She bit her lip and her drew her eyebrows together as if trying to understand a difficult concept. ‘So, how long have you known Lady Cecily?’
Dominic tried to think back to when he had first met her. She had always lived in the same county and they had attended many social functions together so he must have known her for quite some time, but he couldn’t actually recall when they first met. In fact, until her father had suggested they marry he had never paid her much attention. Since then they had taken several long walks together around their estates, under the watchful eye of Cecily’s chaperon, but their engagement party was the first public event they had attended as a couple. ‘We’ve known each other for many years,’ he finally replied.
‘So, when did you decide that she was the one you wanted to marry?’
‘It was quite simple. Her father suggested it. I realised it was a highly suitable match. I proposed to Lady Cecily and she agreed.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘So, what are you saying? You don’t love Lady Cecily, but you’re engaged to her because it’s a highly suitable match?’ she asked quietly. ‘Does Lady Cecily love you?’
He shook his head impatiently. ‘That hardly matters, does it? We’re well suited and I’m sure as time passes we will become much closer and grow to have a shared affection for each other.’ And that will be much better than love and passion, he wanted to add. His parents had married for love and all that had done was cause damage to the family and their position in society, damage that his marriage to Cecily would finally undo. But he couldn’t expect an ex-servant to ever understand that.
‘Well, it looks like your marriage to Lady Cecily will be a great success then if your expectations are so low. If you don’t expect love, and you don’t even expect happiness, nothing can go wrong.’ Her voice had grown terse, as if he had offended her in some way.
She stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. Sometimes I speak my mind before I have time to think. That was rude of me. I’m sorry, I keep being rude to you. Your relationship with Lady Cecily has nothing to do with me and I’m sure you’ll both be very happy.’
She gave a little laugh, which sounded more annoyed than amused. ‘Well, maybe not happy, you don’t want to be happy, do you? But I’m sure it will be very successful and it will be great for both families, socially and what not.’
Dominic released an exasperated sigh. ‘Sometimes it’s important to sacrifice your own happiness for the benefit of others. My marriage will be good for my sisters. You might scoff at people marrying to advance their position in society, but my marriage will mean my sisters will move in society’s highest echelons. It will mean they will have much better opportunities for making suitable matches and maybe even meeting your criteria and finding so-called love and happiness.’
Dominic was unsure why he felt the need to explain himself. He did not need to justify his marriage to anyone, but for some reason it was important to him that she did not see him as some grasping man desperate to align himself with the aristocracy at any cost. He didn’t want her to despise him, didn’t want her to be annoyed with him. He wanted to see that laughing Nellie Regan once more.
‘Yes, it will be important to sire another generation of toffs,’ he said, making sure his voice sounded completely serious. ‘But believe me, that is something I’ll be more than capable of doing myself and it’s one task I won’t have to pass over to a servant.’
She looked at him with wide, surprised eyes, then laughed out loud. It was such a delightful sound and he smiled back at her.
‘Yes, I’m sorry about that as well,’ she said, trying to stifle her laughter. ‘That impersonation I did of your wedding night was very rude, even for me.’
‘Well, the servants seemed to enjoy it.’
‘Yes, but still, I did go a bit far, didn’t I? Sorry.’
She took a sip of her tea. Hopefully, now that he had made her laugh, she would stop grilling him about his relationship with Cecily Hardgrave and his attitudes to love and marriage.
‘Although heaven knows what Lady Cecily will have to say when she finds out you spent the night in another woman’s bed,’ she said, still smiling.
It seemed she wasn’t going to drop the subject after all. ‘I very much doubt if she will be concerned.’ It was Dominic’s turn to regret what he had said. Just as Nellie Regan professed to do, he had spoken without thinking, otherwise he would never have revealed such a personal detail about his relationship with Cecily Hardgrave. It seemed Miss Regan was having a bad effect on him.
She stared at him, her gaze long and considered, her head inclined slightly to one side, her eyebrows raised in curiosity. ‘Really? She won’t? Why not? Even if she’s not jealous that you spent the night in another woman’s bed...’ Her cheeks exploded with colour. ‘Just sleeping that is, nothing else, won’t she be concerned about you? Won’t she be worried?’
Dominic wondered whether she would be. Cecily seemed to be completely unconcerned about everything to do with him and their forthcoming marriage. Not for the first time he wondered why a young woman would be so keen to marry and yet be so uninterested in her future husband.
A silence stretched out between them and she continued to stare at him in expectation, her cheeks still that delightful shade of pink. Once again he was being drawn into a conversation he did not want to have. And despite those green eyes staring at him with curiosity, he would not be answering any more questions about himself and Cecily Hardgrave.
‘I have no desire to discuss Lady Cecily’s feelings with you,’
