A prickling sensation skittered over his scalp. For all the time he’d spent with the Wainwrights, for all the stories Asquith had shared, Neville actually knew very little about the sisters’ family life.
Could it be Millie distrusted not just him, but marriageitself?
Could it be Harbury had been correct in suggesting there might be something between them?
For a moment, Neville entertained the image of domestic happiness he’d created in the library, the closeness, the ease. The ache that accompanied the image was bittersweet.
Butno.
He dared not permit even the tiniest softening of his resolve. His vow had been to protect Millie, not claim her for his own. To even imagine the possibility might collapse the walls he’d built around his desire for her. The last thing he wanted to do was to compromise the woman who had become both his dream and his torment.
Enough people he cared for were already in peril because of him.
*
As Millie watchedNeville disappear with the duke into the duke’s study, a frown pulled down her lips. She would have given anything to be able to press an ear up against the door and listen to the conversation.
But would Cassie agree to allow her to spy on her husband?
Covertly, she studied her sister. Such a suggestion would probably cause Cassie, the gentlest and most proper of her sisters, to expire on the spot. Best to come up with an alternative pastime.
“Cassie?” she queried. “Do you think we could take a turn about the square?”
“It’swinter, Mil. Our neighbors—and Lady Sarah, should she return from the lending library—will think we have lost our minds.”
“Lady Sarah would not care.” The duke’s older sister, though above reproach, was still unmarried and—to Millie’s deep envy—did exactly as she pleased.
“Perhaps. But even so—”
“Please, Cass?” she begged. Her earlier ramble had not provided the respite she’d sought.
And, if she couldn’t hear what was going on between Cassie’s husband and Neville, she must dosomethingto dissipate the heated effects of her infuriating encounter with Harbury’s cousin.
Cassie searched Millie’s face. She must have read Millie’s need, because, finally, she agreed.
“Against my better judgment, I’ll go,” Cassie said as the two of them donned their coats. “But if either of us is stuck in bed for the next fortnightyoumust accept full blame.”
“You never suffer fromcatarrh.”
“Not usually, no.” Cassie nodded in thanks to the porter as he opened the door, and then they made their way down the stairs.
“Nor do I.” Millie threaded her arm through Cassie’s and they crossed the street. “The chance of both of us falling ill is about the same as Lord Neville going a whole day without subjecting some unsuspecting young lady to a sermon.”
Cassie made an obligatory censorioustsk, though the corner of her mouth briefly ticked up.
“Actually”—Cassie turned thoughtful—“Lord Neville surprised me today.”
“I, too, found his manner toward Harbury odd.” She feared, in fact, that Neville was, right now, repeating his warnings against Willard. “His manner was so furtive.” She snorted at her own absurdity. “As if someone as perfect asNevillecould have something to hide.”
“Oh, I wasn’t referring to his meeting with Harbury.” Cassie waved her hand. “He did say he came to discuss his UncleFarnsworth. Naturally he and Edward share familial concerns. Political ones, too. Doubtless they’ll go on to discuss some parliamentary issue, too.”
Hearing Cassie call her husband by his Christian name still sounded strange to Millie’s ear. And every time Cassie did so, her voice went irritatingly soft. Although all the Wainwrights, both former and present, referred to the Marquess of Redver asAdrian, only Cassie called HarburyEdward.
“You don’t think they are discussing what happened last night?” Millie ventured.
Cassie looked confused. Then, Millie remembered.
Cassie had just been finishing a waltz when Lord Willard had interrupted Neville’s progress across the dance floor. Likely she hadn’t noticed anything unusual at all about Neville’s behavior at the ball.