Chapter14
Change was always difficult. Aurora knew that better than most. She looked up and winced as her cousin swept into the room.
“Your message said there was an emergency,” Eugenia said as she tossed her shawl aside carelessly and rushing to reach Aurora.
She hugged her cousin and prayed the news she was about to impart didn’t send her into a swoon. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“I’m just glad to know you’re well,” Eugenia said, settling into a chair. “I’ve been so worried. Your message didn’t explain very much at all, and you’ve been so quiet of late. Much more so than usual.”
“I do apologize for that,” Aurora murmured. She had started three letters in the past week, explaining her decision to become Drew’s mistress and leave them today, but she had eventually thought better of putting something so personal in a letter that anyone might read later.
“What is amiss?”
“If you could wait until Sylvia joins us, I’ll explain everything to both of you then,” Aurora promised. “But it’s to do with what we’ve been talking about on and off since we all met and came to London.”
Eugenia’s brows rose. “Have you finally reconsidered your aversion to matrimony?”
“No,” she said quickly, lest they begin yet another long-winded debate about the value of her seeking a husband. “It’s not about making a marriage at all.”
Eugenia grasped her hands. “I don’t understand why you don’t want someone to adore you and cherish the wonder that you are.”
Aurora had that now with Drew, without a ring about her finger.
She had received three letters from Drew in the last week. The first was a legal document, setting out the terms of her arrangement with him. She’d signed it and returned it and remained astonished by his generous terms. She would be quite wealthy when their affair had run its course.
The second letter provided her details of the improvements he’d made to her new home, along with several sketches of the rooms, drawn by him, with questions about some other changes she had suggested the last time they’d been together at Conduit Street.
His third missive had delivered a key for the front door to Conduit Street, and contained a letter of such warm affection and longing to see her that she’d slept with it under her pillow each night since receiving. Drew wrote that he missed her, and she had to admit she was impatient to see him as well. However, she had been hesitant to leave Wharton House before Sylvia’s return today. She owed her cousins an explanation, and it would give her the opportunity to take her leave of them all.
She did not expect a warm reception of her news. Not when she was about to become an earl’s scandalous mistress.
Finally, Sylvia slipped into the room, whispering apologies for her tardiness. “The housekeeper had a problem to discuss. We shouldn’t be interrupted for quite a while.”
Aurora nodded. “That’s probably for the best. What I have to tell you is a delicate matter.”
Sylvia sank into a facing chair, her expression grave. “What has happened?”
“I know you both had the best of intentions when you suggested we all come to London. You wanted for us all to have the best in life, and you have both succeeded far beyond your dreams. I couldn’t be happier for both of you that you’ve found love with men who suit your natures. You were both meant to be married.”
“So are you,” they promised as one.
Aurora shook her head, clutching her cold hands together in her lap. “I am so proud of all you have accomplished in such a short time. And I know you will tell me I should have a life much like yours. But you know my past. I never expected to have a husband. I never will.”
“What about your suitors?” Eugenia asked. “There’s been a keen interest in you this season and the last. I’m sure you’ll find you are much in demand, now Sylvia has returned to escort you about Town.”
“Indeed, more than one gentleman had sought us out to have a private word about the size of your dowry before we left,” Sylvia promised. “Wharton’s committed to seeing you happily matched as well. He’s asked more than once who you favor. I never gave him a name. I promised never to interfere. But I swear there is a look in your eye now and then. A wistful look of longing around the newly married. I don’t understand why you cannot admit to wanting more than a little flirtation.”
“I like men. But I’m not willing to keep one amused for long.” She smiled softly, remembering her time with the earl with fondness and exasperation with herself. If she’d known he was so wicked at heart, she might have encouraged him sooner. “I’m not meant to be a wife, but I can have what I want now without strings attached.”
Eugenia sat forward, squinting. “What do you mean without strings?”
“I had a suitor, and at last, he has finally accepted I will not marry him.”
Eugenia’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Someone proposed? When? Where?”
“Several places and times.” Aurora would not say specifically the number. “But I could not encourage that.”
Sylvia sighed. “Please tell me you did not hint at what was done to you?”