“I do.I loved Louisa with all my heart.As did he.And now we love each other very much.I do not think she would be cross.”
“I am sorry.For what I said before.I never thought you would remarry.”
“Neither did I.And it pains me to have my title change away from the one I share with you.But perhaps it will not sting as much if a new marchioness comes in while I am going out.”
“There seems little hope of that.”He sighed.“But I have proposed marriage.Since you are wondering.”
“She did not accept?”
He shook his head.
She covered his hand with her own.“It is a heavy thing, becoming the wife of a marquess.Perhaps, with time…”
Leith nodded, hoping, for his mother’s sake, that his countenance looked a bit more hopeful.He kissed her cheek, stood, and wished her a good night.
Leith appreciated his mother’s optimism.But he couldn’t feel it himself.
When he awoke the next morning, his dread and pain had only deepened.He thought of Beatrice in Somerset, how she would be seeing to her estate.He imagined her scheming with Malcolm and scolding Sally and laughing with George, Severn, and Philip.He felt certain that she didn’t miss him at all.
Furthermore, he had not forgotten his deepening shame about his conduct to Monty.
Lying in his bed that morning, he had no desire to see his best friend, to look upon his connubial bliss, and know that he had been the means of potentially preventing it forever.That he had been the cause of great suffering for one of the people he loved most in his world.
Nevertheless he felt honor-bound to report to Monty the events that had unfolded with Mr.Gordstone and Lord Holcombe, especially since Monty had been so instrumental in exposing their plot.And given that he was her cousin, albeit a distant one.
He dragged himself out of bed, called for the carriage, and went to Carrington Place.
He had expected, when he entered, to find Monty and Olivia ensconced, as they often were, in the drawing room, their happiness with each other so obvious that it caused him slight physical pain.
But instead, he was told that Monty was in his study.He thought of how old he and his friends had become.When they were young men, the study had seemed the province of their fathers, three out of four of whom were many years dead before their sons had reached majority.Now, twice in the past two weeks, he had called on one of his friends, to findhimin his study, sitting in state like the lord he had claimed he would never become.
Leith, of course, had always usedhisstudy.It was a deuced useful room, in his opinion.But it unnerved him to see the likes of John Breminster and Augustus Carrington sitting behind their desks, looking over ledgers and seeing to their correspondence.
Nevertheless, he had come to see Monty, so to the study he went.
But what he saw there surprised him.
The study had been cleared of all its usual trappings and the carpets ripped up.Instead, trellises had been installed along the south wall and the hardwood floors gleamed.
“What in the devil is this?”
“Leith,” Monty said, with a laugh.“I thought you were in Somerset.”
“I was,” he said morosely, the reference to Beatrice knifing through him.
“Dear God,” Monty said.“You look dreadful.”
“Thank you.”
“Did everything come to rights with Beatrice and the Salisburys?”
“Yes, I scared off Mr.Gordstone and Lord Holcombe as you advised.They will not trouble them anymore.”He found himself, speaking of these events, feeling distinctly sick.He thought of Beatrice’s dark, mysterious eyes looking at him with reproach and thought he might actually cast up his accounts.He clenched his fist.“What has happened to your study?”
“Oh, yes.That,” Monty said, with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face.“You will think I am a besotted fool.But you know I never use my study.And Olivia has a green thumb.She would love a second conservatory—the first is filled with my mother’s hothouse flowers, but Olivia wants to grow herbs and the like.I am building one for her.She doesn’t know yet.It is to be a surprise.”
Leith looked around the room and marveled at how it had contrasted with what he had imagined he would see upon entry.Evidently, his friend did not hesitate to change for the woman that he loved.
“You are a very good husband,” he said, simply.His friend looked faintly mortified.They never said things like that to each other.
