Glancing around him, George sat forward in his chair, praying that he would be able to trust his friend with his secret. “You must not breathe a word of this, my friend.”
Lord Dorset’s eyes rounded, but he nodded fervently.
“Miss Williams and I,” George began, his heart tearing as he remembered how much he had felt for the lady, “we met a year ago last Christmas. Eighteen months ago, I think. I confess that I fell quite in love with her.”
Lord Dorset’s eyes flared. “Love?”
With a nod, George scrubbed one hand over his face. His senses were a little dulled, given the liquor now running through his veins, but it was not enough to make him feel nothing at all. Mayhap he needed more brandy. “I declared my affection to her,” he continued, keeping his voice low. “I had every intention of going to her and to speak with not only herself but her family about what our future might look like – but it was not to be.”
Lord Dorset blinked. “You did not stay with her, then.”
George shook his head no. “I wanted to. I wanted to do all that I had said, but a letter from my father changed everything. Within it, he told me that I was now duty-bound to marry Miss Burnley and that the marriage would have to take place just as soon as was possible.”
“Miss Burnley?” Lord Dorset repeated the name as if he had never heard it before. “But she is the daughter of a Viscount and you, an Earl. What purpose could there be in the match?”
Heaving a sigh, George closed his eyes. “There are documents, my friend. Documents that show that, many years ago, my great-grandfather took land and property from the Turnhill family.”
“Lord Turnhill being her father?”
He nodded. “There was meant to be an exchange, both of money and of marriage vows. The former took place, although I believe it was very little given what the land and property were worth, and the marriage did not occur either.”
“You are quite sure about that?”
George sighed. “I have had my solicitors look into the affair. I have put my father’s best man on it, and he has told me that, looking at the genealogy of my family, there was never a match between a Turnhill’s daughter and a gentleman from the Surrey line.”
“And you feel yourself duty bound to right it?”
Miserably, George reached for his brandy, his heart aching and heavy in his chest. “If I do not, then I am expected to return the land and the property, both of which I cannot do.”
Lord Dorset frowned. “Why not?”
“Because those who live in the property and those who work the land aremyresponsibility,” George answered, gripping the glass with tight fingers. “I cannot have them displaced, not when they have made their homes there.”
A breath blew out from Lord Dorset’s lips. “You are much too considerate, my friend.”
“I do not think so.”
His friend frowned at him. “Then you will give up your own happiness for the sake of others?”
With a lift of his shoulders, George nodded. “It is my responsibility and my duty.”
“But you will be miserable.”
A harsh laugh broke from George’s lips. “That may be, but perhaps in time, I will find life quite contented with Miss Burnley.” His heart screamed, and he leaned forward; the pain in his chest became so great that he could not think about anything else.
Lord Dorset frowned.
“I highly doubt that,” he said, in a voice that told George he knew exactly what he was talking about. “Once you find yourself in love, once you have had such a lady capture your heart and take it for her own, you will find it very difficult indeed to remove her from it, especially when she returns your affection.”
“Returned.”
The frown on Lord Dorset’s face grew darker. “What do you mean?”
George closed his eyes. “She may have returned my feelings at one time, I cannot know for sure, but I am certain she does not have anything but upset and anger towards me now. Dancing with her this evening was like dancing with a stranger, one who did not want to so much as look at me and certainly did not want to exchange any sort of conversation!”
“Mayhap she is just as much in love with you as you are with her, but she cannot bring herself to admit it,” Lord Dorset suggested, but George’s heart rejected that notion in an instant. Taking Miss Williams into his arms for the waltz had brought him nothing but agony, for it had reminded him of all that had gone before, pleaded with him to pursue her all over again… but had shown him just how little feeling she had for him in return. Her eyes had barely caught his, the flattening of her lips and the tension in her frame speaking of nothing but dislike.
“It is gone now,” George said, speaking as much to himself as to his friend. “What I had once shared with Miss Williams is quite gone, and I must, therefore, think only of another.”
