Chapter 14
As promised, Collette kept Diana’s secret to herself once they returned to the changing room and hadn’t said a word about it even after they’d driven back to Byrd House and taken tea.
So, when after dinner, Diana heard the door to the music room open and close; she was not surprised at the interruption.
“What are you thinking?” Collette lowered herself to sit on the floor, legs crossed beneath her gown.
Diana had known Collette wouldn’t keep her concerns to herself for much longer, yet she didn’t answer right away and instead went right on doing her stretches and practicing her leaps to the music in her head.
Partly because she didn’t have any answers.
“What are you going to do?” Collette persisted.
Diana bent at the waist and swept her arm in an arc around her feet. “I don’t know.” She rose and stretched toward the high ceiling. “There’s nothing that Icando.” The situation was hopeless.
Several minutes passed with only the sound of Diana’s slippered feet moving around the parquet floor, Collette looking on thoughtfully.
“I want to do something,” Diana eventually admitted. “But I don’t know what.”
She spun herself in circles on one foot and then finally came to a halt.
“Was the ribbon really the reason you went back into the water? Or had you made an assignation with him?”
“I really lost the ribbon.” In fact, Diana had been more than a little startled when she’d discovered him there upon her return. He had removed his shirt, and she’d been unable to drag her stare from his torso and arms. “But… I was not disappointed to find him there.”
“Do you love him?”
Diana closed her eyes and then held her fist to her mouth. She loved it when he touched her, when he laughed with her, but most of all, she loved the way he held her gaze as though he was reading her mind and liked what he saw there.
“Does it even matter?” All afternoon she’d replayed moments she’d spent with him over and over in her head. Even those times when they had not been alone, such as when he’d placed his hand on her thigh to comfort her at Bethany’s dinner party.
Collette stared at her with all seriousness, and when she spoke, it was only a whisper. “It might.”
But it didn’t.
Diana crossed the floor and dropped down beside her sister. “I’ve lost sight of what I want. I’m jealous of your determination to teach. I’m jealous that Chase is prepared to do whatever he must to help you find a prestigious position when my wish to become a dancer is not even worth discussing.”
“I thought you’d decided that you wanted to marry. Have you changed your mind?”
“What is a marriage supposed to look like?” Diana asked theoretically.
She’d set her sights on Captain Edgeworth, and then Lord Greystone barreled into her life. And now… She’d all but forgotten what the captain even looked like.
“I thought I would be happy enough to simply marry. It would make Bethany so happy, and I wouldn’t have to go on being a burden to Chase for the rest of my life. And I figured Captain Edgeworth was as good as anyone. But driving with him was… nothing like I’d hoped it would be. And I don’t think I’m cut out to follow the drum. I rather enjoy sleeping in a warm bed with a ceiling over my head. I rather enjoy waking up to chocolate and biscuits that I don’t have to cook. And this might sound terribly selfish, Collette, But I don’t think I want to be courted by the captain at all. Not when I’m having all these feelings for Lord Greystone.”
“But the marquess isn’t actually courting you, is he?” Collette’s smile was apologetic. “Although if he isn’t courting you, I’m not sure what to call it.”
Diana sprawled backward onto the floor, staring at the chandelier that sparkled against the gilded ceiling. “Neither do I.”
“Mother would know what to call it.” Collette lay back on the floor beside her. “Although, if anyone else had walked in on the two of you, he’d have to marry you or else…”
“Or else what?”
“Your Lord Greystone would have to meet Chaswick on a field of honor… Or should I call himZeke?” Collette sent Diana a teasing sideways glance.
“You heard.” Diana accused.
Diana vaguely remembered that she had called the marquess by his given name while he’d been kissing her, good heavens, she’d moaned it! Heat crept up her neck.
