“Don’t bother calling me a coward. I’m not going to fight you. Look around you. I’d be stupid to risk this.”
“You shouldn’t have married Caro if you didn’t want her,” Simon charged, his voice bitter. “You could have held out for someone rich.”
“You shouldn’t have slept with her maid, if you cared about her,” Louvois countered, silkily. “And you wouldn’t be here now.”
“She told you about that?”
“She told me a great many things when she came to me that night”
“And you took advantage of the situation.”
“I took advantage of your stupidity.” The Comte shrugged. “And perhaps, I lost all sense of proportion when the magnificent Lady Caroline talked about fleeing England.”
“All sense of proportion meaning marriage.”
Louvois smiled ruefully. “She wouldn’t have me otherwise.”
“But eventually someone better came along. Someone with money,” Simon jibed.
Louvois sighed. “I don’t know why I’m tempted to be benevolent-perhaps I still remember what it’s like to be young and in love like you. But Caro had left me… in every sense of the word, long before Althea entered my life again.”
“You still shouldn’t have abandoned her without a penny.”
“She had nothing when we married.” Henri chose to overlook the fact that Caroline’s expertise at cards had maintained them during their marriage.
“She’s a governess now. Did you know that?”
“Am I supposed to feel guilty?”
“You could have spared her a small portion of your new wife’s wealth.”
“I wasn’t so inclined.” He wasn’t about to expose the extent of his resentment at Caro’s leaving. “Nor, frankly, would Althea have been so generous. She paid for the divorce-a considerable sum, as you know.”
“You owe her, Louvois. I don’t care who paid for what”
“I have no money of my own until my estates are restored.”
“Jewelry, then.”
“My wife’s? Be reasonable.”
“Something to go with azure velvet,” Simon noted, as though Louvois hadn’t spoken. “Knowing you, you’ll think of some story for your wife.”
“If I find something, will you leave?” The Comte half-smiled. “I’m getting too old to deal with such volatile emotion. Come, have a drink with me while I decide what Althea isn’t likely to miss.”
“You refuse to duel?”
“Yes, I refuse. Is that clear enough?” He dropped into a chair. “The delectable Lady Caroline has deprived us both of our reason at one time or another. For God’s sake, Hargreave, stop scowling and sit down. You have to admit, we have a great deal in common. Brandy?”
“She left us both, you mean.”
Louvois’s brows arched. “Among other things. Did she ever win against you at piquet with that sunk card trick?”
Simon swore softly.
Louvois laughed. “She’s good, isn’t she?” He held out a glass of brandy.
“She took all my money a few weeks ago with that,” Simon remarked, and after a considered moment, he moved forward.
“You’re in good company then. She’s won against some of the best players on the Continent.”
Taking the glass from Louvois, Simon sat down across from the man he’d viewed as an archenemy for years. “So, she left you too,” he murmured, his former defined resentments shading into ambiguity.
“She has a mind of her own.”
Simon snorted. “And a damnable temper.”
Louvois smiled. “Undeterred by her rank of governess, I presume.”
“She kicked me out.”
Louvois raised his glass. “To common bonds.”
Simon grimaced, but he lifted his glass.
“Hard for you to admit, isn’t it?” The Comte’s tone held a hint of edginess. “Welcome to the club.”
“There’s probably more.”
“Men like us? I suspect so.”
Simon’s expression turned sullen.
Louvois leaned over and added more brandy to Simon’s glass.
Simon met his gaze. “Is your wife going to come looking for you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Not to me.”
“Nor me, although Althea isn’t apt to be concerned so long as we keep our disagreement away from her guests.”
Simon lifted his glass and smiled faintly. “What disagreement?”
Several hours later, Simon rose to leave, considerably drunker and perhaps a modicum wiser about his role in all the events that had transpired five years ago. “I’ll give Caro your regards.”
Louvois looked up from his lounging pose, his expression amused. “Do yourself a favor. Marry her.”
“Do you miss her?”
“Not as much as you.” The Comte gave a nod to his surroundings. “I’ve sufficient compensation for my bruised ego. By the way, she once told me you were unrivaled in bed.” He grinned. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t leave her anything.”
Simon didn’t speak for a time. “We’ve known each other all our lives,” he finally said.
“I suggest you hie yourself to Yorkshire.”
Simon drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. “I suppose maybe I should.”
“Do you still want some jewelry?”
Simon waved away the offer and began moving toward the door. “I’ll buy some in London.”
“Caro used to admire rubies.”
Simon stopped at the door and reached for the latch. “She used to own rubies.”
“Ah. That explains it.”
“I didn’t ever think I’d be saying thank you to you, but… I guess I am.” He blew out a breath. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t ever think I’d be saying I hope you two are happy, but,” Louvois smiled, “I hope you are. Au revoir.”
The door shut on Simon a moment later and Louvois leaned his head back against the soft green leather of his chair and sighed.
He envied the young cub.
Chapter 20
Viscount Fortescue was intent on paying suit to Caroline and to that end he convinced the Carlisles that their children could do without a governess for the remainder of Twelfth Night. He took Caroline riding each day, bought her presents in the village-little, appropriate gifts from a suitor: beautiful leather-bound books, a hand-knit scarf, a pretty little lappet of fur to wear under her red cape, a necklace of garnets. He sent her short poems he’d written and read to her one night from a travel journal for which she’d expressed an interest
Caroline was grateful for his attention, for the holiday he’d procured for her, for all his lovely gifts. But she was unable to return his affection and in as gentle a fashion as possible, she informed him of her feelings.
“I’m a patient man, darling,” he replied.
She didn’t have the heart to tell him she wasn’t looking for patience. And what she wanted, she couldn’t have. Or whom to be precise. Although she was a fool to pine for someone as selfish and faithless as Simon.
Nevertheless, she’d not been able to resolve her emotional dilemma in the weeks that had passed since she’d last seen him. Or more aptly, last screamed at him.
Wasn’t it odd, she thought walking up the last flight of stairs to the third floor after another evening with Will, that she didn’t have the good sense to love someone as gentle and kind as the viscount? He would inherit his father’s title someday. He offered her undying love and affection, along with a compatibility of interests that was almost eerie. And he would be faithful unto death.
Why couldn’t she respond like a rational human being?
Why did she yearn for a rogue and a rake who had broken her heart?
As though nature was conspiring in Simon’s impassioned mission, the Channel crossing was perfect light waves, a steady wind, and not a storm cloud in the sky hastened his journey home. The moment they docked in Dover, he jumped ashore. Too impatient to wait for his coach to be offloaded, he hired the fleetest mount in town and made for London.