thought he was.”
“So you regret your marriage?”
Thea listened for any indication her sons were close at hand. She didn’t hear a sound, but that didn’t mean they weren’t close enough to overhear anything she said. She’d been very careful not to criticize Boyd in front of them.
Of course, that didn’t mean that a perceptive lad like Jonathan didn’t reach his own conclusions. Since Boyd’s death, they rarely talked about him.
“I don’t regret my marriage because I have my sons. They are the light of my world. Of course, my marriage cost me the goodwill of my family—” She broke off, shrugged and confessed, “But we were never that close. I was the defiant one in the family, and I believe my father was secretly happy to have me off his hands. And in truth, I didn’t want to marry well, breed an heir and stay out of the way. I truly felt that Boyd and I were the matching of two souls who were meant to be together.”
“But you were not happy,” Lady Margaret surmised.
Thea lowered her voice. “In the beginning I was. We started off with hopes and dreams . . . and gained disappointments. Boyd had many weaknesses. He really wanted to be married to a duke’s daughter. My father’s following through on his threats to disinherit me was a disappointing blow to him. He believed Father had some respect for him. He didn’t realize that while my father could be open and congenial with the help, that didn’t mean he wanted one of them marrying his daughter. Then again, neither my husband nor I were perfect. That was a hard lesson for me to learn. A humbling one.”
“And once the disappointments start, they don’t stop, do they?” Lady Margaret agreed sadly.
“Why haven’t you married?” Thea asked, suddenly having her own suspicions. “You are past the age. What are you? Four and twenty?”
“Five and twenty.” Lady Margaret gave a rueful smile. “I was in love once. It was the most marvelous feeling in the world. Life made sense. I truly thought we could conquer everything.”
“And then?”
“He did not love me with the same passion.” Her gaze slid away from Thea’s. She seemed to study the pattern of the wood floor a moment before saying stiffly, “I suppose it would be more polite to say we didn’t suit.”
There was more to the story. Thea would have wagered everything she owned on it. Someone had broken Lady Margaret’s trust. He’d slipped past her guard and taken all that she’d had.
It made Thea angry. How dare that man, or any man, Boyd included, take a woman’s loving nature and betray it? Oh, there were women who deserved their comeuppance. Selfish creatures whose skins were tough and their wills unconquerable—but Lady Margaret was not of that ilk. She was like Thea, honest in her feelings, incapable of protecting them.
Thea crossed to the younger woman and put her arms around her. “You are better than him. He was not worthy of you.”
Lady Margaret’s face turned pinched and her nose red, as if she held back tears, but she stood still in Thea’s arms.
“Go ahead and cry,” Thea said. “Scream, yell curse even. The sin is his, not yours.”
“I knew better,” Lady Margaret said. “But even now, I wouldn’t change everything that happened. He made me realize some hard truths. If we’d had children, they would have carried the curse. It’s important to stop it now. To let it end here with my brothers and myself.”
Thea took a step away. “Can you do that? Set yourself apart from the world? I have my sons to live for, but you would have nothing.” And she wondered if Lady Margaret was making this sacrifice out of guilt more than conviction.
“I have my brothers.”
“Is that enough?” Thea shook her head. “Pardon me, but my siblings and I are not close. I haven’t spoken to them for seven years, so imagining they were all I had in my life is a bleak proposition. It’s almost as if you are putting yourself aside in a nunnery.”
Lady
“So you regret your marriage?”
Thea listened for any indication her sons were close at hand. She didn’t hear a sound, but that didn’t mean they weren’t close enough to overhear anything she said. She’d been very careful not to criticize Boyd in front of them.
Of course, that didn’t mean that a perceptive lad like Jonathan didn’t reach his own conclusions. Since Boyd’s death, they rarely talked about him.
“I don’t regret my marriage because I have my sons. They are the light of my world. Of course, my marriage cost me the goodwill of my family—” She broke off, shrugged and confessed, “But we were never that close. I was the defiant one in the family, and I believe my father was secretly happy to have me off his hands. And in truth, I didn’t want to marry well, breed an heir and stay out of the way. I truly felt that Boyd and I were the matching of two souls who were meant to be together.”
“But you were not happy,” Lady Margaret surmised.
Thea lowered her voice. “In the beginning I was. We started off with hopes and dreams . . . and gained disappointments. Boyd had many weaknesses. He really wanted to be married to a duke’s daughter. My father’s following through on his threats to disinherit me was a disappointing blow to him. He believed Father had some respect for him. He didn’t realize that while my father could be open and congenial with the help, that didn’t mean he wanted one of them marrying his daughter. Then again, neither my husband nor I were perfect. That was a hard lesson for me to learn. A humbling one.”
“And once the disappointments start, they don’t stop, do they?” Lady Margaret agreed sadly.
“Why haven’t you married?” Thea asked, suddenly having her own suspicions. “You are past the age. What are you? Four and twenty?”
“Five and twenty.” Lady Margaret gave a rueful smile. “I was in love once. It was the most marvelous feeling in the world. Life made sense. I truly thought we could conquer everything.”
“And then?”
“He did not love me with the same passion.” Her gaze slid away from Thea’s. She seemed to study the pattern of the wood floor a moment before saying stiffly, “I suppose it would be more polite to say we didn’t suit.”
There was more to the story. Thea would have wagered everything she owned on it. Someone had broken Lady Margaret’s trust. He’d slipped past her guard and taken all that she’d had.
It made Thea angry. How dare that man, or any man, Boyd included, take a woman’s loving nature and betray it? Oh, there were women who deserved their comeuppance. Selfish creatures whose skins were tough and their wills unconquerable—but Lady Margaret was not of that ilk. She was like Thea, honest in her feelings, incapable of protecting them.
Thea crossed to the younger woman and put her arms around her. “You are better than him. He was not worthy of you.”
Lady Margaret’s face turned pinched and her nose red, as if she held back tears, but she stood still in Thea’s arms.
“Go ahead and cry,” Thea said. “Scream, yell curse even. The sin is his, not yours.”
“I knew better,” Lady Margaret said. “But even now, I wouldn’t change everything that happened. He made me realize some hard truths. If we’d had children, they would have carried the curse. It’s important to stop it now. To let it end here with my brothers and myself.”
Thea took a step away. “Can you do that? Set yourself apart from the world? I have my sons to live for, but you would have nothing.” And she wondered if Lady Margaret was making this sacrifice out of guilt more than conviction.
“I have my brothers.”
“Is that enough?” Thea shook her head. “Pardon me, but my siblings and I are not close. I haven’t spoken to them for seven years, so imagining they were all I had in my life is a bleak proposition. It’s almost as if you are putting yourself aside in a nunnery.”
Lady
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