Chapter Fourteen
Victoria and Rafe received their first visitors after tea that day in the form of Mr. Simon Stratford and his wife, Odette.
“I was sorry to hear your honeymoon trip had been cancelled,” said Mrs. Stratford. “We have not had the opportunity to travel further abroad than Edinburough; a holiday on the Continent would be such an adventure.”
“I am certain we will find time to plan another someday,” Victoria replied with a smile that was less genuine than she hoped.
Though she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to shake Rafe’s earlier words—his admission that love was not something he could feel or even desired to experience—had shaken her.
He’d effectively destroyed any hope she might have held that they might one day develop a depth of feeling for one another; she did not know if it was better or worse that he believed it was a kindness to speak so bluntly to her.
It was, she supposed, some consolation that he’d made it clear that it was nothing against her; it was just how he was.
She gave herself a little shake and did her best to focus on their guests rather than the state of her fledgling marriage that had already been tested far too many times.
“Besides, you would have to leave your little one behind for far too long. How old did you say Alexandra was?”
“We celebrated her first birthday last month,” Mrs. Stratford beamed from the opportunity to discuss her daughter, and then she positively glowed when she turned toward her husband. “It would be rather difficult to leave her, wouldn’t it?”
Mr. Stratford made a thoughtful sound of agreement before looking back at Rafe. “Why was your trip cancelled?” he asked bluntly.
Rafe brushed crumbs from his fingertips and set aside the plate Victoria had prepared for him. “Business.”
The answer was so far from the truth that Victoria’s head whipped around to face him. Could Mr. and Mrs. Stratford be unaware of the children’s existence, or did Rafe simply not wish to admit that the reason they’d canceled their trip was due to May’s illness?
“Business?” Mrs. Stratford asked; one of her brows lifted in skepticism.
“I’ve never known you to handle business of such import that it would hinder your more enjoyable plans.
” The words were spoken in a sweet tone, but there was an edge to them.
Victoria bit the inside of her cheek and watched the interaction play out.
“Well, dearest Odette, I am a changed man.” Rafe sprawled backward negligently, gesturing to the barely suitable room around them. “I am no longer the ne’er-do-well you’ve come to know and love, but a man who is both a husband and a responsible lord.”
Mrs. Stratford gave a little disbelieving shake of her head before she took another sip of her tea. She set it aside and said, “I am certain the ton are breathing a collective sigh of relief. After all, you’ve left a string of broken hearts in your wake—many of them my friends.”
“Do you really think it is appropriate to bring this up in front of my wife?” Rafe asked.
This seemed to chasten Mrs. Stratford some, but the blue spark in her eyes did not dim.
“Apologies, Lady Blackwood. I am sure this is not the visit you were anticipating. And I did promise to try to set aside my differences with the viscount, so this was not particularly sporting of me.” She had the good grace to appear abashed.
“Pardon?” Rafe interjected with a small frown. “When did you have that conversation?” His question went unanswered.
“By all means, I am the last one who will support a man who is in the wrong—whether or not I happen to be married to him.” She shifted her eyes toward Rafe.
“I am under no misconception that he was quite the scoundrel before we were wed.” And it seemed that she was not the only woman who’d been optimistic in her future with him.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat.
It was one thing to hear the rumors about Rafe; it was another to be confronted with their fallout.
Mrs. Stratford tapped her fingers on the arm of the chaise.
“Very well,” she huffed. “I hope that both of you will be able to join us at the theater for the closing performance of ‘The Folly of Dreams’.” She looked at Rafe.
“But know that I am doing so because I quite like your wife and I believe she will be the only woman unwilling to tolerate your antics.”
Victoria and Rafe followed the Stratfords to their private box at The Mask a sheer swath of the fabric was draped below her collarbone to draw the eyes, and made Rafe nearly desperate to nibble her just there.
He marveled at how easily she’d charmed Odette, how she’d even managed to wrest a small smile from Simon, how beautiful she was when she was free.
This was the first time out that she hadn’t been swarmed by a passel of hangers-on and would-be fortune-hunting suitors.
Without all those men vying for her attention (and Rafe working to prevent any of them from garnering her favors), Victoria was more relaxed than he’d ever seen her in public.
During intermission, it was everything he could do not to pull her into the rear of their sheltered alcove and taste every inch of her. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand being so close to her and not touching her. Unfortunately for him, his friends had impeccable timing.
“I thought I’d heard you’d returned to Town!
” Dorian Poole, Marquess of Kempton, said by way of greeting as he entered the private box.
He was a tall man with chestnut hair and ice-blue eyes, known for his intense moods and love of expensive horseflesh.
A woman dressed in a low-cut gown of navy and black lace was on his arm.
Her ebony hair was studded with pearls, and around her neck dangled a sizable sapphire.
Kempton was known for being quite generous with his mistresses.
Rafe had yet to meet this one, but she had a worldliness about her sultry eyes which, thanks to his years of experience, would have intrigued him enough to inquire as to her availability once his friend moved on to another paramour.
That was, if the woman wearing his ring hadn’t so thoroughly infiltrated his mind that evening.
“I saw you from across the way when the lights came up and couldn’t allow the night to pass without gracing you with my presence.
” He glanced over his shoulder. “Swanleigh and Caro came as well. It was a beast trying to pry them from their home—they’ve practically become shut-ins. ”
Kempton greeted the ladies, then warmly extended his hand to Rafe and then Simon.
Though Simon was not generally considered a part of their close-knit circle of rakes and hell-raisers (one needed to step away from his books if he was to accomplish anything that would earn him such a title), he was welcomed, regardless, thanks to his long-standing friendship with Rafe.
“You’d heard correctly,” Rafe replied and took his opportunity to slip an arm about his wife’s waist. She stood there stiffly, though she did not recoil. He decided to take it as a positive. “Unfortunately, we had a change in plans.”
“That is rather unfortunate,” Kempton tsked.
“Such is life,” Victoria replied airily just as Odette and Simon politely excused themselves to join another conversation into which they’d been beckoned from the hallway outside their box.
Rafe raised a brow at the fact that she did not reveal the real reason for their canceled trip. She’d questioned him after Simon and Odette had left the other day, wondering why he hadn’t divulged to them the true reason for their canceled trip.