Page 47 of The Hidden Heart

“Darius.”

“Please. I want to talk to you.” He came over to her and took her arm, propelling her into the nearest room, the smaller and less elegant drawing room.

Jessica resisted her instinct to shake off his hold. She looked down pointedly at where his fingers bit into her arm, and he dropped his hand, backing up a few steps.

“I—I’m sorry. I just—” There were beads of sweat dotting his forehead, and he cast a rather haunted look around the room, as though something in it might tell him what to do next. “I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw you this afternoon.”

Jessica waited, looking at him. She wondered vaguely what she had ever seen in the man. He was handsome enough, she supposed, in a rather ordinary way, but there was a decided weakness to his mouth, and she wondered why she had not noticed that when they were engaged. His hair was medium brown, his eyes hazel. Neither short nor tall, thin nor fat, he was, she decided, a very nondescript sort.

“I—I—uh, I was glad to see you. I’ve been…wanting to see you for ages, really. I know that I behaved badly before, and I’ve been wanting to apologize to you. To let you know how wrong I was. I see that now. And I do hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” When Jessica said nothing, just continued to look at him coolly, he went on in a rush. “I behaved like a…like a cad to you. I have no excuse except that I was young and foolish. I was afraid that your father’s scandal would taint me, too, and that my career in the army would be finished.”

“Of course,” Jessica replied. “One would expect you to think of yourself first.”

He hesitated, looking at her uncertainly, as if he were not sure how to take her statement. “I—I felt that I had no choice. I had to give up love for my family’s good name, for my own hopes in the military. Looking back on it, I see now what a fool I was for placing my career before you. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I would appreciate it if you could do so…. If we could be friends again.”

“I have no interest in being friends with you, Darius,” Jessica said in a flat voice. “And, quite frankly, I imagine that after this, it will be extremely unlikely that we will ever run into each other again. We have not done so in ten years, after all. We do not move in the same circles any longer.”

He had the grace to color a little at her remark. “I know. I am so sorry that you have had to—to—”

“Seek employment?” Jessica suggested. “It’s all right. I do not try to hide the fact that I work. There is actually something rather satisfying and freeing about knowing that one controls one’s own fate, rather than relying on a father or brother or husband to provide one with sustenance.”

He blinked, seemingly at a loss as to how to respond to her candid words.

“Darius…I suppose you must feel awkward being in this situation. I do, too. But there is no need to pretend to some sort of caring that neither of us feels, just because we want to make the situation less uncomfortable. It was bad luck that we ran into each other this way, but the only thing to do is simply to make the best of it. With any luck, the roads will be clear in a few days, then you and your friend can leave, and we won’t ever have to have anything to do with each other again. In the meantime, I suggest that we try to stay out of each other’s way. It will make it much easier to get through.”

With that she turned on her heel and strode out of the room.

“Jessica!” Darius started after her, but stopped in the doorway, watching her walk away.

* * *

Jessica looked neither to her left nor right, but headed straight for the stairs. She had almost reached them when the duke’s voice stopped her.

“Miss Maitland!”

Reluctantly she paused and glanced to the side. Cleybourne approached her, casting a look at Darius Talbot, who immediately popped back inside the drawing room.

“Was that fellow bothering you?” Cleybourne asked as he stopped in front of her.

“No. It’s nothing. I was just going up to bed. I am not used to late hours.”

Cleybourne frowned. “I saw your face when Mr. Talbot introduced himself this afternoon. And right now you don’t look as if ‘nothing’ just occurred. Perhaps I should speak to him.”

“No. It isn’t necessary. I have taken care of it myself.” She sighed, realizing that she could not get out of this without telling the duke something. He obviously took his duties to protect those in his household very seriously. “Mr. Talbot is someone I used to know, many years ago. He—I—I believe I told you about the scandal concerning my father, and that after it was I was no longer received in society and the man to whom I was engaged broke it off, not wishing to have his name associated with mine.”

“Yes.”

“Mr. Talbot is that man.”

“Your fiancé?” Cleybourne’s eyebrows soared upward, and his first words were not what she expected. “What the devil were you doing being engaged to that popinjay?”

A giggle escaped Jessica’s lips. “I wondered that myself this evening.”

“Well, I pegged him for a fool,” Cleybourne went on. “I had not realized that he was also a man without honor.” He looked toward the drawing room. “I shall ask him to leave.”

Jessica warmed a little at his championing of her. “Thank you, Your Grace. But you cannot do that. It would be tantamount to killing him in this weather. He could not make it the village or even another house.”

“Yes, you’re probably right,” Cleybourne replied in a tone of regret. “What did he want tonight? Was he importuning you? Shall I speak to him?”