Page 79 of A Match Made On Duchess Square

He came to her side and nudged her back in. “Do you disapprove? They aren’t hurting each other.”

“But they could be hurting others by their actions. What of his abandoned wife? She may be hurt knowing this is what her husband is doing while she is tending their home.” Perhaps this was just her prudery speaking. Or the fact that she felt abandoned by Andrew.

James grunted. “Chances are, she is content with their arrangement. Most marriages entered into are not love marriages. Who knows? His wife could be in her own cozy love nest doing the same with a footman or one of their grooms.”

“I hope she is,” Gwendolyn said with an emphatic nod. “Better that than being made a fool of, as I was. Don’t you find it odd that these places are called love nests when those who come here to indulge do so precisely because they lack love?”

“Don’t think too hard about it, Gwen. Worry about yourself and think carefully on the sort of man you will accept to marry.”

She blushed, for James was speaking of himself.

He was right. She knew what she wanted in a marriage, for it was the one thing she had always wanted…love.

Would she ever have this bliss with Andrew? Had their time already come and gone?

“It’s just a waiting game now,” James said, moving away from her and resting a shoulder against one of bed’s posts. “Make yourself comfortable. We still have much of the night ahead of us.”

She gave a sarcastic laugh. “Assuming Andrew bothers to show up.”

“Well, this will take a while whether or not he deigns to put in an appearance.”

As the minutes ticked by, James began to pace.

Gwendolyn remained beside the window watching him.

When she grew tired of peering out into the vast expanse of darkness, she crossed the room and sat on the bed. James then took over her position by the window, even though there was nothing to see but darkness and the occasional glisten of moonlight on the water whenever the clouds parted.

Gwendolyn sat stiffly on the bed for what felt like an eternity. However, she jumped to her feet every time she heard floorboards creak outside their door. Each time, James opened the door and stuck his head into the hall to check on the noise.

It always turned out to be nothing.

Hours passed.

Tears welled in Gwendolyn’s eyes with the approach of dawn, for she realized Andrew was not going to pay a call on her tonight. Or ever.

The utter cad. Did she mean that little to him?

She curled her hands into fists, her mind warring between wanting to cry and wanting to howl at the moon in anger.

James had resumed his stance beside the window, gazing absently into the darkness that was just starting to relinquish itself to the gray light of encroaching dawn.

She marched to his side. “Do you think to spot him walking on water toward us like some heroic savior?”

“No,” he said.

Gwendolyn joined him in staring out across the water, which could hardly be seen because of a haze hovering over the waves.

“Fog’s rolling in,” James muttered, stating the obvious. “Let’s hope the sun soon burns it away.”

She looked down and saw plumes of white sea spray shooting upward as those waves hit the rocks and broke apart with a hollow roar.

She stepped away from the window. “What time is it? Even the lovers have grown quiet.”

“Everyone’s asleep. We ought to do the same.” James peered at his watch again, and then placed an arm around her shoulders. “It’s four o’clock. Soon dawn. I’m sorry, Gwen. I really thought he would put in an appearance tonight.”

She nodded, once again struggling to hold back tears. “How dare he do this to me? I refuse to be manipulated in this heinous manner.”

“Has he given you the choice? Seems he has been playing with your affections for a very long time.”