He rode onwards, and before long he was at Blackbrook Manor. He handed his horse to a servant, to be taken to the stables tobe looked after, then was shown in by the butler. Soon, he was pacing up and down the marble floor of the hallway, waiting to be shown into the drawing room.
When he entered, he saw Grace sitting by the window, sunlight framing her delicate features. Her expression was contemplative and he wondered what she was thinking about.
For a moment, he wished that he felt more for her, that he felt… he stopped himself before he could allow himself to entertain the thought any longer. It did not matter that he did not love her. All that mattered was that she would make a good countess and was a suitable match for him.
The room was almost a reflection of Grace herself—tastefully decorated, filled with light, and adorned with blooms from the garden. In any other circumstances, it would make him feel calm, but as Tristan stood there, waiting for her to greet him, he felt his heart pounding in his chest. He did not even understand why he was nervous, but he knew that he had to speak, to resolve things once and for all.
“Tristan,” she greeted him, her smile bright. “I was not expecting you today. How lovely to see you.” She was the epitome of politeness, he thought—the perfect lady. The perfect countess.
“Grace,” he replied, his voice low, betraying the inner turmoil he felt. “I apologize for my absence. I’ve been…preoccupied.”
“Preoccupied?” she echoed, tilting her head slightly. “You have not paid a visit in nearly a week. Have you really been so busy as all that?”
“I have been –” He stopped. He had been about to make the same excuses to her as he had been making to himself all week, but he decided not to. He would be honest, for once. “I am sorry that I did not come sooner,” he said simply. “But I felt that it was time, now, for us to speak more formally.”
She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She simply fidgeted in her seat, waiting for him to speak. He hesitated, unsure how to proceed. He knew that he needed to do his duty, and propose to her, but the words caught in his throat and he could not force himself to speak them.
A few moments of awkward silence passed between them, then Tristan opened his mouth to say something.
But before he could speak, Grace interjected. “I am glad that you have come, Tristan. I think that it’s time for me to be honest with you, though. I do not wish to continue our courtship.”
The words struck him like a physical blow, and he blinked as he processed her declaration. “What do you mean?” he demanded, unable to mask the rising tide of irritation in his voice. “You do not wish to continue our courtship?”
“I do not love you, Tristan,” she said, her voice steady yet soft, as if she were delivering a delicate truth. “And I do not believe that you are in love with me, either. I believe it is best for both of usif we part ways now rather than prolong the inevitable. It would not be right for us to marry, not if we are not truly in love with one another.”
His heart sank, and anger began to bubble within him. “You do not love me? Why did you not say so sooner?” he paused and glared at her. “I thought – I believed that we understood one another.” He did not want to say to her that he had never intended for their marriage to be a love match. He thought that she had realized that already, and was just as open to a business-like match as he was. But clearly, he had been wrong about this, and perhaps a good many other things too.
Grace’s eyes widened, surprised by his sudden agitation. “I thought you understood, Tristan. I did not wish to hurt you.”
“Then you should have made it clear!” he snapped, the edge in his tone startling even himself. “I have been here, suffering, and you?—”
Grace stifled a laugh. “I do not believe that you have been suffering, Tristan! I do not think that you love me either, not really. Not in the way that I wish to be loved, by the man I am going to marry.”
“You cannot mean it,” Tristan said. His pride was wounded by her words, even though his own feelings were by no means straightforward. Surely a young lady like her would jump at the chance of marrying him? The situation made no sense to him at all. It was not what he expected, and he was not sure how to proceed.
“I do mean it, Tristan,” she said, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands as she sat opposite him. “I care for you deeply, but it’s not the kind of love that leads to marriage, or at least not the kind of marriage that I wish for, for myself. I am resolved; I do not wish to continue our courtship.”
“And you are sure that you will not change your mind?” he said. What she had just said had unraveled every element of his plans and he did not know quite what to do next. He would not beg her, though, no matter what.
“I will not change my mind,” Grace said simply.
“I think that you do not know what you are saying, Grace,” Tristan replied, feeling his irritation rising again. “I thought that this was what you wanted? You have led me on, and made me look a fool. Everyone is expecting us to get married now! What will we say to people?”
Grace shook her head. “I do not think anyone will care all that much,” she said. “We are not engaged. It is not a formal arrangement. There will be no scandal. People may talk of it for a few days, but soon, something else will happen to interest them. We are not as fascinating to other people as you may think we are.”
“I do not think I am fascinating at all!” Tristan exclaimed. “But I do not want to be the butt of people’s jokes!” He could not understand why he was feeling so agitated. In his heart, he knew that he had not really wanted to marry Grace, but her rejectionof him stung all the same, and now all his plans for the future were unclear.
“You seem upset, Tristan. I am sorry for it,” Grace said softly. “I did not mean to hurt you. I did not think you would mind all that much, in all honesty.”
“And what of Diana? Where is she?” The question spilt out before he could temper it, or before he could consider why he was really asking it. Did he want to see her? He did not even know, in that moment, if he could bear to face her after everything that had happened.
“Diana?” Grace’s expression shifted, unease creeping into her features. “She has left.”
“Left?” The word fell from his lips like a stone. “Where has she gone?”
“She is staying at one of our father’s other estates,” Grace replied.
“Which one?” Tristan demanded. His heart was racing again now. Something in him felt that he must know where Diana was, that something awful would happen if he did not. A sense of foreboding took him over as he waited for Grace’s response.
