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Chapter Five
Ava was running down the stairs, pulling on her gloves preparatory for her morning ride, when the front doorbell rang and Creighton, their excellent butler, opened the door to reveal the Marquess of Ravenshaw. She stuttered to a halt on the stairs, halfway down, her heart lurching and thudding at the sight of him.
He was clad in a driving coat with multiple capes over a blue jacket and fawn breeches, with spotless, white-topped boots. As always, his dress was understated, fashionably elegant, and precise to a pin.
“Good morning, Creighton, is the duke at home?” he asked, surrendering his hat and coat.
Taking the garments, Creighton said, “For you, he is, my lord. In the breakfast parlor.”
At that point, Ravenshaw looked up and saw Ava on the stairs. His incredibly blue eyes held hers for a breathless moment, before he smiled with practiced ease.
She continued down the stairs to the hall, saying, “Ravenshaw, what brings you to us so early?”
“I’m leaving town for a spell. Just calling to bid you all farewell.”
Leaving? He was leaving. Now? It was the beginning of the season. “Where are you going?”
“Northumberland. My estates are sadly neglected. It is time I set them to rights.”
“Oh?” Her voice sounded hollow. “What brought this on? I thought you hated the place.”
“My circumstances are about to change,” he said with an air of seriousness she had never seen in him before. Her stomach dropped at the implication. The countess . . .
“So, it’s true? You’re going to marry the countess?” she asked, her voice raspy with shock. I was right—about everything! I was always, and always will be, a child to him! It felt like another life in which he had kissed her passionately that night at Lady Bellingham’s ball. Never by word or look since had she gleaned that he wished to repeat the experience.
“I’ve asked her,” he said. “I’m hopeful of receiving a positive reply upon my return.”
Ava blinked, her throat tight. An annihilating humiliation hit her in the solar plexus. This was worse than Devonshire House, worse than the Bellingham ball. Her dreams were finally and irrevocably shattered. Pride made her stiffen and reel in her emotions. He must not see how devastated I am.
“How could you not?” she said stiffly, her lips numb.
“I understand I’m to wish you happy as well,” he said. He was smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes like his smiles usually did.
She laughed, and it had a slightly hysterical edge to it that she hoped he didn’t notice.
“Why yes, though nothing is official yet. Did Robert tell you?”
“He did.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I do most sincerely hope you will be happy Ava; Haldane is a good man.” He kissed her cheek and walked past her to the stairs. She turned and watched him mount them with his usual casual grace. He didn’t look back, and she swallowed, watching him through a mist of tears. My heart is breaking.
*
Two days later
“Rey, what am I going to do?” Ava said in despair.
“There isn’t a lot you can do, my poppet” said Reynard Fairbanks, the Earl of Lannister, seating himself beside Ava on the garden bench, wither they had fled from Lady Allworthy’s ballroom. “If the die is truly cast . . .”
“She hasn’t accepted him yet, but why would she refuse him?”
Lannister looked slightly amused and said, “If a man knew what a woman’s motivations for anything were, he would be wise indeed.”
“Oh, do be serious!” she begged, slapping his arm. “I have cried myself sick for two days! The only reason I am here is to see you.”
Sobering he said, “Yes, I thought you weren’t looking your best. But if she hasn’t accepted, then all is not lost yet.”
“It hardly makes a difference; my dreams are shattered. I hoped after he kissed me at Lady Bellingham’s ball that what he felt for me was stronger than affection and liking. I thought I had time to convince him I was grown up and to see me differently. I realize now that I was wrong. I feel so humiliated.”
“Ah—no.”
