Page 81 of In Compromise with the Earl
That is if it has not started already.
* * *
Brushing her hand over her sweat-misted cheek, Aphrodite turned her horse back toward the stable. Half the morning had gone, and she had spent most of it riding. She had no other way of working out her frustration about Oswald as she knew he was keeping something crucial from her.
Riding at breakneck speed to this point made her want to tip headfirst into bed as soon as she got back into the Hall. Her muscles were stiff and aching while the rush she felt, the sting in her eyes from the blowing wind and the lash of her horse’s mane on her hands, were starting to fade.
Troy trotted to the stables and she blearily swung her breeches-clad leg over and off the saddle. A spate of dizziness hit her as her boots met the ground and she hung on the pommel until it passed.
“I should have eaten something this morning,” she said belatedly.
When she regained her footing, she handed the horse off to one of the stable hands and carefully picked her way back to the Hall. Nearly there, she stopped at the garden to rest.
“Lady Aphrodite,” Leo said as he approached her, Biscuit nipping at his heels. His lips twitched. “Oswald mentioned that you ride, but I didn’t know you rode likethat.” He waved his hand over her. “Rather risqué of you, isn’t it?”
“A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, I know, I know,” she sighed. “But I think, in a matter of perspective, I can be forgiven. It’s nice to see you, Leo. What brings you by?”
“I came to drop off some legal documents for Oswald and Aunt begged me to take poor Biscuit out to the garden as he was getting a bit rowdy in the drawing room,” he said while sitting next to her, his expression concerned. “How long were you riding?”
“From half-hour since I woke this morn,” she admitted. “It’s…I’m troubled, Leo. Oswald is keeping something from me, and I can feel it, but that aggravating man will not tell me what it is. He keeps lying, and…and I’m hurt, deeply hurt.”
The priest’s sigh was aggravated. “Oh, God no, it’s starting all over again.”
She shot a sharp look to him. “What do you mean?”
Leo shook his head balefully. “Seems as if my cousin has still not mastered the art of sharing with those he cares about. His uncanny ability to hold everything inside nearly drove Claire to Bedlam.”
Aphrodite blinked. “It’s a pattern?”
“Yes.”
“But what…” she gazed to the pup, “what is so bad that he cannot tell me? Within a few days of us meeting at Lady Pandora’s, he told me so much about his late wife. Why is he pulling away from me now?”
“Mayhap it’s something unseemly—” Leo suggested. “Maybe he lost a fortune gambling, or he was drunk and did something he is ashamed about?”
She fixed her eyes on the pup who was sniffing a leaf. “You think so?”
“God, forbid he has discarded his vows and was unfaithful to you,” Leo muttered. “And God knows that is easy to do when you’re surrounded by men who have no responsibility or commitment to anyone other than themselves.”
The cold wash of an unacknowledged fear made Aphrodite’s skin bead with gooseflesh. Was Leo hinting that Oswald had been unfaithful? Her fingers curled around the edges of the bench, tight enough that her knuckles went white.
“Oh, good heavens—” she whispered. “I…I cannot fathom why…why he might do something like that.”
She barely felt Leo prying her hand from the bench and massaging the feeling back into her numb hand. “Breathe, my dear. I don’t think you can assume he has been unfaithful just yet, and I am sorry I even suggested it.”
“But it is a reality,” she replied. “Ever since he came back from White’s the other night, he could not look me in the eye. I wonder—”
“I wouldn’t go so far,” Leo said. “It’s horrible I know, but there can be many other explanations—”
“My father was unfaithful to my mother,” Aphrodite said emptily. “And he continued after her death with no remorse. I wonder if I am paying for his crimes with my marriage.”
“Again,” Leo said soothingly, “please do not assume that is what it was.”
Nodding, Aphrodite tried to look as she believe him and was putting away the supposition that Oswald had been unfaithful, but the seed had been planted and had already started to grow.
There could be many other explanations, yes, but the experiences with her father had scarred her more deeply than she would ever admit. Aphrodite hated unfaithfulness with a passion that went past loathing. It was the most despicable, heinous act anyone could ever do, and if Oswald had committed it…heartbreak had started to set in.
“Lets us get inside,” Leo said kindly.
