don’t think she’s a fool, but something Francis said convinced me that I couldn’t possibly be as stupid as he’s planning to be and turn my back on my heart’s desire.”
She took a deep breath. “So we’ve established that she’d be a fool to have you, and you’d be a fool not to have her. How in the world do you reconcile such a dilemma?” She kept her face sober and concerned, while inside her heart was singing.
“I would think I’d have to ask her, just to make certain I’d done everything I could. But I’d warn her. I have no money, no prospects, an exceedingly ugly face, and my dearest friend is the King of Hell.”
“You think that would stop her?”
“I have no idea. Would it, Lydia?”
She looked into his eyes, the eyes she could never read, and shock washed over her. Of course she hadn’t been able to read the look in his eyes. She was used to admiration, lust, flirtation, acquisitiveness. She’d simply never seen love before.
“Nothing would stop her, if she loved you,” she said. “And she does, Charles. She loves your pretty face and your scarred face. She loves your past and your present and she most especially loves your future. Just ask.”
“Marry me, Lydia.”
Nanny Maude would have been most distressed. Lydia leaped over the low-backed settee and threw herself at him. He caught her, quite handily, and kissed her, more thoroughly than she’d ever been kissed, with such tender longing that she wanted to weep. When he lifted his head to look down into her eyes she knew they were swimming with tears.
“I’m sorry I’m fool enough to want you, dearest,” she said, looking up at him. “But since you’ve suddenly become so wise you’ll have to instruct me.”
He kissed her again, and no instruction was needed.
Her cousin’s carriage was warm and well-sprung, though a far cry from the elegance of Rohan’s equipage. The coach took off immediately once they were inside, and within moments they were far away from Maison de Giverney. Away from Rohan, with his cold, cold words.
She still felt numb inside. She sat back in the corner, the cloak pulled tight around her, pain and sorrow threading through her body. She sat silent, lost, until she saw that they were following the river, the wrong way to the château.
“Where are we going? You said you’d take me to Lydia,” she said sharply. If one more man betrayed her—
“My dear cousin,” he said smoothly, “I told you I had much to report. Your dear sister is fine, staying with her fiancé, Etienne de Giverney. You needn’t worry, there are proper chaperones, and they’re planning a small wedding as soon as they can manage it. She sends you her love, and tells you not to worry about her.”
“She’s going to marry Etienne?” Elinor said, doubtful. It had seemed the best solution, but she remembered Lydia’s wailing confession that she loved Charles Reading. Something had brought her to her senses—love was a trick, a trap, an illusion. Etienne would take care of her—there was no need for this sudden apprehension.
“Apparently he’s been visiting her out at the château every day, pressing his suit, and she finally agreed. It’s just as well he took her from under Rohan’s roof, don’t you agree?”
“Absolutely,” she said numbly. “Can I see her?”
“It would be wiser not to at the moment. You haven’t yet asked me about my proposition.”
She forced herself to evince an interest. “Of course, cousin. I’m very interested.” Perhaps he had an elderly aunt who needed a companion, or a cousin who needed a governess. Except that he had no family—his family was hers.
“I know this will sound unexpected, but I’ve thought it through in great detail, and it seems as if it would answer everything. It might not be what you want, but I suspect it would work out very well indeed, and…”
“Cousin,” Elinor interrupted him, some of her old fire coming back. “What are you trying to say?”
He took her hand and got down on one knee in the swaying coach, and she watched him in utter horror. “I’m asking you to marry me, Cousin Elinor. I believe we should get on very well together, and I can’t help but feel that all the grand things I’ve inherited really should be yours, but for an accident of birth. I want to share them with you.”
“Cousin…” she said gently, trying to hide her annoyance.
“Indeed, I have the utmost respect for you, dear lady, and…and