Page 42 of When a Duke Loves a Woman
Lost in the drawings, Robin merely nodded.
Removing his glasses and slipping them into his jacket pocket, Thorne stood and reached for his walking stick and hat.
Once they were outside, she said, “That is an extremely nice book.” She’d noted the leather binding, and all her forays into the lending library had taught her the value of books. She still paid the yearly fee to have unlimited access to thousands of tomes, although now she would occasionally purchase one if it caught her fancy. “It was very kind of you to go to the trouble to get it for him.”
“It was in my library. I noticed it this morning when I was looking for something else, so I simply plucked it off the shelf. No trouble at all.”
“But now your library is short a book.”
“I’ve always felt books were meant to be read—or in the case of the one I gave Robin, looked at. If they are simply sitting on a shelf, in danger of not being perused anytime soon, perhaps they’d find joy elsewhere.”
“Well, you made him very happy.”
“Which made you happy.”
She couldn’t deny her pleasure that he’d taken time from his quest to give some attention to a lad who very much appreciated it. “It might have lightened my attitude so I’m not quite so put out at having to spend time wandering around on an errand that is unlikely to ever meet with success.”
“I’d not pictured you as such a pessimist.”
“Look around us, Thorne, truly look around us. You’re searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“I’m well aware, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t keep trying. If you’d rather not offer your assistance—”
“I simply don’t want you to be disappointed.”
“I was left high and dry, standing at the altar with no explanation. I’m already disappointed.”
“Yes, I can see that.” She sighed, hating that he’d been humiliated in front of his peers.
“So where are we off to today?” he asked. “Inquiring at more lodgings?”
“Maybe later, but it occurred to me that if she ran from the church, she was quite possibly decked out in her wedding finery.”
He nodded. “That would be a logical guess. I hadn’t seen her, of course, as that’s not allowed before we actually meet to exchange vows on that day, but I have attended other weddings where the bride was naught but a froth of silk, satin, and lace.”
“Which means, she’d have not been dressed for blending in to these environs, so her first order of business, no doubt, would have been to find something less noticeable to wear.”
“Then we should make inquiries at shops or a dressmaker’s.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of a mission, where they might be offering clothes, shelter, and food.”
Standing inside the small wooden building, watching as people sorted through piles of rags searching for something serviceable to wear, Thorne hoped to God that Lavinia had enough money on her to go to a proper shop. “She’d have not taken anything from here.”
“Beggars can’t always be choosers.”
But Lavinia was not a beggar. She was the daughter of an earl, the sister of an earl, the fiancée of a duke. He abhorred the thought of her scrounging through these items, which very likely were infested with fleas and the like.
“While I doubt anyone would have use for her gown as it was,” Gillie said quietly, “I’m rather certain she could have made a pretty penny off the silk and lace that no doubt comprised it.”
She was striving to ease his worries. Perhaps she could sense his consternation because his brow was furrowed so deeply his skull and everything inside it was beginning to ache. He nodded, then shook his head. “She’d have not included this place in her plans.”
“So now you’re convinced she had it all thought out?”
“Dear God, I hope so.”
“Which leaves you with an even bigger question, I think. What was she running from? You? Why not just tell you she wanted out?”
She made things sound so reasonable, as though he came from a reasonable world. “There was the contract between our fathers. Then along with our solicitors, her brother and I hammered out the settlement and signed additional contracts. It’s not as easy as saying, ‘I’ve changed my mind.’ People are taken to court over broken betrothals. Perhaps she thought to protect her family. I don’t know and I won’t know until I find her. But I should confess I’ve had a letter from her stating she had misgivings and begging my forgiveness. It was waiting for me when I initially returned home after you cared for me.”
