Gabriel’s chest tightened. “Ah, yes, my wife…” He gave his head a shake and smiled. “She is out today. So, it is just me.”
“Home alone.” She clicked her tongue. “That is a devastating state of affairs, on a day such as this one. Have you been outside today?”
“Not yet.”
“That settles it then.” She took his hand. “We are going for a walk.”
“Oh…” He leaned back and tried to pull his hand free, but she hung on. “I don’t know if I…”
“Nonsense.” She laughed and slapped playfully at his chest. “It has been so long since you and I have spent time together, Your Grace. I have so missed your company.” She looked at him expectantly.
“As I have missed yours,” he said with some indecision.
“And there we have it.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “A walk is what we need. Unless there is a reason we cannot?”
Technically, there was no reason. Even when Gabriel and Sophia were in a better place than they were right now, he was free to do as he wished – that was the entire point of this marriage! It was not a love match. It was not real. He was his own man, and that was never up for debate.
Yet guilt swirled through his gut so that he felt it like razor blades tumbling through his intestines. Blood pulsed through his body so that he grew warm and started to sweat. He was doing nothing wrong, but it felt like he was.
“Th – that sounds like a good idea.” He firmed himself and pushed down the morose feelings that attacked him. “A walk, and a chance to catch up.”
Gabriel needed to forget about Sophia. He needed to remember how he used to be and why he had loved his old life so much. Nothing would happen between him and Lady Clarissa, of course, but that was not the point. Simply being in the presence of another woman, that feelings he used to get, would surely snap him out of this funk and return him to the man he once was.
Do I even want to be that man anymore? I thought I did but…
They arrived at the park thirty minutes later. It was a large park on the outskirts of London, one frequented by fellow members of the peerage who did not wish to waste time travelling into London proper; Hyde Park was more popular, but it was busy, and not nearly as beautiful as everyone pretended that it was.
This park was just as lush. The flowerbeds were just as colorful and vibrant. The grass was thick and verdant. The hedges were trimmed and styled with flair. The white-stone path that wound through the park was pristine. And, as expected, there were plenty of fellow peers all about, but not so many that they got in the way.
“Oh yes,” Clarissa purred as they started down the pathway; it skirted the park’s edges before branching off and cutting in several directions across the park’s interior. “This is just what we need.”
“It is a fine day for it.”
“I am surprised you are not spending it with your wife.”
“I…” Gabriel hesitated, as if to lie was wrong. “We meant to. Perhaps tomorrow, if the weather holds.”
“Yes…” She watched him out the side of her eyes. “I am sure that you will.”
It was likely Gabriel’s imagination, but he sensed that Lady Clarissa knew more than she was letting on. It was the way that she looked at him, and the things that she said. Suggestive comments, prying around the edges of his and Sophia’s relationship. If Gabriel did not know any better, he would have sworn that she knew.
If she did, she was being rather bold. As they walked, she made sure that they linked arms, and she laughed and was always touching him whenever she spoke.
It made Gabriel uncomfortable. More so when he noticed people watching them, because most knew who he was and who he was married to, and all knew that Lady Clarissa was not Sophia.
“I was sad that you left so early last evening,” Clarissa said as they walked. “Was something the matter?”
“No,” he said. “In truth, we were only there for Sophia’s performance. Once she finished, there was no need to stay any longer.”
“Forgive me for saying…” She sighed and looked away as if embarrassed. “But I thought that I noticed something off aboutHer Grace. We spoke briefly before her performance, and she seemed…” She clicked her tongue. “Distracted.”
“Oh?”
“I thought she had taken ill.” Clarissa laughed. “But you say that she is fine?”
“She is.”
“That is good to hear.” She reached over with her spare hand and rested it on Gabriel’s arm. “She is a kind soul. Innocent and fair. I would hate for anything to be wrong with her.”
