“I hope you find happiness, Lydia, though heaven knows you’ve done little to deserve it.”
Eugenia gave the ashen, trembling girl a placid smile as she brushed past her to retrieve a glass of orgeat.
ELKINGTON HALL
Marco entered the Elkington Ball, resigned to his fate. His time was up, and there seemed to be no chance for him to marry Lady Eugenia, though he’d been in love with her… and perhaps was still in love with her. But his feelings were neither here nor there. He had a duty to fulfill to everyone who was dependent on him and his estate, and he would not fail.
Marco would have no choice but to ask Lady Catherine to marry him tonight. He could wait no longer. He hoped, for the sake of his already aching heart, that he would not see Lady Eugenia there. It would be like salting a wound to have her present when he did his duty to his family’s legacy by asking for Lady Catherine Stewart’s hand in marriage.
He strode into Elkington Hall’s entrance hall, his shoulders set, and teeth gritted in firm determination.
He took a deep, bracing breath when he saw Lady Catherine on the far side of the ballroom and steeled himself for the grim duty which he must perform this night. He was telling himself to smile, to at least try to appear happy, when he was surrounded by Lady Seabury on one side and a rather stricken-looking Lady Eugenia, each taking an arm and diverting his course away from where the entrance hall opened onto the ballroom.
With a bright smile, Lady Seabury steered the three of them toward a hallway which branched away from the ballroom.
“My Lord, we simply must speak with you in private.”
Lady Seabury did not wait for an agreement from Marco, nor any answer. She led them all into what turned out to be the all-too-quiet, empty library.
“I am rather busy, Lady Seabury, and have important business to attend to.”
Marco attempted to pull away from his rather annoyingly meddlesome friend, but her grip turned steely on his arm and her blue eyes flashed with warning.
“Not too busy to hear an apology, I hope.”
He stilled at that, blinking as his mind struggled to catch up with Lady Seabury’s meaning. Hope, dangerous creature that it was, began to stir in his chest, against his better judgment. Or perhaps that was his wounded pride? He couldn’t be sure.
Leaving the door open, Lady Seabury waved for Marco and Lady Eugenia to step further into the empty room, then proceeded to tug a nearby chair over and place it by the library’s entrance.
“I will just sit here, waiting with the door open so that there can be no scandals or mistaken assumptions, while I drink my most excellent orgeat.”
Susan perched on the chair and glared at a young man who had been striding towards the library. At the withering expression on her face, he spun on his heel and sought to occupy himself elsewhere. Eugenia laughed softly, shaking her head. Susan was a force of nature, to be sure.
Lady Eugenia let go of Marco’s arm and put some distance between them as they stepped further into the library. Shaking from head to toe and blinking back tears, she took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Marco all that she had learned from Lord Greywood before she had left Thistlewayte Hall to attend the Elkington Ball.
“I’m so sorry.” The words spilled out of Lady Eugenia in a breathless rush. “I should have given you the chance to defend yourself against what I overheard out in the garden. I was so madly in love with you, and to hear those awful things Lord Greywood said, all while perfectly imitating your voice? It was too dark for me to see who was speaking, especially with hedges between us, and I was disoriented because I’d just woken from sleepwalking, but that is no excuse at all for my behaviour. Still, it shattered something inside me. I was out of my mind with heartbreak when I left the Bellingham house party and ordered the staff at Thistlewayte Hall not to allow you in if you came to see me. I wouldn’t blame you if you couldn’t ever forgive me for how I reacted—”
Marco held up a hand to stay her explanation, and hated the anguish that he saw on her beautiful face. She must have assumed that he didn’t want to hear anymore, that he wasn’t going to forgive her. He stepped forward and cupped her facein his hands, no longer able to resist the urge to touch her, no matter what propriety dictated.
It was Marco’s turn to pour out his story in one deep breath.
“No, it is I who must apologise. I should have insisted on seeing you, should have fought harder for happiness. I recently discovered at least part of what Lord Greywood and Miss Errington had done, though I must admit that I did not realise the full extent of it until you explained it just now. But when you wouldn’t see me, I had no choice but to move forward with courting Lady Catherine Stewart. She would never have my love, or my heart, because that belonged to you, even when I believed you would never have anything to do with me again. However, as you know, my debtors have run out of patience. I must leave this Ball a betrothed man, tonight, or I will lose everything that is not entailed to my title. Everyone who depends upon me — my staff, Ashewood Village — will be destitute. They’re good, honest, hardworking people, and I cannot do that to them.”
“I must tell you that I love you. Even if you are already promised to Lady Catherine, I cannot leave here tonight without telling you how I feel.” Eugenia sucked in a shaky breath. “I have always loved you, since the first moment I saw you. I’ve simply been terrified that you would not return my feelings, especially after the scandal I caused at Lady Duncan’s Ball.”
“No, my dear Eugenia.” Marco took her hand in his and looked deeply into her eyes. “It is I who love you. I, too, have been afraid, but no more. Will you do me the great honour of marrying me?”
His eyes still locked to hers, Marco took out the ring, the very one that had once belonged to his beloved mother, which had always — in his mind — been intended for Eugenia. Eugeniawas lost in his eyes, lost in the moment, until his movement distracted her. She looked at the ring and then back at Marco.
Susan must have felt that she was taking too long because she coughed impatiently out in the hall. That was all it took to break Eugenia out of the dreamlike stillness which had overtaken her.
“Yes!” Eugenia cried out, perhaps far louder than she should have, but she simply could not contain her joy. “Nothing in this world would make me happier than being your wife.”
Marco looked from Eugenia to where Susan was stationed on her chair out in the hall, seeming to contemplate something. She nodded her head with a subtle smile, one that only friends who have suffered through an ordeal together can understand without words. Susan averted her eyes, giving the two as much privacy as was possible.
Marco pulled Eugenia into his arms, and kissed her passionately. It might not have been proper, but he could no longer contain his feelings for her. When they broke the kiss, both fearing that someone might pass by the library door and see them, Marco twirled Eugenia around the room. Then they stood there staring into each other’s eyes, all things unspoken but understood.
They smiled at each other and, moments later, walked arm and arm into the ballroom, and into their future.
