“I am lonely here without Dorian,” she admitted. “But I cannot complain if he wishes to spend some time by himself in London, can I? He does not grudge me the use of a carriage and the chance to visit my family and friends whenever I wish. I ride out around the estate every day by myself too.”
“I doubt he spends much time by himself in London,” put in Magnus. “I believe he has been seen at galleries, some rather risqué exhibitions and several artists’ studios in Chelsea.”
“Dorian is an artist himself,” Rose defended her husband. “He has a broad acquaintance. You know how well-liked he is. I thought you liked him too.”
“Well-liked?” repeated Edwin incredulously. “Oh Rose, you little naif! It does not matter if we like him. We still can’t allow Dorian Voss to make a fool of you.”
“He is not making a fool of me,” Rose insisted, feeling that Edwin was trying to make a point she had not yet grasped. “I only wish he would come home.”
“Rose, what do you imagine he is doing in these artists’ studios in Chelsea?” Edwin put to her bluntly and suddenly Rose understood his meaning.
“Talking about art,” she answered with equal bluntness. “Talking about art with other men and women who appreciate it as he does.”
“Is that what he told you?” her brother asked cynically.
“It’s who Dorian is,” Rose responded, feeling more confident in her view as she said the words aloud. “I don’t understand why he felt he had to be in London for so long now, but I do know him better than you, Edwin.”
“Mother, you must make Rose see!” pleaded her eldest brother. “What if he ends up in the scandal sheets with some model or other? Or anactress?”
“It needn’t even be a scandal,” noted Magnus. “If he only starts being invited to dinners as Lady Lepford’s regular escort again, Rose’s name would be on everyone’s lips.”
“And has he?” Rose now demanded of her brothers, her color heightening with displeasure at this last suggestion as well as some anger at Edwin’s high-handedness. “Has Dorian been linked to any woman but me since our marriage? Tell me!”
She looked each of them in the eye and was pleased and relieved that both had to shake their heads.
“No, it is only my brother-in-law’s general habits that give us cause for concern,” Edwin explained. “My fear is that in returning to old haunts as he has done, and staying away from you for so long, he will be drawn to old acquaintance. I still feel I ought to speak with him before any sliding back can occur”
“No,” Rose said firmly. “I will not have it. I’ve told you already, I know Dorian. He would do nothing to hurt me, if he could help it.”
“Some men can’t help it, by all accounts,” Magnus remarked but Rose’s eyes flashed at him.
“Dorian is not such a man,” she told him. “Whatever people say. He is not!”
Eugenia nodded her head with a sympathetic expression.
“Enough now,” she said softly to her sons, surprising her daughter by this understanding and support. “You have heard what Rose has said.”
“But Mother,” Edwin complained, highly dissatisfied.
“You have never been in love, either of you,” the Duchess of Westvale said meaningfully. “You cannot understand what is happening here. Rose will call on us if she needs our help, won’t you, dear?”
“Thank you, Mother. I want Dorian to come home very much, but no one must interfere,” Rose said, grateful but uncertain why her mother should mention love, when she knew the marriage had been prompted by necessary duty. “I do not think it is as Edwin and Magnus believe.”
“Very well,” accepted the older woman, squeezing her daughter’s hand. “Edwin will not speak to Dorian on this matter yet, will you, Edwin?”
With bad grace, Edwin nodded his head.
“But perhapsyoumust speak to your husband, Rose,” continued Eugenia. “A man must have some freedom, but the situationcannot be left like this forever, can it? You may be right in your judgement of Dorian’s character, for now. But what about next week, next month, next year? Will you be confident of your belief in him then?”
Rose hesitated but then nodded as unwillingly as Edwin had done. Her mother was right and her words only echoed what had been in Rose’s own mind.
Dorian had not gone out to look for other women, but he might still find them if Rose could not solve the mystery of what had driven him from Ravenhill House in the first place.
How could she bring him home?
Chapter Twenty-One
After her brothers’ carriage rolled away into the darkness, Rose turned back into the hallway and let Smithers close the front door.
