AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lenora shrugged. “It just surprises me, is all, that you would look elsewhere when there is a perfectly obvious choice staring at you in the mirror every morning.”
“Lenora,” Margery growled. Again that flare of hurt and longing from yesterday. Though now that she understood it for what it was, wasn’t the longing so much more potent?
“You cannot tell me, after our conversation just after His Grace arrived, that it has not crossed your mind.”
“Not in the least,” Margery lied.
But her friend must have heard the falsehood. She narrowed her eyes. “So there is nothing at all between you?”
No. The word bubbled up in her chest. But her throat, traitorous thing, would not let it out. She flushed hot.
She feared for a moment that her friend would gloat. Lenora had predicted, after all, that something might happen between herself and Daniel, and that she would be only too happy to claim victory when she was proven right.
Instead she placed her sketch pad aside and sidled close to Margery. “What’s happened?”
Her voice was soft and quiet, and undermined Margery’s determination to keep to herself what had occurred. With the kiss, at least, as well as the messy proposal—if one could even call it that. The blackmail, however, and the horrible things said about her Aaron were another matter entirely. No, she would make certain no one learned of that, ever. No matter if it destroyed her in doing so.
She let out an exhausted breath, and stroked Charlotte’s downy gold curls. The baby opened her mouth in a yawn.
“I kissed the duke.”
“Oh.”
That one soft sound was all that escaped Lenora’s lips. But it carried a wealth of meaning.
Margery’s lips twisted. Though she ached to look at her friend, to see her reaction, she nevertheless kept her gaze firmly on Charlotte. Her goddaughter’s eyelids were drooping now over her clear blue eyes, her bow mouth working silently.
Suddenly the child’s nurse appeared. “I’ll put Lady Charlotte to bed, shall I, Your Grace?”
“Henrietta, you are wonderful, thank you,” Lenora murmured. Margery gave Charlotte a soft kiss on her brow, and Lenora took her daughter up, passing her to the nurse. And Margery and Lenora were alone.
Margery expected her friend to suggest they go to her sitting room to talk. Instead Lenora sank back to the floor beside her. Her pale yellow skirts billowed about her as she settled herself on the rug.
“Tell me what happened,” she said softly.
Margery sighed and sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. “What is there to say? I kissed the duke. Well, actually, he kissed me. But when he would have stopped, I continued it. Quite enthusiastically.” She groaned and pressed her eyes into her knees. “What was I thinking, Lenora?”
Suddenly Lenora’s hand was rubbing comforting circles on her back. “I daresay you were lonely.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “But that is no reason to kiss the man.” She raised her head and looked at her friend. “After our…kiss…he suggested I marry him.”
Lenora’s eyes flared wide in shock, but she stayed quiet, patiently waiting.
Margery nodded wryly. “I refused, of course. Though I rather think you’re going to tell me I was a fool for doing so.”
“No, my dear,” Lenora said. “In truth, I think that’s the wisest thing you could have done.”
Now it was Margery’s turn to be surprised. “Truly?”
“Yes.” She smiled sadly. “You didn’t settle for anything less than a strong love with Aaron. As much as I tease you, if you’re to remarry, it should be for the same reasons.”
Tears burned in Margery’s throat. “I don’t think that could possibly happen. How can anyone be blessed so twice in their lives?”
“I do believe,” Lenora whispered, “that if anyone deserves to be blessed in such a way again, it would be you.”
“Nonsense,” Margery managed, fighting back tears.
They stayed that way for a time, Lenora with her arms about Margery, the faint crackle of the nursery fire and the soft lullaby of the nurse in the next room the only sounds.
