Jane wrinkled her brow. Could it be from Colin? He had gone out today, gone to do more work on his proposal and, she thought, to avoid her after their encounter the night before.
“Thank you,” she said as she took the letter. She looked down at her name, scrawled across the folded papers.
“Who is it from?” her sister asked as Jane broke the seal and began to read.
“Arthur Wharton, Colin’s cousin,” she explained, distracted as she read the words he had scratched out. “He asks that I join him today at two for a meeting. Odd. The man clearly doesn’t like me any more than Colin does. Perhaps even less.”
“Curious,” Alicia said, taking the paper as Jane held it out and reading it for herself. “There is no indication as to what he wishes to discuss. Will you go?”
Jane shuddered at the thought of spending time with yet another man who seemed to hold some unnamed crime over her head. “I don’t know.”
Alicia drew back in surprise. “Even after all you’ve said to me today?”
Jane stared at her. “What do you mean?”
Her sister got to her feet and paced across the room to her. “Lord, Jane, you have been talking about all you feel for Wharton and all you do not understand about what stands between you. Has it ever occurred to you that his cousin might be exactly the person to answer that question, since your husband will not?”
Jane shifted. “Theyareclose. I’d call them friends as much as relations.”
“Well, there you have it. I’m certain Mr. Wharton must know why Colin keeps you at arm’s length. He might even be calling you to his home with the intention of speaking to you on that very matter. If you go, you could find your answers and then you’ll know exactly what the right response is.”
Jane bit her lip. Her sister was not wrong. But in that moment, she was terrified. What if the answer she sought was not one she could overcome? What if Arthur told her something that broke her heart and ended things between her and Colin forever?
“At least you will have tried,” Alicia said softly, almost in answer to Jane’s unspoken question.
Jane nodded slowly. “You are right, of course. I can look back with no regret if I do this. So I shall send him word that I will join him. I just hope with all my heart that whatever he wishes to speak to me about is something that can change the course of my future.”
Jane sat in Arthur Wharton’s parlor, waiting anxiously for his arrival. She worried a handkerchief in her fist, trying not to focus too much on what he might want from her when he called her here.
“You’re going to rend that thing in two.”
She jumped from her seat and turned to watch the man, himself, enter the parlor. To her surprise, he reached back and closed the door nearly all the way. She wrinkled her brow, for the increased privacy was anything but proper. And it made her think this conversation was going to be very serious if he didn’t want anyone to hear it.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Wharton.”
His lips thinned as he went to the sideboard. “Arthur, please. After all, we arefamily.” He emphasized that word as he motioned to the teapot. “Drink?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. Perhaps in a while.”
He smirked and she drew back a fraction at the odd expression. There was something so cold in his eyes. Oh, he’d always been standoffish toward her, at the party the night before he’d been flat out rude, but this went beyond that.
Still, she was here. She had no choice but to face him and hope he would help her out of love for his cousin in the end.
“I was surprised to receive your summons today,” she said.
He laughed. “Mysummons. I like that. As if I am a king.”
She forced a smile. “I-I suppose.”
“But here you are,” he said, taking a seat across from her. She retook her own chair and shifted uncomfortably as he looked her up and down. “In the flesh.”
“Y-yes,” she said, still very confused by his demeanor. It was not what she had been expecting. “I assume that since you and I have never enjoyed a social connection, you called me here to discuss Colin.”
“In a matter of speaking,” Arthur said, setting his glass aside. “I suppose the topic is mydearcousin. And his relationship with you.”
“You don’t approve.”
He caught her eye. “I do not.”
