Page 28 of The Pleasures of Passion
Avoiding her aunt’s gaze, she bent her head over her sketch. “I should think you’d approve of my choice. The earl is quite a catch.”
“Is he? The gossips aren’t so sure. I spoke to a few friends today. It seems that the town is already abuzz about how he needs funds for his estate.”
Fulkham’s lackeys had done their work swiftly. “The gossips like to stir up trouble for no reason but their own entertainment.”
“Have you never heard that where there’s smoke there’s fire?”
“There is no fire here, trust me.” The last thing she and Niall needed was her aunt interfering in Lord Fulkham’s scheme.
“No? That’s not how it looked last night when he kissed you.”
Uh-oh. Brilliana fought a blush, praying that last night she’d covered her reaction to his kiss well—her heart thundering, her pulse leaping, her very skin aflame at the touch of his lips to hers. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t play the fool with me, young lady. When Delia told me that you and his lordship had been acquainted before, I’d assumed that your association was casual at best. Clearly, I was wrong. There was definitely smoke in that ballroom last night when he bid you farewell.”
“You imagined that. He was merely giving me the courtesy of any fiancé.”
“Was he?” Concern showed in Aunt Agatha’s face. “Be careful, dear. Margrave is the sort to break a woman’s heart.”
“My heart would have to be engaged for that to happen.”
“And it isn’t?” her aunt said skeptically. “You truly are marrying him just for practical reasons?”
Brilliana forced a bland smile. “I think I’ve proved that one can have a perfectly content marriage without involving one’s heart.”
“Really? I would say you’ve proved the opposite.”
The astute comment made her grimace. Had the strain in her marriage been so obvious? “I can’t imagine what you’re talking about.”
“We both know that you weren’t entirely happy with Reynold. And given how the marriage came about, I don’t blame you. I think your father ought to be shot, quite frankly, for putting you in such a position.”
“You . . . knew about that?”
“Of course. There’s not much that goes on in this family that I don’t know. I only found out after it happened, or I might have tried to step in, but by the time I learned of it, it was done and settled, and you were married.”
She flashed Brilliana a wan smile. “Still, I’d rather hoped you two were finding your way to contentment despite your rocky beginning, especially after the child was born. But then Reynold . . .” She sighed. “The thing is, I understand how you felt. Which is all the more reason I don’t want to see you make such a mistake again. Especially since this time your heart would be engaged.”
“My heart isnotengaged with Lord Margrave, I assure you.” Perhaps if she said it enough, she’d believe it.
“Does he know why you ended up married to Reynold in the first place?”
“No, indeed, and I prefer not to tell him. It’s mortifying, to say the least. And none of his concern.”
“He might think otherwise.”
“I don’t care.” She had her pride, after all. If she told him Papa had essentially forced her into marrying Reynold, that shehadn’tchosen her husband out of some deep love, Niall would realize thathe’dbeen her only love. He’d guess just how vulnerable she was to him now.
What’s more, he would probably mock her for not running away with him when she had the chance. And if she told him it was to save her mother, he would mock her even more. He’d thought her concern for Mama inconsequential. He would deem her a fool.
It was better for him to go on assuming she’d been in love with her husband. Safer. After all, Niall’s own protestations of love had been lies. So why should she let him know that hers had been genuine?
“Please don’t tell him,” she said. “I will reveal it myself in my own good time.” Or rather, she wouldn’t worry about it, since this situation was temporary.
Just then, a footman stepped out to announce that Lord Margrave had come to call on the ladies. Brilliana could have wept with relief at the reprieve.
“Speak of the devil,” Aunt Agatha muttered, then told the servant, “Send him out here, if you please.”
As the footman left, the nurse whom Aunt Agatha had hired for Silas came outside. “Shall I take the babe back to the nursery, madam?”
