Page 5 of In Compromise with the Earl
“But I always swim to the surface,” Aphrodite shot back.
“And this is the same,” Lady Pandora said. “Might be worse, though. Lord Tennesley is a complicated man with very, for the lack of other words, convoluted issues. It would be best if you steered clear of him.”
Crossing her arms under her bosom, Aphrodite said, “I didn’t want to come to this soirée at all, but Father made me. I came with my doubts, but then I saw him.”
“He is at least six years older than you,” Lady Pandora said. “At eight-and-twenty, he has lived through experiences you have no inkling about.”
Aphrodite knew that and could barely hold herself from rolling her eyes. She knew the Earl was older and remembered the first time she had seen him three years ago when she was nine-and-ten. Even then, he had captured and commanded her attention, and now that she had the chance to truly interact with him, she was not going to lose it.
“If you are speaking about his late wife, I know about it,” Aphrodite said staunchly. “It’s public knowledge.”
“But you do not know that he blindly turned an eye to his wife’s adultery,” Lady Pandora said. “When she was found, dead, stabbed through the heart with a twisted dagger, obviously by one of her many lovers, he went on as if he had not realized a thing, when the wholetonknew. He’s weak, Aphrodite, and will not be able to handle a high-spirited lady like you.”
Even while understanding Lady Pandora’s claim, Aphrodite had her reservations. From whatshehad heard, Oswald had loved his wife to the point of blindness, as if she had been a goddess worthy of a lofty pedestal.
Tilting her head up, Aphrodite said, “There could be many reasons for that. It could be that he is weak in holding a firm hand on his house, or he was just weak in love with his wife, I don’t know, but I do know that nothing is ever black and white.”
“Whatever the gray area is, you should not have any part of it,” Lady Pandora said. “Besides, the man is staid, proper, boring, you would not have anything in common with him.”
Seeing her friend was not going to relent, Aphrodite lied. “I suppose, I wouldn’t want to be with a weak, spineless man that cannot excite or entertain me.”
“Good,” Lady Pandora said.
“But,” she added, “I still believe that what you have told me is half the story and I plan to find out the rest. I highly doubt that he would let something as humiliating and mortifying get out of hand if he was aware of it.”
“Aphrodite—”
“I came here on behest of my father, and I have no faith in matchmaking. I am sure that I can find my husband on my own.”
“I know, your father specifically requested that I take you in,” Lady Pandora said.
She turned on her heel. “I would love to change my mind. If you can prove me wrong, please, do so.
She walked away, and re-joined the other guests, snagging another flute of champagne and looking around for Lord Tennesley. She spotted him talking with another lord, but something was…odd. He looked much tenser than when she had spoken with him and she wondered why.
While she went to speak with some other ladies, she kept Lady Pandora in her peripheral vision and saw how she moved from group to group with a particular look on her face.
Her friend’s assessing eyes seemed to miss nothing and when her lips ticked up or down, Aphrodite wondered if it meant approval or disapproval. Was this how she was going to deem those fitting for her services?
Maybe Lady Pandora was still miffed from the conversation she had with her moments ago, but Aphrodite was not going to go shift from her decision. She was sure about what she had told Lady Pandora. Either Oswald was a weak man, or he tricked himself into believing that his wife was an innocent. She was hell-bent on finding out which.
She could not hold on to either reason until she found out because she knew how damaging perceptions were. Thetontook her to be a lightskirt because her father was a Lothario, and while her flirting could explain it, nothing was further than the truth.
That was what she was trying to tell Lady Pandora, but her friend did not know what it was to live under constant skewed perceptions. Nothing was as it seemed, and Aphrodite would not judge the Earl for his wife’s errors when others were bias against her for her father’s.
Looking around Aphrodite speculated there were at least thirty-five or forty people in the room, but only twenty-four would be picked to be taken to Lady Pandora’s country Estate.
What are the odds that Lord Tennesley will win this lottery?
A bell chimed, drawing the attention to Lady Pandora who stood in the middle of the room. Her rose-gold gown was cut in the latest classical fashion, it gathered under her bosom and fell in a soft, graceful column to her feet.
“Good evening, everyone, would you please adjourn to the ballroom, the dancing is about to begin,” she said.
Aphrodite waited while most of the guests went to the stairs, searching for Lord Tennesley. She spotted him with his gaze trained on the door and feared that he was going to leave. She decided to follow him, but a red-headed Lord got to him first.
Their conversation was low, and she could not hear it, but it seemed convincing as Lord Tennesley, who she was sure was about to leave, moved to the ballroom. She followed a few paces behind and entered the ballroom while the quartet orchestra was beginning a waltz.
It seemed like most of the couples were partnered off already and Aphrodite took a chance. She gently touched his shoulder and when he turned, asked, “Seems like everyone else is partnered. Will you dance with me?”
