AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Thirteen
Breakfastthenextmorningwas a quiet affair as only Lord Weston was present, with his plate of eggs, toast, and ham. Grace had come down every morning for weeks. The room felt far too large and echoed far too much without her. He picked at his eggs with his fork. He didn’t blame her for not coming down. The lie he’d been perpetrating was no small one.
Voices from the corridor outside told him he wouldn’t be alone for long.
The door open and Lord Brown walked inside, Grace on his arm.
Ezra’s stomach turned a sharp flip. Grace greeted him with a smile, but it was a fake one. He knew her too well now. The spark in her eyes which he’d come to love was missing. The sincere optimism was lacking. And it was all his fault.
Grace and Lord Brown made their way to the sideboard and began filling their plates. They talked easily of the day promising fine weather and of their thoughts on that evening’s Twelfth Night ball. Grace stayed close to Lord Brown, making it painfully clear she had no desire to speak with Ezra. Soon, the others entered the room. Lord Andrews gave him a sympathetic smile. Apparently the fact that he and Grace had had a falling out was not a secret. Frances entered the room and crossed to him quickly, taking a seat at his side.
“Good morning, Brother,” she said too cheerfully.
He only scowled back.
“How is the jam this morning? Worth the trouble?”
“I want to speak to you.” Ezra stood, taking Frances’s hand and pulling her to her feet.
“Well, excellent, because I have some splendid ideas on what we can do between now and the ball tonight.” She chatted the entire way to the door. “I would hate to grow bored with nothing to do all day.”
They rounded the corner and Ezra glanced around them. No one else was in sight.
He turned back to his sister. “What are you doing here?”
Her eyes went wide, but her attempt at innocence was wasted on him. “I’m getting breakfast.”
“Frances,” he warned.
She folded her arms, her expression instantly morphing into one of annoyance. “Katherine wrote to me. Informed me that you were carrying on with that girl from the country.”
Blasted letters. It was letters that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. Now, it was a letter that was making everything worse.
“She’s not ‘that girl from the country.’ She’s a beautiful young lady. One I happen to find immensely attractive and everything a lady ought to be.”
Frances shrugged with one shoulder. “I told you not to isolate yourself so during the Season. Now you can’t see the difference between quality and...that.”
“You will speak of her with respect.”
Frances listed her head. “Has she bewitched you so completely?”
Yes, most certainly. All thanks to Frances’s immature refusal to respond to a letter five months ago. But he wasn’t ready to admit quite so much to his sister. He needed to speak with Grace first. He wanted things settled between them before he spoke out of turn and yet again risked losing all.
“If you were truly a woman of good breeding,” he said, “you would show every person respect, no matter their station.”
Frances’s nose wrinkled. “Not according to my governess.” She pushed past him and strode back into the breakfast room.
Ezra stayed out in the corridor, listening to the sounds of voices and the occasional bit of laughter. He recognized Grace’s voice once then twice among the din but couldn’t make out exactly what she was saying.
He stood there, wholly unsure what to do. He wanted, more than anything, to go back into the breakfast room and sit beside Grace. See if there wasn’t some way they could find the ease and friendship that they’d shared so readily this holiday season. Part of him didn’t dare. He’d seen already that his presence was not wanted, that she had no desire to speak with him or even look at him.
Eventually, people started leaving the room. Grace was among them, walking beside Lady Augusta. She wasn’t smiling as he moved up beside her.
“May I have a word?” he asked in a low tone.
Lady Augusta looked to Grace, silently asking if she wished to be left alone with him.
It hurt that whether Grace would care to speak to him was an uncertainty.
