Page 58 of An Earl Like You
For answer she jumped up and ran. He heard a choked sob as she wrestled with the door, then she was gone. He looked at the half-finished bonnet she’d left on the chair. The raspberry-pink ribbons were so cheerfully innocent, it made him want to pitch the thing into the fire.
He lurched out of his chair and went to find his mother. She was supervising the painting of the drawing room, but he drew her aside and told her what had happened. Horrified, she declared she must go to Edith at once, and hurried out.
Hugh watched the workmen patching holes and scrapes in the plaster walls, preparing to cover them with fresh green color. Chosen by Eliza, funded by Eliza, and planned by Eliza to win his mother’s approval and affection. For the first time Hugh felt a perverse—and wholly irrational—surge of anger at her. She was too good for all of them. They couldn’t seem to do anything right. He married to give his sister a dowry, and she got jilted because of his marriage. His mother venerated his father, never once questioning him about anything, and Joshua left them all in bankrupt ignorance. Edith turned her back on Eliza to please Benwick, and still got her heart broken. And Eliza... All she did was think of others and give freely of herself and her time, from cutting flowers for a servant’s wedding to giving Hugh her heart when he didn’t deserve it.
Where was she?
The butler told him she had gone out with the dog. Hugh put on his hat and coat and went after her, feeling even worse because she had to leave the house to enjoy Willy’s company. He crossed Pall Mall and went into St. James’s Park, finally catching sight of her near the canal. Willy ran around her, his black-and-white tail streaming behind him like a flag, and Angus, the boy from her father’s stable, chased after him.
Something very odd filled his chest at the sight of his wife. She stooped to pick up a ball, and her skirts wrapped around her legs and hips enticingly. She stood and drew back her arm, and the curve of her bosom was outlined in glorious silhouette as she flung the ball for the dog to chase. His hands flexed at the memory of those curves against him, of her soft skin under his lips, of the way her eyes widened in amazement every time she reached climax in his arms.
She was the wife he hadn’t wanted. She was the girl he’d been blackmailed into marrying. He had been forced to court her and seduce her, winning her love by pretending an affection he hadn’t felt, and now the joke was on him. Now he was the one seduced, just by watching her throw the ball across the park for Willy. Now he was the one losing his heart and feeling the weight of his deception like a cross upon his back.
She didn’t see him until he had almost reached her. “Oh!” Her smile was bright and delighted, lighting up her face. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
He kept walking, his gaze fixed on her. Damn Edward Cross. Hugh deserved a society heiress who would give him his heir and then take a stream of lovers. Someone who wouldn’t tempt him to think wicked thoughts about her and feel unworthy of her in the same moment.
Her face changed. “What is wrong?” Willy ran up with the ball, tail wagging furiously, and she motioned Angus to come get him. “Hugh, what is it?” she asked anxiously as he reached her side.
“I told Edith.”
Eliza’s expression melted with sympathy. “The poor dear. How did she...?”
“Not well.”
“Oh dear.” She bit her lip. “Think how much worse it would have been for her to hear it from someone else, though.”
He had. But Hugh felt the surge of anger again, even though there was no one to focus it on. Eliza had been right to press him to tell Edith, and he’d been wrong to put it off. He was no better than his father, trying to protect his mother and sisters from everything unpleasant, and as a result the news came as a sudden blow to Edith. Yet another thing he’d done wrong. “I hope that’s the end of it.”
“Georgiana would say she ought to go out and flirt with other gentlemen. Nothing diverts a girl’s mind like an attentive new suitor.”
Hugh looked at her sharply. Eliza wore a hopeful little smile; she’d been teasing. It dropped away when she saw his face. “I’m sorry,” she said at once. “I didn’t mean to make light—”
“No, no. You’ve no need to apologize.” Willy ran back with the ball, dropping it at his mistress’s feet despite Angus’s shouts for him to come. Hugh bent and scooped up the ball, flinging it as hard as he could. Willy took off with a joyful bark. The ball landed in the canal. Across the grass, Angus gave a whoop and followed Willy, who plunged into the water and sent ducks squawking out of the way.
Hugh laughed. “He’ll need a bath now.”
Eliza didn’t reply. He looked at her; she was watching him somberly, her green eyes shadowed.
“What’s the matter?”
“Was I wrong?” she asked quietly. “About Edith?”
He scowled. “No.”
“Do you resent me urging you to speak to her?”
Damn it all, he did—utterly without reason or justification. “No.”
She didn’t believe him. She was too insightful for him, too. And suddenly Hugh wished he could begin anew with her.No more lies, he reminded himself. “Yes. I did resent it,” he admitted harshly. “Not because I thought you were wrong but because I knew you were right. I didn’t want to break my sister’s heart. I kept hoping Benwick would come to his senses and be reasonable—and spare me the hard task of telling her. I would have even been cowardly content forhimto tell Edith that he no longer wanted to marry her.”
“Because you love her.” Eliza reached for him. “Of course you don’t want to hurt her.”
“I wanted to protect her, as my father would have done.” Hugh gave a humorless laugh at that irony. He put his hands on his hips, subtly evading her touch. “Instead I made it worse.”
“No!Mr. Benwickmade it horrible,” she said firmly. “He’s the villain here, proposing marriage and telling her he loved her and then changing his mind. You were very fair and patient with him, but he’s the one who broke Edith’s heart, not you.”
“Eliza.” He took a deep breath and took her hand, threading his fingers through hers. She had said she would forgive him if he were honest, after all. “Part of Benwick’s change of heart involved you. He—or rather, his father despises your father. They had an unfortunate business dealing at some point, I gather.”
