“I am no longer on the hunt,” Drew said as he took a chance to approach his friend. Or was it former friend now? “I concede the field, the marriage mart and all the ladies, to you, Scarsdale. Good luck.”
“A lot of good your bowing out does me,” he complained and then shook his finger at him. “But I know you, like everyone else, will buckle and hope for a well-dowered wife and a healthy male heir.”
Drew shrugged. “I only ever wanted a family again. A woman to come home to, companionship, and children one day. Boy or girl. It didn’t matter which.”
“Any children she bears for you will be bastards.”
“I know.” It was something he expected to regret one day, too. Any children they had would not be part of the ton. His own family might shun them as well. That was not something he could control, though. “What happens between Miss Hillcrest and I now is none of anyone’s concern. I can promise you, I will treat her well and remain faithful to her forever.”
“Then why do this to her? Wait…” Scarsdale waved his hands about then peered directly at him. His eyes widened. “You asked her to marry you?”
Drew nodded.
“She refused you?!”
He nodded again, and Scarsdale dropped into a chair, any remaining fight and bluster knocked out of him by Drew’s admission. “She’ll share your bed, live with you in shame, but she won’t marry you. What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing,” Drew snapped, annoyed that anyone would think so. Aurora was complicated.
Scarsdale squinted at him. “She cannot bear the thought of marrying you or anyone, it seems. I know of three men who thought they were in love with her, only to be spurned.”
Drew sighed and turned for the sideboard to pour Scarsdale a drink, hoping that would help the man accept the situation. He passed the fellow the glass and he took it without thanks or looking up. Scarsdale seemed to be having some difficulty accepting their scandal was entirely of Aurora’s making. It had taken Drew time to accept that she viewed intimacy and marriage as two separate situations. One was desirable, the other utterly repulsive. He still didn’t know why she thought that way.
Drew took a chair and waited for Scarsdale to think things through in his own good time.
Scarsdale finally raked a hand through his hair and looked up. “Why would she refuse you? You’re probably the best of us. An earl, wealthy, no obviously offensive vices.”
“Why, thank you,” he said dryly to accept the compliment for what it was. “She has her reasons.”
Scarsdale sat forward. “I’d like to hear them.”
Me first, Drew thought. He stood, noticing Scarsdale had ignored his glass of spirits. If he wasn’t going to drink with him, he’d rather him go before Aurora returned home. “Was that all you wanted to say today?”
“Yes. No.” Scarsdale sat back untidily in his chair. “Do you know what they are saying about her already? About you being together? It’s only been a week and the knives are out.”
He winced. “Yes, it was inevitable. Society frowns on such relationships. I’m sure I have displeased many.”
“Her cousins are at home to no one that calls. The dowager marchioness has taken to her bed again, too. Wharton has said enough to make me wish I’d not called there this morning.”
Drew tugged down his waistcoat, grimacing. “I have not laid eyes on Lord Wharton in weeks.”
“I would not admit him here, if I were you. When I heard, I knew I had to come to talk to you. Make you see sense.” Scarsdale winced. “You must leave her, for her sake.”
Drew sighed. There was nothing he could do about Aurora’s fall from grace, or his own. It was done. They were in this together till the end.
He heard a noise, horse’s hooves perhaps, and rushed to the front window. Aurora had returned from her meeting with her new client.
He turned to Scarsdale. “I want your word that you will make no mention of any gossip to Miss Hillcrest when she comes in. If you cannot give me that assurance, you will leave via the servants’ entrance immediately. Say one word out of line, and I will not swing a fist but strangle you where you stand.”
“Of course, I will say nothing. She is my friend,” Scarsdale insisted. “But surely she must know what’s being said about all this.”
“I have no idea what she’s heard others say. We have not wasted time on gossip. If she doesn’t care, neither do I, but anything you say might make her unhappy. If you cannot hold your tongue, wait here or go.”
“I’ll say nothing. I promise.”
“Good.” Drew headed out to the hall. He opened the door for Aurora, beating the butler there by a hand’s breadth. She laughed to see him waiting for her and kissed him soundly. “Don’t say you missed me again? You’ll give Jensen the idea you’re going to replace him as my butler.”
“I know better, madam,” the butler murmured with a fond smile for Aurora, stepping aside to allow Mr. Bloom to pass into the house. Aurora had charmed the servants easily and wrapped them around her little finger with her kindness. “I bought us something while I was out,” she murmured, digging into her reticule.