Page 71 of An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
“Close, though, I’d wager. I could help you find someone while you’re helping me.”
“A wife for me is not on the table for discussion. Concentrate on yourself. You don’t need the distraction.”
“But—”
“He’s right,” Tillie interrupted, knowing when Gina latched on to an idea she was not one to let it go easily. “We haven’t much time. The Season is already half over. We need to focus on getting you wed.”
“So you can abandon me and return to America?”
“So I can get on with my life, yes.” She wasn’t going to feel guilty about it. She’d already sacrificed so much for Gina, stayed here when she desperately wanted to move on.
She was aware of the oars going still, silent, no longer moving through the water. Rexton’s gaze was on her, studying her as though he were searching for something important.
“Do you miss it?” he finally asked.
“New York? Yes, of course I do. Dreadfully.”
His jaw tightened as though he didn’t much like her answer. “What of the balls? Society? Being welcomed here in London?”
More than she’d thought possible. In her youth, she’d thrived on the excitement, the festivities, and constantly being in motion. Her nights had been filled with balls, dinners, theater. Her days had included museums, art shows, morning calls. She’d visited with people; they had visited with her. “What I miss or do not miss is of no consequence.”
“Would you stay if you were accepted back into Society?”
Stay and watch him take another woman to wife? A man in his position did not marry a woman of Tillie’s circumstances. If she were welcomed back, no man of any consequence would ask for her tainted hand. He watched her with such intensity she felt as though she were once again in court, aware of all eyes on her, as her sins were leveled against her. She’d endured it because she’d known that at the end she would gain her freedom. She couldn’t give it up again. “Our entire focus should be on Gina. So the ball, and then what plans have you?”
He seemed less than happy with her response, but he had to be aware of the reality of their situation, the truth of hers: acceptance would never be full and complete.
“Then we see,” he said.
“You don’t seem to have this planned out.”
“I was under the impression love could not be planned.”
“But some action must be taken.”
“We are taking action.”
“I just don’t see that our current activity is proving fruitful.”
“Oh, ye of little faith.” He brought the oars out of the water, set them in the bottom of the boat, and looked once more over his shoulder. “Oy! Somerdale! Noticed you stopped. Having trouble, there?”
The earl, one of Rexton’s contemporaries, turned a bright red. “No, old chap. Just taking a bit of a rest.” He leaned forward slightly. “Is that Miss Hammersley with you?”
“It is. And her sister, the lovely Lady Landsdowne.”
The man seemed surprised by that pronouncement. As was Tillie. Lovely? If she didn’t know better she’d think he was striving to foist her off on someone. He should have used the descriptor for Gina. Still Somerdale swept his hat from his head. “Lady Landsdowne, Miss Hammersley. May I say you look incredibly fetching today?”
Tillie didn’t think he was talking to her. Gina must have had the same thought because she smiled brightly before saying, “Thank you, my lord. I noticed you rowing by us earlier.”
“I tend to go in circles.”
“Especially when pretty ladies are serving as scenery, eh, Somerdale?” Rexton asked easily.
“Indeed. Seems hardly fair that I have none and you have two.”
“Care to take one off my hands?” Rexton asked. “The extra weight in the boat has tired me out.”
She and Gina both squealed at the insult. Tillie would have reached out and smacked his shoulder if it weren’t for the fact that the action would do Gina’s reputation no great service. She would, however, have a go at him later.
