“That is ridiculous. I must care for the countess. You must return to your life.”
His proximity, his strength and his scent and his very presence, were her undoing and she lost control of her emotions and began to cry in earnest. Hugh took her more forcefully into his arms, and she pressed her face against his chest.
Hugh pressed his cheek against the top of her head. “I am not willing for this to be the end of us. This cannot be our story’s finale. I do not yet know what the solution is, but I keep thinking about something Doctor Willis said.”
“What did he say?” Adele pulled away slightly and looked at Hugh’s face, which was a model of determination.
“That I should take things one day at a time. I don’t seem to have much control over how my memories return, nor did I have a plan for returning to my old life until today, so I’ve been taking each day as it comes.”
Adele leaned against Hugh, savoring the sensation of his strong arms around her. She said, “There is still so much. Your old life. Your family name. My responsibilities here. How can we be together under such circumstances?”
“I do not know yet.”
She pulled away slightly and looked up at him. “You care for me?”
He smiled. “I do. I am anxious to see my mother and return to my own house, but I am reluctant to leave you. The circumstances of my stay here have not been ideal, but you have made it pleasant. I have no regrets about anything that has occurred for that reason, except that I must leave you tomorrow. But let us not make any decisions right now. We shall take eachday when it arrives and figure out what we must to ensure our own happiness.”
“You make things sound easy when you say that.”
“I am a wealthy duke, am I not? I should be able to move mountains, or at least pay someone to move them on my behalf.”
She laughed, although it was his status as a duke that felt like the biggest impediment, like a huge, immovable granite rock between them. He perhaps did not have the memories to understand how society worked, but she did.
“And who knows?” he added. “I could perhaps be the prince who sweeps poor Cinderella out of the drudgery of her life and into a grand new world where he spends the rest of his life seeing to her every whim.”
She shook her head. She knew better than to wish for that. “You should return to your friends,” she said, pulling away gently.
“I suppose I should. They are undoubtedly speculating about us now.”
“Does that bother you?”
He shrugged. “Let them speculate. I have nothing to be ashamed of. Do I?”
“No. I do not believe so.”
“Good. Are you coming?”
“I will be there in a moment. Just give me a moment to compose myself.”
After Hugh left the room, Adele walked over to a dusty mirror and peered through the grime on the surface to see if she looked terrible. She looked tired but all right.
She did wonder what exactly they had just promised to each other. Marriage? No one had ever said that aloud. Adele thought the odds long; she doubted his family would permit him to even offer for her, and even if they fell in love, it wasn’t like members of thetonmarried for such foolish notions. They had strategicmarriages, meant to bring together dynasties or create alliances. Dukes tended to marry pretty, convenient young ladies with the right pedigree, not old spinsters from families that had fallen out of favor. And Adele would not allow herself to be a kept mistress. She had gotten to this point in her life by her own skills and resources, and she had modest funds after her time as a paid companion, so she could make her own way in the world.
Where did that leave them? Adele didn’t want Hugh to leave at all, as she’d just demonstrated in a silly, overwrought way. The fact that he did not laugh at or mock her meant he understood the depth of her affection, but it didn’t much matter.
Adele knew Hugh would leave the next day and that would be the end of their acquaintance. Oh, he’d put some effort into calling on her, very likely, but it would soon fizzle as his memory came back and he realized they had no future together.
She felt tears sting her eyes again as she thought about it, but blinked at her reflection and took a deep breath. She’d come to expect this from life. She wasn’t sure what she had done to offend her maker in a previous life that He should continue to dangle happiness before her just to take it away, but she should expect no less. This was her fate. No amount of hope would change it.
She took a deep breath and walked back to the gold salon.
Chapter Eleven
It was goodthat the distance between Adele’s room and Hugh’s was a few steps across the hallway, because a longer walk might have caused Adele to lose her nerve. As it was, she hesitated before knocking on his door. And then her fist seemed to fall upon the wood.
He opened the door wearing only his breeches and stockings. Adele was momentarily dumbstruck by the wide expanse of his finely muscled chest, his athletic body, and the dusting of hair across his torso.
He smiled.
