Page 36 of A Deal for the Duke’s Virgin

“What?” Christian frowned.

She shrugged. “Perhaps she plans to travel to the Highlands. Most of the paintings here were made by people who live in the Highlands, so she might have hoped to speak to artists or people who know the region well. Or… or perhaps there was some other reason,” she added, reddening a little. “It’s only a guess.”

Daphne raised her eyebrows. “Well, a guess is the best thing we have right now. Christian, what do you think?”

“I don’t know,” he confessed. “I simply don’t know what to think. Why would she have gone to the Highlands or to Scotland at all? Why the secrecy? I would have taken her if she wished to visit or arranged passage.”

“There’s something more to this,” Lord Trowbridge declared. “We have missed something.”

They stood in silence for a long moment, the four of them staring at nothing, lost in thought.

At last, Daphne cleared her throat. “We ought to take Thalia home, Christian. Her brother will not be pleased if she is kept out late.”

“I imagine that man is rarely pleased under any circumstances,” Christian huffed. “But you are right. We’ll take her home now.”

Daphne nodded, giving Thalia a reassuring smile.

Do I feel reassured? I cannot decide.

Jonathan’s conversation with Christian was reassuring. Perhaps if he were convinced that they would marry, he would stop trying to push her towards Mr. Pembroke.

I can only hope.

The four of them traipsed outside, led by Lord Trowbridge and Christian, who were conversing in low voices. Daphne fell into step beside Thalia, offering her a quick, reassuring smile.

“I am glad to meet you,” she said. “Christian told us that you were going to help him find Laura. I’m glad you and he are friends.”

Friends? Thalia thought, bewildered. This poor, deluded woman.

She didn’t say so, of course, but when she glanced up, she found Daphne’s eyes fixed on her, a faint smile lingering on her lips. Despite herself, Thalia felt a blush rising to her cheeks.

“I know Christian better than you think,” Daphne murmured, linking their arms. “In truth, Edwin and I have been concerned about him for some time. He has a tendency to build up walls around him. Men can be so silly, you know. He and Laura had been distant for a while. They love each other, I know that without a doubt, but you can love somebody and not quite know them as well as you think, can’t you?”

Thalia immediately thought of Jonathan. “Yes, you can.”

“But if Christian can learn to calm down just a little, his life would be much better,” Daphne continued, shaking her head. “I have no idea what Laura was thinking, disappearing like this, but I do know that she’s not a flighty, silly girl. She hasn’t eloped, and she hasn’t run away out of peevishness.”

“She is purpose-driven,” Thalia noted. “We only have to discover what that purpose is, and it will lead us to her.”

“I only hope you are right. And I hope that Laura can keep her wits about her, wherever she is. The world is a dangerous place for delicately bred ladies. I should know; I myself had a great many shocks before I married Edwin.”

There was a softness in Daphne’s voice when she mentioned her husband.

Thalia glanced over at her, chewing on her lower lip. “You love him, don’t you?”

That was, of course, entirely too personal a question to ask of a new acquaintance. Asking if a woman loved her husband was considered inappropriate in any setting and certainly irrelevant. Love, as they were all frequently reminded in Society, did not matter. It came after marriage, if it came at all. Marrying for love was vulgar, it was often said.

Thalia did not believe that marrying for love was vulgar, nor did she believe that hoping for love and affection was solely thought of by silly young girls who did not understand how the world worked. If love did not matter and was not supposed to matter, then why was just about everybody in the world constantly thinking about it?

Daphne did not take any time to respond and did not tut or sigh at her question.

“Yes, I love him a great deal,” she said, smiling. “Because Christian is such a close friend of Edwin’s, I was going to love him for Edwin’s sake anyway. But I find that Christian is a wonderful man all by himself, and if he would relinquish even a little control, he would be more pleasant.”

Thalia gave a wry smile. “I concur.”

They stepped out of the gallery into a sunshiny day. The horses had been brought around with the carriage.

“I’ll ride home with Edwin if you don’t mind,” Daphne said. “You’ll be quite safe in the carriage with Christian.”