“It isn’t a sudden change of heart. For the last ten years, every woman I have met has been compared to her—not consciously—but unfailingly. And every other woman has been wanting for some quality that she possesses that they do not. They are not as kind as her. They are not witty or as pretty as she is. They are not as sensible or intelligent as she is. And ultimately, at the end of it all, the only thing that really matters is that they are nother. But I’ve never considered courting Eleanor because I feared what might happen. I didn’t want anything to change. I didn’t want to risk her friendship or yours by making such an admission,” Adrian confessed.
“And now, because someone else has shown interest, you feel compelled to act?” Julien asked incredulously.
Adrian sighed and tipped his head back. “Marklynne’s presence and his interest in her may have forced my hand but they did not give rise to the feelings I have for her. If I do notact upon these feelings that I have harbored for far longer than I care to admit it, I will lose her anyway. And I simply can’t bear the thought of it. He would not make her happy. They’d bore one another into early graves!” She deserved someone who would appreciate her for all that she was. Someone for whom she was the only choice and not just the most suitable choice.
“So do something about it,” Julien challenged him. “Something other than just waiting around or talking. If you truly have such depth of feeling for her, take action.”
“How can I court her if she is already being courted by him? How the bloody hell am I supposed to pay a call on her when I practically reside in your house anyway? I need your help, Julien… If I am to have any hope in this endeavor, I need your help.”
Julien threw up his hands. “Oh no. Absolutely not. For this, my friend, you are entirely on your own. I make it a point never to truck with moneylenders or matchmakers… both can ruin you. And I will not be either one,” he added wryly.
“And if she refuses me outright?” It was a possibility that he could not stop thinking of. It left him feeling hollow.
Julien laughed at that. Harder than he should have. Certainly with greater mirth than Adrian felt was warranted. “Oh, she will. She absolutely will. You’ll not simply say some pretty words and have her come running. Not after this long. That’s not her way. You’ll have to woo her and win her against her better judgement and her wounded pride. The risk is yours but the reward might well be too, if you act…and I said I would’t help you. Not actively. I won’t speak to her on your behalf, but I can tell you that Marklynne is not in attendance tonight. And if you wish an opportunity to test the waters, then tonight might be your best chance. You may flirt with her until she becomes tired of you and sends you off.” Julien stopped then, but he stepped closer and in a tone that was not typically used between friends he added,“We’ve been friends for a very long time. But, if you hurt my sister, that will not save you.”
“I’ve no intention of hurting her. I’d die first. But how, in the name of God, do I flirt with a woman I’ve known practically since the cradle?”
Julien shrugged even as he stepped back to once again refill his glass. “The same way you’d flirt with any other woman, I daresay. Just because you’ve known her forever, doesn’t mean you know everything about her. Find the things you don’t know and make them important. Make them matter… and now, that’s it. That’s all the aid I’ll give you and it’s more than I ought to have already.”
“What would you do if the woman you cared for was set to marry another?” Adrian asked, the fear that he’d waited too late to make her his was unshakeable.
Julien frowned into his glass and then once more drained the contents. And without looking at his friend, he refilled his glass for a third time and murmured with a pained certainty, “I’d drink. Heavily… Care for another?”
Chapter
Seven
The music was as dreadful as she had feared. It grated on her nerves like sound of nails on slate. The Ensley’s youngest daughter had made her debut just that season and while the girl was pleasant enough, she was utterly tone deaf. If she’d found the key which she was supposed to be singing in, she quickly discarded it. The only part of singing that she’d managed to grasp truly well was projection. The ballad was all but shouted to the occupants of the room as her elder sister banged away on the piano as if it had wronged her somehow. They had to know, she thought, how horrific it was. It was taking all her considerable will not to inform them that such torture of their guests was most decidedly ill-mannered.
“It’s painful.”
That quietly uttered quip was only discernible to her because the speaker was so near and his voice was deep enough to feel it more than hear it. She could feel his presence dwarfing her—taller, broader, he loomed over her, but never in a threatening way. It was hardly a comforting one, however. She became too aware of her own body in his presence, of the rush of blood to her cheeks and the strange warmth that always suffused her when he was near. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Adrian standingnear enough to her that even the shadowing of his evening beard was visible to her. It should not have made him more appealing, but it did. And she hated him a little for that. “It’s a crime. She should be hauled off to the gaol.”
“As should her piano instructor… Walk with me, Eleanor. Let us both spare ourselves the torment of this wretched noise,” he implored softly but with an urgency that was undeniable.
“A turn might be nice,” she said. It would be torture, but she was being tormented anyway. It wasn’t off for Adrian to seek her out at events. He often did so, mostly because he was trying to avoid marriage minded mamas and their ambitious offspring. Speaking with her or dancing with her afforded him some degree of protection. And knowing that he used her for such was lowering to say the least. Perhaps it was only wishful thinking on her part to feel that it might be different this time. But she didn’t think so. Still there was something in his demeanor that was quite removed from his normal indifference.
He was nervous.It wasn’t something she’d seen often in him, but as they stood there amidst the crowd, she could sense it in him. An unusual degree of tension, the way he kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye. And his nervousness spiked her own. What on earth was it all about?
He offered her his arm and Eleanor took it, placing her hand upon his forearm as they began walking about the perimeter of the room. It was a casual stroll. Which people did all the time. So why did it feel so significant?
They restricted their course to the portion of the room furthest from the piano. There was a set of open doors leading onto the terrace off the back of the house and several people were milling about outside, likely all escaping auditory assault under the guise of getting a bit of air. Or, more likely, escaping the cacophony of terror currently taking place inside.
“Let’s move outside, shall we?” He was redirecting their path to the doors even as he made the suggestion. “Perhaps we might find a bit of peace out there.”
There would be no peace for her in his company. There never was. But she couldn’t tell him that. She couldn’t tell anyone that. Not even Caroline knew just how deeply her feelings for Adrian had grown. “What are you about?”
“I simply wish to speak with you about a rather delicate matter,” he explained, ushering her through the open doorway and out into the cooler night air.
Dread filled her at that statement. When someone said they wished to speak with you about a delicate matter it was never good. “What is it you wished to discuss with me, Adrian?” Eleanor asked, steeling herself against whatever was to come. She knew, of course. Or at least she suspected. He was likely hoping to warn her off Lord Marklynne. It was the only thing that made sense and it absolutely infuriated her. “If it is Lord Marklynne, I will tell you, quite vehemently, that it is none of your concern.”
“I am concerned,” he said, his gaze boring into her even as a muscle ticked in his jaw. “He’s not someone we know anything of. But that is not my only reason for wanting you to steer clear of the man.”
Curious, she cocked her head to the side. She wasn’t so naive as to think there might not be a skeleton or two in Lord Marklynne’s past. Most gentlemen had secrets or follies to live down. The question, of course, were whether those secrets might be damaging to her. “If there is something you know about him that would make him… ineligible, then why haven’t you taken it up with Julien?”
“I have, and he told me that I was entirely on my own to deal with this matter,” he replied rather sharply, a clear sign of his frustration. “And it isn’t necessarily that there is anythinguntoward about the man, or that I feel he is not a perfectly acceptable gentleman.”
“You sound almost disappointed that he isn’t some sort of bounder,” she accused softly.
