“She often is,” he agreed. “You didn’t wait too long for me, I hope.”
Bella shook her head. “Not long at all.”
“I was finishing up with your father. Took longer than I expected. I am sorry I was late.”
Finishing up with Papa? “I didn’t realize he was meeting with you.”
Greg nodded as they began to ascend the stairs. “This afternoon in my study to go over the marriage contract.” He flashed her a grin. “Congratulations, my dear, you are now officially betrothed to me.”
The marriage contract. Bella hadn’t given that even a thought. How awful for Greg to have to sit through such a thing when he knew it was all for naught. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”
“Appearances,” he muttered. “I couldn’t very well avoid it.” He shrugged as they reached the landing. “And I didn’t mind, not really. Kept me from having to answer any more questions from Tristan or Phoebe.”
“You sister-in-law seems to adore you,” Bella said as Greg led her into a small sitting room where her easel and canvas were already set up in the far corner along with her valise and a white covering atop part of an Aubusson rug. “She said she and your brother never would have found each other if not for you.”
He frowned slightly. “Oh, they found each other without my help.”
Bella blinked up at him.
And then he shrugged. “You shared the skeletons in the Winslett family closet. I suppose it’s only fair to share the Averys’.”
“Have you many?”
“A few,” he replied and directed her to a small settee in the middle of the room.
Bella sat, and Greg assumed the place beside her.
“A few years ago, Phoebe met both of my brothers Russell and Tristan at the same time. Tristan disliked her immediately. He is not a believer in love at first sight, by the way.” He chuckled as he shook his head. “Russell, on the other hand, found her quite engaging and she felt the same way about him. He courted her for a period of time and they eventually became betrothed.”
She’d been betrothed to her husband’s brother? That was scandalous.
“Then Napoleon escaped Elba and their regiment was called back to the continent. After Waterloo, they returned to England and the spell between Russell and Phoebe wasn’t quite the same. Or perhaps she simply became aware that he was not who she originally thought he was.”
“Who was he?” Elliott had said he didn’t think Grandfather would approve of Russell. She remembered that. But she’d never heard anything else about the man.
“A philanderer of the worst variety,” Greg replied. “But the two of them were still betrothed when Tristan and Phoebe found themselves quite in love. And they ended up running off to Scotland before she officially ended her engagement to Russell.”
Scandalous, indeed. Goodness! Bella shook her head. “I don’t understand why she thinks you helped them find each other. Did you introduce them all those years ago?”
Greg shook his head. “I helped them get to Scotland.”
“Oh.” Bella’s mouth fell open. She hadn’t expected that answer or anything close to it. “So you do believe in true love? I didn’t think you did.”
A quizzical expression settled on his face and Greg said, “Why would you think that?”
And Bella hated the intensity of his gaze on her at that moment. “You said you didn’t need a wife. You made it seem like…”
He looked slightly uncomfortable, all of a sudden. “I don’t need one,” he began. “Nor do I imagine I’ll ever have one.”
“But,” Bella started, “if you believe in true love—”
“I was in love,” he said, and that pain she’d seen reflected in his eyes from time to time was once again there. “She…died.” He heaved a sigh. “And I have come to learn in the years since that she wasn’t really the lady I’d always thought her to be. So it’s not that I don’t believe in love, Bella. I simply don’t trust my own judgment on the matter.”
* * *
Greg hadno idea why he admitted that truth to Bella, that he didn’t trust his own judgment. He’d never actually said those particular words to anyone. He’d never even admitted that truth to himself before. But it was the truth. He’d been so devastated when he learned who Marina really was, and by then she’d long since been gone. And he had no idea how the devil he’d been so blind.
Bella’s silvery eyes stared so intently at him, and Greg felt the tiniest bit vulnerable under her scrutiny. And then she looked away.