“So have I.” His hand came up to cradle her cheek, his thumb lightly stroking. Dipping his head, he gave her a tender kiss before saying, “I think we ought to return to the ballroom now before anyone finds us missing.”
Chapter 32
Gabriella studied her mother at breakfast the following day. She looked tired. Drawn. “Did you not sleep well last night?” Gabriella asked.
Plopping a lump of sugar into her tea, Lady Warwick gave her daughter an irritated look. “Of course not, Gabriella. How can I when our entire family risks social suicide?” She shook her head, sipped her tea, and expelled a deep breath. “It’s not just Huntley’s past, your broken engagement with Fielding, or your current engagement to Huntley. It’s also Victoria’s annulment, her decision to marry into the lower class and live in a cottage, Mrs. Matthews’s arrival at the ball last night, and Huntley’s boxing match today. The scandal sheets would enjoy any one of these stories if the truth behind them were ever discovered, but together? It will send the gossip mongers into a frenzy! Our family’s reputation will be decimated.”
“I know, Mama. I’m sorry it has to be this way. Truly I am.”
Her mother pressed her lips together and frowned. “In spite of what you may think of me, I always wanted the best for you and your sister. The situation that you’ve created seems to be anything but.”
“Perhaps to your way of thinking. Because you can’t imagine a life apart from Society—a life in which you’re not invited to every event there is.”
“You’re asking me to denounce everything I have ever believed in—the very foundations of my upbringing and—”
“So many rules.” Shaking her head, Gabriella reached for her mother’s hand, clasping it gently against the white tablecloth. “I have never been popular, Mama. It’s always felt like such a struggle for me to do the expected, to fall in line and behave according to a protocol that I didn’t always believe in. And yet I was willing to continue doing so for you and Papa as long as I had no other aspirations. But then I fell in love and I realized how meaningless social etiquette is in the grander scheme of things.”
Her mother’s eyes widened. “You think it meaningless for a lady to behave respectably? To follow her parents’ advice with regard to her future?”
“I think a lady ought to have some say, but you gave me none, Mama. Not once.”
Her mother’s brow wrinkled a bit and then she finally nodded. “I’m sorry.” She hesitated a bit before saying, “The thing is that your father and I have been miserable ever since Connolly swindled Victoria into marriage. We were so determined to do better by you that we practically pushed you into Fielding’s arms without paying attention to how ill-suited the two of you were. And then Huntley showed up, and our concerns just grew. He came out of nowhere, we knew nothing about him, and so we worried that we would be facing another Connolly all over again. It put a terrible strain on us. We fought often, each of us irritable with the other for no logical reason.”
“Is it better now?” Gabriella asked.
Lady Warwick averted her gaze, her cheeks growing suspiciously pink as she proceeded to straighten out her napkin. “We have—reconciled.”
“I’d avoid any more questions if I were you,” Caroline said, speaking up for the first time.
Agreeing with her, Gabriella bit her tongue. Instead, she quietly finished her breakfast and informed her mother and aunt that she was going to call on Raphe so she could wish him luck with the fight.
“You’re not thinking of attending it, I hope,” Lady Warwick said with a shrewd stare, halting Gabriella’s exit from the dining room.
Keeping her expression as tepid as possible, Gabriella said, “Actually, I was planning to take tea with his sisters.” Which she would do, right before leaving for Hackney Meadows with Coventry and Richardson. Thankfully, her mother did not question her any further, making it possible for Gabriella to leave the house without confirming or denying anything. Technically, she hadn’t lied, she told herself as she knocked on Raphe’s front door twenty minutes later. And as long as things went smoothly, there was no reason at all for her parents to ever discover that she had in fact gone to offer Raphe her support.
“Have we told you how thrilled we are with your engagement to Raphe?” Amelia asked as soon as Gabriella arrived in the parlor, her eager question preceding a customary greeting.
Not minding in the least, Gabriella grinned. “Thank you,” she said. She then nodded politely to Coventry and Richardson, who’d risen upon her arrival, their felicitations coming in quick succession of each other. Her eyes met Raphe’s as he came toward her. “I can assure you that I am quite thrilled as well.”
“As am I,” he murmured for her ears alone as he offered his arm and escorted her to the sofa. Dressed in a pair of brown wool trousers and a white cotton shirt without waistcoat, jacket or cravat, he looked devilishly roguish.
“Are, err—are you ready for today’s event?” she asked as she took her seat and reached for the teapot in a futile attempt to hide her blush. The effect he had on her was surely plain for all to see. Especially when her unsteady hand made the tea spill the moment she started to pour.
“I believe so,” Raphe said, sounding amused. Claiming the seat beside her, he made no effort to stop from brushing his shoulder against hers or nudging her with his leg whenever he leaned forward or backward. Taking a sip of his tea he added, “As you know, I’ve been practicing quite diligently in the courtyard.”
Gabriella froze, her cheeks burning with the reference to their scandalous run-in with each other. “Indeed,” she said, lowering her gaze to her lap so she didn’t have to meet the curious looks she was getting from the rest of those present.
“We leave in fifteen minutes,” Raphe continued in a more deliberate tone. “Coventry and Richardson, I expect you to stay by Gabriella’s side at all times.”
“We won’t let her out of our sight,” Coventry assured him.
“Keep to the back,” Raphe said. “That’ll stop you from getting jostled by the crowd.”
“But I want to be able to see you properly,” Gabriella said. After all, that was the whole point in going.
“And you will. But I’m not going to let you attend unless—”
“I beg your pardon,” she told him tightly, not liking the proprietary tone he was taking. “You won’t let me?”
