Ilona smiled kindly when Fiona trailed off.Taking the washing cloth, she soaped it up once more and began washing Fiona’s back in soothing strokes.
“Heisvery charming, isn’t he?”she whispered with a smile.“It is difficult not to be taken by him.Even a married woman in love, such as I, might have sighed over him a time or two.”
“It was a crush, of course.I was just seventeen and was very susceptible to that practiced charisma.But I might have gotten over him easily enough.”
“If he hadn’t come back.”
“Yes.”She leaned forward with a sigh, allowing Ilona greater access to her back.“If he just hadn’t come back.”
“But he did.”
“Yes, he did.”
Lost in thought, Fiona didn’t even know how long the silence reigned before Ilona prompted, “The next fall, wasn’t it?”
“Winter,” Fiona corrected.“Just before Vin returned.”
Ilona nodded as she rose, moved to the end of the tub, and motioned for Fiona to lift a leg.With yet another sigh, Fiona leaned back against the tub again but obeyed, resting a foot against the porcelain tub for Ilona to wash.
“He came to court Moira,” Fiona said at last.“Dinners, the theater, riding every day...Red roses.He was quite serious in his intent.Red roses, Ilona.A dozen of them.He intended to marry her.Hewantedto marry her.”
“Did he?”Ilona asked unexpectedly.“I always thought that those roses were given as they were to prompt Vin’s jealousy.”
She frowned at her sister-in-law.“What do you mean?Red roses are practically an unspoken proposal.I was there.”
“As was I,” Ilona countered.“When Aylesbury gave the roses to Moira, he wasn’t looking at her.He was looking at Vin with that devilish grin as if he dared Vin to make something of it.I believe he was purposefully trying to make Vin jealous.”
“Hmm,” Fiona closed her eyes, remembering what Harry had told her.He did say that he knew Moira wished to marry Vin, but perhaps he hadn’t shared all his motivations with her.“Do you truly believe he did it all on purpose?”
“Perhaps notallof it,” Ilona allowed reluctantly.“I think he might have married her if Vin hadn’t come home.They might have been content.”
Content.
There was that word again.
And as Vin had said, even the warmest bath could grow cold.
Finishing hers, Fiona stepped into the towel Ilona held out for her and then into the warm nightrail and robe that followed.Returning to her bedchamber, she sat at her vanity.She began to brush the tangles from her hair absently, her eyes on the mirror but seeing nothing but the memories of those days long past.
“But when Moira and Vin wed,” Ilona did press then.“What happened then?”
“I saw my chance, as it were,” Fiona told her, her eyes shifting in the mirror to Ilona’s reflection where she sat perched on the edge of Fiona’s bed.“I flirted madly with him.Even more madly than I had beenbeforeMoira and Vin wed.At first, he flirted back.He danced with me...once, at any rate.We walked, rode, talked.I thought he was beginning to like me, but then he began to avoid me.Studiously.”
“I’m sure the marquis would never be so rude.”
He might be if he had good reason, she thought.And she had given him good reason.Fiona’s eyes closed as if to block out the memory of her invasion of his room that morning.The humiliation would have killed her to mention it if it hadn’t been for Harry’s contrary recounting of the events the previous night.
“I did go to his room once.”
“Fiona Blossom!”
Fiona only shook her head with a blush.“Don’t worry, Ilona, nothing happened.He practically patted me on the head and told me to run along back to the nursery.”
Well, not quite.
“I was always quite safe with him because all I was to him was a child and an annoying one at that.”
That was true enough.
