Seduced At Sunset (22 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Adelaide wasn’t sure if she would see William that
afternoon at the Ladies’ Hospital Auxiliary Garden Party. She had mentioned in
her last letter that she would be attending, but she had not heard back from
him. Nevertheless, she had donned her most flattering afternoon dress—a
slim-fitting coral affair with a light draping about the skirt, and a collar of
antique lace with a fashionable hat and matching fan.

To her surprise, William was giving a speech about the new
hospital wing just as she arrived. The sound of his voice—so deep and
authoritative—made her feel as if she stood on shaky ground.

In all these years, he had not lost his masculine appeal,
and his intelligence was still overwhelmingly attractive to her. For years she
had buried her awareness of him as a man, for she was a married woman and that
had decided her path. But something had changed this summer. They were older
now, but oh, she felt like a young girl again in his presence. Her belly turned
somersaults and her heart fluttered like a butterfly.

His gaze found hers just as he finished the speech. There
was a round of muted gloved applause on the sunny lawn. Then he disappeared
into the crowd to speak to the hosts and other officials.

A short while later, a footman came by and offered
Adelaide a glass of lemonade. She took it from the shiny tray and clicked open
her fan to cool her cheeks.

“Your Grace...” William’s voice brushed over her like a
refreshing breeze off the water. She turned and faced him.

“How wonderful to see you, William. Your speech was very
inspiring.”

“I’m glad you came,” he said.

His eyes sparkled in the sunlight and she was overcome by
a deep affection for him, which rose up within her like an overflowing cup of
wine. If there had been any doubt in her mind that she loved this man as much,
if not more, than she loved him in her youth, it was gone now. Her true
feelings were no longer smothered beneath her sense of duty and all the painful
regrets of the past. All of that was behind her now as she stood before him on
this bright, shimmering summer’s day.

“Would you care to take a walk over to the dessert table?”
he asked. “They tell me there is a cake large enough to feed all of Mayfair.”

Adelaide smiled and slipped her arm through his. “That
sounds positively delicious.”

As they walked together, they spoke of things they had
corresponded about in their daily letters. Adelaide asked about his patients,
and he asked about Charlotte’s gentleman caller.

“He was delightful,” Adelaide said. “We all thought the
world of him, and he beat Vincent at billiards, which impressed everyone
significantly. But the most wonderful part was the joy I saw in Charlotte’s
eyes every time they were together. I have not seen her look so happy in years.
She came alive again, William. I only hope something will come of it, and she
won’t be disappointed.”

“Love can be unpredictable,” he said, “but Charlotte is an
extraordinary woman and very strong. Whatever happens, I have every confidence
that she will find what she is looking for. She has so much bounty in her life.
I am proud of her. You raised her well, Adelaide.”

They reached the dessert table and Adelaide let go of his
arm. Another footman served them each a slice of lemon cake on small china
plates. They wandered off to enjoy it beneath the shade of a tall sycamore
tree.

While they talked of different things, Adelaide began to
feel all tangled up inside. He had always been a devoted friend to her. And now
it looked like that’s all he would ever wish to be.

Before she realized what she was saying—she really
should have thought it through—she was clearing her throat and setting
down her fork. “Do you have plans for dinner this evening?” she asked. “It is
only Charlotte, Garrett, and me at the London house. We would love for you to
join us.”

For a number of seconds that moved slower than chilled
honey, he gave no reply. Adelaide wanted to disappear under the dessert table.

“I appreciate the invitation,” William said at last, “but
I do have plans. I have theater tickets with... a friend.”

Adelaide knew instantly that he was seeing his lady
tonight. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice—for she knew
him too well. He felt awkward and uncomfortable. She simply couldn’t bear it.

“Perhaps another time, then,” she courteously replied.
“Charlotte and Garrett always love to see you.”

Nothing was quite the same after that, and Adelaide wanted
to kick herself for imagining that they could ever go back to what they once
were. She was a grown woman, not some young debutante—and how many times
had she told herself there was too much history that could not be undone?

Lord knows she deserved this disappointment. She deserved
to be jilted by William for all the times she had given him hope, only to
disappoint, to go back to the duke.

It was time to let this go, she decided. To let William
go. She had chosen her path many years ago. Now she must live with that choice.

“Mother, you look like you’ve been trampled by a herd of
cattle,” Charlotte said when she entered the drawing room before dinner. “What
happened? Your eyes are all puffy.”

“It’s nothing,” Adelaide replied, dabbing at them with a
handkerchief.

“Don’t say it’s nothing when clearly something is wrong.
Please tell me.” Charlotte took hold of Adelaide’s hand.

At last, her mother explained. “Very well, then. If you
must know, I am not as indifferent about William seeing this other woman as I
have led you to believe. I saw him at the garden party today, and my heart
nearly beat out of my chest. He was so handsome. So charming.”

Charlotte squeezed her mother’s hand and gently laughed.
“That comes as no shock to me, Mother. I never believed you were indifferent.
Not for a single second.”

“Well,” she replied, “I am going to have to learn to be,
for I made a fool of myself today.”

“How so?”

“I invited him to join us for dinner, and there was an
excruciating silence while he looked at me with regret. Then he told me he
couldn’t come because he had other plans with his...
lady
friend
.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “Oh, look at me. What a fool I
am. You would think, at my age...”

“Don’t be silly, Mother. You are as youthful as you ever
were, and are you certain he was seeing his lady friend tonight? Perhaps it was
something else. Something to do with a patient at the hospital.”

Adelaide shook her head. “No, he mentioned theater
tickets. I could sense what it was, and he knew I did.”

Charlotte sat back and sighed. How disappointing. She had
hoped her letter to William might change things, but perhaps she was a bigger
fool than anyone with all her lofty dreams of happy endings, for both herself
and her parents. Like Adelaide, Charlotte’s day had been most
unpleasant—and still, there was no word from Drake. She felt rejected and
humiliated. And angry—mostly with his beastly mother.

Was Drake aware of his mother’s knowledge of their affair?
Had he known the sorts of things she intended to say to Charlotte? She
struggled to give him the benefit of the doubt, even while the sensible part of
her brain was telling her to give up hope.

Perhaps she and Adelaide
should
go back to Pembroke Palace and ponder lessons learned.

“It appears both of our matchmaking schemes have turned
out to be colossal failures,” Charlotte said.

“What do you mean?”

“I went to see Mr. Torrington today, but he was not at
home. At least I do not think he was. Instead I met his mother, who told me
that he didn’t want to see me anymore, and I should go back to Pembroke and
forget about him. She also warned me that he had a violent streak. Then she
called me a desperate spinster.”

“She did not!”

“She
did
.”

Adelaide took a moment to consider this information. In
the end, her reaction was peaceful, as it always was. “Oh my dear,” she said.
“I know it is difficult, but you must find a way to be compassionate and
forgiving. Mrs. Torrington must be an unhappy woman indeed to say such things
to you. We do not know what kind of life she has led, for we have not walked in
her shoes. Perhaps she is lonely and is afraid of losing her son.”

Charlotte shook her head doubtfully. “Her son, who has
been out of the country for twelve years? No, I do not think that is it. And I
was certainly
not
compassionate this afternoon. I was
furious with her. By some miracle I managed to keep a cool head, and I walked
out.”

Her mother sighed. “I am proud of you for keeping your
head. That is what matters.”

Charlotte leaned close and kissed her mother on the cheek.
“If you only knew how much I admire you... You are the best woman I know.”

“If only William thought so,” Adelaide said with a sigh
that broke Charlotte’s heart.

She squeezed her hand again. “If he doesn’t think so, then
he is not as brilliant as we think he is. He is a complete imposter, I’d say.”

Adelaide managed a smile.

Charlotte remembered telling William that she would honor
his choice, whatever it was, but that would be easier said than done if he
chose the other woman.

Charlotte wondered what the other woman looked like. Was
she as charming, beautiful, and kind-hearted as Adelaide?

The woman must be truly fabulous indeed, if William were
inclined to take her as his first choice.

It was almost nine o’clock when Drake arrived home and
stepped out of his coach. Looking up at the townhouse with all the windows
ablaze with light, he tried to recall a time in the past when he was happy
here, but could not. His childhood had been colored by abuse, for he had a
bully for a father and a mother who had been too frightened to stand up to him,
even for her son.

Then his adulthood was darkened by grief following the
deaths of his sisters and the loss of his beloved wife—the woman who had
pulled him out of all the wretchedness and shown him love and happiness for the
first time. The pain of that loss had been impossible to bear.

Thus followed years of violence in the boxing ring, the
barbaric cheering of the crowd when bones cracked and blood splattered...

Purging those memories from his mind, he took in a deep
breath of clean summer air, and reminded himself that that life was behind him
now. He had traveled to America to cleanse himself of it and wipe the slate
clean. The past twelve years had done just that, and here he was, home
again—and miraculously, it felt like he was being offered a new
beginning.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet
bag. Slipping his fingers into the drawstring opening, he withdrew the diamond
ring he had purchased that afternoon and tried to imagine what he would say to
Charlotte when he presented it to her.

More importantly, what would
she
say?

He looked up at the front of the house again. Perhaps
everything was about to change. Perhaps this could be a place of joy after all.

When he climbed the steps and opened the door, however,
the terrible sound of woeful sobs hit him like a bag of rocks and sent his
stomach into a whirlwind of dread. He had heard his mother weep like that only
once before—when his sisters slipped away, both of them, in a single
afternoon.

Drake was startled by the appearance of the butler before
him.

“Welcome home, Mr. Torrington,” the man said, as if
nothing were amiss. “May I take your hat?”

Drake quickly removed it and handed it over. “What has
happened?”

“I do not believe it is my place to say, sir. Your mother
is in her boudoir if you wish to see her.”

Drake thanked him and climbed the stairs, taking two at a
time to the top. He rapped a knuckle on the door. “Mother, may I come in?”