Page 83

Ed swirled the amber liquid in his glass and paused. ‘Well, I think.’

Ed had been increasingly taken by Lady Hannah over the last weeks, and Robert could see that things were moving at a pace.

‘Then I hope everything works out for you.’

‘And you?’ Ed said, taking a larger drink. ‘What’s got you looking so shifty? You spent a lot of time with her sister.’

‘Shifty?’

‘Come on, Rob. I’ve not seen you looking so guilty since you broke Mama’s best vase.’

Robert ran a hand over his face and huffed out a laugh.

‘What have you done?’

Robert shrugged, and his confession tumbled forth. ‘I might have kissed her sister. Miss Eliza Courtney,’ he added for the avoidance of doubt.

Ed’s mouth hung open. ‘You did what? Might have? What…?’

Robert groaned and refilled his glass. ‘Very well. I kissed Eliza Courtney tonight. At Vauxhall Gardens.’

‘Did she hit you?’

‘What? No, of course not.’

‘Did she kiss you back?’

Robert’s breath caught in his chest, making it hard to reply. ‘Yes.’

‘Good God,’ his brother said, drink forgotten in favour of staring at him like he’s seen a ghost. ‘So, you’ve changed your mind?’

‘About what?’

‘About getting married.’

Robert opened his mouth and shut it again. ‘Well, no. Not exactly.’

Ed groaned aloud, put down his glass, and began pacing as he tore his hands through his hair.

‘Then what in God’s name were you thinking? You can’t just kiss young women of significantly good breeding and think nothing will happen. She’s very young, and very inexperienced. She’s the daughter of an earl. She will be expecting a proposal and if you don’t offer for her, Hannah will most likely never speak to me again. Rob, you have to fix this. You must propose tomorrow.’

Robert’s heart was thumping painfully along with his head. ‘I didn’t mean to kiss her; she just looked so… so… and I said I’d offer for her. I told her I would go to see her brother, but she begged me not to. Said she had given me permission to kiss her so didn’t expect a proposal.’

Ed was staring open-mouthed.

‘I swear.’

‘She turned you down.’

‘No, well, yes… in a manner of speaking.’

‘What manner? What did you say when you proposed? Did you say, ‘Miss Courtney, you are the most beautiful woman in the world. I love you madly and want you to be my wife?’’

‘Well, no.’

‘What did you say?’

‘Exactly as I told you. Then Hartington interrupted us and I…’