to the party.”
“The duke has returned to Sussex?” Theresa inquired.
“To sever Baxter’s betrothal.”
“I see.”
“That doesn’t stun you?”
“Whether or not it stuns me is not the question. Why his presence confuses you is.”
“My instincts have never failed me so miserably.”
“I have never known your instincts to fail you at all.”
“Then this time is the first.”
Theresa did not answer at once; she only studied Ariana with sharp, unreadable, dark eyes. “The allure must have been overpowering,” she stated at last.
Ariana’s stomach lurched with guilt. “The allure?” she managed.
“The night. The mist. The song of the birds and the scent of the flowers. All that normally beckons you. It must have been overpowering to cause you to wander from your brother’s betrothal party.”
