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“You will do that?” To say that she was surprised would be a grave understatement.
“Yes.”
"Very well, Your Grace," she agreed, feeling grateful.
"There is to be a Country Assembly in a week. The tenants and local gentry host it every year and I allow them use of the Mansion," he continued. "We shall be there."
This time, Edwina only managed a nod, for she did not trust herself to speak lest she gave way to the tears burning behind her eyes. At the door, she paused. "I truly am sorry, Your Grace," she said. "For everything."
He faced the window without responding.
Chapter Sixteen
He turned away because he did not want her contrition to stir him. When the door closed behind him, he released a breath.
It had taken every ounce of self-restraint not to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she told him that he had misheard her conversation with Miss Matthews.
Their whole situation may have been an arrangement to mend the blow that had been dealt by their recklessness but he had come to see a friend in Edwina. And for that reason, he felt more wounded than angered by her betrayal. With Roxanne, there had been more anger than anything.
He was not going to try to examine the reason for the difference between the two cases. He had not been entirely honest with her and this was why he had not broken off the engagement immediately. A bitter laugh was wrenched from his lungs. Maybe he deserved what Edwina had done to him. He should never have announced their engagement to spite someone else. He should have been honest.
Restless, he strode out to the stables and ordered his stallion saddled. When the groom was taking too long, he left, opting to take a walk instead. He had no destination in mind and did not stop until he reached Glass Blanket.
He sat down at the bank and gathered a few pebbles that he started to throw in, disturbing the still waters to reflect his own disquietude. He wished someone would comfort him. Such a wish was pointless because he had been denied love and comfort his entire life. People wanted only his fortune and influence but not the man he was.
The man that could give so much if only he would be permitted to. Albert lumped the pebbles together and tossed them into the water all at once. Then he did that several times before growing weary of it. It was childish but he needed to express some of what he was feeling.
* * *
It was the evening of the Country Assembly and he was in the front hall waiting for Edwina so they could make their entrance together. They had performed well, thus far, attending every event together without anyone suspecting a thing.
But he had put a hold on his relationship with her. He had been too informal and that had led to him making mistakes. The first time Steven had accused him of being attached, it had been false, but the second time had been true. Hehadgrown attached to her. It would not happen again. He would not allow himself to veer down that dangerous path again.
He was already searching for a match for her among the guests but he wished to expand his search with this Assembly. The sooner she found a husband, the sooner he would be free of her. In spite of his mission, the evening before him appeared long and daunting.
“I told you we were late!” Miss Matthews complained and he looked up.
The moment he laid eyes on his Edwina, every skepticism and harshness was chased out of him. He could not help but admire her, dressed in an impeccable blue ensemble that all but stole the breath from him.
“We are fashionably late,” Edwina replied, preceding her down the stairs. Beside him, Steven chuckled. He was to escort Miss Matthews to the assembly. Edwina’s eyes met his and she gave him a stiff smile and curtsied when she reached him.
Clearing his throat and offering her his arm, he said, "Shall we?"
“Certainly, Your Grace.” She was tense and the air about her was all but detached and formal.
Good. This would work in his favor. He might possess the discipline to carry out his resolution and keep things formal, but one could always use reinforcements.Especiallywhen she was dressed like that.
They both pinned superficial smiles onto their faces as they accepted felicitations from the tenants and locals who were all too excited to finally meet the future Duchess of Rowan.
Albert staunched the guilt welling up in him at their deception of the ignorant folk. He danced the first waltz with her and he had never felt so tortured in his life as every step they took further wound up the tension that threatened to suffocate him. They said nothing to each other. They had nothing to say.
After their dance, he decided to allow her to go to Miss Matthews who was with her mother to give them a break from all the tension. He plucked a champagne flute off the tray of a passing footman and made his way to one of the ballroom balconies, seeking some solitude without venturing too far away from the Assembly.
He deliberately chose a spot that afforded him an unobstructed view of the refreshments table where Edwina was now chatting animatedly with Miss Matthews and the Baroness. Steven and a gentleman joined them and when he kissed her hand, his grip on his champagne glass tightened. He had half a mind to walk over and ask them to leave her but he was not without manners, however.
Steven and the gentleman finally left them but they were joined by a young lady. Something twisted inside him at how at ease she seemed when she was not with him. He did not like it. The tension between himself and Edwina was what he wanted, and needed to maintain his resolve in resisting her, but it made him miserable.
But you are partly to blame for all of this,the rational voice in his head reminded him. He dismissed it with a sip of his champagne.
