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“Plus, all you’d be teaching her is to keep quiet about what she’s feeling, and it’s hard enough to tell what a woman wants even when she’s talking to you.” Edwin said as he walked around the table, looking for his next shot.
“She’s certainly not doing much of that,” he muttered, giving a small sigh. If only he should be so lucky as to have Grace actually telling him what was going on in that beautiful head of hers.
“Give it time,” Wesley said, with his usual rakish grin. “She’ll come around. Women like to see us making an effort.” If anyone would know what a woman wanted, it was certainly Wesley. Alex had been considered a rake as well, but he’d never seen women flock to anyone the way they had to Wesley. He was just different enough from the rest of the men in the ton, with his long, sun-bleached hair and tanned skin, for them to be fascinated by him.
“And be consistent,” Hugh said. Something about his voice made it sound like he repeating a rule he’d learned by rote. Which, of course, he had when his father had been giving him lessons. “Don’t ever let her get away with something, no matter how much she begs or pleads. Don’t get distracted or allow her to seduce you. If you say that she’s going to be punished for something, then she needs to be disciplined every time she makes an infraction. Otherwise it’s just confusing for everyone involved.”
“Noted,” Alex murmured.
A tension he hadn’t even noticed was there seemed to be lifting from his shoulders as the men all showed both approval and encouragement of his actions. Since his father had never administered corporeal punishment to Alex, it wasn’t something he was familiar with and he was reassured by having others to converse on the subject with. Men who knew his and Grace’s history and who were supportive of the reconciliation. Before meeting Wesley, he hadn’t encouraged any relationships with anyone, because most of the men of the ton were either vehemently disapproving of Grace or wanted to seduce her. He’d found that he had little patience with men who spoke disparagingly of his wife, and none at all with the others.
******
Alex had to admire Lady Hyde's acumen when it came to seating arrangements. She'd put him in between herself and Cynthia, buffering him from Irene and giving Grace the space she needed to relax. Cynthia was next to Hugh, which allowed Wesley to sit across from her and keep a weather eye on her antics. Although, so far, she'd been quite pleasant, if a trifle overly familiar with all of the gentlemen. It was obvious that she didn't mean anything by it, it was just in her nature to be both friendly and flirtatious. Alex was fairly certain that she didn't even realize the full extent of her attractions - she seemed to save all of her calculated flirtations for her husband.
Although that didn't stop Wesley from giving Hugh a dark look when Cynthia giggled at yet another of his many quips. Fortunately Irene didn't seem to be upset or jealous over Hugh and Cynthia's conversation.
Tonight, Alex had realized just how much he'd watched over Irene in the past, obviously to the detriment of his own marriage. His automatic response was always to check on her, ensure that she was enjoying herself and that she wasn't feeling left out or overwhelmed. Now his attention was more on Grace, but he still felt that old, familiar tug on his senses, demanding that he protect the young woman he considered his little sister.
Even with Hugh there, it was hard to mentally hand off responsibility.
But he did his best, listening to the conversation between Eleanor, Grace and Wesley, very occasionally adding his own input. At the head of the table, Irene and Edwin were talking about Hugh's estates and life in the country. He was telling her about his parents, whom the ton knew as eccentrics, seeing as they didn't even come into the capital for the Season if they could help it. As the dinner went on, it became easier to ignore Irene; helped, of course, by his greater interest in his own wife.
"Where will go you after the wedding is over?" Grace was asking Wesley. Her eyes flitted over to Alex, and then immediately away again when she saw that he was looking at her. The question garnered Cynthia's attention, turning her away from Hugh, as she looked at Wesley, her head cocked slightly to the side. Apparently, whatever plans he had, he hadn't seen fit to inform his future wife about.
"We hadn't discussed it yet," Wesley said, a small smile alighting his face as he looked over at his soon-to-be wife. "Probably somewhere on the Continent."
"Paris," Cynthia said definitively, her eyes coming alight with excitement at the thought of seeing new places.
Wesley raised an eyebrow at her. Paris was certainly a popular choice, but he wasn't entirely enamored of the idea of Cynthia surrounded by Frenchmen. Men were always going to be intrigued by her ample charms, but the French would certainly be the most outspoken about it.
"Perhaps," he allotted. "Italy is also beautiful this time of year."
Cynthia opened her mouth as if to argue, and then seemed to think better of it as Wesley gave her another warning look from across the table. Alex wondered if he could use such a look to the same effect with Grace. Probably not, since she was doing her best to avoid his gaze anyway. During the dinner he’d made it a point to study the other men and how they interacted with their wives. All three of them made great use of certain, firm, looks when they felt like their wives were bordering on being rude or beginning a discussion they didn’t approve of. More interestingly was how they easily managed to catch their wives’ eyes.
A small shift in position, a discreet cough, and that was all it took. Alex was determined to try it with Grace eventually, although from watching her he knew that she was peeking at him on a regular basis anyway. He didn’t even try to hide his own focus on her, he wanted her to see how she took up his attention entirely.
"Eleanor and I quite enjoyed Paris," Edwin said, grinning down the length of the table at his wife. The blushing, happy look she gave him only reminded Alex of the way he and Grace used to have such easy intimacy and significant looks. Hell, he used to smile; now, whenever he did so, it felt like a strain on his facial muscles, they were so out of practice.
Still, they were at this dinner as a couple, and despite the moments of tension, overall the evening was going well. Grace hadn't been rude or insulting, she'd even responded to him once during the conversation, and sometimes it was almost possible to forget that they were the only unhappy couple at the table. This was what he'd been missing all these years.
The intimate gathering was something he’d been missing as well. This was the kind of small party that marked very deep friendships, where there was no pomp or circumstance, no social masks or pretense. Not since his school days had he had friendships this close, and it was all the more enjoyable because they were Grace’s friends as well. If anything could help heal the breach between him and his wife, it was the people around this table.
******
They rode back to their house at the end of the evening in silence. In some ways, Grace wished this evening had never happened. When Alex was being pleasant and charming, when they were surrounded by friends and enjoying themselves, it was almost hard to remember that things hadn't always been that way between them. Tonight had been so close to being everything Grace had hoped for, wished for, in a marriage. Except that it was years too late.
It made her irritable, despite the nice night that she'd had.
"Come on, Gracie," Alex said, holding out his hand to help her out of the carriage.
"Can't you just call me Grace?" she asked waspishly, only holding on to his fingers as long as she had to. As soon as her feet were firmly planted on solid ground, she snatched her hand away, and felt slightly mollified by the flash of irritation in his eyes.
"If you wish," he said, his voice carefully amiable.
Which just made her want to poke at him more. After tonight, she truly believed that he wanted to start over and pretend as if nothing in the past had happened. While that meant that he would forgive and forget her lovers, she was finding it quite a bit harder to forgive and forget his transgressions. Perhaps because she had been ordered to, rather than being allowed to make that decision on her own. Instead, she was just supposed to go along with what he wanted.
Even if he was acting like a caring husband in public, in front of their friends, she was sure that there must be some kind of nefarious reason underneath. She didn't put any credence in Eleanor's theory that he had missed her. Why would he? He'd proven very early in their marriage that any woman truly was as good as another. It was more likely that he just wanted to eradicate the scandal of their marriage by resolving it and showing Society just what a big, strong man he was.
