Page 35 of The Reclusive Earl's Scandal
“I did not receive flowers or a letter from you,” she told him quietly. “And in truth I thought it was upsetting that you did not send any. Lady Mary reported seeing you bringing flowers in the direction of my house, but I had assumed they were for…” She trailed off.
Aware of his mother behind him, hopefully far enough that she couldn’t hear his low, “Lady Catherine? Heavens, no. They were for you. You truly did not receive them?”
Rebecca shook her head carefully, a small pout to her mouth that he found endearing. Without thinking, he held his hand out, trying not to think about why she wouldn’t havereceived anything from him. In his letter, he had written about his growing feelings, calling it ridiculous, asking her if it actuallywasfoolish to think there could be more between them than mere a childhood friendship that extended into adulthood.
“How long has it been since you have stretched your legs, Lady Rebecca?” he asked.
Edward cast a glance behind him to receive a nod of approval. He turned back to her, finding her blinking at him.
“Allow me to promenade with you,” he said, smirking. It was a feigning of a true courting. Would she understand, or merely think he was jesting once more? “Right here, around your room. Stretch your legs. I will support you.”
There was a moment where he once again thought of her body against him in the river. Did he imagine the catch of her own breath? Seconds dragged, and Rebecca eventually nodded before she allowed him to guide her out of bed. Unsteady on her feet, she tried to stand. Edward steadied her with a grip on her arm, unlike the other day, where he had held her waist. Slowly, they took a turn around the room.
“Oh, look,” she said, nodding to an empty space. “There is Lord Mason and his insistence that my name and his own will be a marvelous combination.”
“And we cannot forget Lady Melissa,” he said, going along with her silliness. “Although, while we cannot forget her, I must avoid her.”
“Why?”
He met her gaze. “I threw her invitation in the fireplace and my mother was most unimpressed.”
Rebecca laughed, until she realized he did not. “Oh, you are serious.”
“Indeed.” He grinned down at her. How was it that she took away his nerves? How did she make him feel like all his anxietywent away? How did she manage to calm the one thing nothing and nobody else had? “Truth be told, I could not stand her.”
That got another laugh out of Rebecca, and it warmed him to know he could do this. He could make her laugh even in bouts of illness. Under the watch of their mothers, Edward walked her around the room again.
“I do not feel as weak as I thought I would,” she noted, rolling her ankles at a momentary pause before they continued. “Thank you for this.”
“Of course,” he answered, all formal and proper. “It has been a long week without you, R—Lady Rebecca.” Again, his slip-up did not go unnoticed.
“Will you humor me with something, Lord Thornshire?”
“Anything.” He realized how it was true even after he answered.
“Lady Catherine,” she began, and he should not have been so surprised. “I have heard rumours that a proposal from you to her is imminent.”
He was so baffled by the declaration that he paused, tugging Rebecca to a stop. Her eyes met his, curious and… and something else. He didn’t want to think it was pained, or dismayed, or anything that showed she might be displeased by the rumor.
Edward let out a loose laugh, shaking his head. “I can assure that it is not imminent at all. My sister likely wishes it was, as would Lady Catherine herself, but…” He shook his head again. “I continue to dislike her. Excuse me, for I know you are friends, but I have no intention of marrying her. I do not think she is getting the hints I have been displaying to portray such a thing.”
And how do I hint to you that I am interested in proposing to you?He wondered.
Yet before he could even think to voice his intentions, Rebecca spoke, laughing to herself.
“I did think so,” she said. “I did not believe in the proposal rumour, not truly, for you had made your feelings on Catherine clear. She has… she has changed, and I do not like seeing what she is becoming.” Edward did not know any other version of the lady aside from what he had been introduced to from the start. “See, Lord Thornshire, while I have been bedridden, I have been thinking.”
She hesitated before continuing. “It appears neither of us are going to find a great romance this Season, and we have reasons to marry, but no good options. Or, at least options we cannot see ourselves with for a lifetime.”
Edward shuddered at the thought of spending so long entertaining one of the ladies who had expressed their interest in him. “Go on,” he encouraged.
“We are friends, yes?” she asked.
He hesitated before nodding.
“What do you think of a mutually beneficial engagement?”
Edward was so unprepared for such a question that he tripped on their next turn around her bedroom. He stumbled so hard that he feared he would send Rebecca off her own steadiness, but he righted himself quickly.
