Roxley rolled his eyes and gestured with his hands as if William needed the added movement to help him comprehend basic English. “How do you feel about Eloise Lamont, Will?”
“I don’t know. I...” He gave his father a helpless look.
Roxley offered a sympathetic smile. “Be honest with yourself and know that no matter what, your mother and I are on your side. Our children’s happiness is of the utmost importance to us, even if there may be a scandal. We’ll weather that storm together if we must.”
“Charles and James warned me to keep my distance from her,” William said. “They urged me to forget her unless I loved her.”
“That’s not the worst advice,” his mother said. “Love is a powerful emotion. A great deal can be overcome in its name.”
William swallowed. His gaze drifted away from his mother and toward Athena, then back to his father. All three regarded him with rapt expectation, like spectators watching a tightrope dancer, waiting to see if the artist would make it across the void in one piece or fall to their death.
Closing his eyes, William did his best to block them out – push everything from his mind until only Eloise filled it. He wanted to protect her and keep her safe. He wanted to be there for her, not only today or tomorrow, but always. And he wanted to make sure she never experienced heartache again. Or if she did, then he wanted to be there to help her through it, to give her strength and whatever comfort she needed.
The idea of her being out in the world somewhere alone caused his heart to lurch with immediate dread. He hated it, hated the not knowing where she was or if she was even all right. Where would she find work next and with whom? Would they treat her kindly or would they be cruel?
She was a young woman, stunning and willful, yet too small to overpower a man who might force himself on her. William balled his hands into fists. She was his. She would always be his because...
He opened his eyes with a start. “I love her.”
Athena grinned, Margaret smiled, and Roxley emitted a satisfied grunt.
Panic charged through William with the force of a runaway carriage, not because of the emotion itself – that part was oddly freeing – but because of how badly he’d botched things. He loved her – the way she joked with him until he laughed, the carefree happiness he experienced in her company, how normal she made him feel – yet all he’d offered was an indecent position as his lover. And to make the matter more insulting, he’d tried to bribe her by dangling her dream in front of her nose. If her feelings for him were even a fraction as strong as his feelings were for her, she would have been crushed by what he’d proposed.
“God, I’m awful,” he muttered. “I’ve treated Eloise abominably.”
“Then I’d suggest you try righting that wrong,” Roxley said.
Mama nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
“You must go after her, Will,” Athena exclaimed with bubbly excitement.
William stood, ready to do precisely that – prepared to travel as far and wide as it would take in order to bring her back. He frowned. “Did she say where she was going before she left?”
Silence replaced all sound.
Eventually his mother whispered, “My conversation with her was so swift I did not think to ask.”
William looked at Athena while quiet despair filled his lungs.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’ve no idea.”
He glanced at the clock.Hell and damnation. “It’s been almost an hour since her departure. For all I know, she could be on her way back to France by now.”
“She’ll need to gather her wits first,” Athena said with reassuring confidence. “Eloise isn’t the sort of woman who acts without thought. She came to England because she was better able to find good employment here among the upper class households. So I believe her first course of action will be to rent a room somewhere, after which I expect her to list her availability with an employment agency.”
William tried to dismiss the annoyance he felt at the thought of Eloise having to find lodgings on her own. He’d put her in an awful, possibly even dangerous, position.
Focus.
“In other words, if I search the employment agencies in the area, I ought to be able to track her down.” After all, she was a French cook – the best he’d even known – with a salary only few could afford. This limited her opportunities to a very specific part of Town. “I’ll start right away.”
“Why are you all in here?” Sarah asked as she entered the room. “Is breakfast not ready yet?”
William groaned. He hadn’t the energy to go through all the details again.
“I’ll explain it later,” Athena told Sarah.
“I should go,” William said.
