Apparently, she was not the only one.
“Miss Cornelia, the buzz is you’ll be the next one wed, and a match nearly as wealthy as your sister’s!” one of the ladies twittered as they sat to take mid-morning refreshments.
“You’re always spreading such rumors,” another lady said with a laugh, but then she leaned in and whispered, “but oh, you must tell us if it’s true, Miss Cornelia. Are you to be wed to Lord Crowley?”
Cornelia blushed scarlet, a mortified look on her face, and Isolde rushed to interrupt.
“I can assure you I know of no marriage plans for Cornelia,” she said, “and as her sister, of course, I would know if anything were happening.”
“Hmmm, yes, I suppose …” the first lady said, sounding both skeptical and a little disappointed. Apparently, she was as fond of rumors as her friend had suggested, though, because she almost immediately turned to Lady Bradshaw.
“Well, we must have some entertaining thing to talk about. Perhaps Lady Bradshaw will regale us with the tale of how she was found alone in the gardens with Lord Hartington last night?”
There were murmurs and giggles among the whole group of ladies around them. Lady Bradshaw tossed her head and gave a pretty little laugh, as though she was very amused but a little shy. Isolde swallowed hard, wondering at how everyone could just discuss this in front of her.
“Well, I cannot deny that we were together in the garden, but I assure you dear, nothing untoward happened. Lord Hartington is an old friend and always a perfect gentleman. Although, of course,” she dropped her voice a little, as though confiding a secret, “I should be very flattered if hewasinterested in me. He is so kind, and of course, very handsome and rich.” She laughed again, and Isolde set her glass down on the table rather harder than she’d meant to. Lady Bradshaw looked up at her for the first time, and then widened her eyes, as though she had forgotten Isolde was there.
“Of course, I am only speaking hypothetically, Miss Fairchild! I apologize, that must have seemed quite rude of me to say such things about yourfiancé.” Lady Bradshaw said the word ‘fiancé’ like she did not quite believe it. “I only meant to say that Lord Hartington is quite the match, and therefore of course, you are the luckiest among us, to have finally gotten him to think of marriage. Though between us, dear,” and she dropped her voice again, “I would advise you to keep a bit closer watch on him. Wandering around in the garden like that, someone might steal him. After all, nothing’s certain until you’re properly married.”
Lady Bradshaw winked at Isolde, as if she’d just told her secret information that she should be grateful to receive. Isolde felt nauseated. Without really thinking, she stood up from the table.
“Excuse me, I am not feeling well,” she said, leaving the table as quickly as she could. Her common sense was telling her not to leave, to stay and endure it with a smile. But she’d had enough of smiling while people treated her horribly. Her father, Lord Crowley, Lady Bradshaw … it was all too much.
She heard Cornelia calling after her, but she didn’t stop walking. She had to get away from all this.
Chapter 16
Thaddeus could not focus on the hunt. Now and then, he heard Crowley’s voice among the other men, and it reminded him of how annoyed he was that the man was here. He had not seen him since the night of the ball, and every time he saw his face, he remembered how scared Isolde had looked that night.
He tightened his fist and spurred his horse to move away from the main hunting party, putting distance between himself and the object of his anger.
Why would he even accept Cassian’s invitation? I know he loathes me as much I loathe him.
Cassian had followed him away from the group, and so now he turned his ire on his friend.
“Why would you invite Lord Crowley here?” he hissed.
Cassian glanced at him, then shrugged.
“I mentioned the hunting party, and he said it sounded fun, and I invited him before I thought the better of it. It would have been rude to uninvite him, just as you know it would have beenrude to turn him away this morning. I know you’re not on the friendliest terms, but I didn’t think you hated him this much.”
Thaddeus gave his friend a sharp look, suspicious of his casual tone. He pulled his horse to a stop and fixed Cassian with a serious stare.
“You know his involvement in the bet with Isolde. He’s the reason I’m in this mess. Be honest with me, Cassian. What are you up to?”
Cassian’s eyes widened innocently, and Thaddeus could swear he’d seen the same look on Vivienne’s face.
“Honestly, Harrow, I don’t have any sort of grand scheme. I saw the man, invited him without thinking, end of story. I meant what I said earlier – the more, the merrier.” Then he laughed, and it seemed genuine. “Actually,thatis my grand scheme. To have fun! You should try it more often, my friend. And anyway,” he raised an eyebrow, “does Crowley’s relation to Isolde really matter to you?”
“What do you mean?” Thaddeus asked, bristling.
“Simply that nothing about Isolde really seems to matter to you. You’ve spent hardly any time with her this weekend. You’ve spent more time with Vivienne.”
Thaddeus tensed in the saddle, annoyed that Cassian had found a way to bring them back around to this topic of conversation.
“Once again,” he said, gritting his teeth, “absolutely nothing happened between me and your cousin last night. And I feel that you know this, so I wish you would stop incessantly needling me about it.”
“Oh, I know nothinginappropriatehappened last night,” Cassian said, rolling his eyes like he thought Thaddeus had missed an opportunity. “All I’m doing is pointing out that you seem to find yourself drawn to Viviene more than you are to the woman you are supposedly marrying. And we both know the truth of how your engagement came to be. I don’t understand why you’re carrying on this charade when you could have the woman who obviously holds your attention more.”
