AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They both started at the sound of her husband’s booming voice. Here he was, her knight, arrived in the nick of time to save his pregnant wife from her former lover’s evil clutches. Joshua suspected he knew everything about the torrid love affair his wife had had with him before they were married. Or maybe he didn’t know with all certainty—but there was no doubt he knew he was not the first man to know his wife. It probably ate at him—he struck Joshua as the typical sort of man to think his wife’s virginity was his exclusive domain.
There was even less doubt that Wexham knew Sarah’s parents had refused Joshua’s offer for her hand. He looked nervous, his gaze darting back and forth between Joshua and Sarah. Joshua actually felt sorry for him—he wanted to tell Wexham that the flame for his wife had died out long ago.
“Have you come to join the list of suitors?” Wexham asked as he snaked a possessive arm around his wife.
“What? Absolutely not.”
“Really? But she is lovely,” Sarah said. “Quite beautiful.”
The princess’s beauty had nothing to do with anything.
“You should consider it,” Wexham said jovially. “I understand it would be a good life in Wesloria. They’ve come up in the world, you know. Reforms, economic growth, that sort of thing.”
“I have that sort of thing and a good life here,” Joshua said. “Perhaps your brother would prefer a Weslorian life.”
Wexham’s gaze shifted; Joshua followed it. His brother, Mr. Wiltshire, was dancing. Joshua thought his partner was the daughter of Mr. Rowan, a wealthy landowner. That would be a good match for a son destined for the church, as he assumed Wiltshire was. He was smiling at the young woman in a way that Joshua recognized somewhere in the ashes of his soul. Wiltshire liked the lass—even with a princess in the room, his gaze was on the heiress.
What Joshua was feeling, he realized with a jolt, was longing.Longing?What in hell did he long for? To be part of life again? To feel those stirrings for a woman? To perhaps avoid seeing the woman he’d once loved so fully pregnant with another man’s child?
“Darling, you’ve been on your feet. Perhaps you should sit,” Wexham said. He excused them from Joshua’s presence, and Sarah gave him a piteous smile which goaded him. And so Joshua moved on, strolling the perimeter of the ballroom, then slipping into the gaming room.
A couple of familiar faces enticed him into a game. He lost a few pounds and left the table. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself, so he returned to the ballroom. It was amazing to think that he had once inhabited ballrooms across England with ease, and now he felt like a fish out of water.
He wanted to leave now that he’d made an appearance and idly wondered how hard it would be to extract the Hollyfield carriage from the long line of them. The drivers were probably deep into their own games—no one would leave for hours yet, and they would have set up their blankets to roll dice. Someone would have brought ale.
“There you are!”
This time, Joshua knew at once whose feminine voice it was. He sighed to himself and turned. “Lady Aleksander.”
“I’ve been looking for you all night!” she said, as if they’d agreed to meet.
“Why?”
She clucked her tongue at him. “Because I want to see that you are enjoying yourself, and because there is someone I should very much like you to meet.”
“No,” he said at once. “Itoldyou—”
“You haven’t even met her! At least meet the young woman, and if you don’t care for her, I’ll not say another word.”
“Lady—” He sighed. “Lila? I thought I was clear.”
“She’s a widow, too.”
Joshua stared at her, dismayed. “How could you possibly think that would appeal to me?”
“I mean only that you have that in common. I am sure there are many other, more pleasant things you have in common.”
“You must stop. I appreciate your concern—I do. You’re not the first person to think another wife would cure my gloom. But I don’t want your matchmaking. I am not inclined to marry again. So, if you please, I will wish you a good evening.” He gave her a curt bow of his head and turned away, intending to march through the throng. But instead, he ran smack into Princess Amelia coming off the dance floor on the arm of a man he didn’t know.
She looked as startled as he felt. Her face was flushed and there was a bit of a sheen on her forehead. But like any good princess, her tiara was firmly in place. He noticed she had strung gold leaf through the streak of white hair.
“Your Grace!” she said, surprised. “I almost didn’t recognize you.” She leaned forward. “You are missing a beard, I think.”
“Your Royal Highness.”
“The effect is very pleasing.”
“Would you like a refreshment, Your Royal Highness?” asked her escort.
