Page 59 of The New Earl’s Convenient Wife

He leaned down to give her a lingering kiss. ‘Enjoy your evening, my dear.’

‘Enjoy yours, as best you can,’ she replied. He was conscious of her staring after him thoughtfully as he walked out of the room.

Later that evening at the Hazleden townhouse, Rafe had greeted his host, Lord Hazelden, and was chatting with Hart when the butler announced dinner. He strolled into the dining room, only to stop short on the threshold.

Several ladies were present, already seated. His host’s wife—and Lady Altorn.

‘I thought this was to be a masculine affair,’ he murmured to Hart.

Following the direction of Rafe’s gaze, Hart stiffened. ‘Sorry. I didn’t know she would be here, or I would have warned you.

Lady Hazleden is very interested in governmental affairs; I think she fancies herself another Lady Holland. At any rate, she often invites several other like-minded wives to join the group for dinner before the gentlemen go off for their discussions. Don’t worry; the ladies will take themselves off after tea, before we begin.’

Fortunately, Lady Altorn was seated at the other end of the table, next to their host, and Rafe was favoured with other gentlemen as dinner partners. Which allowed him to focus on chatting about aspects of the matters that would be discussed afterwards—though he remained acutely conscious of Lady Altorn’s presence and couldn’t help noting she took the opportunity to send him several searching glances.

Once the meal concluded, their hostess tapped her glass to cue her guests to silence. ‘Since you gentlemen will be conferring for the remainder of the evening, we shall all go straight through for tea. So we ladies may enjoy a bit more of your company before you abandon us.’

Following her lead, the guests walked through to the sitting room, where servants were already setting out the tea service. Rafe hoped Lord Altorn would occupy his wife, but he went straight to the side of Mrs Rousley. From the glances they exchanged at dinner and his little touch of her hand as he reached the lady, Rafe surmised the lovely Mrs Rousely might be Lord Altorn’s latest ‘interest.’

Rafe turned to face the hearth, as if studying the leaping flames, not wanting it to look obvious that he was avoiding the ladies. But a moment later, he felt a tingling at the back of his neck and drew in a waft of rose perfume he remembered all too well.

‘Lord Thornthwaite, pleasure to see you here,’ Lady Altorn said, halting beside him. ‘I’m impressed that you are taking serious interest in your duties in the Lords.’

‘I didn’t realize you had an interest in Parliamentary matters.’

‘Yes, Lord Altorn was elected to a seat in one of the boroughs his father controls. It’s stimulating to be among those discussing plans for the future of our nation. My husband also quite enjoys mingling with political people.’ She gave a slight glance in the direction where her husband was smiling at Mrs Rousely.

‘I don’t always attend these dinners with him, but when Louisa mentioned you’d be one of the guests, I felt I must come.’

Deciding it was better to be direct, he said, ‘What do you want of me, Thalia? I’m married now. We can never can go back to the way things were.’

‘I know. But can’t we salvage…something? Can you tell me you no longer feel anything for me?’

Rafe felt the pull of the beauty who had enchanted him so many years ago. Of course he felt something—he hadn’t yet quite sorted out just what—but he didn’t want to encourage her by admitting it.

‘You’ll have no trouble finding a replacement to admire you,’ he evaded. ‘Any number of gentlemen, Randolph chief among them, are already eager to lay their devotion at your feet.’

She shrugged. ‘Perhaps. But none would be you. No one ever has been. No one ever will be.’

Once, he would have given all he possessed to hear her say this. Part of him wanted to exult at her words, at her desire to rekindle the love that had cost him so much pain.

Instead, to his surprise, her words only fueled the anguished mix of anger, grief, regret and hurt to a hotter pitch.

She might accept the standards of a morally lax Society. She might even feel that, having done her duty by her family, she deserved to seek out such happiness as she could find.

But to go from the blazing purity of the love he’d once felt to the tawdriness of an illicit affair? The idea filled him with revulsion.

‘It’s far too late to do anything about that.’

She touched his hand. He wanted to snatch it away as if burned…because he had been. Much as he tried to snuff it out, his body…and emotions…still affected by this woman he had once loved so much, he was unable to completely extinguish his response.

‘Are you sure there is nothing we can do?’

‘Thalia, the young man I was will always love the girl you were then. But I’m not that man anymore and you’re not that girl. Life has changed us both and pulled us in other directions.’

She stared into his eyes. Despite the allure of those lavender orbs, he held her gaze steadily.

‘You’re a man of honour, I see.’