Page 57 of A Virgin for the Duke of Scars
“She will learn to live with it,” he assured her.
They stood there for a moment, watching the guests mingle. For a moment, she was not embraced by another person or pulled into a conversation. It was an opportunity to simply breathe and enjoy the party.
Until she sensed Aaron tense up beside her.
She followed his gaze to the front of the property, where two people walked toward the party. An older gentleman with a young woman on his arm seemed to raise no immediate cause for alarm. The young woman seemed around the same age as Theresa, but was obviously raised among theton.
The way she moved gracefully into the crowd was Theresa’s aspiration brought to life.
Certainly, the woman seemed more put together than Theresa feared she was when they had arrived at the party. While hermaid had styled her hair, the wind must have mussed it on the way over.
For the first time, she wished for the mirrors that were all over Blackwell Manor. Perhaps the nuns were right to always criticize vanity.
The woman was tall and lean, outfitted in a gown of pale pink silk. Her blonde hair was intricately braided, with pearls threaded through the long locks.
Theresa saw no reason why her husband should fear the woman.
Is this the woman he would have married if the Queen had not named me as his bride?
A pang of jealousy hit her squarely in the stomach at the thought of Aaron with someone else.
She tried to tune into Juliette’s banter and ignore her confusion over the sudden tension that had gripped her husband.
“Over there,” Juliette whispered in her ear, nodding her head toward the back of the garden. “The brown-haired woman wearing a cream gown and spectacles. That is Anon, whose painting you bought at the art gallery today.”
“She is not what I expected,” Theresa admitted.
In her mind, she had pictured Anon as someone more like herself. Someone who was not the picture of aristocracy. But she thought about what Juliette had told her, that a duchess is forgiven many things.
She wondered what she would be forgiven for in the years to come. Who could she be if she were allowed to explore, as Anon had been with her paints?
There had to be something more to her than simply her union with her husband.
She was still pondering this when she noticed Juliette trail off.
The blonde-haired woman from the carriage had made her way over to them, and now it was clear Aaron was tense. His arm flexed beneath her hand, turning his muscles rock solid. She squeezed his arm reassuringly to no great effect. Juliette had also paused her own conversation to glare at the young woman.
Even the Dowager Duchess seemed uneasy.
The blonde-haired woman offered a sly smile to Theresa. “I believe congratulations are in order, Your Grace,” she said, bobbing a small curtsy. “We have not met yet. My name is Isabella Dawson. Your husband and I are well acquainted, though we do not socialize anymore.”
“Thank you,” Theresa said.
She was trying to decipher the hidden meaning in Lady Isabella’s words. Seeing Aaron and Juliette’s reaction, she was certain there was something she was missing.
“Not many women would be brave enough to marry a man… like that,” Lady Isabella added. She looked Aaron up and down, her gaze lingering on his mask before it dropped. “Certainly no one else could.”
“Perhaps no one else deserves him,” Theresa countered. “If you will excuse me, Lady Isabella. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
She had no idea what had just transpired, but she knew that she did not want to be in the middle of it.
Sensing that Lady Isabella would leave if she did, Theresa wandered off on her own, leaving Aaron and Juliette behind.
Now that she was alone, nobody stopped to introduce themselves to her or even batted an eye at her. She wandered around the garden, but she did not want to stray too far and entirely miss the reason for coming: the fireworks show.
“Your Grace,” Lady Sophia called to her from behind the fountain. “You will have the best view of the fireworks if you would be so kind as to join an old lady.”
Theresa picked her way through the crowd. She was quite sure that no one would bother her, so long as she remained close to a woman as powerful and influential as Lady Sophia.
