Page 3 of The Widow Wore Plaid

“Refused him, Jane?” Charlotte’s changeable hazel eyes widened and darkened to a light brown. “When? And why?”

“Just after I arrived. He gave me this pendant”—she cupped the sapphire, showing it off to them—“and a proposal. I refused both, but he insisted I accept one or the other, so . . .” She closed her hand over the jewel.

“A single refusal is nothing, Jane.” Fanny sniffed. “I refused Matthew four or five times year before last, and look at me now.” Beaming with joy and health, Fanny indicated her increasing figure. She’d already given Lathbury a son, Christopher, a little over a year ago and would deliver another child in December. “The next time he asks you—”

“I refused him the next time too, Fanny, and the time after that.” Jane dropped her defiant stare. “And then I told him I didn’t want to hear another proposal and if he got down on his knees one more time—”

“He got down on his knees all three times?” Charlotte’s brows shot up. “Nash proposed several times to me, but on none of those occasions did he go down on his knees.”

“If any gentleman would do the moment up right, it would be Kinellan.” Fanny nodded sagely. “Now I’m surprised at you myself, Jane, refusing a man that dedicated.”

“It’s no more than you did, Fanny.”

“Well, but Matthew didn’t need to get down on his knees. When I accepted him he’d just rescued me from almost being ravished by Theale’s henchmen.” Her friend shuddered at the painful memory.

Sighing, Jane collected her thoughts, hoping against hope to be able to explain her choices to her friends. “I told him if he proposed one more time, I would leave Castle Kinellan and remove to Cranston Park with the children.”

“And?” Both friends leaned forward.

“Well, I am obviously still here, am I not?” Jane asked impatiently. “He hasn’t proposed again.” Tears threatened but she blinked them back. It had been her own decision. “Likely he never will again.”

“Who’s not going to do what, Jane?” Elizabeth, Lady Brack entered the room, looking cool in a pink and white striped silk gown.

“Jane gave Kinellan an ultimatum about not proposing to her, so she’s convinced he won’t offer again.” An excitement in Fanny’s voice made Jane’s stomach clench. Her sister-in-law had a way of distilling any complicated situation down to a succinct single sentence. A quality that had always irked Jane.

“So you refused him—”

“Three times, Elizabeth.” Jane sat back on the sofa, speaking wearily. “Can we please move on to another topic?”

“Three times?” The shock on Elizabeth’s face was surpassed only by that in her voice. “My goodness, Jane. Poor Lord Kinellan.” Elizabeth’s brow furrowed. “Do you have reservations about marrying again? It has been over three years since our husbands were killed at Waterloo. Surely you’ve mourned Major General Tarkington enough?”

“That was not my reservation, Elizabeth.” Jane patted her friend’s hand. Elizabeth had been less inclined to remarry than any of the Widows’ Club members, yet she’d found love again at the same time as Charlotte and Fanny. But love for Tark had not been behind her reluctance to take another man to husband. “And I was very serious when I gave Kinellan my ultimatum. . . .” She squirmed in her chair, becoming more upset with each moment of conversation.

“But now?” Fanny edged forward again, trying to catch every word.

Jane paused before answering, gathering her courage to admit this to her friends. “Now I’m not quite so sure.” She closed her eyes, suddenly wretched and cursing her stubborn nature. She’d truly thought Kinellan would propose again, despite his vow to the contrary. “I don’t think he intends to ask me again. I think . . . I think I made an awful mistake.”

Chapter Two

Blinking back tears, Jane drew a deep breath and wrung her hands. “I believe I may have gone too far when he asked me last. I told him . . .” She groped for a handkerchief in her reticule. “I told him if he asked me to marry him again I would leave Castle Kinellan and never return.”

The shocked silence as her friends stared at her made Jane want to crawl under the pink floral Axminster carpet. How could she have been so stupid?

“My dear.” Charlotte’s stern countenance dissolved into more sympathetic lines as she put her arms around her cousin. “Gentlemen never believe such things. Even when they think we mean something, they always hope we can be persuaded. Nash was certainly tenacious.” She shot a speaking look at Fanny. “And Lord Lathbury.”

“You know Matthew would not take no for an answer, Jane.” Fanny grabbed the handkerchief and dabbed at Jane’s wet cheeks. “Kinellan is cut from the same cloth, I’ll wager on it.”

Jane shook her head vigorously. “I don’t think so this time. He seems to have taken my threat to heart because my last refusal was in May.” She sent a stricken look to Charlotte. “He’s not spoken a word more on the subject since.”

“No inkling of a proposal for three months?” A worried frown creased Elizabeth’s brow. “Not even a longing look?”

“Nothing along those lines.” She’d been grateful for the first month not to be badgered with his constant hints and innuendos. By the end of the second month, when he’d still volunteered no hint of a marriage proposal, she’d gotten an inkling of something amiss and began to regret the vehemence of her ultimatum. Now, in August, with all her friends about her, the very picture of domestic bliss with their husbands and families, she’d come to see she’d made a grave tactical error.

“Are you still having intimate relations?” Fanny, ever blunt, fixed her with an inquiring gaze.

Her cheeks heated, but Jane nodded. “We are still as passionate toward one another as we ever were.” Images of Kinellan’s insistent kisses, his strong embrace, the luscious weight of his body on hers just last night stirred her blood whenever they came to mind. “Perhaps more passionate than ever.” A sickening lump formed in the pit of her stomach. “But I fear he is no longer interested in marrying me. Only in the pleasures of the flesh. I certainly gave him to believe that was my sole interest in him.”

“Oh, Jane.” Elizabeth grasped her hand and squeezed. “This must be some sort of misunderstanding between the two of you. You need only tell him of your feelings for him.” She raised delicate brows. “If he proposes again, will you accept?”