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“I thought…I was just so naïve.” Resting the cup on the table in front of her, she drew her knees up on the edge of the sofa and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on the top of her joined knees. “I never thought to question why an earl would connect himself to a family with such humble connections and so readily. I thought he was just an honorable gentleman rescuing me from scandal. But I see now that is only what I wanted to see. When I spoke to him of love then, he has been so dismissive.”
Love… how naïve. A marriage connection has nothing to do with love. Your limited views and understanding of how the world operates will change as you mature.
Even now, she recalled with clarity his cutting words and almost amused countenance.
“Oscar had mentioned that our marriage was a mutually beneficial arrangement. At the time, I did not understand how it benefited him, and I should have known! I am not an outstanding beauty or a woman of great wit. The only thing I had of worth then was my substantial dowry. And he…he married me for it and then left me alone for three years. If I had not accepted Charity’s dare to seduce him, that divide might still be between us.”
Theo shifted to curl her feet beneath her thighs on the sofa. “Regrettably, he married you for money, but do not forget he also rescued you from ruin. From what you told me, the possibility of the scandal was high, and your Aunt Beatrice would have done everything in her power, even ruining you, to ensure you netted a title and an earl is an excellent catch. I’m afraid you would not have escaped that trap even if you had known his intentions.”
Prue saw the truth of Theo’s words. Still, there was a heavy press upon her heart that would not go away. It was quite difficult to put the agony of doubt into words, and Prue suddenly saw the only solution was speaking with her husband maturely. “I must speak to Wycliffe,” she said, standing. “I…I want to understand what he feels for me now.”
Theo also stood, her expression concerned. “Prue, are you wondering if he loves you?”
She firmed her lips, so they did not tremble. “Yes.”
“And what if he does not?”
She flinched and Theo sighed. “Oh, Prue. Not all gentlemen are capable of finer sentiments. When I saw you last week at the opera, you were glowing. That tells me he treats you kindly and with respect.”
“I want more,” she said hoarsely.
“He might not be able to offer more, and you would have to accept that—”
She fisted her palms as the ache welled deep inside her. “Would you have accepted less from your duke, Theo? Would you have married Hartford if he had not loved you?”
A lengthy silence rife with tension settled in the small parlor.
Theo’s eyes had widened. “The only reason I married Hartford was that he promised me the world…and such love…I….” Her throat worked on a swallow. “I understand, Prue. There was a moment I thought I did not matter to Sebastian, that I was only…an affair, and my heart shattered, for I was in love with him, desperately so. I did not want to be alone in my feelings. Alone in my love. I’d even thought at one time that it might take me a lifetime to recover from the pain of not having Sebastian’s love in return.”
Prue swiped away the tear that trekked down her cheek. “Precisely so.” To be alone in her love for him while he remained indifferent to it was unbearable.
She hugged her friend, made herself presentable with Theo’s assistance to rearrange her hair and went home.
Before approaching her husband,Prue took a long bath and donned a simple but stylish beautiful light green dress. She left her hair loose to tumble down her back, and she wore no shoes. Padding down the hallway in her bare feet, she first checked the study and found it empty. Her next stop was the library, and there she found him seated behind his large desk, bent over a mountain of papers. She must have made a sound, for he glanced up, and his brown eyes warmed with welcome.
“I missed you at dinner. I thought you might have gone to your club.”
Prue sauntered further into the room, closing the door behind her. “I paid a call at my parents’ townhouse. Then after, I went to 48 Berkeley Square.”
His gaze skipped over her face, and with a frown, he lowered the quilt. “You have been crying.”
She waved a hand dismissively. “That is not of import.”
He stood and moved from around the desk. “My wife’s tears and the reason for her upset is very important to me,” he said coolly. “What happened?”
Her husband sounded as if he would crush the person he believed to have hurt her. She almost laughed at the irony. Oscar slipped his hands around her waist and drew her close. That look in his eyes and the sensual tenderness of his touch caused a breathless exhilaration to scythe through her, and Prue had to suppress the feelings.
That tenderness in his eyes when he noted the ravages of tears on her face. This close it could not be ignored. “Are you hurt?”
My heart feels shredded. But she could not say so, of course. Prue lifted her hand to her cheek, startled to feel wetness. She had thought all the tears had been shed on the carriage ride home.
“Tell me,” he said gruffly. “What is wrong?”
Her lips trembled. “Because you’ll slay my dragon and defeat all my enemies?”
“Always.”
Firelight flickered in the dark brown pool of his eyes as he peered down at her. “Did you marry me because I…I …I was an heiress?”
