Page 16 of The Reclusive Earl's Scandal
“Oh, I do believe it worked both times,” Lord Billy laughed. Around him, other lords watched on. “I heard you did not show up to Greenacre, but begged Lord Thomas to claim your presence. Too scared, Ediot? You always did love hiding away.”
Edward moved forward, hating the eyes on him, hating that Lord Billy raised his voice, hating that they had once been friends, and Edward did not know why the other man had become so hateful. But before he could make any true approach a hand was placed on his arm, and he froze. Glancing down, he followed a pale, slender hand right up to delicate wrists, and then along to face Rebecca. He didn’t know when she’d approached, but her expression was pulled into confusion as she looked questioningly at him.
At once, Edward relaxed.
“Do allow me to steal Lord Thornshire from your company, Lord Billy,” she said, raising her brow. “After all, we would not like to recallyourname from school, would we? I recall it being rather creative, changing one letter of your name.”
Edward stifled a laugh, and was led away from his old enemy. As soon as they found another corner of the ballroom, hefelt the tension drain from him. Not just from seeing Lord Billy, but the general lack of exhaustion of the night and the desire to be anywhere but that ballroom.
How is it you have just wiped away the stress of the night with one, light touch? He thought, gazing at Rebecca while her own eyes remained on the ballroom before them.
Chapter Six
Rebecca found herself smiling wryly.
“I used to think he was pleasant,” she told Edward, nodding towards Lord Billy. Admittedly, he had been a man she had danced with already, hoping to find a connection, for they had been friends as children along with Edward, but the three of them had drifted as they grew up. “Now I see I may have been wrong. Did he upset you?”
“No,” Edward told her. “Not truly. Although he used to. I hated that appellation.”
“I am certain he hated his own more, and that was why he used yours,” she pointed out, and the two of them laughed. The sound of Edward’s amusement made her heart flutter a little as she sighed, leaning against the wall. She’d held so much tension in her shoulders all evening, dancing and wooing, smiling and pleasing every lord she danced with, yet now, as she stood back with Edward, she felt it all loosening.
“You have appeared so tense all night,” she noted. “It is good to see you smile.”
“Ah.” Edward turned to her with a bemused look. “So you have been watching me? Among all your attempts to impress your suitors, you have secretly been watching the Earl of Thornshire?”
His voice shook, as though he wasn’t used to such jesting, but the words were refreshing. She was so used to being the one jesting. To have it turned back onto her now made her stomach dip a little. For a moment, Rebecca forgot about everything.
Her father’s debts, her need to marry, her friends and their own worries of not securing a match, her siblings needing good elevation through her choices…
It all faded away, her world narrowing to this moment: simply laughing with somebody she could relax around.
How peculiar to do so, Rebecca thought.Especially after so long of not seeing one another. But she tucked that thought away. As much as she wanted to relax she had a duty to fulfill of marrying well. Still, a few moments on the outskirts wouldn’t hurt anyone.
“Perhaps I have,” she answered when she realized the silence had stretched for too long. “It certainly would make for a better time than what I have had to do at these infernal balls.”
“You do not like them,” he observed, and Rebecca found herself shaking her head.
“It is not that I dislike them, it is more that…” She struggled to find the words. “Finding a suitable match requires patience and strategy, and I am impatient.”
“You wish to be married so soon?” His smile was easy, but Rebecca frowned—not at him, but the reasoning she had not yet shared with him. It was too soon; this was only their second meeting since reuniting. She wanted him to know her for herself first before she ever even mentioned her father’s debts. Men could be unexpectedly noble, and if she had expressed hardship at securing a match, and he wished to relieve himself of the ballroom’s game of marriage, then…
No. She shut down that line of thinking quickly.What a foolish idea.
“No,” she finally answered. “No, I do not.”
“So why is there any rush?”
Because my father is drowning, weighed down by debts, and we are useless lifelines that he drags down with him.
Rebecca swallowed, finding the next best explanation. “You might recall I have four siblings. I must marry well to ensure they do as well.” Her answer sounded flimsy even to herown ears, and Edward looked at her as though he didn’t quite believe her.
“Your siblings have not yet entered society,” he pointed out. “If I recall correctly.”
“That is true. But still… one can never be too prepared.”
Edward nodded, but still looked unconvinced. His focus moved back to the ballroom, though, constantly observing. It seemed that, like her, he couldn’t fully relax. Rebecca followed his gaze, sifting through the many couples on the dance floor, the endless circle of dancers who made the ballroom feel as though it was spinning, a well-oiled gear that knew exactly how to move in the way it should.
“Sometimes I feel like a bolt out of place,” she confessed to Edward, surprising herself with her vulnerability. “I… I feel as though one wrong move on my part will grind the whole thing to a halt, or that I do not have a proper place in society. I ought to, for I am a duke’s daughter, and I play my part well enough that I have good prospects, but I do not belong here. Not really. Sometimes I just wish I could lose myself in an observatory, or an art gallery.”
