Page 35 of My Best Friend's Earl
Everyone, it seemed, adored the woman he had to marry. Everyone except him.
“… is thatcheese?” Constance stared, torn between fascination and shock at the impressive wax-covered wheel Althea dropped on the counter. It must have cost a small fortune. Raising her eyes to Althea’s, there was nothing lighthearted in the other woman’s demeanor. “Apologies. Is itsadcheese?”
That brought a smile from her friend, and made Constance feel like she might be able to help with whatever was bothering her. “Althea, I am going to need more information before I know how to react.”
“Are we alone?”
“Hattie is upstairs and might be down any minute. Mum is in the office.” Catching up on the account books Connie had procrastinated doingagain,despite the schedule she’d created. The birth of Nathaniel, followed by Betsy’s visit, wreaked havoc on that plan, and she had yet to get back to it. Guilt and self-recrimination spiraled through her, but Constance shoved them aside for the time being. Althea needed her attention right now. “Otherwise, we are alone.”
Althea slumped onto the counter, then thumped her head on her folded arms. “I’m sorry about the cheese, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to take it, and it was going to make my clothes smell if I kept it in my armoire. Mother is on a never-ending reducing diet and refuses all rich foods when at home. Father would eat it, then have terrible wind. Besides, there’s justso much of it.”
Understanding dawned. “Ah, so it’s both revenge cheese and guilt cheese. You purchased it and had it billed to the earl?”
Althea raised her head enough to share a miserable pout. “I bought gowns and slippers, and so many hats. More silk stockings than I can wear in a lifetime. I heard of a placenear the docks that had a fresh shipment of tea and bought enough for three houses. I was running out of ideas when we passed a cheesemonger on the way home, and I thought, why not?”
Constance lifted the wheel and wheezed from the strain. “This cheese weighs more than a child. How much did it cost Southwyn?” She tried not to laugh, and failed, when Althea winced. “That much?”
“If I told you, your ears would bleed and you’d probably cry. Every time I look at it, I feel sick. I dropped off most of the tea with Roberts this morning, since his employer paid for it. I thought for sure I’d gone too far, but Oliver doesn’t appear to care.”
“Maybe he appreciates a woman who loves cheese?” The ridiculousness of it all made her laugh again, despite Althea’s glare. “It could have been worse. You might have passed Tattersall’s on the way home, instead of a cheesemonger.”
“Miss Thompson, I thought that was your voice… Is that cheese?” Mary Martin asked when she stepped from the office, unwittingly echoing her daughter’s inflection.
Which sent the friends into a fit of giggles. “I’m afraid so. I find myself with an excess, so I’m sharing.”
Mary smiled broadly and took the wheel from Constance. “We’re grateful for your generosity. I’ll take this upstairs and leave you girls to enjoy a coze. May I bring you anything? Some tea or biscuits?” After an amused assessment of the bounty in her arms, she added, “Perhaps some toast and cheese?”
Althea’s laugh was the polite society tinkle of sound, but Constance’s mum had no way of knowing it wasn’t genuine.
“Thank you, Mum. We will be fine for a while.”
“Then I’ll leave you to it. Thank you again, dear.”
Once she heard the door to the stairwell close, indicatingher mum had gone up to the flat, Constance turned back to her friend. “He truly didn’t balk at the expense?”
“Oliver is impossible!” Althea wailed. “I gave him a feral cat, who, by the way, he treats like a prince, just as the name suggests. I’ve acted drunk in front of his friends, which somehow didn’t embarrass him. I don’t think he even noticed when I flirted with Her Grace’s footman.” Althea ticked off the list on her fingers, voice rising with each item. “Not a word about the waistcoats. At this point I’ve abandoned subtlety altogether and am moving items in his home into entirely different rooms. Meanwhile, my mother is asking me if I prefer cream- or ecru-colored ribbons in my bridal bouquet, as if there’s any bloody difference, and the only thing I want to do is marry Franklin and never hear the name Southwyn again.” Althea’s heaving chest and flushed cheeks made her appear feverish.
Connie wrapped her into a gentle hug. “Have we considered that the real Southwyn is dead, and we’re actually dealing with an automaton?”
Althea snorted into Connie’s shoulder, but stayed where she was, accepting the offered comfort. When was the last time her friend had received a hug?
“An automaton would make sense, wouldn’t it?” Althea muttered.
Constance wished she could forget the way he’d looked in his shirtsleeves, all lean sinew and bone and coiled strength. Alas, he was a real man. A man who had practically fled when she’d considered flirting with him at Caro’s.
Althea shifted away, so Connie let her go. “Tell me about Franklin. You’ve hardly mentioned him, but having feelings for one man while trying to avoid marrying another has to be wearing on you.”
Tears welled in Althea’s eyes. “I just finished the mostmarvelous novel by Jane Austen.Emma; have you read it? The hero says if he loved her less, he could talk about it more. And I’ve never felt a sentence more deeply in my life.”
Connie hadn’t read that one yet, but the sentiment sent her hand over her heart. “Goodness, love like that would be glorious, wouldn’t it? A love that’s too big for words.”
Althea nodded, tears spilling over. “I think about Franklin constantly. I want to talk about him all the time. But I fear that if I start, I shall never stop. And not knowing if I will ever call him mine makes the enormity of what I feel terrifying. I even waltzed with him in front of Oliver and still couldn’t garner a reaction. Is it too much to ask Oliver tocare?”
Compassion over her friend’s distress nearly had Connie crying too. “Do you want him to be jealous?” She’d thought the point of this plan was to drive the man away, not inspire jealousy.
“No, but it would be nice if he noticed. If we truly are stuck together, can’t he muster any level of fondness toward me? Oliver holds stronger opinions on the color of his waistcoats than he does about the woman he’s supposed to marry.”
“I’m sorry his ambivalence hurts. You deserve to know you’re loved, liked, and enjoyed for who you are. Don’t doubt it for a moment.” Constance might see the appeal of the handsome earl, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t understand why Althea would want to marry elsewhere. Because while Lord Southwyn wasn’t unkind or cruel, he also wasn’t a good match for Althea. Not when even his kindness and self-control caused her pain.
