Page 47 of About a Rogue
“What do you mean, ma’am?” asked Farquhar politely.
“They will never retreat now,” she said. “After reaching such a momentous decision, and committing themselves to it in blood, they’ll never come back. Indeed not. They may make a mull of it, but it is their chosen course, and they will stay to it and thrash their way through as best they can.” As she finished, she caught Max’s gaze from the far end of the table, thoughtful and attentive. Bianca flushed but gazed boldly back.Yes, she silently told him.I am that way, too.
Dalway’s brows went up. “I do believe you’re right, Mrs. St. James. They certainly are a stubborn lot!” He raised his glass to her.
Everyone else joined in, but Bianca still caught Lady Dalway’s murmur to Max: “Oh Maxim, I do like her!”
When dinner ended, Bianca led Lady Dalway, Mrs. Farquhar, and Lady Carswell to the drawing room. The rumble of the gentlemen’s voices quieted as the door closed, and Bianca rang for Martha, the maid.
“Well!” Lady Dalway threw herself on the sofa, managing to end up draped elegantly across the cushions. “What a treasure you are, Mrs. St. James!”
Bianca smiled politely. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
“You do,” said Mrs. Farquhar with a knowing smile. “I’ve never seen Maxim so content!”
“Or so civilized,” added Lady Carswell—archly, to Bianca’s ears.
Lady Dalway let out a peal of laughter. Like everything else about her, her laugh was light and beautiful. She sat up and put out one hand. “Oh heavens, I must thank you for that! Such a rogue he always was, but now he’s been polished and brushed to a shine! I’ve never seen him look better.”
“Never?” Mrs. Farquhar murmured, but Lady Dalway ignored her.
“And so focused! I vow, I didn’t think he meant it when he wrote about the dinnerware but I must confess I was very struck by it. Weren’t you, Louisa?”
“I was,” agreed Lady Carswell.
“Thank you,” said Bianca. “I’m delighted you admire it.”
“Oh yes, indeed. Do you know,” said Lady Dalway dreamily, staring off above Mrs. Farquhar’s head, “I always thought Maxim would do well to marry.”
Bianca blinked. “Why?”
“Serafina is a romantic,” said Mrs. Farquhar with a laugh.
Lady Dalway made a face at her. “Nothing of the sort, Clara! Some men do better to marry and some do much worse—and one does sympathize withtheirbrides—but Maxim is entirely the former.” She turned a melting, artless smile on Bianca. “I do so applaud you, my dear, for bringing him to the altar. He’s quite settled, I can see.”
Bianca smiled stiffly and murmured something polite. She suspected she knew what Lady Dalway was saying. “I must ask,” she said, before she could stop herself, “why you call him Maxim.”
Lady Dalway blinked her large blue eyes. Mrs. Farquhar clucked her tongue. “You don’t know?”
Bianca shook her head. “He’s not told me much about his life in London.”
Nor had she asked.
“Well,” began Mrs. Farquhar, but Lady Dalway cleared her throat. With a quirk of her lips, Mrs. Farquhar fell silent.
“His grandfather was called Maxim,” said Lady Dalway. “I understand he and Max”—Bianca noted the change—“were quite close.”
“Oh.” A flash of memory, what he’d told her on their wedding day. “His mother’s father.”
“The very one,” said Mrs. Farquhar. “When his mother—”
Again Lady Dalway made a small sound, and again Mrs. Farquhar went quiet.
“If I had been burdened with his Christian names, I would much prefer Maxim myself,” put in Lady Carswell, causing an outpouring of agreement from the other ladies.
It was very strange, Bianca thought as they chatted of more idle topics, to feel a stranger in her own supposed home. She had been here long enough that this house was starting to feel familiar, and she supposed the same was true of Max. Her husband. He was starting to feel likehers, and the fact that these other women knew him better than she did, knew things about him that she did not, was strangely distressing.
It was a relief when the gentlemen came in and the card tables were set up. Lady Carswell asked to partner her, and Bianca agreed before noticing her husband heading her way. He had been in deep conversation with Lord Dalway, and now joined her.
