Page 54 of The Earl She Once Saved

Verity turned slightly. Win’s hands immediately returned her to position.

“Stand still.”

“Win.”

“There is only understanding between us.”

The words were careful … too careful.

“And if there were more?”

“There cannot be,” Win was quick to reply.

“Why?”

Win looked at her then. “Because I know my place.”

The answer landed with the quiet weight of something repeated too often to be questioned. Verity thought of Ezra shifting aside so Win could reach the fire, though rising cost him pain. She thought of the way he listened to her, not as a housekeeper speaking above her station, nor as a widow to be pitied, but as though every word she offered deserved the whole of his attention.

“Perhaps he does not see your place as you do.”

“That would not change it.”

“No,” Verity said softly. “Perhaps not.”

She did not press. She knew too well what it was to have another person insist they understood one’s heart better than oneself.

Win lifted the necklace from the dressing table and fastened it at Verity’s throat. Her fingers were steady again.

“There.”

Verity looked at the woman in the looking glass. She appeared composed. The gown fitted perfectly. Her dark hair had been arranged without softness, and there was nothing in her face the county might easily take hold of.

Lady Edgeworth.

The deserted wife.

The woman who had kept the house and could not keep her husband.

Her stomach tightened. Win saw it.

“You need not stay longer than you wish.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Your aunt may believe so.”

“My aunt understands society. Society understands punishment. Between them, they will see I receive the proper measure of both.”

Win’s mouth thinned. Verity touched one finger to the blue stone at her throat.

“I dread it.”

The admission was so quiet that the fire nearly took it. Win did not offer false assurances. She did not say the whispers would cease or that no one would stare. She had never insulted Verity with comfort made of lies.

“It will be a room full of people waiting to watch me fail,” Verity continued. “They will decide that I am too proud if I do not speak and too shameless if I do. They will look at Rafe, then at me, and invent whatever lies best fit between us.”

Win’s hands came to rest lightly upon her shoulders. Verity met her eyes in the looking glass.