“Neither can you.”
And Fiona suddenly knew that she didn’t want to.
There was some measure of hope alive in her as well.
“I’m glad to see that you didn’t come out without an adequate escort.However, when I said anyone was better than Ramsay, I’m not sure if I meant Harrowby,” Aylesbury said quietly.“Is he now in the running?”
Fiona had utterly forgotten about the company she had been in.Twisting around in her saddle, she studied the quartet trailing along behind.Though Vin and Temple were in deep conversation, Connor and Harrowby were flirting with all the passing ladies, flashing deep dimples and oozing charm.
Both Temple and Harrowby were entertaining, handsome, and enjoyable company though Temple was—as Ilona said—oftentimes too serious in temperament for Fiona and Harrowby even more lighthearted than Aylesbury could have ever been accused of being.She liked them both very much, but they just weren’t...Harry.
“Perhaps,” Fiona told him softly.“I’m willing to wait and see what happens.”
“I hope that’s true.”
Chapter 25
A thousand times a fool and now a thousand more.Will the humiliations never end?
If there is anything quite as terrible as finding out that you were wrong about something, it is finding out that everyone other than you knew of it.
~From the diary of Lady Fiona MacKintosh—May 1895
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“Francis?”Fiona tappedcautiously on the half-opened door to the private parlor her brother shared with Eve.It never served to walk into a room unannounced in this family.One never knew what degree of intimate congress they might be interrupting—open door or not.
“Come in, Blossom,” Glenrothes called, and she peeked tentatively around the corner before entering.While it wasn’t a romantic setting she was intruding upon, it was still an intimate one.In his shirtsleeves and open collar, her brother was sitting on the floor, building block towers with Preston and Lela, while Eve sat nearby in her dressing gown, nursing Alice.
It wouldn’t be the first or last such scene Fiona saw, but as she had told Eve and Ilona, it was becoming increasingly difficult to witness something she didn’t have.
And might never have if what Aylesbury had said about Ramsay was true.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but might I have a word?”Fiona missed the look the adults exchanged as she bent to hug Preston as he ran over.Lela tried to stand once, then again before crawling over as well.She scooped the toddler into her arms.“I wanted to talk to you about Lord Ramsay.”
“Would you like me to leave?”Eve asked, but Fiona shook her head.
