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“No. I am afraid to say that whatever has gone wrong, their marriage is not what it used to be. They used to be close. They were always sharing loving looks and working together to run the house. Of course, father always used to make the decisions, and mother oversaw the staff, but that was fine. Everybody was content. Now, father appears to almost resent everyone and his relationship with my mother has suffered badly.”
“Has your mother never mentioned why?”
“No. She won’t discuss it. Of course, it doesn’t help that whenever she asks for things to happen, like the study needs a new décor, father always puts her off. When Wilhelmina asks for anything, she gets it without question. Whenever mother takes him to task over something, he gets angry and resents her questioning him. It is unfair, especially when the house is practically falling apart yet he won’t do anything to repair it. Mother, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to have an opinion anymore. She is largely ignored and invariably scolded when she does try to say something. I think she is going to go to Aunt Sophia’s with us but will be even less likely to return than me.” Sian tipped her head back to look at him. “Do you know something? I don’t think father would care either. He certainly wouldn’t go after her.”
They sat in silence for a while.
“The man is a fool. There should be nothing a man won’t do for the woman he loves,” Ryan murmured.
Sian studied him. “You sound as if you know that from experience.”
She questioned the wisdom of sitting alone like this with him. If he was in love with someone else, it was wrong to expect him to have any kind of affection toward her. She didn’t want to be his second or, worse, third choice. Sian knew she wanted so much more from Ryan than being his passing fancy until someone more suitable came along. When she looked at the door, though, she couldn’t find the will to get up and leave.
“I am just saying that there is nothing a man in love won’t do to not only capture but keep the woman he loves. However, it can make him a little stern.”
“Stern?” Sian blinked. It wasn’t the word she expected.
“Yes, because he will accept nothing less than the same depth of emotion from said woman in return.”
Sian felt a shiver of delight sweep down her spine. It should have been thrilling but was tinged with a faint warning she suspected was driven by the somewhat cautious look in his eye.
“Are you in love with someone?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
Sian’s heart flipped in her chest. She waited, but rather than answer her, Ryan stood up and moved over to the fireplace. He stared moodily into the flames for several moments.
“I have been in love for several years,” he murmured thoughtfully.
When he sucked in a breath, it was to find Sian straightening her shawl in preparation to leave. It was obvious she was upset. He heaved a sigh of relief.
“She is a very lucky woman,” Sian whispered in a voice thick with emotion.
Ryan opened his mouth to speak only for Hargreaves to knock and enter the room. “What is it this time?” he sighed.
Hargreaves looked from the master of the house to the delightful guest and back again.
“The groomsman has asked for you to call upon him, sir. There is a problem at one of the farms, and it is urgent,” Hargreaves reported.
Ryan bit out a curse and looked apologetically at Sian.
“It’s all right,” she assured him, doing her best to battle her tears. “I am going to bed. I hope everything is all right.”
“It isn’t. It is far from all right,” Ryan growled.
Rather than follow him, Ryan nodded at Hargreaves, who left the room. Once the door was closed, Ryan stalked over to Sian, swept her into a hug, and kissed her with all the emotion he had just been prevented from revealing to her. By the time he did leave the room, he was even angrier at losing the opportunity to change his future and left a somewhat dazed and confused Sian staring after him.
When he had gone, Sian collapsed onto the nearest chaise and stared blankly into the fire while she tried to understand what had just happened. Ryan had just said he was in love with someone. Of that there could be no doubt. He had just outright said so but hadn’t told her who he was in love with. But if he was as in love as he claimed, why was he kissing her? She couldn’t be the woman he was in love with, could she? Ryan had said he had been in love for years, so it couldn’t be to her. Until recently, she had only seen him a handful of times, and even then, they had only met in passing. There was no earthly way he could have fallen in love with her.
“He must be in love with someone else,” she whispered.
A surge of jealousy hit her that was so strong Sian struggled to know what to do. She wanted to pack her things and leave, but then wanted to know who the lucky recipient of his adoration was. She wanted to tell her mother; ask her advice, but also wanted to mull everything over herself a little more before she discussed it with anybody and in doing so, revealed her true feelings for Ryan. Her mother would ask questions and have expectations and would be terribly disappointed if nothing came from them.
“Mother has enough problems on her hands,” Sian whispered.
“Hello.”
“Oh, hello.” Sian turned to watch Norman move across the room to join her. He bowed politely before taking a seat in one of the high-backed chairs before the fire.
