Bridget nodded, her eyes soft. “I am sorry, nonetheless.”
Lewis shrugged. “I have managed well enough. I do have friends—acquaintances. That is much the same as a family.”
Bridget wrinkled her nose, and he sensed that she disagreed. Strangely, she chose not to argue about the matter. Perhaps she realized that it was a lost cause.
Or maybe she was thinking that shehadno friends. Until the scandals, Bridget had been a sparkling gem among theton. She was blessed with beauty and a wealthy, entitled family. And after…
Lewis’s chest tightened in something like sympathy for the young woman’s lost potential. He had dismissed her for so long as a fickle, immature young lady, but he realized suddenly that it must have been quite distressing to have her entire life, everything that she had been promised since girlhood, turned into such a mess.
“What about your grandmother?” Bridget asked. “I have heard that you are unkind to her.”
Sometimes, he was.
“You are being especially brazen today,” Lewis said dryly.
“Brazen,” she echoed. “I prefer to think that I am being thoughtful. I know so little about you, but I want to know more.”
He furrowed his brow. She seemed sosincere. Was this another scheme or hers, or did she truly wish to know more about him? A small, sentimental part of Lewis wanted it to be the latter. For entirely advantageous reasons, of course. A wife who was well-acquainted with him would be beneficial. As the Duchess of Wheelton, Bridget would be expected to know some things about him, after all. It would be terribly awkward if they were to pretend to be a proper husband and wife if she knew nothing about him.
“My grandmother is ill,” he said. “She has been this way for her entire life, but her condition has worsened over the years. She finds it difficult to make connections with people.”
Bridget’s face softened. “It sounds dreadful.”
“To us, yes.” He paused, considering his grandmother for a long moment. “I am uncertain that being alone vexes her as much as it might another person. She feels safest in a predictable environment, and people are nothing if not unpredictable.”
“You would know,” Bridget said, smiling slyly.
He did not know if Bridget’s comment was in reference to his character or her own, but Lewis supposed her assessment was correct regardless. “Yes,” Lewis said. “I suppose I do know.”
CHAPTER 26
Lewis had never spoken so frankly about his family before, and his openness made Bridget smile affectionately at him. She was not in love with him, of course; she would not even say that she particularly likedhim, but rather the pleasure that he had proven capable of giving her.
But hearing him speak in that soft, contemplative voice awakened something within her. It was maybe fondness of a kind, though Bridget preferred not to linger too much on what that might mean. Her husband was speaking to her like a normal person, who had family and friends and worries, and she ought to use the moment to gain an advantage.
That was all she was doing. Truly.
“When will I be allowed to meet her?” Bridget asked. “I imagine that will be soon.”
Lewis drew in a sharp breath of air, uncertainty flickering in his eyes. “Do you?”
“Of course. I assume that you must hesitate because it is difficult for her, but I should still meet her. Now that we are married, she is my family, too. You told me that I must wait five years, but that cannot be true. No man would make his wife wait five years to meet his relations.”
To that, he had no answer. Lord Boutwell and his mother approached, and Bridget inwardly winced. While the encounter with Lady Susan had not gone as badly as it might have, she still had no desire to encounter all her old acquaintances and former would-be suitors. Even if her reputation could not be harmed as much as it once had been, Bridget had realized that being in society again was simply strange. It was as if she had become a different woman, one who no longer belonged in this world.
“Your Grace,” Lord Boutwell said, inclining his head.
“Boutwell,” Lewis said.
Lord Boutwell’s eyes flickered to Bridget, who fought to keep her pleasant expression. After the scandal, he had not wanted her, and she refused to let herself be hurt any longer by his rejection. At least, outwardly. It remained to be seen if Bridget could do anything about her feelings, which were still raw and tender.
“Congratulations on your marriage,” Lord Boutwell said.
His mother nodded. “You make such a charming pair.”
It was an innocuous statement, but Bridget wondered if it reflected the lady’s honest opinion of them. Bridget’s scandals seemed to linger in the air between them all, like the sky before a lightning strike.
“Thank you,” Lewis said.
