She shook her head. “I don’t care if they’re true or not,” she said, waving a hand at him. “Do whatever you like, as long as it doesn’t impact our family and our reputation. You can’t possibly believe that your father never had any dalliances. All men are the same, and everyone knows it, but we pretend that the good men are different. If you wish to be perceived by society as a good and decent man, you must squash these rumors.”
“Do you really believe that, that all men are evil?”
“I never said evil,” said his mother. “They simply do what is in their nature.”
“And you think the nature of men is to mistreat their wives?” He didn’t know whether to feel angry with her or sad for her. “I can assure you, I would never treat Caroline that way.”
But as he left the house after concluding the visit, he found himself feeling very ill at ease.
His mother’s opinions on everything reminded him exactly why he had always thought to avoid ladies of the ton. They always did this, prized appearances over things that were real. He hadn’t felt the same energy from Caroline thus far, and he hoped he never would. But he knew enough to know that he couldn’t count on that. People could always let you down.
As he returned to his horse, Levi pondered the prospect of an afternoon going from house to house and continuing to ask people about the rumors. It seemed like more than he could bear. He would be ever so grateful when all of this was over. As it was, whoever had spread the rumors was keeping him away from his home. Away from Caroline…
Had he invested too much of himself in her?
Falling asleep with her in his arms had been so blissful. But how could he have allowed it to happen? He should know better than that. It ran contrary to what he had always known that he’d wanted. He would be hurting them both if he acted as though their relationship could be something that it never could.
He had to be cautious. He had to protect the boundaries he had put in place for the two of them.
A night like that one could never happen again.
CHAPTER 32
“Well, I heard it from Holloway up the road there,” the man said, pointing north. “Can’t say as I ever put much stock in it, Your Grace. People like to talk around here more than is good for them. More than they like to check the truth of what they say.”
“You’re very right about that,” Levi agreed. “Did you tell anyone?”
“Oh, I told Marley who runs the shop, but that doesn’t count. He tells everyone everything, and everyone tells him everything. He’d already heard it by the time I came in. Probably Holloway for him too.” The fellow shook his head. “You can’t trust anyone around here, Your Grace. Nothing but talk, they are.”
“I see,” Levi said. “Well, thank you for your time. “I suppose I’ll go speak to Mr. Holloway.”
“But I wouldn’t take anything he says at face value,” the man added. “Holloway’s a known liar.”
“And yet you believed what he had to say about me? Put enough stock in it to spread it around, anyway!”
The man flushed. “Begging your pardon, Your Grace.”
Levi scowled, but what could he say? Spreading gossip was no crime. “Don’t let it happen again,” he growled. “If someone says something to you, show a little class and keep it to yourself the way a gentleman would.”
He stalked off, knowing that he had been unfair. That was not what a gentleman would do. Gentlemen were worse gossips than the gentry and the peasant classes. They had nothing to do with their days besides spreading rumors, and many of them did so maliciously and to distraction.
He made his way up the road to the house there. A man was standing outside, wrestling to force a donkey into a corral.
“Are you Holloway?” Levi asked him.
“I am, sir.” The man dusted off his hands on his pants and squinted in Levi’s direction. Then his eyes widened as he placed him. “I mean—Your Grace.”
“Do you know why I am here?”
“My taxes are paid, sir, I would never default.”
“This is not about taxes. This is about talk. I’m told you’re responsible for spreading a rumor that slanders my good name, and I offer you a chance to speak in your own defense.”
The man paled. “Your Grace—I only repeated what was said to me. Forgive me if I did wrong.”
“You knew it was wrong when you did it. You are not a child. You know the harm it does to speak ill of a man. Tell me why you thought it was all right to instigate a rumor?”
“Instigate? No, Your Grace, I didn’t instigate anything. Didn’t mean for it to be a rumor, either—wasn’t thinking, I suppose. I do beg your forgiveness. I heard something and repeated it to a friend of mine, that’s all. You’re right, it was careless of me, but friends do talk to one another, and well…begging your pardon, but this particular thing is pretty widely known. I don’t think anyone really knows of it because of me.”
