“You don’t have to explain to me.” Lady Ashton nodded. “It isn’t of any import. Just-just be careful, will you?”
Nodding, Audrey wondered how much Lady Ashton knew. Her eyes were full of concern.
“I’m always careful.” Audrey touched the other woman’s arm to give it a gentle squeeze.
Lady Ashton turned her head away quickly, wiping her eyes before turning back with a dazzling smile. “I’m pleased at how well Griffin looks. After Luci’s death, we were quite worried about him.”
Her companion’s face fell as sorrow and a touch of anger filled it.
“I imagine it’s difficult to lose the love of one’s life,” Audrey said softly as she looked over the crowd.
In the distance she saw Griffin and Noah deep in conversation. Griffin looked handsome in his dark evening clothes. His dark blond hair curled around his forehead and he held himself like a Roman god.
“Or any spouse.” Lady Ashton sighed.
Wrinkling her brow, Audrey turned to face the woman beside her. Was Griffin’s own mother now implying that he hadn’t been happy in his marriage to Luci?
With a shake of her head, Lady Ashton looked into Audrey’s eyes. “I wonder if it is your presence… and your brother’s, of course… that has made him look so much better?”
Audrey actually backed up a step in shock. “I’m sure having his best friend by his side helps Griffin enormously. And time tends to heal, as well.”
“I think it’s more than that,” Lady Ashton said with a gentle smile.
“There you are!”
Both women turned to see Griffin’s father crossing the room with a grin on his face. Audrey was stunned, as always, at how much Griffin looked like the older Earl.
“Charles,” Lady Ashton said, holding out her hand to her husband with a smile. “You finally broke away from Eldergray, did you?”
“It took an age!” the other man laughed. “Dear God, he can talk the ear off a mouse.”
“You remember Audrey Jordan, don’t you, my dear?” Lady Ashton motioned to Audrey with a small grin.
His face lit up as he took Audrey’s hand. “Of course. Good evening, Lady Audrey. It is good to see you again after so long.”
“My lord,” she said as she smiled at the man.
He turned to his wife with a wink. “Tabitha, would you like a dance? They’re playing the waltz and I’d like to prove the older generation can perform these new steps with the best of the young ones.”
“I’d love to. Audrey, if you’ll excuse us.”
She smiled as she watched the two enter the dance floor to begin the twists and turns that were the waltz. After so many years together, it was obvious they remained very much in love. A twinge of envy made her turn away, though she was shocked by it. How could she be jealous of a couple that had been together for over thirty years? It was ridiculous.
With a sigh she looked out over the ballroom again. Couples were paired off all around her, huddled in corners, flirting from across the room with fans and winks or spinning across the dance floor in each other’s arms to the strains of the waltz.
The rest of the unpaired masses were in groups. Tittering girls years younger than she stared at the other women with admiration or scorn, and the men with interest or desire. The dandies and the rakes had even moved in together for talk of sport and women. Everyone belonged somewhere.
Everyone but her.
The life she’d chosen with Noah had put her firmly on the outside of this gay little world, just as she had been when she’d run from in it disgrace years before. This time the
Overwhelmed by her thoughts, she suddenly needed a moment alone. Gathering up her skirt into her fist, she fled around the parameter of the dance floor and through the veranda doors. The air outside greeted her with a breath of freshness, cooling her heated brow and making her feel less stifled and uncomfortable.
What was wrong with her? She had a job to do, yet she was mooning about on the veranda, looking out on the massive garden while she felt sorry for herself. She had no reason to be so maudlin. To be so… lonely. But she was.
And tired.
Tired to running from country to country. Tired of being alone every night. And tired of knowing men wanted to be near her only for the inheritance she could give, and that she only wanted to be near them for the secrets they could share. Her entire life was a fraud.
“Audrey?”
Turning slowly, she faced the voice and gave a soft smile. What she wanted stood feet away from her, outlined in the light of the ballroom. She wanted Griffin Berenger, still. Always. Forever.
“Audrey?” he repeated as he shut the door behind him softly and took a few steps toward her. “What’s wrong? Did my mother say something to upset you?”
She motioned to the other side of the veranda where fewer people stood. “No. Your mother was a dream, as always. I just felt… felt…”
“Stifled in there?” He held out a glass of champagne.
She accepted with a smile and a nod, happy he’d voiced what she felt. “Yes, exactly.”
He leaned lazily against the low stone wall to look out across the maze of gardens below them.
“I’ve always felt the same way.” A frown darkened his face. “Luci lived for these events, but I was happy to stay away. I still cringe at being surrounded by all these people.”
“That must have been very frustrating for you.”
She moved a bit closer to him. Her hand stirred at her side as the breeze blew his dark blond hair into his eyes, but he brushed it aside before she could touch him.
“Yes. I went with her, of course. At first, at least,” he added with a frown.
Audrey took a deep breath. This was her chance to ask all the questions she had wanted to about Luci. About the rumors and innuendos that crackled in the air whenever anyone spoke about her.
“Please tell me more about…” she began, watching through foggy eyes as he moved a fraction closer to her. She could almost feel his heat, and could definitely smell the spicy scent of his skin.
“Here we are again.”
Griffin moved first, turning to face Douglas Ellison as she jumped a foot away.
“Ellison,” he said with a false smile.
“This is becoming a habit, isn’t it?” Ellison asked, his tone colder than an icehouse as he looked past Griffin to her. “My interrupting the two of you.”
She stepped forward and held out both her hands. “Douglas, you misunderstand my friendship with Lord Berenger. Please don’t allow your jealousy…”
“I would like a moment alone with Lady Audrey if you don’t mind, Berenger.” The thin man glared at Griffin as if daring him to refuse.
Griffin opened his mouth to speak and Audrey’s heart lodged in her throat. If he said anything to imply she wasn’t safe with Ellison, it could tip the man off to what she really was.
For a long moment, Griffin said and did nothing, just stared at her. Then he bowed to Ellison and said, “As you wish.”
Turning on his heel, he strode back into the ballroom, his gate clipped and purposeful. Audrey could guess he was planning to find Noah and felt a bit safer with the knowledge.
Focusing on matters at hand, she moved closer to the man who had interrupted her moment with Griffin. Looking up into his gray eyes, she felt nothing but contempt, but refused to let him sense her distaste.
“Your jealousy is quite sweet, but misplaced.”
“Really, Audrey?” Ellison’s anger was evident in everything about him, from his cold tone of voice to the way he held himself. “If that’s true than why do I catch you looking so deeply into his eyes? Why do I find him watching your every move whenever you’re in a room with him?”
Torn between stoking Ellison’s jealousy and keeping Griffin safe, Audrey pondered what she should say. Finally she shook her head with a sadness she didn’t feel.
