Page 86 of An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
“She seems to have adjusted well enough.”
Turning, she wasn’t surprised to find him so near. It would take her swaying only a couple of inches to place her lips against his. “Not before she shed a good many tears. She released far more than I ever did. Eventually, yes, she accepted our move and became enamored with the aristocracy. She deserves to find here the happiness I never did. I am determined at least one of us will benefit from the upheaval in our life.”
“This bloke in New York—”
“Anson.”
“Anson,” he repeated as though it left a sour taste in his mouth. “Is he the reason you’re returning to New York?”
“Heavens no. He’s married. I’ve heard he’s unhappy. I can’t take satisfaction in it. I was a silly girl to think revenge was the answer. I doubt he cared at all when I married.”
Rexton suspected the bastard had in fact very much cared. But he also knew she would not have been happy with him—not in the long term. It was one thing to honor one’s parents. Quite another to allow them to dictate one’s life, whom one could love and marry. He couldn’t imagine his parents wanting anything for their children except to be happy. But then his parents had defied convention. Dukes did not marry bookkeepers.
Still he couldn’t imagine Tillie remaining infatuated with a man who wouldn’t stand up for what he wanted. The thought of her leaving once her sister was married left a pain in his chest as though his horse had wandered over and kicked him.
She tugged a flower from the earth and began plucking off the petals. He’d done the same when he’d fancied himself in love with Emmaline, tearing a petal in two to ensure he ended the childish litany that accompanied his actions with “She loves me.”
He almost told Tillie she didn’t need to go through the ritual, that he could provide the answer. But he wasn’t fool enough to reveal his heart when he wasn’t certain it would change the future. She was determined to leave. Perhaps he would go to New York.
With a sigh, she flung the petal-less stem away.
“Not the outcome for which you were hoping?” he asked.
Her smile was self-mocking as she glanced back at him. “I think the horses are rested. We should probably go now.”
“I’m not Anson,” he said. “While I respect my parents and their opinion, I am no longer a child who follows their dictates when they are in opposition to what I want. Nor am I Downie. I would never be unfaithful to my wife, nor would I cause her misery.”
Staring at him, she was as still as a statue. He wasn’t even certain she breathed.
“If I say I will stand by your side in a ballroom, stand by your side I will. Anyone who crosses you crosses me. And trust me, sweetheart, no one would dare cross me.”
“But you cannot be at my side forever. Your life is here and mine is in New York.”
She was correct. He couldn’t promise her happiness here, not when she wanted to leave so desperately.
Chapter 19
Once a month, Rexton joined his entire family for dinner at his parents’ residence in St. James. He always looked forward to the family gathering. This particular evening, a week after he’d taken Tillie to Kingsbrook Park, his father sat at the head of the table with his duchess to his right and Rexton opposite him. Grace sat beside Lovingdon. Drake was whispering something to his wife, Ophelia. Seeing their intimacy made Rexton long for Tillie’s nearness.
“So how is your courtship of Miss Hammersley going?” Grace asked, from her place beside their mother.
His mother perked up. “What’s this then?”
“Did you not know?” Andrew asked. “Rex has set his sights on an American heiress.”
“Hammersley,” his mother repeated softly. “The name is familiar. I can’t quite place it.”
Not unusual. His mother cared little for the social scene. As his father’s eyesight had deteriorated they’d attended fewer balls. But then she’d always been more interested in orphans, the poor, and her charitable works than impressing London’s finest, except when she could entice them into donating to her causes.
“Her sister, Mathilda Hammersley, arrived from America and made quite the splash several years back,” Grace said. “She married Landsdowne.”
“Ah, yes. She got mixed up in some sort of scandal, didn’t she?”
“She had a very public affair with a footman,” Ophelia said.
“Sounds as though she likes a bit of the rough then,” Andrew said in a tone that clearly labeled her a whore.
“She doesn’t,” Rexton stated succinctly, grateful the butter knife he was presently clutching couldn’t do much damage if he jabbed it at his brother.
