Page 53 of The Reclusive Earl's Scandal
“I do not see why I must go along with it,” she snapped. “It is no secret I do not like...”
“That is enough, Elena.” The countess’s voice spoke over the girl’s complaint. “We are in the company of a duke’s daughter. Your brother has chosen Lady Rebecca. I approve, I know your father would approve, and I find your opinion inconsequential.”
Rebecca glanced at Edward long enough to see the surprise striking his face, as if he was not used to hearing his sister get berated. Rebecca tried to catch his eye to no avail, but she dropped her attention back to her tea. Her stomach had knotted with nerves, but she dutifully drank.
“I recall you have many siblings, Lady Rebecca,” the countess said, grasping for a change of topic.
“Four, yes.” Rebecca nodded. “The one after me will be making her debut next Season.”
“That is wonderful! Only one year behind Lady Elena. Perhaps the two can become friends.”
“I am friends with Lady Catherine,” Lady Elena answered sharply, making Rebecca flinch.So am I. Or I used to be.She didn’t know if Lady Elena had a hand in the rumors circulating about her, and she wasn’t certain she wanted to find out, but she swallowed back her questions. Now was not the time.
Instead, she turned her gaze to Edward. His jaw was tight, as it often was, and for so long there had been a tension settled into him, something that seemed to prevent him from relaxing around her. She didn’t know if she’d caused it, or if it was the realization that everything was finally coming to end for him, and he was merely processing it.
Her worry burrowed and burrowed. She knew he took things on very personally, and often worried himself over small things, but she couldn’t linger on it for too long. It could have involved Harry; it could have involved Catherine; it could have involved even them. Perhaps he was having second thoughts and hadn’t been given the chance to express them.
So lost in her thoughts, Rebecca didn’t notice when her name was called.
She blinked, aware she had been staring at the way Edward’s hair curled against his coat’s collar. The ends looked so soft, as if she could run her hands through them and feel silk. Hedidn’t catch her gaze; he only continued to watch his mother and sister. He seemed less skittish of them now, as if he was aware of the authority, as if heknewthe authority, he finally needed to have over them if he was going to live his own life.
Lady Elena had made it clear she didn’t approve but he was making his own choice anyway.
“I am glad our families will be reconnected,” the countess emphasized, ignoring her daughter’s remark. “You always have been welcome here, and Edward has always held you in high regard. It only seems fitting you become his countess.”
“Lady Catherine was to be his countess,” Lady Elena snapped, standing to her feet.
Her mother placed a hand on her wrist, pulling her back down. “You will stay, and you will welcome Lady Rebecca into our family, as you have been welcomed into hers.”
Lady Elena’s eyes blazed, not looking away from her scathing glare fixed on Rebecca. “I do not care to be a part of hers. I wanted to be part of the Barrickshires.”
“Elena!” Her mother admonished, turning to her, appalled. “Lady Rebecca has earned our respect.”
“Has she?” Lady Elena’s voice dropped. “Has shetruly? Has she displayed respect to our family, in turn?”
“Elena, say one more terrible thing, and I will ask you to leave.”
“How about this,” Lady Elena said, shoving to her feet angrily, “you do not have to ask me at all. I will leave of my own accord. I do hope you are happy, brother, and that the rumours around thetondo not bring you as much shame as they do me.” The room fell silent as Lady Elena stormed out, her tea forgotten on the table.
The countess’s face cycled through rage, embarrassment, confusion, and then nervous composure as she laughed a little too loudly.
“My daughter… she gets her temper from my...my sister,” she said.
“I believe she gets it from you, Mother,” Edward answered, but he sounded good-natured, and it broke the tension in the room easily. He seemed so different, Rebecca thought, as if he was in his body, but not quite himself. There was a sense of an act to his behavior, an act she knew he played around other lords, but this was not the most genuine version of him she had known.
After all they had spoken with honesty and no masks, and she didn’t know what else to do. Chalking it down to nerves, Rebecca avoided the alternative: that it could have been due to the rumors, as Lady Elena had pointed out.
Swallowing hard, she pushed all thoughts aside, and stirred another sugar cube into her tea. She had been polite only using two, anyway. Soon, the Countess of Thornshire smoothed over the cracks left by her daughter with talk of wedding planning, but Rebecca found her heart not in it.
Still, she answered, and all the while she felt Edward’s gaze on her, as if he took note of what she asked for. Her heart did that peculiar flutter again that no other suitor had inspired, but books and musichad. Yet there was Edward, doing the exact same, and Rebecca tried to remind herself of the convenience of their marriage. That was all.
So why did her eyes keep drifting to Edward, hoping his own would already be on hers?
***
Later that afternoon, she had refused Edward’s offer to take her home in lieu of walking through a nearby park.
Lottie walked behind her, chaperoning, and Rebecca let her thoughts drift, not particularly thinking about anything. It was everything, and nothing at once, a collision of everythingsheneededto be worrying about, blanketed by the peace of the fresh air and birdsong in the trees above.
