Her One True Love by Rachel Brimble Page B

later, I will find the place where I am destined to be.” She met his eyes. “And what about you? Will you be returning to the village soon?”
    â€œSoon enough.” He stared ahead, his expression somber. “I plan to meet with a few of my associates tomorrow and the next day. Hopefully those meetings will lead to some more ideas and prospects to the benefit of the villagers. Shall we sit?”
    He gestured toward a bench beside her, and when Jane sat, he lowered onto the seat beside her.
    Filling her lungs with courage, Jane inhaled. “So it’s still business as usual as far as you’re concerned? Even though you now know talk of you and Elizabeth’s separation seems to have seeped into society?”
    He shook his head and stared into the distance. “I have no time for such nonsense.”
    Her heart beat faster, but Jane pushed on. She would not leave the park without some insight into his heart and mind. “Is it nonsense, Matthew?”
    He faced her and frowned. “Of course. I’m surprised you think otherwise, considering your clear anger toward Miss Wrexford and her mother.”
    â€œMy annoyance with them was provoked by their attempt to humiliate you in front of their peers. That doesn’t mean I consider the entirety of their comments nonsense. What are your intentions? What will you do about putting a stop to people’s comments and slandering of your marriage?”
    He arched his eyebrows. “What will I do?” He huffed out a laugh. “People can talk all they want. It will not affect me any more than it should you.”
    She closed her eyes and took a long breath, her frustration rising. Would he ever understand her interest in him? Would she ever understand it herself? She opened her eyes. “I think you are mistaken in your belief you didn’t love Elizabeth.”
    His eyes flashed with annoyance. “I beg your pardon?”
    â€œI am speaking to you as a friend.” Jane’s heart picked up speed. “If you love her, then you need to concentrate on saving your marriage as well as any business dealings. If you wish to retain the villagers’ respect—”
    â€œAre you inferring I have lost their respect?”
    Heat rose in Jane’s face and neck at the fiery anger in his eyes. She had been foolish to think he might talk to her, confide in her, when she was all too aware of his bad temperament over the last few months. She dropped her shoulders. “All I mean to say is we were friends and if that friendship meant anything to you, then—”
    â€œ Were friends? We aren’t now?” His jaw tightened. “How can you say that when I am here with you? When I altered my plans to come into the city with you?”
    She stiffened. “You altered your plans? But I thought . . .”
    His cheeks reddened and he snatched his gaze from hers to look about the park. “I am just saying you and I are the last people who should be arguing, considering our mutual fondness of one another. I have more than enough to deal with, listening to everyone else’s speculation.” He met her gaze. “I couldn’t stand it if I had to be wary of what I do, and say, to you too.”
    Jane’s mind spun with the implication that Matthew had been lying when he said he was coming to the city anyway and had booked a hotel room days before he learned of her leaving Biddestone. Did this mean she had been neither blind nor stupid but had, time and again, seen something in his gaze, or heard something in his words, to imply their suitability and the chance of their growing to love one another?
    Painful hope pulsed through her blood, mixing with the shame that her feelings toward him had not diminished, despite her determination to quash them. She had to be certain. She could not surrender her resolve to do more, to leave the ideal of her and Matthew behind forever, when she knew nothing of his true