‘Well, I wish to tell you that you have been missed at the recent events in Society, Lord Elmsworth, for everyone has been asking after you.’
‘I have been busy.’
He was speaking about their lovemaking, Willa knew that he was, and a warm feeling spread across her, although when she looked up she saw Anna watching her and clamped down on her thoughts in consternation.
‘Willa has just told me exactly the same and it is such a bother, for these soirees are starting to feel very empty. Would you not agree, Willa?’
‘Perhaps,’ she began and then stopped. With the Earl looking at her directly now she could barely remember Anna’s question. The blue in his eyes was darker here, the silver almost disappeared. Different eyes than the ones that had taken in all of her nakedness late last night.
But he had moved back now, and as he replaced his hat he bade them both good day and left, walking across the road towards Bond Street with that particular and easy gait of his.
‘I hope you know what you are doing, Wilhelmina.’
Anna seldom called her by her full name, so Willa knew exactly what was coming.
‘The Earl of Elmsworth will need a wife and heirs. It is the way of these ancient aristocratic families and you will only be hurt by the scandal should you imagine it otherwise.’
‘Phillip Moreland is a friend.’ She tried to imbue that statement with nonchalance and sternness.
‘Oh, please, Willa. If I am noticing the spark between you both, others soon will be, too. You have a place here in London that is solidified by your reputation of widowhood and wisdom. Silly women with air in their heads might make the same mistake, but you…’
‘I am fine.’
‘I don’t think you are.’ Anna’s voice was lower still now, worry easily discernible. ‘I don’t want to see you crucified by Society’s unwritten protocols. You are not from a family of the first water, Wilhelmina, and even though you have risen up the ranks of the social ladder by intelligence and talent it will not take much for those who are jealous of you to plot and throw you off. And believe me they will, because that is how it works here and every one of those jealous mamas and their daughters will want theEarl of Elmsworth for themselves. I am your friend, Wilhelmina, and I am warning you. Do not continue this affair, for it will lead to ruination.’
Willa took in a breath and gathered her courage. ‘I know you mean well, Anna, and I appreciate it, but you are worrying about something that does not exist.’
But her friend was not one to give up so easily. ‘Why don’t we take a trip to the Continent, you and I? We could wind our way through the sights of France and head to Italy. I have a second cousin in Paris who would love to show us his city and it would be a good break for us both.’
Willa put one hand over Anna’s. ‘You have always been a friend and I know what you are doing, but I do not need protecting.’
‘Very well, I will say no more, but if you ever wish to talk I am here.’
‘And I thank you for it.’
Much, much later she and Phillip lay in each other’s arms and watched the stars in the night sky through the opened windows of his bedroom, the endless blackness dotted with lights.
‘If you could make one wish here and now, what would it be?’ she said softly, noting the cluster of Pleiades bright in the northwest.
‘I’d wish that everything would disappear and we could be alone together in the country at Elmsworth Manor.’
A smile surfaced.
‘It might be more difficult to be so discreet there, and social acceptance in the countryside can be very traditional, particularly on an estate such as yours.’
He did not answer, and his silence was somehow jarring. Did he agree? Was he already tiring of her? Is this what happenedin the sensual world of the Bon Ton? A quick affair and then an end?
To take her mind off such a problem she stroked the fourth finger of his left hand. ‘What happened to your wedding ring?’
‘I took it off because it felt wrong to keep on wearing it, here like this.’
‘Because of Gretel and her promise of abstinence? The one that she wanted you to adhere to forever?’
He frowned. ‘No, because it felt like a symbol which made moving on difficult.’
‘And you have now? Moved on?’
‘How can you ask me that after the past few nights?’
