“You stopped to say goodbye to my sister, didn’t you?”
“I always do.” He winked.
“I’m ready,” Millie grumbled.
As they set off, she huddled beneath the blanket, lips pursed. Honestly, couldn’t Eliza ever keep from running her fingersthrough her husband’s hair? Eliza saw Adrianevery day. As for Adrian, by now she would have expected his ardor to cool.
Wasn’t that usually the case with husbands?
Surreptitiously, Millie studied her brother-in-law. The evidence of his continuing infatuation was obvious. But infatuation alone didn’t explain why this once reclusive marquess had allowed his life to be upended not just by the addition of a wife, but by her three younger sisters, too. His love for Emily had always been plain, but his patience with Lenora, Nettie, and her had been a surprise.
He wasalwayskind, too.
Perhaps she ought to make a greater effort to know him.
She ventured a question, “When you said you recognized my expression, what did you mean?”
“Doesn’t everyone, on occasion, feel the itchy need to be free?” He kept his attention on the traffic as he spoke. “For me the feeling was, at one time, quite literal.”
She couldn’t imagine any reason Adrian could have for feeling constrained. “Respectfully,” she spoke carefully, “there are more limitations on a young lady than on a gentleman, especially a peer.”Whoops.She hadn’t meant to add that last part.
He slanted her an amused glance. “Eliza always says you and she are most alike.”
“Wewere,” Millie said bitterly.
“Before I came along?”
“Oh!” She straightened in the seat. “I don’t object toyou.”
He laughed. “Don’t you?”
“Notper se.”
He chuckled, again.
“I’m sorry,” she added.
“Don’t be.” He waved his free hand. “Feel free to speak your mind.”
“Well, then.” She could hardly resist. “Present company excepted…and Asquith…andmaybeeven Harbury, although I do not know him as well, I simply cannot understand the appeal of having a man about, poking into one’s business, disrupting the course of one’s day.”
“That’s certainly frank.” He sent her another sympathetic glance.Too sympathetic. “Although I suppose I can understand.”
Could he understand how she felt?
Perhaps he could. Unlike most, he knew all about their father’s true character. He’d read the letters her mother had sent to his, as well as the more recently recovered letters his mother had sent to hers. He knewalltheir family secrets.
“Eliza wasn’t too keen on men in general, either,” he continued. “I’m lucky she gives me the benefit of the doubt. One day”—he gave her another quick, sidelong look—“you might find a man to whom you would like to give the benefit of the doubt, too.”
“Perhaps,” she replied noncommittally.
If such a man existed, that man’s deeds would have to unequivocally prove his thoughtful character for her to even begin to grant him her trust. Finding such a man was unfathomable to her at present.
The carriage rounded the corner, bringing into view the iron-fenced garden at the center of Berkeley Square. Adrian brought the curricle to a stop in front of Harbury’s residence, and they were swarmed by footmen in Harbury livery.
“Both the duke and the duchess have gone out,” one of the footmen explained. “But the duchess is expected back soon.”
Adrian turned to Millie. “I will stay with you until she returns. My solicitor can wait.”