“It is nice to meet you, too,” Adelaide replied. “It is good to see the man my husband visits so often.”
“Oh, most certainly. We have been friends for many years now. Two decades, actually.”
Adelaide gasped, her smile genuine. “That is so lovely. I think there is something very special about having a connection that has lasted a lifetime. It is something to be nurtured.”
“I could not agree more.”
“Yes, well,” Cassian grinned, “should my wife have a friend of her own, you might be fortunate.”
Adelaide giggled, and Rowan gave him a look. He did not want to marry, not for many years.
It was a quick conversation, and Cassian was pleased about that, but he knew that it was not over for him. Adelaide would go to the other ladies, and that would leave him with his friend, who would ask dozens of questions that he could not answer.
He was proven correct. When the ladies and gentlemen separated, Rowan joined his side and did not leave it. He could not ask too much, with others within earshot, but Cassian knew his friend would interrogate him at the first opportunity.
“Your wife is lovely,” Lord Remton noted, his graying hair shining. “I do wish that we had been made aware of her beforehand, for I was not expecting her.”
“Ah, I wonder why that is. She was invited, of course.”
“It has all been very sudden, Your Grace, that is all. I must congratulate you, though, for you have chosen very well. You will be a very happy man.”
“I told him that would be the case,” Rowan piped up. “I knew that he would be happier as a husband than as a bachelor. Most men are.”
“And yet,” Cassian pointed out, “you remain unwed.”
“Did I not specify that only most men are?” Rowan quipped. “Yes, I prefer my own company, but you will be better off with someone to spend time with. Especially one like her.”
Cassian wondered what that meant, for he knew that Adelaide was merely playing a part. Rowan was not a fool; he would know the very same to be the case, especially when Cassian had told him the circumstances surrounding their marriage.
Fortunately, it was not long before they had a moment alone, and Cassian looked at his friend with curiosity.
“What did you mean by that?”
“By what?”
“You said that she will be good for me.”
“Ah, yes. Well, she seems to be a pleasant young lady.”
“Come now, that cannot be everything you meant. Any lady would seem pleasant enough if she wanted to be perceived that way.”
“Yes, and I would see through it. She seemed nervous, but beyond that, I can see no faults in her. She is precisely as you described in your letter, for what it is worth. Perhaps I should have attended the wedding and met her beforehand.”
“No, it was for the best that you did not. It would have been a long journey for a single day, and there was nothing special about it. In all honesty, I wonder when she will feel able to tell me that she loathed every minute of it.”
Rowan gave him a look.
Cassian wondered if he was being unfair. He had not had plenty of time to arrange the ceremony, but he knew that he could have done more. He would have, if given the opportunity, for when he had first seen his wife stepping into his cold house, he wished he had given her a better day.
“How is your mother with her?” Rowan asked quietly.
“Displeased at best. She never wanted me to take a wife, as you know.”
“I do. I had hoped, however, that having a lady there might help her see the truth of the matter, and perhaps soften her edges.”
“My father returning from the dead and mending her himself would be more likely. Sometimes, I wonder if I am doing the wrong thing by keeping her in the house with me.”
“Where else would she go?” he hissed. “Bedlam? You know what they do to ladies like her.”
