Page 17 of The Reclusive Earl's Scandal
At that, Edward looked back at her. “Or a library,” he added.
“Indeed,” she answered softly, holding his gaze.
But movement broke her attention, and out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca noticed Catherine watching them. She smiled at her friend, only to find Catherine hurriedly turning away from her. Further behind her, she recognized Edward’s mother and sister in a larger group of ladies, watching them with keen interest.
“They seem to be very invested.” Rebecca nodded to his family.
“Well, you know what people say,” he sighed, looking at them. “The wealthiest man does not look away from his mostprofitable venture. I have danced with many ladies, so I imagine they have had enough of a display.”
There was such resignation in his voice that Rebecca couldn’t help but wonder if he chose to dance with so many women, or if, like her, there was a strategy to his nights. Except shechosehers, even if it was only out of necessity, and it sounded as though he had very little free will.
“And what of us speaking?” she asked. “Will they have any thoughts?”
“My sister remembers you,” he told her, his voice growing more and more formal. “She has expressed happiness at our reconnection, and… and…” He trailed off, and she followed the source of his distraction. Catherine had gone over to Lady Thornshire and had struck up conversation. The two of them looked pleased, and Lady Elena’s face was loose with overjoy. But Edward’s face didn’t share such sentiments.
“You look troubled,” Rebecca noted delicately. A surge of jealousy went through her, peculiar and disliked, at the thought of him being matched with her friend. She would be happy for Catherine, for they all sought happy endings, and Rebecca certainly wasn’t making any sort of claim on Edward, but something about the arrangement looked too…put together. Orchestrated.
Edward shook off her question. “Your mother,” he began, “she must be happy that you have so many suitors coming to ask your hand for a dance.”
Rebecca scoffed, and nodded to where her mother and father kept watch over the whole ballroom as if they owned the place. Her mother’s hand rested on her father’s elbow, a silent claim as well as a visual display of the love she had followed into a strong marriage.
“My mother…” She trailed off, not knowing how to continue the sentence without revealing too much.Is blinded by love intobeing a passive character in life when she should have pushed my father into being a proper patron of our household.She would forgive my father a thousand debts if it meant she could remain in love with him, even at the expense of my family’s well being.“My mother will look to my father, and he will be happy.”
Rebecca still hadn’t confronted her father about the letter, for it meant admitting she had read his personal correspondence, and the fallout she would face from that would be worse than anything. It would overshadow his wrongs, turn the blame towards Rebecca, and he would successfully deflect the whole thing.
“Your mother is not involved with your courtships?” Edward asked.
Rebecca lifted her shoulders in a display of helplessness. “She looks towards my father as the master of the household, I am sure. He will give the final say, after all.”
Edward’s brow pinched together before he nodded as if such a thing made sense. It would indeed suffice, yet Rebecca was eager to divulge all, to ensure he comprehended precisely why her father was the one to oversee her matrimonial prospects, rather than her mother steering her father's judgments in the manner she had preferred.
“Regardless,” she said, hastily redirecting their main subject, “I am certain whoever is chosen will be so because my own decision has been taken into consideration.”
It will never be taken into consideration, she thought bitterly, for she didn’t want the ballrooms and the courtships and the suitor visits. She wanted simplicity with Harry Maudley. But that was a dream she had to make peace. He had not offered her a proposal, and even if he now did, she could hardly accept. He could not help her pull her family out of poverty, which is where they were plummeting towards beneath her father’s foolish habits.
“What is Lady Catherine like?” Edward asked her, and Rebecca blanched at the change in topic, only to find him watching her friend intently. “Do you know her well?”
“She is one of my friends, indeed,” Rebecca told him. “She is a good person. Occasionally self-focused, but who is not in this society? To be truthful, she has been one of the people I have relied on most in recent weeks. Despite her moments of only thinking of herself and her prospects, she always has a listening ear for me. Why do you ask? Is she a potential bride of yours? I am certain she will be thrilled to know; with the way she is speaking with your mother.”
Rebecca shot him a knowing smirk that she hoped reached her eyes as she wanted it to, but that curl of jealousy began its path once more, and she hurried to tamper it down. It was no business of hers what either Catherine or Edward did.
“It is only that I could not quite read her,” he admitted. “She… she was trying very hard when I danced with her.”
Rebecca nodded. “She will do. She wishes to be the most notable, of course. I try very hard with my suitors as well.”
“I cannot imagine you as anything but genuine.”
The praise struck her unexpectedly. At once, they both looked at each other, and Edward looked as surprised as she did. Then he quickly cleared his throat and averted his gaze. “At least from what I recall of you, of course. Ah, Lady...I mean Rebecca, are we on informal terms? I did forget to ask but I was going to say if you would excuse me. I must… I must...”
Without another word, or even waiting for her to answer regarding their informality, Edward hurried away, his head ducked down.Thatwas the awkward youth she had known, stumbling and at a loss for words, unpolished in manner, despite all her jests at his reading.
It is as though your brain soaking up all those words does not quite connect with your tongue,she had jested once over anafternoon tea for Edward’s birthday, only to have cream flung in her face at his displeasure over the jest.
Before he could truly move out of earshot, Rebecca called out to him. “Edward!”
He glanced back, wincing. “Yes?”
“You may always dance with me,” she offered with a teasing grin. “You know, just in case you ever find yourself needing a break from the incessant matchmaking and ladies stepping on your toes.”
