“Horrible woman.” Gabriel drawled, his hands clasped behind his back. “How could she say such a thing about you?”
Never mind that it was almost entirely true. And almost exactly what he himself had said to her…
“My point exactly,” the Duchess hissed, glaring across the room at Lady Bitterwood with her hands planted on her hips. “And just look at her, trying to foist her third son off on Miss Wingfield when the girl could obviously do much better.”
At this, their mother cut a sideways glance at Raphe, who stared at Gabriel in utter and complete disbelief over the top of their mother’s head. He mouthed the word ‘Diabolical’ at Gabriel when their mother wasn’t looking, and Gabriel grinned, obviously quite proud of himself.
The Duchess straightened up and squared her shoulders.
“Come… we are leaving. We have much to do if we are to beat that bitter, loathsome toad of a woman at her own game.”
* * *
Eliza was being fittedfor a pale green dress at the modiste when Lady Catherine Stewart happened to come in, accompanied by her maid. Catherine’s countenance was pale and drawn, and her eyes looked as if she had not slept well in several days, possibly weeks.
Eliza wondered if Lady Catherine had been unwell, and had even opened her mouth to inquire after her health when Catherine crossed the modiste’s shop in three quick strides, stopping directly in front of Eliza.
“I need to speak with you. Immediately.”
Lady Catherine looked down at the modiste, who sensed the gravity of the situation and decided that it might be a good time to take a short break from pinning Eliza’s dress and afford the two girls some privacy in which to speak to each other.
Their maids locked gazes, neither one willingly backing away until Eliza nodded to her maid first.
“Allow us a moment of privacy, please, Annie.” Eliza’s maid did as she was asked, and Lady Catherine’s maid did the same at Lady Catherine’s grave nod. When they finally had the space to speak to one another without being overheard, Eliza held Catherine’s gaze. “Are you quite well, Lady Catherine?”
“I must know what is between you and Lord Edward Melthorn.” Catherine wrung her hands, her face twisted in a tortured expression. “I must know if any promises have been made between you—”
“I saw the kiss you shared in the garden at Lady Duncan’s Ball.” Eliza’s quiet admission made even more colour drain out of Lady Catherine’s cheeks, and she cast a panicked look about the shop, as if to check whether they might have been overheard. “You needn’t worry, Lady Catherine, I have not told anyone what I saw, nor am I inclined to do so.”
“That is all very well, but it still does not answer my question. What is between you and Ed— I beg your pardon, Lord Edward?”
“Honestly?” Eliza sucked in a deep breath and heaved a weary sigh, offering Catherine a half-hearted palms-up gesture. She was so tired of keeping secrets and dealing with subterfuge. She hated lying, too. “Lord Edward asked me to allow him to pretend to court me because his mother was pressuring him to do so — but what he really wanted to do was to use me as a cover so he could get close to you, because you and I are friends… or at least I would like to think that we are friends.”
Lady Catherine stood stone still, in stunned silence for almost a full minute, mouth hanging open, eyes big and round as she processed Eliza’s admission. Eliza squirmed uncomfortably, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she waited to see how Lady Catherine would respond to learning the truth.
Finally, after a moment that felt as if it might stretch on forever, Lady Catherine smiled, so broadly and brightly that it changed her whole face.
“Oh, thank heavens! I thought the two of you might really be courting and — oh, this is so embarrassing — I was so jealous. I adore Lord Edward with every fibre of my being, and I was terrified of losing him, and it would almost have been worse to lose him to someone I like as much as I like you than it would have been to lose him to someone I dislike, because it would have made it difficult for me to continue to be friends with you, and I do not wish to lose your friendship.”
“Nor I yours.”
Eliza chuckled, shaking her head.
Lady Catherine paused, then, frowning.
“Why on Earth were you willing to allow Edward to use you in such a way? Do you not have some… disappointed hopes, knowing that he was only using you to get to me?”
Eliza shook her head and sighed.
“I never felt anything more than friendship for Lord Edward. He is pleasant enough company, but my hopes were quite firmly engaged elsewhere.”
“Were?” Lady Catherine prodded, her green eyes alight with interest. “Are they not still engaged elsewhere?”
“They are, but he is forbidden to see or speak to me, much the same as you and Lord Edward are forbidden to see or speak to one another.”
Lady Catherine smiled a sly, knowing smile.
“But do you love him?”
