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“I’m sorry, you misunderstand me. Gavin and I aren’t interested in doing the season any year.”

“What?” Lady Sophia asked. “Whyever not?”

“We’re perfectly happy in Edinburgh.”

“But the house,” gasped Grace. It was the most emotional display Ina had seen from her since arriving at Oak Park. “There are certain expectations of the baronet.”

“Appearances must be maintained,” said Lady Sophia.

“Expectations and appearances have never been of much concern to Gavin or myself,” Ina said firmly. “It may’ve been the habit of Gavin’s father or Richard to go to London, but it will not be ours.”

Grace bolted up out of her seat, her cheeks red. “I was skeptical when you arrived at Oak Park, but I was willing to overlook some of your eccentricities. Now I see you’ve turned Gavin’s head and would have him shirk his responsibilities here. He deserves a better wife than you.”

My imperfections, she corrected herself.

Turning to their mother-in-law, Grace said, “Please excuse me. I’ll take supper in my room this evening. I find I have a splitting headache.”

The door thumped shut behind Grace, punctuating Ina’s astonishment. She’d suspected from the start that she’d never be close companions with her sister-in-law, but she certainly hadn’t expected such an attack. That was Lady Sophia’s purview.

Her sister-in-law couldn’t have known how precisely her words jabbed at Ina’s worries. Ina knew Gavin deserved a better wife than her, but instead she’d landed him in this mess with her. In Edinburgh it had seemed just possible that they could stumble through this lifetime together, finding a happiness in each other’s company. Here in Ashington, however, it was like having a bright light shone on all of their imperfections.

Ina’s mother-in-law had set her needlework in her lap to give the scene that had unfolded her full attention. A smug smile sat on the older woman’s lips.

“You don’t understand the first thing about what’s going on in this house,” said Lady Sophia.

“No,” said Ina, pulling her shoulders back. “But whose fault is that? You’ve made no secret of the fact that you resent my presence here.”

“I don’t just resent your presence,” said Lady Sophia with a laugh. “I resent everything about you, including your marriage.”

“Then I suggest bringing the issue to your son. He saw fit to marry me,” she said.

“Men often don’t know what’s best for them,” said Lady Sophia. “You know, I don’t delude myself into thinking Grace is truly mourning my son’s death.”

“What has this to do with Gavin and me?” asked Ina, wary at the sharp change of conversation.

“Richard was her husband, yes,” Lady Sophia continued, “but not the man she loved. Grace only married him because he was my husband’s heir.”

“But why would she do that if she loved another?” she asked.

The dowager shrugged one elegant shoulder. “She was forced to see that Richard was the best match she could make.”

An odd sensation settled in Ina: an uncomfortable kinship with the sister-in-law who’d just attacked her. She too had been pushed into a marriage she hadn’t wanted, only, despite her fears, hers hadn’t collapsed. Remarkably, she and Gavin seemed to be growing stronger. She’d never felt so connected to him, never shared so much of herself. She knew his past, and he knew her ambitions. She wanted to be the only person for him. The one who comforted him, who challenged him, who loved him.

A lump of emotion caught in her throat. Love. It was at once too strong and too weak a word to explain how she felt for him. She’d loved him as a friend for years, but now she was falling for him and there was nothing she could do about it.

Love was still too frightening a prospect—love risked everything: their friendship, her heart, everything. And so she kept it bottled up inside of her, hoping he’d never know what was in her heart.

“I’m sorry for Grace,” said Ina.

Lady Sophia sneered. “Grace made her own choices. No one is ever completely innocent in these sorts of stories.”

“What happened?”

“Grace’s family is the Cleverlys,” said the dowager. “Their land lies next to Oak Park, and it was always the intention of Mr. Cleverly and Sir Henry to join the two properties and unite the families, but Grace foolishly entangled herself with a young man one summer. Richard had the good sense to sit back and wait for the whole episode to fade away, but the young man was persistent. He insisted that he wanted to marry Grace, but when she was presented with the reality that he could not support her without the approval of his family—which they would not give—she opted to marry Richard.”

Something about the way Lady Sophia was relishing this story made Ina’s blood run cold.

“It would seem Grace still has some cunning in her,” the woman continued. “Just like you.”