Teaching the Earl by Amelia Hart

Author:Amelia Hart [Hart, Amelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kite Publishing
Published: 2014-06-25T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Christopher looked out over the seething mass of dancers and guests, almost as tightly-packed on the dance floor as around the edges of it. Though his position on the stairs into the grand room was elevated, still he could not see her anywhere.

She was here. The Darrington's butler had confirmed it. This was the fourth of her planned engagements, so she would be either here or - if she had left unfashionably early - on her way home. His luck had been poor tonight. A man did not feel dignified chasing about the town after his wife, putting his nose in through a door, only to withdraw it when he was told she was elsewhere. It was hardly dignified. Yet he was not prepared to stay longer and pretend finding her was not his only goal - that he had called in to an event for his own sake.

No. There was an urgency within him to find her again, to see her face. He wanted to know that smile was back on it, that he had so effectively quenched. Specifically he wanted her to see he had arrived, and give that smile to him; which was nonsensical.

Of course she would not smile at him like that. Not immediately. He remembered his words to her, more or less. He had been beleaguered and on the defensive, and could not recall precisely what he had said.

Her expression had made far more of an impression than his own words, truthfully. But he would apologize appropriately humbly, and she would certainly forgive him. She was such an obliging woman, hardly the sort to hold a grudge.

Then he would squire her about, and they could establish a truce, a peaceful understanding of their parallel lives. He would explain to her exactly what he wanted from her. It had been foolishness to think he could leave her at a loose end. Of course she needed clarity and a sense of purpose.

It had been very lax of him, not to consider things from her point of view. He had never really thought beyond securing her money for the sake of the earldom. That idea had been as much as he could hold on to, in those dark days.

Vaguely he remembered their conversations during their brief courtship - deliberately brief, on his side - but he truly had no idea of her expectations, or what she wanted from their marriage. Whatever it was - beyond the title - he could probably not give her. Still she would no doubt be satisfied with the sort of discreetly open relationships many ladies of the ton enjoyed.

Not that she was designed for subterfuge and secrets. She was such an open little thing.

Nor that he felt truly comfortable with the idea of her taking a lover. In fact - he looked down at his clenched fists, veins standing out on them - the idea did not sit well with him at all. Which was unjust. To deny her a loving marriage, and then also refuse her freedom to-

"Hallo, Carhampton.

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