Page 15 of Courting the Earl
She weighed his words for a minute, and he forced himself to wait. When she finally spoke, her eyes were clouded. “But we are already betrothed.”
He’d already gone this far and had to continue. They might not have another opportunity to speak on this subject. He cast a quick glance at Eleanor, whose brows were furrowed together in concentration. He and Lydia had both softened their voices, and he hoped she couldn’t overhear their conversation. He suspected she would drag Lydia from his side if she thought he was speaking to her cousin about the possibility of ending their betrothal.
“My solicitor has looked over the contract. The betrothal can be broken if both sides are in agreement.”
Lydia’s eyes widened. “So you’re saying…”
“That no decisions need to be made right now despite what your parents might believe. You should take these next few months to look around. You were planning to enjoy your season anyway, so nothing will change there. But if you find someone else who captures your interest…” He raised one shoulder in a casual shrug. “If you fall in love with another, I will understand and bow out.”
She glanced sideways at him, and it was clear she didn’t know whether to believe him. “I thought men didn’t believe in such nonsense. That they married only for practical reasons.”
He couldn’t hold back a small smile. “I used to think it a foolish notion to marry for love. But I’ve seen my sister and her husband prove that assumption incorrect. There is no question in my mind that they are in love with each other. Theirs is a happy marriage.”
Lydia smiled up at him, a look of wonder on her face. It seemed to say that she was seeing him for the first time. “And you want that for yourself.”
“And for you as well. There’s no reason to tie ourselves to a practical union formed by our parents before we’d met when we could both have more.”
“And what if I decide that I want to marry you?”
Geoffrey stared down at the woman holding on to his arm. It wouldn’t be a hardship to marry her. They could probably be content enough together. But he hadn’t lied when he’d spoken about wanting what his sister had found with Baron Cranston. What the pair had found in one another. Geoffrey might tease them about their behavior whenever he visited them, but watching the way they looked at one another… He didn’t think he would ever have that with Lydia Pearson.
He felt the space between his shoulders itch and had the uncanny feeling that he could feel Eleanor’s eyes on him. He forced himself not to turn and look at her and kept his gaze on Lydia. “We have time before you decide. Months. Let’s not be hasty, not when your future happiness is at stake.”
Lydia considered his words for some time before letting out a sigh. “What you say makes a great deal of sense.”
He forced back a grin. “So?”
She nodded. “We can have this discussion again at the end of the season. And I’m relieved that I have your permission to consider other suitors.”
He raised one brow. “You were already entertaining a large number of them yesterday when I called.”
She laughed. “I wasn’t actually entertaining the thought that I might be free to wed someone else. But now everything is different. Of course, I’ll have to speak to Ellie about this.”
A zing went through Geoffrey, and he told himself it was just alarm. Eleanor could very well try to dissuade her cousin from looking elsewhere. She’d already told him that she would try to help convince Lydia about what a wonderful match they would make.
“Will she tell your parents? They could very well insist we marry straight away if they knew we were discussing this.”
Lydia smiled at him as though he were daft. “Oh no, Ellie is a dear. She wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.”
Chapter 9
An odd sense of disquiet settled over Eleanor for the rest of the day, and she couldn’t quite say why. First it had bothered her to watch Lydia promenade through Hyde Park on Lord Hargrove’s arm. She told herself it wasn’t because she wanted to be on his arm. She would never want to promote her own happiness over that of her cousin’s.
No, it was simply that witnessing the two as they spoke in low tones to one another, ignoring everyone around them for long stretches of time as they entered into their own world, had made her realize that she wanted to experience that as well.
But not with Lord Hargrove, of course.
And then after they’d returned home, Lydia had shared with her the topic of that intense conversation. Eleanor didn’t know quite what she’d expected. Hargrove had told her that he didn’t wish to marry Lydia, but she’d begun to think he was just being stubborn. It would have been a shock to learn about the betrothal after his father had kept it a secret for so many years. But Lydia was lovely and delightful. Eleanor was sure that all he would need was to spend some time with her cousin and he, too, would fall under her spell.
She’d thought she was witnessing his change of heart yesterday at Hyde Park. Instead, he’d told Lydia that she was free to entertain other suitors and that he would agree to end the betrothal if that was her desire.
She hadn’t expected him to share that information with Lydia. And instead of being upset at the idea that the very handsome, very eligible Hargrove wouldn’t be one of the men eagerly pursuing her that season, Lydia had been delighted.
The entire situation baffled Eleanor. She would have been heartbroken if she were in her cousin’s place.
They attended a musicale that evening, and Lydia had delighted the assembled guests with her skill on the pianoforte. Eleanor had never been musically inclined, something for which she was infinitely grateful because it meant she would never be called to perform in front of others. Lydia, however, thrived under the attention.
Lord Hargrove had already told them he wouldn’t be in attendance at the small gathering that evening, so Eleanor had been saved the worry about seeing him again. But in the end it didn’t really matter because she couldn’t stop thinking about the man.
