Page 9 of Stay Here Forever

A brief rustle was the only warning before the spell was broken.

“Oh, ho! Look here, my love—it seems we’re not the only ones taking shelter today!”

Audrey whipped around in shock at the hauntingly familiar voice. One she had finally convinced herself she’d never hear again.

“Rufus?”

CHAPTER 6

Audrey couldn’t believe her eyes. For ten long years, she had longed to see the man now before her. Rufus stood just beneath the drooping boughs of the willow with a lovely, if slightly haughty-looking, woman on his arm. And yet rather than being pleased to see him, she only felt off-kilter from her moment with Luke being disrupted so abruptly. Her pulse was still beating rapidly, though now from the shock.

Audrey marveled at the chance of them both being in the park concurrently and using the same tree for protection. Rufus appeared just as astounded at finding her beneath the willow, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. He roused himself quickly and plastered on his usual charming smile—a façade that, oddly enough, no longer deceived her, even though she’d always believed it before.

“Miss Jacobs, what an unexpected pleasure! And who is it you’re taking shelter with this rainy afternoon—I can’t quite make you out,” he said with a small frown while peering into the darkness beneath the tree. Luke stepped forward beside her, a matching frown on his face as Rufus’s lit up in recognition.

“Kent! What, ho! This is an unexpected pleasure!” His proclamation was just a bit too loud and energetic for their current situation, belying his easy demeanor. The woman accompanying him pinched her lips in displeasure.

“Archer,” Luke acknowledged with a slight nod. “When did you return to England? Having been absent so long, it seemed you might never return.” His tone was affable, but Audrey sensed the hint of threat underlying the simple statement in the way it was uttered through his slightly clenched jaw. There was an unsettling tension all around, and Audrey couldn’t help but feel she was missing something.

“Ah, yes. Well, traveling and seeing the world is so diverting. What does one need to return home to?”

Audrey let out a strangled noise, her throat painfully constricting at the implication she was not worth enough to contemplate returning for, prompting Rufus to stare at her with something between sympathy and guilt. It was not an auspicious beginning to this ill-fated encounter.

She was immobilized, unsure what to do in this moment. This was her Rufus, here in England and finally before her. But when did he return, and why had he not called on her? More questions raced through her mind, like who was the silent, judging woman beside him? Why was he not coming forward to greet her? And why did she desire to stay firmly beside Luke rather than run to her supposed beloved?

Audrey was about to make introductions, as the woman with Rufus was looking impatient and tugging on his arm, but Luke preempted her, his words stopping the world around her.

“I presume this is your wife?”

“Oh, yes. Of course, please forgive my ill manners.” Rufus shifted from side to side while giving a nervous laugh, gaze on the ground to escape Luke’s stony stare.

“Your wi-wife?” Audrey managed to stutter out.

Rufus stopped his fidgeting and looked Audrey straight in the eye, at last finding his resolve. “Yes, my wife. May I present Mrs. Leona Archer.” Mrs. Archer gave a sniff, and he turned to her and continued the polite introductions. “My dear, may I present Mr. Lucas Kent and Miss Audrey Jacobs.”

Her eyes widened slightly at Audrey’s name. “This is Miss Jacobs? I imagined someone more . . . captivating, I suppose, from the way you described her.”

Now it was Audrey’s eyes that widened at the lack of respect. Rufus was married? Was that why he failed to return—he was too cowardly to face her in light of his abandonment? And Luke knew Rufus was married? Her head was spinning, thoughts a chaotic tumble of questions that were bubbling up at a rapid pace. Did the entirety of the ton know about Rufus’s marriage? Was this why they looked upon her as a creature to be pitied? She suddenly felt hot all over despite the chill of the day and her damp clothing.

Rufus let out a puff of air, his nervous laugh returning. “Well, this is dashedly awkward, isn’t it? Felix assured me you never went out and we wouldn’t run into one another.”

“Felix?” Audrey bit out. “My brother knew you were back in town?” She could feel her chest rapidly rising and falling as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened in the past five minutes, all other emotions disintegrating amid her incandescent anger. “And you,” she said, spinning around to look at Luke. “You knew as well, and you never told me?” She hated how her voice cracked issuing her accusation.

A pained look crossed Luke’s face. “Audrey, I didn’t . . .”

“No. No.” She shook her head, unable to see anything clearly through the white that was clouding her vision. Pulling his great coat away from her shoulders, she thrust it at him before stumbling away, shoving through the hanging branches and back into the rain.

The cool air was a welcome balm to her flaming cheeks, and she raised her face to the sky, eyes closed as she let the rainwater wash over her as if a baptism, cleansing her soul for the new chapter of life that was now beginning.

Her life would always be marked by this moment, a before and after. Realizing that Rufus would likely never return to her was one thing, but it was another completely knowing it was definitive, he was married. And understanding that everyone knew, and yet no one had thought enough of her to inform her of the news, was unbearable.

Finally breaking, a sob tore from Audrey’s throat. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, and screamed into the mud below her feet. Perhaps the only good thing about being soaked to the bone was that no one could distinguish the rain from the tears running down her face, rivulets containing her grief and rage in equal measure.

“Audrey,” Luke started, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, “let me take you home. You need to get out of the rain.”

She wrenched herself away from Luke’s touch and glared at him through the spikes of her clumped eyelashes. “How could you? How could you spend all this time with me and let me go around not knowing that he was married?”

His face crumpled as she shrieked at him. “I didn’t know that you weren’t aware, Audrey. I swear.” He reached for her, but she stepped backward, not ready for his comfort yet desperately wanting to be held. “I’d heard only recently that he was married, and I assumed you knew. I thought that was why you were having a . . . a . . . a difficult time.” He was clearly using his diplomatic skills, trying to find the words to do the least amount of damage in an already precarious situation. “I presumed that Felix would have informed you.”