Page 61 of An Earl Like You
He regarded her with fond concern. “It’s my place to see that you’re happy. If Hastings doesn’t do right by you—”
“He has,” she said firmly. Telling Papa her worries would do no good, and only put him on edge. “Don’t you dare do anything, Papa.”
“You act as if I’m not trustworthy.” He put on a wounded expression she knew was all art.
“I’m acting as if I know you,” she said firmly, but with a laugh. “I know you like to interfere, but your help is not wanted in this case.”
“If you need help...” he began.
“No!” She set down her teacup with a clink. “I do not need help. If I do, I will ask for it.”
A smile broke out on his face. “That’s my girl. Well, as long as Hastings is making you happy, I shall keep to myself.”
Hugh almost held his breath the first evening they went out, but he needn’t have worried.
Not only did Eliza look her best, in a deep peacock-green dress that made her eyes glow, she seemed to have tapped some vein of poise and composure inside herself. He’d seen her shy and uncertain before, and feared she might retreat into it in the face of Livingston’s spite. Instead she walked into the Gorensons’ musicale with her head high, diamonds sparkling at her throat and ears, as if she were a princess royal.
It helped, no doubt, that her friend was there. Lady Georgiana linked her arm through Eliza’s and led her around the room, introducing her to every prominent lady in attendance. Hugh let them go, but kept his eyes on her.
“How remarkable they would be such friends,” remarked his mother beside him.
Hugh raised his brows. “Why?”
“Why—why, they’re so...” She paused thoughtfully. “They are quite different. Lady Georgiana is so vivacious. Eliza is far quieter. I worried she was terribly shy when you invited her to tea.”
Except she wasn’t. Hugh knew she didn’t hesitate to speak her mind when she felt strongly about something. She wasn’t shy in bed, either. Perhaps she wasn’t shy at all, but merely cautious in new situations. “Do you wish I’d married someone like Lady Georgiana?” he asked, and was surprised to feel something inside himself recoil at the thought. Lady Georgiana was beautiful and vivacious, as his mother said—much like Catherine Thayne and Fanny Martin, either of whom his mother would have been delighted to see as his bride. Once upon a time he’d thought he would marry someone like that, and only now did it strike him how exhausting that might have been.
His mother took her time replying. Finally he glanced at her, wondering if she were struggling with how to admit that, yes, she did wish that, but instead her face was surprised.
“Once I did,” she said. “But now... Eliza was a wonderful choice. She’s not at all what I expected your wife would be, but all for the better.”
Now he was the one surprised. “Really.”
She gave him a glance of reproach at his tone. “I was wrong earlier, when I tried to persuade you against courting her. And I was wrong not to welcome her more warmly.” She smiled ruefully. “You chose better for yourself than I would have done, and I am so proud of you for it.”
Hugh looked at his wife again. She was listening to Lady Clapham with a smile on her face. Lady Georgiana broke in with something that made all three laugh. Eliza’s face was luminous with happiness. Thetonmight never call her beautiful, but Hugh realized that he rather thought she was. It was the way she smiled. The way her bosom rose and fell when she laughed. The way her eyes lit with an extra glow when she glanced up and caught him watching her, and their gazes connected for a small eternity. The rest of the room seemed to fade away around him, and Hugh found himself smiling at his own wife like a love-struck ninny. He bowed slightly at her, still smiling; she blushed, but then she winked at him, a roguish wink that made him want to sweep her into a private room where he could kiss her senseless and tease her about tempting him to do wicked things to her at a society musicale.
He wanted to laugh.
Yes, he had done remarkably well. Even if she hadn’t been his choice at all in the beginning, there was no other woman in the world he wanted now. And on that thought, he headed across the room toward her.
Eliza thought she must be tipsy, or daydreaming, or perhaps had suffered a whack on the head and was now enjoying a marvelous delusion.
The same society matrons who had never deigned to look in her direction during her futile Season were smiling right at her tonight as Georgiana towed her around the room. Georgiana, of course, knew and was known by everyone, and was clearly held in high regard by them all. Eliza had expected no less, but it was still dazzling to see the effects of Georgiana’s determined charm—and, perhaps, her own new title—at close range.
Lady Clapham complimented her gown. Lady Reynolds invited her to tea. Someone else—Eliza lost track of who—admired her jewels. She could hardly keep straight all the names and faces of her new acquaintances.
After several minutes, Lady Sidlow summoned Georgiana away, leaving Eliza with Lady Gorenson. Their hostess was very cordial, presenting her to several more people, but Eliza was relieved to spot Hugh making his way through the crowd toward her, albeit slowly as he was stopped by every other person he passed. Society was exhausting, it turned out.
“Here is someone you should know,” said Lady Gorenson gaily, breaking into her thoughts. “If you are not already acquainted with Mr. Benwick. I understand you may soon be very closely acquainted...?” She gave Eliza a teasing smile.
Eliza turned around to see Reginald Benwick, staring at her with haughty determination in his face. He drew breath, obviously readying a cutting response. Eliza didn’t give him the chance. “I believe you are mistaken, Lady Gorenson,” she said, quietly but clearly. “I have no wish to make this gentleman’s acquaintance.” She turned and walked away, her head high.
Lady Gorenson scurried after her. “My goodness, Lady Hastings, I am astonished—I’ve heard rumors he is engaged to Lady Edith!”
Eliza stopped and put her hand on her hostess’s arm. “I hope I may confide in you, ma’am.” Lady Gorenson blinked, then nodded eagerly. Eliza glanced around, but they were in a relatively quiet corner, sheltered behind a large group of young ladies talking and laughing. “He did call upon Lady Edith, but he turned out to be very unsuitable, and Hastings has turned him aside.”
The other woman’s eyes looked ready to fall from her head. “No,” she breathed. “But he’s quite eligible...”
