“So, it is broken off then?”
Blast her mother’s uncanny abilities! “It is no longer officially on.” Rhoda stared at her mother defiantly.
Her mother’s steady gaze narrowed. “So, he was not eager to move on to other chits?”
The memory of his eager mouth on hers, of his trembling body pressed against hers, sent tingles of warmth swarming around her heart. “He was not eager to move on.” The words came out almost a whisper.
She awaited her mother’s recriminations, but none came.
“Well then.” Her mother sounded surprisingly unperturbed. “So long as he knows where you stand. I’d tell those other girls as well, the duchess and Mrs. Nottingham, that the betrothal has been terminated.”
Except it had not been. It might just as well have.
He expected her to wait. It had been her own suggestion that he simply put it all in God’s hands.
Something Rhoda could never do.
“Speaking of which, Sophia and Prescott have returned.” Rhoda closed the book with a decisive snap and placed it on the table. “I’m going to go ’round, find out what’s happened with Emily.”
“Take a maid. Better yet, ask Miles to tag along.” This was most unusual.
That frisson of fear slid down Rhoda’s spine again. If even her mother thought she needed protection…
“I will,” she promised for the second time that day.
Damn St. John to hell.
“Emily is now a countess then?” Even though Rhoda had known their destination was Gretna Green, she hadn’t quite believed Emily would return a married woman. This was Emily, for heaven’s sake. How many times had she disdained the idea of marriage?
And now she had married Lord Blakely, of all people.
Sophia nodded emphatically. “She is!” She leaned forward. “And not in name only.”
Rhoda raised her brows at this. Well, of course, when one married…
“She was positively glowing!”
Rhoda felt her brows rise even higher. Of all people, Emily was not one Rhoda would have ever imagined…
She would not imagine.
“But they have left for his father’s house?” Emily’s husband’s future estate was near Southampton. Rhoda had hoped they’d return to London soon.
Sophia nodded again. “With Cecily and Mr. Nottingham.”
Rhoda grimaced. “I suppose Emily fears meeting her in-laws.” She tried to be charitable but couldn’t hold back the sound of her disappointment.
“She wouldn’t say.” But Sophia seemed to be studying Rhoda intently. “You cannot go out alone. Are you afraid?”
“We haven’t been here all that long.” Rhoda hated admitting that she was fearful, but this was Sophia. “I am. A little. But do you want to know the worst part of it all?”
“Feeling as though it’s all your fault?” Sophia surprisingly supplied exactly what Rhoda had been feeling.
Of course, Sophia would understand.
“So many things I would have done differently if I’d only known. I call myself stupid every day. I never used to do that before.”
“You aren’t stupid, Rhoda. And it most definitely isn’t your fault.” She pinched her lips together. “It’s the men who are idiots. Not only idiots, but louts, villains, monsters. Greed tends to have such an effect.”
