“I did marry Miss Adeline, Sir Archibald Hayes’s daughter. They are from Somerset.”
At first joy cascaded over his mother’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a frown. “Sir Archibald…Sir Archibald,” she muttered. “I do not believe I am familiar with the Hayes from Somerset.”
“I would think not, they do not move in your elevated circles.”
“Then the girl is without connections?”
He merely grunted.
“What happened to the list I created? Those young ladies were highly agreeable in wealth and connections. I cannot fathom why you would not have made any one of them your duchess, but this unknown…miss.”
He drummed his fingers on the desk. “The situation was of such, it was best I married Adeline with haste.”
“Good heavens.” Lady Harriet’s hand fluttered to her throat. “So the ghastly rumor of a compromising situation has merit? I never thought you had it in you, Edmond, after…” she glanced away into the fireplace.
After Maryann.
It was curious that the bracing pain he would normally feel when his mother had slipped and mentioned his departed wife was absent. “You can say her name, Mother.”
She gasped, and he understood. He’d not allowed any discourse in relation to Maryann since her funeral.
“Tell me about this young miss,” she finally said with a birdlike look of enquiry.
He surged to his feet and walked to the windows, tugging the curtains open, they overlooked the lake. The moonlight was reflected on the water in the ripples of a light breeze. The lights that remained still burning in the house sparkled in the surface of the water as an occasional trout surfaced to eat some nocturnal insect. “There is not much to tell. We just met.”
“Then at least tell me how you came to be married.”
“I visited Lord Gladstone to complete settlement negotiations for Lady Evelyn. She was averse to marrying me and arranged for her friend to enter my room.”
“And this Miss Adeline went along with such an outrageous plan?”
Sudden amusement curled through him at their antics. “Adeline thought she was climbing into another man’s bed.”
“Good Heavens,” his mother said faintly. “I cannot credit such assertions. And you took her, to be your wife?”
“She would have been ruined otherwise, and I was in need of a wife,” he said blandly.
His mother was silent for the longest time, and he was content to simply stand with his hands on the window frame, watching the glow of the moonlight shimmering over the lake and listening to the crackling in the fireplace. It was startling to realize he now felt calmness inside…one that had been missing for months.
“I have known you to be honorable and have good sense, Edmond, but marrying a young miss with such little acquaintance and nothing to recommend her, I simply cannot credit it.”
“According to Lady Gladstone, Miss Adeline is an extraordinary young lady in temper, intellect, and manners, at least until she entered my room,” he said wryly.
“And what is your opinion of Miss Adeline after she acted with such…wanton impropriety?”
“I think she is a woman to be admired.”
He did not turn at his mother’s soft gasp. Instead he analyzed his assessment. “She is not a mincing miss. She has courage and a good deal of audacity. Even with the threat of ruination hanging over her head like a sharpened sword, she resisted marrying me. My title and wealth held no appeal for her, and that more than anything showed me her character.” Edmond thought of the fire in Adel’s eyes earlier, the determination and fury that had flushed her cheeks transforming her from lovely to bewitching. “She is beautiful, bold, and not without charm. Her head barely reaches my chin, and her hair is raven, its thickness and beauty I have never seen, and her eyes…they are honest and exquisite.”
He thought of her interaction with his children, how she had strived to make them happy and at ease, despite her own turbulence and anxiety. “She is kind and thoughtful, fearless where she should be wary…and I can see her core of strength. Even if I had not married her, she would not have crumpled underneath society’s disdain.”
And he had hurt her with his thoughtlessness. A curiosity to know her filled his veins, yet he had no notion how to connect with her. He was not even sure he wanted to, despite the manner in which she tugged at him. How long could he truly avoid her for?
Edmond had done a good job on the ride from Wiltshire to Hampshire, making no effort to ride with her in the carriage. After introducing her to his daughters, he had been relieved when Rosa’s tea party dispersed. He had been filled with a vision of taking Adeline to his bed. He had ridden away, desperate to cool the ardor he would not act upon. Perhaps it was better to be in her presence and render himself immune to her sensuality, instead of staying away where whenever he glimpsed her, it would be like drowning in desire and desperation for her touches and kisses.