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Thea touched the ring that adorned her third finger, the one that had belonged to her mother, then smiled at Felicity. “I am ready to leave.”
We walked back along the Sydney Gardens, slowly making our way toward our inn and the carriage that would take us on to London in the morning.
I asked her how the conversation with her brother had gone, and she only smiled and nodded, as though that was enough.
Perhaps, for her, it was.
“Do you need to remain in Bath any longer?” I hoped my preference for this option was not evident in my tone.
“No,” she said. “We gained a good foundation, and I think we can now proceed to know one another better through writing.”
“I am glad things have turned out so well.”
She shot me a wry smile. “Better than I expected, at any rate. I think knowing Archie has led to only more questions, but I cannot find fault in discovering I have a brother who is such a sweet little soul and desires my acquaintance. I was certain the man awaiting me in Mr. Robertson’s office was going to be nearer my age, with an insecure background and a great desire to be introduced to the top echelons of theton.”
“That was certainly a valid concern, given your father’s request that you help your brother’s entrance into Society.”
“Yes, well, it seems that won’t be necessary for a good long time, and it might not be something Archie ever requires of me. I am certain the boy cares for nothing as much as he does horses.”
“Is that not most little boys?”
“I guess I would not know,” she said pleasantly.
After making a wide generalization about the way women acted, which was thoroughly discredited, perhaps I ought not to make any generalizations at all. I considered how I’d been wrong and in what light it had made Thea see me. With the discovery that I misunderstood the way women had treated me, I wanted to ask Thea to explain her opinions one more time, to try to see myself the way she saw me.
It was not lost on me now that she could be correct in her concerns about my behavior, and that stung. I had thus far operated under the belief that she was being unfair in her declaration that I was similar to her father, but she had seen me exhibit traits that were not typical, accepting flirtations that were not as innocent as I’d believed them to be. She had a valid reason for being concerned.
“Can I ask you something that is of a more delicate nature?” I asked, leaning closer to her. James and Felicity were a bit ahead of us on the walking path, but I knew my voice could easily carry to them if they cared to listen. Felicity was speaking now, so I trusted that they weren’t paying me any mind.
“You can always ask, though I will not agree to answer until I know the question.”
“Fair enough.” I clasped my hands loosely behind my back to still their fidgeting. “Last night at the musicale when Mrs. Rossi was . . . speaking to me . . . you walked away. What was it that bothered you?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “I was notbotheredby anything. I simply did not feel the need to watch the woman drape herself over you as though she’d suddenly lost all recollection of how to stand on her own two feet.”
A victorious smile widened my lips. Thea had beenjealous. I might have a great distance to go to become good enough for her, but that was certainly a sign that she had not entirely lost interest. “Of course, there is one way to stop the ladies from draping themselves over me.”
“Removing them from your arm?”
She was correct, and that was at the base of why Thea did not have enough faith in me. “Never mind. There are two ways.”
“The second?” she asked.
“For you to be draped over my arm instead.”
She shook her head, her steps gaining speed. It had been the wrong thing to say.
“Thea, wait,” I asked, desperate for another chance to prove myself better than she expected—though not, I hoped, better than she believed possible.
“What, Ben?” The tired way in which she said my name worried me.
I swallowed. “I should not have made light of something that bothers you. But now that I am aware of the issue, I will take better note of it and make an effort to change.” I took her arm and tugged her to a stop, heedless of what my brother or Felicity might think. “I want a chance, Thea. A real chance.”
“And I need to protect myself. I will not live a lifetime of wondering where you are every night or whom you are with. I will not stand beside my husband while he allows opera singers to drape themselves over his arm. I watched my parents ruin one another’s happiness, and I will not have that.” She shook her head and stole her arm from my grasp. “We will always be friends, Benedict, but nothing more.”
Thea turned away from me and hurried toward James and Felicity, who were still walking on the path and heedless of what had happened just behind them—of Thea breaking my heart.
Chapter29
