“If that is what you would rather discuss,” Jackie shrugged. “Though a talent such as knowing the language of flowers makes you far more interesting than being someone that was courted by a duke.”
“Engaged,” she corrected. “Why, the duke and I have known each other for years now. Our fathers were good friends, and the late duke was all too happy to arrange a marriage between us. I was everything that a good duchess should be, he told me, and that I was the perfect match for his son.”
“He must have been a good man.”
“The very best. I suppose you never had the chance to meet him, given that your family does not run in the same circles as mine. That is quite the shame. They’re a lovely family, though, are they not? I always considered this place my second home. The duke himself told me that it might as well be.”
“They are certainly welcoming, yes, especially his mother. She has already asked me to call her by her first name.”
“I would not feel too special about that, she does the same thing with everyone.”
Jackie wondered why she was trying to compete with a young lady that she had never met, that had long been removed from the duke’s life. Even if she had not been, it was not as though she had any say on who the duke did or did not speak to.
“I must admit,” Lady Ophelia continued, “coming back here has only further proven to me that letting him go all that time ago was the biggest mistake of my life. This is my home, my family.”
Jackie blinked. Was she trying to tell her that she had come to take him back? Was this her warning, her challenge, not to go near him?
“Yes, it is certainly a shame for you that you rejected him like that,” she replied, perhaps a little too curtly. “But then, I suppose we all do things we later regret, only to realize that it is too late to change how things are. I suppose I should be grateful to you, though, for he truly is such a kind man.”
“He is, the kindest that I have ever met in my entire life, so I am most fortunate to have known him all of this time.”
“Do the two of you still talk?”
Lady Ophelia faltered.
“No, not as often as I would prefer, but that will soon change, I hope. He always was my best friend, and I his. I would give anything for that to be the case once more.”
Jackie so desperately wanted the conversation to turn to something else– anything else, because she could feel herself growing more annoyed with every mention of Lady Ophelia’s past with the duke. She felt the jealousy rise within her, wishing that she could have been the one to know him all that time ago, and it made her unsteady on her feet.
She was not supposed to care for the duke that much, not yet at least. They had only just met—she hardly knew him at all. Yet she couldn’t bear the thought of another lady coming into the picture, least of all one that had hurt him.
She tried to tell herself that she disliked Lady Ophelia simply because of what she had done to the duke, and not because of any rivalry that she felt between them. She was an unkind girl, and that was what annoyed Jackie so greatly.
That was what she told herself, at least.
“Yes, well,” Jackie said carefully. “I suppose that is what happens when we act in a way in which we regret, but there is no coming back from that. What’s done is more often than not done.”
Suddenly, Lady Ophelia turned to her, eyes mischievous.
“Not when it comes to me, Lady Jacqueline. I always was one to get exactly what I wanted, and this will be no exception to that rule.”
Chapter 13
With each passing day, Philip tried to will himself into joining the festivities.
They ate without him, at his request, and he kept himself so busy that he had the excuse not to join them at other times of day. He did not wish to be too close to them, lest they see, and more importantly judge, his appearance. Fortunately, the one person that he truly did wish to spend time with kept stumbling into his way, and he had been grateful for the distractions.
Lady Jacqueline was beautiful, kind, and exactly the sort of lady he had dreamed of marrying, the sort of lady he had once thought that he would marry before she left him. At least, he considered, that meant that she was not the person he had thought her to be, and so there had been no harm truly done to him.
Lady Ophelia had not crossed his mind too often, especially since Lady Jacqueline had arrived. He had enjoyed thinking about his guest far too much for any other lady to enter his mind. He thought about this as he looked out of his window, wondering if that counted as him thinking about Lady Ophelia, when all of a sudden, he saw something and immediately wished he had not.
He was fond of Lady Jacqueline’s blue-black hair and the way it fell like ink around her, and so it was the first thing hetended to look at when he saw her. This time, however, she was accompanied by a lady with deep brown hair, and he knew exactly who she was.
Ophelia.
He did not know why they were together, or why Lady Ophelia was there in the first place, but he did know that whatever the reason, it could only mean trouble. He had to stop it before it went too far, and he hoped that he was not too late for that.
He ran out into the hallway, realizing that he had left his mask in his study, but he did not go back for it. Lady Jacqueline had already seen him for who he was, so there was no point in hiding himself now, and as for Lady Ophelia… He had already given enough weight to her opinion of him in the past.
