Page 18 of The Seductive Love of a Lady
‘Perhaps…’ he answered. ‘I will think about it.’
7
During breakfast Andrew was moody. Last night she believed he loved her. In their bed, he did not say, I love you, not even once, but she felt it. His touch was reverent.
She wanted to know everything about him, every side of him, so she could understand him. She hoped if he introduced her to his family, that would be like a key and unlock everything. It would explain why he felt uncomfortable among her family, and why he was so fiercely self-reliant.
‘May we ride this morning?’ she asked. It was cloudy but it was not raining.
‘Yes. If you would like to.’
He claimed his family did not care about him, but they must.
‘Then I thought we ought to call on your parents before luncheon. I would not wish to call when they may be expecting others. If they do not like me?—’
‘I did not say they would dislike you, I said they would not be interested in you.’ His pitch was cold as he added sugar to his coffee.
‘Yet we will go?’ she questioned.
His eyebrows lifted as he watched the spoon he spun around in his cup, dissolving the sugar.
She made a face at him, because he was not looking. But he looked up and caught the tail end of her expression.
‘Are you sure you want me to take you? I will warn you only once more, it is a bad idea.’
‘Yes, I am sure.’
That was not the last time he tried to discourage her. He tried to persuade her against it again on their ride to the park. Then after they’d given the horses their heads for a while and pulled up, he warned her another time; as though he had thought about nothing else for the whole gallop. When he lifted her down from Athena in the stable yard, he pressed her to change her mind and continued trying to dissuade her all the way home. He even ignored the lad who swept the street, who he always spoke to.
His warnings became more adamant as he helped her with her buttons as she took off her habit and put on a day dress.
Then he said repeatedly in the hackney carriage on the way to his parents’ town house she would not enjoy this.
Yet in all these warnings not once did he explain why he did not want to take her, beyond saying they would not care that he was married.
She thought they would. She thought she could find out why he was not close to his family and help him fix the problem.
When they reached the town house, which was a tall, wide building in Cavendish Square, Andrew climbed out from the carriage and offered a trembling hand to help her down the step.
This area of London was old money. His family, therefore, had held a place in society for generations. Of course, she could have looked Andrew’s family up inThe Peerageat John’s house, the book which indexed the members of titled nobility. But she had not because it would have felt disloyal to research him rather than ask him.
His skin paled as he looked up at the house.
Yesterday he was hesitant when they reached John’s – here, he looked afraid.
She wrapped her hand about his arm, it felt as stiff as iron.
He coughed, clearing his throat as though it were dry as they walked to the front door.
I should not have made him come.
The front door opened and the hired carriage pulled away.
It was too late to leave.
As he stepped over the threshold, he became so pale she thought he might be ill.
‘Andrew?’ she whispered.
