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“What I mean to say, Miss Storey, is that my brother is quite in despair over you. I have never known him to form such an attachment to one lady as he has done you, yet he is afraid. I believe him to be afraid of rejection by you, and he is afraid of what thetonwill think. Therefore he seeks to keep his thoughts to himself and not confide them to you.”
“An attachment?” Annie repeated the word in wonder, thinking of all that Lord Yeatman had said the night before of beingtemptedby her.
“I hope you will forgive me for speaking so plainly, but I wished to come to see you.” Lady Shrewsbury turned her focus back on Annie, away from the tea. “I know well what the ton’s opinion of my brother is, but I thought you should know who Luke truly is.”
Annie waited, eager to hear more.
“In short, he is not the heartless rake the scandal sheets would have you believe.” Lady Shrewsbury shook her head heartily. “After my own scandal some years ago, Luke was a changed man.” She grew nervous speaking, looking down at her lap.
Determined to make her comfortable, Annie leaned forward and placed her hand over Lady Shrewsbury’s, as she would do with any friend.
“My lady, pray, do not believe I think ill of you for one second for what happened in your past. I like your company greatly and like you for who you are.”
“You are kind,” Lady Shrewsbury said with a smile and looked up again. “Now, I will return your kindness and speak the truth to you. My shame comes from believing a man cared for me more than he did some years ago. I was seen in a compromising situation with a man who cared nothing for me but pretended he did. When my reputation was tarnished, he turned away and continued his life. I was cast out of society, until my husband came along.”
Her smile grew. “We were introduced by Luke, and not for one second has my Noah thought ill of me for that past. He saw the real me.” She sighed and placed a hand to her chest. “It lightened my heartache, but not my brother’s.”
“What happened to Lord Yeatman?”
“He took the ton’s gossip very personally. He has detested them for it ever since and decided not to play by their rules.” Lady Shrewsbury leaned forward with her words, whispering.
“Yes, he has been wayward and had a wandering eye, but that was the wandering of youth. He was also determined never to see the errors of the past repeated. Any lady he has charmed knew she could not win his heart. It is also why he has never approached a young debutante. He always said their reputations were too delicate a thing for him to risk. In his own way, Miss Storey, he was hiding from theton.”
Annie sat back in her chair, feeling the truth wash over her. It changed Lord Yeatman in her eyes a little. He was still the same man, but he was not quite the rake everyone believed. He was a man quite lost, running, hiding, and trying to distract himself from the pain of the past.
“I hope you will forgive me for being outspoken,” Lady Shrewsbury said quickly, “but I wished you to know who my brother truly is.”
“I thank you for it,” Annie said with a smile. “It suddenly makes sense of so much that has passed.” She thought of the night before and the seconds before they had kissed again and when he was trying to apologise to her.
He was trying to protect me from the ton.
