“Please, especially in public, address me as Lady Beauchamp.” She explained, “I do not wish to defend our past acquaintance or be the subject of gossip. Glenda must remain untouched by scandal. Her dowry is not very large, and it is imperative that…well, I am hoping she can make a good match this season.”
“She is young yet, Lil—Lady Beauchamp. Surely it’s not necessary for her to find a match her first year out?”
Lilly paused, reluctant to explain. “It would be best if she could. We are no longer…welcome at Beauchamp Manor. The new baron and his family have taken up residence and…we were lucky to have been allowed a year of mourning before they took possession. I have a small portion which has been settled upon us both, but a season does not come cheaply. After the spring, I am to be Aunt Eleanor’s companion, and Glenda is used to a more…pampered lifestyle.”
Michael was stunned. “Wasn’t the security of your future the very reason your father wished you to marry the baron in the first place? Is there no dower house available for you? Damn it, Lilly, what kind of man fails to provide for his family in the event of his early demise?” What kind of man had Beauchamp been? Knowing his home was entailed to a distant cousin, the man ought to have made better arrangements for the women he left behind.
“Your Grace,please, let it rest. It is done. I can only guess Beauchamp never imagined his time would be cut so short.” She glanced around, keenly aware of people chatting around them.
This was most definitelynota suitable place for this conversation. He ought not to be having this conversation with her at all. Michael presented his right arm, indicating they walk. He pulled her across the ballroom, down a short corridor, and then outside through some terrace doors. Anger burned within him.
No, more than that, he was incensed. Knowing Lilly had married in order to be cared for properly for the rest of her life was understandable. He’d accepted the fact. But discovering she had been left financially strapped and must now act as companion to her elderly aunt, when she herself was not yet seven-and-twenty did not sit well with him at all. Her husband had been consumptive, for Christ’s sake. The excuse that he had been unable to make proper arrangements for Lilly and his daughter didn’t wash. It revealed a selfish character indeed!
And this ought not to be Michael’s concern—but it was. Lilly was a woman who deserved to be protected. She deserved to be reminded of how beautiful she was every morning. She deserved to havecarte blancheat dressmakers all over town.
She deserved to be loved.
Michael dragged her along, leading them to a small gazebo, away from the sound of the orchestra and the gaiety within theballroom. Distant laughter carried over the garden. Once inside the gazebo, he indicated she sit on an ornamental bench and then paced across the small space a few times before turning to look at her.
“Tell me about your marriage,” he finally said. Something didn’t seem right. She’d been married to a baron, for God’s sake, and if George Bridge had had confidence in the man’s solvency, Lilly most definitely ought not to have been left in such straits. George Bridge had been stubborn and manipulative, but it had been for the sake of his daughter and wife’s fiscal security. He’d be turning in his grave if he had heard what Lilly was saying tonight.
“Did Beauchamp care for you well, while he was alive?”
Lilly shifted and looked at her hands. “Please, Michael don’t do this. There is nothing to gain by going into this…” She wouldn’t look at him. He would see the truth in her eyes.
“I want to know, Lilly. I need to know.” He went down on one knee before her so she would have no choice but to look into his eyes.
Lilly kept her gaze focused downwards, as though studying the polish of his boots. Her lashes fanned out on her delicate skin. As a younger man, he’d been determined to make her his—to protect her forever. And now he sensed she’d needed him more than he could have imagined. What had happened?
He touched her jaw lightly. “Please, tell me your husband treated you kindly.” Was he pleading? God, it was what he wanted to hear—what he needed to hear.
She allowed him to tilt her chin upwards. “Of course,” she said brightly.
Too brightly.
There it was—the brittleness. She was lying. Michael took hold of her hands. “Tell me the truth. Please, Lilly, tell me…It’s all right. It’s only me.”
As he waited, a cloud drifted over the moon, making itimpossible to see her expression. And then her voice, tight and reluctant, pierced the darkness. “It was…not an…amicable marriage. But it is behind me now.”
Michael waited.
But Lilly remained mute, averting her face once again. With each second that passed, rage heated within him. Rage directed at a dead man.
And if he were truthful, directed at himself.
What kind of a person could ever be unkind to Lilly? Even though it had not been a love match, Lilly had been, still was, a tenderhearted, lovely,lovablegirl. He was reminded, all at once, of everything he had loved about her.
She believed the best about others until they proved themselves unworthy. She welcomed new friends eagerly but had been extremely loyal to her family. She loved animals, for God’s sake, and flowers! What excuse would her husband have for treating her poorly?
And then it struck him, like a fist to the gut,he knew. “You were not a virgin.”
Lilly emphatically shook her head from side to side. “Please, Michael,please, none of this matters anymore. Let it be.” She tried to pull her hands from his. She attempted to stand, but when Michael had knelt, his knee settled on the hem of her dress, effectively trapping her. Nausea and self-disgust engulfed him.
She had suffered. She had suffered at the hands of her husband. She had suffered at the hands of her husband because her innocence had already been taken.
Taken by himself.
Raggedly, Michael pulled her into his arms. To comfort her? To comfort himself? He was not sure. He’d been so caught up in his own troubles and later angry with her for not awaiting his return, he had selfishly not considered such an obvious dilemma for Lilly.
