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He helped her step around a large puddle in the middle of the lane. “I was thinking of my friends.”
Her stomach tossed with unease. “What about them?”
“Merely the hunting trip I was supposed to take with Tristan and the visit I was supposed to make to Leonard Stanton after that.”
Marie had been afraid of this. She typically avoided speaking of his friends, for it brought up all that Charles had given up for her. But then, perhaps speaking of them now would allow her to clarify a few matters.
“Charles,” she began, “if we cannot pursue the annulment, and our marriage must remain intact, I wish you to know that you do not have to give up the life you led before. You can still do all that you wish to do, and I will be perfectly content to remain at home. I’ll have your mother and father for companions, so I shall not be so very lonely should you desire to take your leave.”
To her surprise, one side of his mouth raised in a smile. “I do not know if you are aware of what you’re offering me, Mrs. Shepherd.”
She tipped her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Do you know what sort of life I led before?”
“You were away from home often, though I do not know why.”
“I was house-hopping”—he cast her a sidelong glance—“to avoid my mother’s matchmaking.”
Marie smiled. “You weren’t very good at it.”
“No, indeed. But no man is a match for her will.”
“Did you have a favorite place to stop in?”
He thought for a moment. “I quite liked staying with my friend Rowan at Ashworth Hall. They have a lovely river nearby and an extensive library.”
“You enjoy reading?” She smiled at the memory of his inability to read a single page of the book he’d chosen only days before.
“I do enjoy it, but only when outside.”
“I should have known. Do any of your friends ever come to stay with you at Grendale?”
“They daren’t. Mother would have them all married off by the end of the visit.”
Marie laughed. “Well, you needn’t worry about that for yourself any longer. Unless Mr. Page brings news today, that is.”
“I suppose you’re right. But you may rest assured, if we do remain married, I shan’t be partaking in the activities I was beforehand.”
“Which were...” she prompted. “Other than house-hopping, I mean.”
“Nothing untoward, I assure you. Merely your average gentlemanly pursuits. Monthlong hunting trips, fishing for weeks at a time, grand tours around Europe.”
Marie stared. “You went on The Grand Tour?”
“Indeed.”
“How did you manage that with the wars?”
“We traveled toward the end of 1810. We were kept safe for the most part, though on our return journey, it was not enemy ships that nearly brought us to our deaths but a terrible storm. We were all quite worried—even I was, though I hid it better than the others.” He smiled as he clearly relived the experience. “They were convinced their deaths were at hand, hence why they made the wager.”
“Wager?”
Charles’s lips parted in surprise. “Oh, yes. We...we made a wager that the last of us to marry would owe the other men a hundred pounds each.”
Her brow raised. “Heavens. That’s quite the expensive wager.”
“Indeed.”
