Chapter Fifteen
Grace liked Lord Kilsyth immediately. He was the sort of courteous gentleman she had always been drawn to, so different from Ormsby and Bolton.
He was also at least twenty years older than Rory, and at first she was surprised by their friendship, until she remembered that Rory was still mostly a stranger to her.
Yes, they slept in the same bed and regularly joined their bodies together, but she did not know his inner thoughts. Not really.
She could see that Jennie was also enjoying Kilsyth’s company.
As she watched the older woman smiling and chatting, Grace wondered again about the countess’s husband, the Earl of Strathmore.
She knew he was often away for his business, but the air of sadness Jennie often wore made her wonder whether they were apart by circumstance or choice.
Kilsyth was explaining he had not been back in London for a long time, and why that was. He had obviously loved his wife deeply.
“The duel must have come as a shock,” Rory said with a grimace. “But I am grateful you stepped in as my second.”
“It was my pleasure.” Kilsyth smiled. “It was certainly an interesting evening.”
Ah, so that was how they had met. Grace thought about that for a moment, wondering how she felt now she knew Lord Kilsyth was aware of the circumstances of her marriage. Awkward was her answer.
As if aware of her feelings, Kilsyth spoke to her. “I just happened to be there when the situation came about,” he said with a grimace. “I thought it my duty to support Lord Rory.”
Grace liked him even more. “Of course. Have you heard how Lord Ramsgate is faring?” She barely knew the man, and she had certainly not wanted to marry him, but she had pitied him for falling into Ormsby’s clutches.
“I heard from a mutual acquaintance that he is up and about. Making a remarkable recovery.”
The two men exchanged a look that Grace did not understand.
Lord Ramsgate had escaped Ormsby’s trap and it had closed on Rory instead.
But that was not true, was it? Rory had willingly stepped into the jaws of that trap because he wanted to save Grace.
Because he was a good and decent man, no matter how hard he tried to make her believe he was the opposite.
Kilsyth had turned to her with a smile and now began to ask about her visit to the theatre.
She was surprised he knew but supposed Rory had told him about it.
The rest of the meal passed pleasantly with talk of the play, and then Jennie spoke of other visits to the theatre she had made, and soon it was as if the two of them had known each other for years.
When the countess laughed with delight at something Kilsyth said and tapped his arm with her fingers, letting them linger, Grace noticed Rory watching the two older people with a little frown between his brows.
Surely he wasn’t concerned that his aunt and Kilsyth were getting on too well?
After the meal, they took tea in the drawing room, and the talk turned to some of the well-known London characters, and a little bit of gossip.
Grace was quite sure she was still the main subject of gossip, but Kilsyth was gentlemanly enough not to mention it.
At least Ormsby being out of town meant he would not hear any of it.
And surely there would be some other scandal soon that would take her place? Fervently, she hoped so.
When Kilsyth took his leave, Jennie announced she was going to bed. She was smiling as she climbed the stairs with Bothwell at her heels. They were still standing in the entrance hall when Rory took Grace’s hand in his.
“Did you enjoy yourself?” he asked with a lift of his eyebrow.
“Yes. Lord Kilsyth is charming.”
He raised his brows. “You sound surprised. Didn’t you expect my friends to be charming? They are not all barbarians, I promise you.”
She laughed uncomfortably. “Of course I don’t expect that, although I know very little of your friends, Rory.
” It reminded her again of their being near-strangers.
But then many couples were strangers when they first married.
The marriages of the upper echelons were arranged by parents and guardians, and love matches were very rare and even frowned upon, as if emotion had no place in such a union.
He began to lead her up the stairs. “I met him at the duel, and I like him. You’re right, he is not someone I would normally have befriended. I think I will look to more like him in the future instead of the fools I used to call friends.”
“Hmmm.”
“I wish my uncle would come home,” Rory said suddenly, staring ahead.
Grace shot him a sideways glance. “Your aunt says he is presently in America.”
“He is a trader. He owns many ships and could sit back and run his company from London, but he is the sort of fellow who likes to be hands on. He came home after Callum’s stay but then left again.
This time he seems to have been away longer than usual, and Aunt Jennie does not know when he will return. ”
Grace thought about that. “She seems sad.”
“Yes. She misses him. I think that was why she enjoyed Kilsyth’s company so much.” He shot her a glance.
“I think she did too,” Grace replied, although she wasn’t at all sure that was the only reason.
They looked at each other for a moment, probably both thinking that Jennie might be ripe for an affair.
“Their marriage was a love match,” Rory went on after a moment.
“My grandfather, the Duke of Bonnyrigg, had promised my grandmother on her deathbed that he would make sure that Luna, my mother, married first. She was the eldest and my grandmother was worried my grandfather favored Jennie.
But Luna refused everyone who asked her, until my father Maxwell arrived.
Jennie had wanted to marry Jamie, the Earl of Strathmore, for years and she was ecstatic when their marriage could go ahead.
They moved to London shortly afterward, and my uncle started his shipping company.
“And there are no children?” Grace asked softly.
“Unfortunately, no.”
“She must be lonely.”
“Yes, I think she is.”
“Perhaps your uncle will return soon.”
Rory said nothing, and by now they had reached Grace’s bedchamber. He hesitated as if in two minds and then bowed politely. “I will let you rest,” he said. “I have a little surprise for you tomorrow.”
Grace’s eyes widened as she wondered what the surprise was, but Rory was already moving away.
Inside her room, she stood and stared at nothing, trying to make sense of her feelings.
Tonight she had felt as if she truly were Rory’s wife, and he had treated her as if she were his wife, too.
Was that a good thing? She wasn’t sure. It might only cause her disappointment in the long run.
Or heartache. She was increasingly aware of her feelings warming toward Rory in a way she had never expected.
He satisfied more than her body, and she thought she could love him.
And then what? Would she sit sadly waiting, like Jennie, for a man who was off enjoying himself somewhere else?
The idea did not make her happy. The solution was not to fall in love with him, so she wouldn’t.
And she would ignore the little voice that whispered in her head: Are you sure it isn’t already too late?