“Oh, Freddy.” She surrendered her determination to keep her upset to herself. “He has not even attempted to kiss me.”
“Not one kiss?” Freddy sounded shocked.
Leonora sighed again, a sudden twinge of pain forcing her to leverage all her weight onto the leg that had never been broken. “Nary a one.”
Of course, Freddy took note of her discomfort.
“Forgive me, dearest,” her friend said. “What have I been thinking, holding you here without a hint of proper manners? Sit, please do. Tea and biscuits should be here any moment now. I do hope you are staying for a nice, long visit. Youarestaying, are you not?”
Leonora had thought to visit Mama, as well, while making her first calls as the Marchioness of Searle. But Mama could read her as well as Freddy could, and Leonora had no wish to divulge the sad state of her marriage to more than one person today.
She allowed her friend to guide her to an overstuffed chair, where she happily took her seat. “I suppose I can stay for as long as you would like to have me here.”
Just then, a servant arrived, bearing a tray of chocolate biscuits and tea. Freddy waited until the domestic had departed before pouring tea for Leonora, knowing just how she preferred it, and offering her two biscuits as well.
“Two biscuits?” Leonora frowned down at the delicious looking things, thinking of her waistline, which was frightfully responsive to sweets, and not in the manner she wished. “One should suffice.”
“I am having three,” Freddy said unrepentantly. “Duncan’s chef is exquisite, recommended by the chef at his club. Every bit as talented, though blessedly possessed of a significantly smaller sense of his own magnificence. After your first bite, you will be cursing me for only offering you two, I promise.”
Leonora bit into a biscuit, and she had to admit, it was buttery and decadent upon her palate. She chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing. “These are utterly delightful, Freddy. You are, once again, quite right.”
“Duncan finds only the best,” Freddy said with a smile.
“Of course he does,” Leonora could not help but to observe. “He found you, after all.”
Freddy flushed, taking a delicate sip of her tea. “One could sayIfoundhimafter I trespassed at his club as I did.”
“No matter which one of you is responsible, Freddy, you are both happy and in love, and I am so very overjoyed for you.” And she was. She was incredibly delighted for her friend.
It filled her with warmth to see Freddy thriving. Mr. Kirkwood seemed the perfect foil for her, someone who understood and appreciated her mind and her novel writing, who could not just accept an unconventional lady but worship her as she deserved to be.
“But you are not happy,” Freddy deduced.
Correctly, drat it all.
Leonora supposed it was inevitable she would have to admit the truth. She could not hide her feelings from her friend forever. She sighed for what had to be the third time since her arrival. “I am not happy,” she admitted.
“Searle is not cruel to you, is he?” Freddy demanded, moving to the edge of her seat. Her expression had hardened, suggesting she would gladly take up the cudgels and use them upon Searle if need be.
So fierce and loyal, her friend. Leonora had never met another like Frederica Kirkwood. She was thankful to have found her and to count her an ally.
“No,” she hastened to reassure her friend, and that much, at least, was true. “He is polite. Horridly so. He seems to resent me, in truth, and I fear the fault is mine for rebuffing him initially, in a moment of pique.”
She flushed as she said the last, her cheeks stinging. For though she trusted Freddy implicitly, Leonora had never spoken about such matters as they pertained to herself. Not with anyone. Mama had advised her, and so had Freddy, but at that moment, she had yet to have a husband of her own. The warning words of her mother and her friend had been disparate, and they had seemed to apply to a future which Leonora could scarcely even contemplate.
“Have you expressed your interest to him?” Freddy asked.
“Of course not,” Leonora said primly. “On our wedding day, he brought me to Linley House and left me after introducing me to the servants. I was not pleased with him, and I let him know as much upon his return.”
Freddy nearly spat her tea. “You ought to have boxed his ears!”
“I was not certain what to expect of him. He is very much a stranger to me, and I have never had a husband before.” She paused, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. “I believe he may have been interested in consummating that evening. But when I told him he ought not to have left me and I needed my rest, it seemed to set the tone for the last week. He has been aloof and distant. I have been…existing.”
“You were not wrong to tell him what you did,” Freddy reassured her. “If he hurt your feelings, he should know. He shouldwantto know. You are his wife, and it is in his best interest to please you in every way.”
From the pink tinge to her friend’s cheeks, Leonora could only surmise Mr. Kirkwood kept Freddy well pleased. Yet another twinge of envy pierced her. Oh, to have what Freddy and her Mr. Kirkwood had, love and passion and mutual respect.
“He is a difficult man to decipher,” she admitted. “At times, I feel as if I shall suffocate beneath his stare, and other times, he is so cold, so remote. Sometimes, I cannot help but think he looks straight through me.”
