The Defiant Wife (The Three Mrs #2) - Jess Michaels Page 0,7
Our little house was just behind the great hall, and during the high season, the music would float back so I could hear it.” She smiled, for these memories were not unpleasant.
“And would young Miss Phillipa Windridge sneak a peek at those gatherings?”
She blinked. “You know my maiden name?”
He shrugged. “Of course.”
“Of course,” she repeated with a shake of her head. “And yes, I was always creeping up to windows and sneaking through the hall, hiding behind furniture so I could see what the fine dresses looked like, watch the dancing. By the time I had a dance instructor, I was already well-versed in reels and quadrilles.”
“And the waltz?” he asked softly.
She blushed. “No, my father didn’t allow anyone to waltz at Windridge’s Assembly. He said it was too shocking, made a big bluster that those at Almack’s gave permission for such a display.”
“He was a stern master of ceremonies, then?” Rhys asked. Teased, she thought, gently and in a way that made her smile.
“Sometimes,” she said. “He was very particular about attire and behavior in his walls. Any walls he ruled over.”
Rhys nodded slowly, as if he understood that she was trying to tell her a little bit about life behind the assembly. In the little house where her spark had been seen as a disadvantage, a difficulty needed to be snuffed out by any means necessary. Where she’d been a commodity and a disappointment.
Nan had rested her head against the carriage wall now and was dozing. It seemed to give Rhys a little more bravery in speaking. “I’m surprised he allowed my brother into his hallowed halls if they were so well-protected.”
Pippa swallowed, her mind taking her back to that night years ago when Erasmus Montgomery strode into the assembly hall. She was attending every entertainment by then, strutted out on display in the hopes she would land a man to elevate their station and bring even more prestige to her father’s doors.
She’d been so stifled her entire life, and she recalled looking at Erasmus and thinking he was free. And she was jealous and intrigued. Enough that she ignored warning signs and the desperation laced in his pursuit.
“Erasmus was very good at presenting as a sheep when he was truly a wolf,” she said. “And my father wanted to be taken in, so he was. I suppose…” She let out a soft sigh. “I suppose I cannot judge, though, for I was taken in, too.”
Rhys’s cheek twitched and his hand flexed against his thigh, as if he were considering reaching across to her. He didn’t, of course. Unlike his brother, who had been impetuous and sometimes inappropriate, Rhys was always proper. Collected. And she respected that a great deal, even if the idea of him taking her hand sent a full-body shudder through her that was anything but unpleasant.
She was lonely, that was all. That was why her attraction to this handsome man was so powerful. Once she was home with her servants and Kenley, it would fade. She’d settle into her old routines and this drive would just go away.
She ignored the fact that her old routines had been unsatisfactory.
“I’m…sorry,” he said softly.
She wrinkled her brow. “You are always so quick to apologize for something you had nothing to do with.”
“Didn’t I?” he asked, and his jaw twitched again. “I cut him off. Did that not set in motion everything that happened after? And since he is…he is dead, doesn’t that make me the responsible party now?”
She flinched at the pain in his voice, the guilt and the grief that was just below this man’s cool and collected surface. She’d always sensed it there when she spoke to him, always wished she could soothe it. But that was not her place.
“It doesn’t make you responsible in my estimation,” she said.
He held her stare a long moment, the bright blue of his eyes holding her captive. Then he cleared his throat and turned toward the window. “Seems we are out of London proper now. I always forget how long it takes. Perhaps it would be a good time to stop and stretch our legs, then I’ll ride for a bit so you may have some time to get to know your new companion and enjoy the quiet.”
She swallowed at how driven he was to escape her company, and yet she could do nothing but nod as he tapped the wall behind him to signal the driver to stop.
“There’s a very nice inn along the road where we’ll