Mama crossed the room slowly, her ever graceful steps swishing her lavender skirts. Taking the seat across from Javenia, she said, “I think that is partially my fault.” Javenia shook her head, but her mother held up a hand to stop her. “Let me explain. A few weeks ago you blamed us for forbidding you from forming an attachment with Lord Roberts.”
Javenia scrunched her nose. “Not Lord Roberts, Algenon.”
Mama’s sad smile appeared. “They are one in the same now.”
Javenia’s mouth fell open as she realized the truth of it. Algenon was now the baron.
Her mother continued. “While we never expressly forbade it, we did use language to make such an attachment seem prohibited, mostly because we understood your nature.”
Closing her hand around the other side of the wad of paper, Javenia leaned forward. “What do you mean, my nature?”
“Come now, Javenia. Since your childhood you have gone against the grain of Society. Even as a young girl you’d flout the rules your father and I laid out, even pushing back against the things we deemed good for you.”
“I do not see what that has to do with forbidding me to marry Algenon.”
“The fruit that is forbidden is often most alluring.” A guilty smile spread across her mother’s face.
Javenia’s shoulders fell and she hung her head. It all made sense now. The reason her father had never told them they could not socialize with the Roberts sisters, the way she’d been certain with enough prodding they’d give in. She had been duped by her own parents.
“And then I went and spoiled years of your matchmaking efforts.” Javenia rolled the ball of paper in between her hands, cursing her stubbornness.
A knock on the sitting room door brought her head up.
The butler entered. “Lord Roberts to see you, my lady.”
Javenia jumped to her feet, while her mother moved at a more appropriate pace.
Algenon entered the room, a package in his hands. She drank in the sight of him. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his hair had grown longer than usual. And yet, he was the most welcome sight of her life. A yearning, like gale force winds, pushed her to step forward, but she restrained herself when his eyes fell on her and he stumbled to a stop.
He glanced between her and her mother. The lines around his mouth deepened and the corners of his eyes pinched as if in pain. He’d not expected to see her. What’s more, he probably had not wanted to see her. How could she blame him? She’d practically ruined his life.
She moved toward the door. “Forgive me, I was just leaving.”
His hand shot out. “No. Wait.”
She stopped and stared at his hand, not wanting to focus on his face any more than she had to. A pricking sensation in her eyes revealed how close tears were to the surface, but she willed them back by clearing her mind and thinking only of the tiny gold band on Algenon’s pinky.
He looked at the butler and the man closed the door. Everyone stood still.
Her mother spoke first. “Would you two like a moment to speak?”
Javenia said no at the same time Algenon said yes. They blinked at one another.
“Please,” he said softly.
Her shoulders slumped and her chin dropped in submission.
“First, however, I need to deliver this.” He held up a package. “Apparently my mother meant to have this delivered to you, Lady Upton. I gathered from her letters that the two of you were quite close.”
Javenia raised her head in time to see her mother nod.
“We were. That is, until she married Lord Roberts. He did not care for me.”
Algenon handed her the package. “And why was that?”
“I encouraged her to do something he thought foolish.”
Algenon’s eyes narrowed and he studied her mother for a long moment. “To attend the party in Westmoreland?”
