Roland was certain he would not see her.
Likely never again, unless it was in passing at a societal function.
He told himself it was for the best.
Too bloody bad he did not believe it.
Chapter 4
Her mother had always told Pippa that there was nobility in upholding right over wrong. Perhaps Mama had intended another lesson with her prescient words. One would hope she had never imagined Pippa would find herself in the impossible situation of having to choose between her fading loyalty to her late husband and what was right. Still, as she called upon her dearest friend Tilly, her stomach was unsettled.
They were seated opposite in Tilly’s favorite salon as they had been so many times in their friendship. Tea between them. The familiar should have lent a sense of comfort, but in this instance, it did not. Pippa was not certain anything could. When last she had seen her friend, she had been running from the Duke of Northwich’s townhome in tears, shocked by the allegations being made against her beloved George.
Days had intervened.
The hurt remained.
But a new truth, dawning and ominous, had spread.
“You are wringing your hands, dearest,” Tilly observed, her voice gentle, her lovely countenance fraught with concern.
Her friend had greeted her with nothing other than her standard warmth. Tilly had a kind heart and an inner glow that radiated from her, drawing everyone into her circle. She had not deserved the countless miseries bestowed upon her by the Duke of Longleigh.
And by George, whispered a voice within.
That voice was coming to understand the horrors of what George had done. One letter, one word, one payment, one lie at a time.
“I am overset,” she admitted. “I… I owe you an apology, Tilly. Goodness, I owe you more than one, and I owe your husband an endless litany of them, it would seem.”
Tilly’s shoulders stiffened, the only sign she understood what Pippa was referencing. “You are not the one who needs to apologize, Pippa.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply for a moment, gathering her courage, before opening them once more. “I must. I cannot help but to feel responsible for what happened to Mr. Hastings.”
“You are not responsible,” Tilly reassured her calmly. “Northwich said you read the letters Longleigh was keeping. Or, at least, he believed you had. He said you departed before he could speak with you.”
She had not supposed he would notice. But she must not make anything of that. What did she care if he had? Her mind had been preoccupied with the awful truths she had unveiled, and she had not been capable of bearing yet another interminable exchange with him.
“I left after I had finished reading the letters,” she explained rather than admitting any of that aloud. “His Grace was nowhere to be found.”
And it had been for the best. She had no wish to see him again.
Ever.
“I am sorry about the manner in which we first told you,” Tilly said. “It was never my intention to hurt you. The discovery we made was so shocking, and I was not thinking clearly.”
“You have no need to apologize,” she countered. “I was upset that Northwich was involved, and it heightened my reaction.”
And I still am.
He inevitably left her heart feeling raw and ragged. He made her think about those moments she had vowed to forever forget. He filled her with confusion and anger and sadness and…longing.
No, not that.
Surely not that.
“We would not have gone to him except that he has proven such a good friend to Adrian. He has a close connection at Scotland Yard in Chief Inspector Stone, and together, they have been working on discovering how Adrian could have been imprisoned falsely for so long.”
Once more, Tilly was contrite when she had no need to be. Although Pippa found it difficult indeed to believe that Northwich was suddenly a good friend. Unless he was doing penance for what had happened years ago, for the lies he had told?
