Eyton (Richard and Rose) by Lynne Connolly

Author:Lynne Connolly [Connolly, Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781605046914
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2009-12-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

For the first time, I felt uneasily apprehensive waiting for my husband, and I fortified myself with a small glass of brandy. I was determined not to fall out with him, but I needed to get these things sorted out in my mind, or they would eventually come between us. Perhaps this was how many couples managed, with private disagreements smoothed over in public, but I didn’t want to become like that. I would do my best to prevent it.

When Richard entered the room, he waited until I poured his coffee before he said anything. He studied me closely, ignoring the cup I set on the small table by his side. “You’re doubtful about this, aren’t you?”

I took a breath. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You have every right. It was what we were talking about the other night, the differences in our backgrounds.” He picked up the cup and drank a deep draught of the steaming liquid.

“I suppose so.” I remained standing, trying not to twist my hands together. “It’s just—I was brought up to respect the law, and the men who upheld it. If such a thing had happened, we’d have called in the authorities and asked them for discretion, not—not—” I broke off, lost for words.

He wasn’t. “Lying to them,” he finished for me. I nodded miserably. He drank his coffee before he said anything else. “How do I explain?”

“You know I won’t say anything—” I began, but he interrupted me.

“That’s not the point. I want matters understood between us. No lies, no misunderstandings, Rose. We won’t always agree, who does? But I want you to know why, and that it’s not some form of ingrained superiority. Droit du seigneur, if you like.” He looked at me again, his eyes sharply observant.

I sat in the chair opposite and folded my hands in my lap. “In my father’s case it’s what he’s been used to all his life. Since the Commonwealth, we know it’s important everyone is seen to be equal in rights and under the law, but we’re not. However much you want it, it’s not true. People look to us, the aristocracy, not for an example, but for excitement and scandal. They want us to fail. When we do, it’s trumpeted around the kingdom, and we’re never allowed to forget it. Remember how easy it was for you to find out about me from your fastness in Devonshire when you knew you were going to meet me.” He paused, waiting for confirmation. I managed a nod. “And not everything about me was true. If you’d believed all that, you wouldn’t be here now.”

“I remember.” My voice was too thready. “But this has happened; don’t we owe the families of the victims some justice?”

His face shadowed. “We owe them a great deal. But not their reputation and ours dragged through the papers and scandal sheets. If Kerres were involved, it will be dealt with. Justice will be done.”

“How? Do we kill them ourselves?”

He shook his head grimly, staring at his hands.

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