26. Breaking Off a Betrothal
CHAPTER 26
brEAKING OFF A BETROTHAL
M eanwhile, back at the hotel
“Whatever are you doing?” Jane asked in alarm, her eyes wide as she watched David close the door to their hotel room and stand with his back pressed against it.
“Ssh,” he responded, holding a finger to his lips. “I need only a moment of your time, and then I will take my leave,” he whispered.
“They saw us?—”
“They won’t say anything,” he claimed. “I’ll make sure of it,” he added. “Would you like to sit down?” He was about to indicate the wooden chair that sat in the corner but realized there was only the one. He instead waved to the bed.
“If it’s all the same to you, I would prefer to stand. I’ve been sitting all day,” she replied. “What’s this about?” She stripped her gloves from her hands and tossed them and her reticule onto the table.
David dipped his head. “I wish to learn of your true regard for Marcus,” he said.
Jane opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it. “David,” she murmured quietly.
“I wish you to know that when I made my promise to you last Season, I meant it.”
“I never doubted it,” she assured him.
“That you could honestly claim you were betrothed to me as a means to prevent unwanted suitors,” he went on.
“I do appreciate what you have done more than you can know,” she said, nodding. “You have saved me from having to fend off a number of would-be suitors, most of whom I found rather odious or immature.”
“I had every intention to wed you,” David went on, as if he hadn’t heard a word she said.
Jane’s eyes rounded. “Had?” she repeated.
“Have,” he said on a sigh. “But Jane, I cannot help but notice how you are with Marcus. How he is with you.”
Dipping her head, Jane turned to face the window. “Mr. Henley has been rather attentive,” she admitted.
“Jane, he wants to marry you,” David stated.
Despite the fact that she didn’t want him to see her look of indecision, nor the tears that threatened, Jane whirled around to face him. “He’s too young to marry, though, don’t you think?” she asked, crossing her arms as if to hug herself.
“Is he?” he countered. “Jane, he may only be three-and-twenty, but he is older in other respects,” David said gently. “He already knows what he wants in this life. He is ready to inherit. He has an interest in politics and could easily take his father’s seat in Parliament should he be granted a writ of acceleration.”
Jane inhaled softly. “Already?”
David nodded. “He is ready for a life in London.”
“You... you noticed that, too?” she asked rhetorically.
Chuckling softly, David stepped closer to her. “We all have.” He lifted her hand to rub his thumb over the betrothal ring he had given her. “Please know that if you have developed feelings for him... if you feel any affection for him at all?—”
“Oh, David,” she said softly.
“I will not hold you to our betrothal,” he finished. “Remember, my promise was to be your husband should there not be another whom you liked better.”
Tears brightened her eyes, and Jane raised her face in an attempt to keep them from falling. “Oh, David. I’m so sorry,” she whispered on a sob.
“There’s no need to be,” he said, reaching into a waistcoat pocket to pull out his handkerchief. He offered it to her at the same moment a tear streaked down her cheek. “You already know I am quick to fall in love,” he murmured. “Not that I’ve ever kissed anyone but you,” he quickly added.
She sniffled. “Actually, until earlier today, I didn’t know that about you.”
David’s gaze darted to the side. “Oh. Well, I, um...” He scratched the back of his neck. “I tend to fall in love with nearly every young woman I meet,” he admitted lamely. “You, of course, have meant more to me than all the others, though.”
Jane sniffled and pulled the ring from her finger. She held it out to him. “So, I suppose this is you telling me I should accept an offer from Marcus should he be so inclined?” she asked curtly.
“Oh, Jane,” he said, hesitantly taking the ring from her. “Only if he is what you really want.”
Once again crossing her arms, Jane sniffled. “If he doesn’t make me an offer?”
David held up the ring. “It’s yours,” he stated. He stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek. “If you do not know it already, let me assure you I have imagined a future with you. A life at Devonville House. Children. Entertainments. Walks in the park,” he murmured quietly. “If he does not propose marriage, and if no one else captures your heart, then you can have mine.”
Jane inhaled softly. “Oh, David,” she whispered, reaching up to place a hand against the side of his face. She pulled his head down to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.
They both stiffened at the sound of footsteps out in the corridor.
“I need to get out of here,” David whispered, tucking the ring into his waistcoat pocket before rushing toward the window.
“You needn’t leave,” she countered, moving to the chair in the corner. She set it aside and pulled on a rectangular wooden door that was only about three feet tall. Beyond the opening in the foot-thick wall was the adjacent room. “I’ll join Diana in her room. Push my valise in after me,” she instructed as she grabbed her gloves and reticule from the table.
David watched as she wriggled her way into the next room, her bell skirt making the passage more difficult. At the sound of a knock at the door, he tossed the valise through the opening. “Coming!” he called. He closed the panel and moved the chair back into place.
He opened the heavy wooden door to discover his parents staring at him with wide eyes. “Are we leaving for the temple now?” he asked.
Will stepped into the room and glanced around. “Where is...?”
“Randy? I think Miss Diana asked that he escort her up to the temple some time ago,” David replied.
The door to the next room off the corridor opened and Jane stepped out. “Are we leaving for the temple now?” she asked of Barbara.
“Oh, there you are. We were led to believe there might have been some confusion with the room assignments,” Barbara said, sounding ever so relieved as she directed a wink at Jane. “We expected to find you in this room. With our son.”
“Yes. There must have been some confusion,” Jane agreed. “They delivered the wrong trunk to our room.”
“That must be Randy’s,” David said. “I’ll move it into this room, and we can be on our way. That is, if anyone knows where I might find some food first?”
His mother tittered as she lifted the basket she held over one arm. “We’ll have a picnic next to the temple,” she said.
“If I carry it up there, can I get started eating early?” he asked in a pleading voice.
Barbara sighed and handed it over to him. “Don’t eat everything,” she warned.
“Has anyone seen my brother?” Jane asked.
“Here,” Antonio called out from the other end of the corridor. He had changed top coats and was making his way to the entry along with Tom and Marcus.
Jane shook out her skirts, collected her reticule and gloves from her room, and joined them. When Marcus was quick to offer his arm, she took it and gave him a brilliant smile, her gloves still clutched in her other hand. “You must tell me everything you gentlemen talked about in your coach today,” she ordered.
Marcus exchanged quick glances with the others before he said, “We spoke of history, mostly, but…” he paused. “If you insist...”
Although she pretended interest in his recollection of their earlier discussions, Jane spent most of the climb up to the temple imagining what her life with Marcus Henley would be like in London.
Despite occasionally wiggling her fingers in the hope that he would notice she no longer wore David’s ring, Marcus never let on if he did or not.