Page 29 of The Duke and His Jilted Bride

“Regardless, I shall be glad to have you by my side.”

Her heart did an involuntary flutter, and she shrugged one-shouldered to hide her embarrassment. “You should go now and Nike for a walk. She is getting restless, I can feel it.” She stroked leftover eraser marks from the page. “And I need my full concentration to finish this sketch before it gets dark.”

Nodding, Evander rose and bid Nike to follow him as he left down the lawn. Aurelia privately turned the page from the folly to what she had actually been drawing: Evander, as he was now, walking with his dogs.

The ball was held in a converted church on the east side of Norwich. It had been deconsecrated some time in the last century and repurposed with candelabras and a sprung floor that were sufficient to make the nave feel festive. The proportions were extraordinary, the acoustics mostly awful. But the effect of two hundred Norfolk society figures in their spring finest beneath fourteenth-century vaulting was strangely magnificent.

Aurelia took in the sight from the great yawning entrance and felt Evander's arm under her hand. She was glad he was there, looking as handsome as the day she had married him. Which in theory made it sound like it had been long ago. But it had only been two weeks. They had dressed without too much ceremony; she wore an ivory silk she had brought from London and had not yet worn, and he wore a dark coat that made him look scarily dukely.

The carriage ride had been forty minutes of conversation about the Earl of Norwich, his wife, and their seven children. In Evander’s eyes he was a reasonable man and his wife was formidable in the way of women who excelled in polite societies, very warm and agreeable, always knowing how to keep a conversation going by taking real interest in the people she encountered.

“Especially when they are young artistic women,” Evander was saying then to Aurelia, keeping his voice low. “You will like her.”

“You sound very confident.”

“Why not? She will tell you things about Norfolk that I could never teach you. She knows everything about the people here. It would do you good to become close with her.”

Thankfully, Aurelia had liked her. Lady Norwich was sixty, broad-shouldered and with a direct but vibrant way of being. She had taken Aurelia's hands when they were introduced and looked at her frankly but kindly, holding her hands tight for too long.

“Good. Very good to have you, Your Grace. Just wonderful,” Lady Norwich had said after introductions, which was apparently her verdict, and had then moved on.

Now Evander and Aurelia were moving through the room, and Aurelia was being introduced to Norfolk society. It was different from London society in a way she had not anticipated, maybe less concerned with being seen, if that made sense. It was difficult to tell the gentry from the nobility. There could very well have even been farmers among them.

“What was this ball for?” Aurelia asked, holding tightly onto Evander’s arm. “There seems to be guests of every shade and colour here tonight.”

Evander smiled politely at a passing older woman. “The Earl and Countess bring together the local merchant guilds once a year and some other notables in the area. That man there owns the fishing ports in Great Yarmouth, for instance. And Sir Fowler, who you will meet later, runs the bank. There are many more people you should meet, but many of them are still down in London for the season. Some young women who you will take a liking to.”

“I have Lydia.”

“I meant some women here.”

Aurelia looked up, smiling sweetly. “Tired of me already?”

“I am only thinking of your health.”

“As you so often do.”

“Yes.” He grinned and picked up two goblets of something warm, handed it to her and cheersing. “So here, to your health.”

Soon, they were approached by a landowner in what looked like his good coat who asked her whether she'd found the county “manageable”. Then there was a vicar's wife who wanted to talk about music, having heard about Aurelia’s favourite pastime. Two sisters from just outside Fakenham came by, having apparently hoped Evander would come tonight – and if not him then his brother.

Aurelia was in the middle of a conversation about the upcoming Booton fair – which she knew more about than she even wanted to, now – when she heard the musicians begin to tune their instruments. She turned to look at them, and the little group of local women who had adopted her turned as well out of interest. Evander had gone off somewhere, telling her to behave in his absence. She missed him, was more shy and awkward without him, but the music would help.

The quartet was preparing itself on the raised platform at the far end of the nave. She looked at the first violin, and it reminded her of the London parties Violet had taken her to, and suddenly the evening took a familiar shape that helped her feel more at ease. But it wasn’t just the essence of the quartet that was familiar.

She actually knew them.

She had last seen this quartet in a musical salon in London at the beginning of the year, on the afternoon she had been seated beside Frederick Battle for the first time, and he had looked down at her feet and said “I can tell you love music, you have been trying not to tap your feet.”

She felt heat rise to her face and hoped the other ladies wouldn’t notice. She took a sip of the warm cider handed to her earlier and dismissed her thoughts about Frederick. He had abandoned her and that was fine, even if everyone here knew it but was too polite to mention it. She was learning that maybe they both had dodged a bullet in that regard. But she couldn’t help the sting of rejection she felt at the memory, and the reminder that all of this – this happy moment – had come about because she had been left behind and Evander had needed to mend things for them both.

Aurelia looked for him instinctively. At that moment, someone touched her arm lightly.

“They are very good,” said the woman beside her, Miss Beckingham, the daughter of the bank owner. “You will like them a lot, I think. You like music, don’t you, Your Grace?”

She nodded, forcing a smile. “Very much.”

“Then let’s go to them and have a chat.”