Page 45 of Beguiled
“What do you mean?”
“The way he distracted Alasdair.” She flushed as she admitted what they both already knew—that they had silently colluded, the three of them, so that David and Elizabeth could have a few brief minutes of privacy.
“In truth, I am not sure what to make of him either,” David replied. “He had no idea I wished to speak with you, other than by hearing what we said to one another before your husband arrived. But he must have concluded that it was important it should happen.”
“Why would he do that?”
David paused briefly. “He knows Kinnell. They were at school together.” He watched carefully for her reaction, noting that she flushed more deeply and looked away.
“He pretended you and I didn’t know one another. And that story about the King—”
“Actually that part is true. The King did invite me, and Lord Murdo was indeed asked to be my guide this evening.”
“But he pretended he didn’t know you either.”
David paused again. “Well, we do not know each other very well.”
“Well enough that he tells lies to help you.”
He ignored that observation. “Why did you seek me out, Elizabeth?”
She said nothing about his sudden, uninvited use of her Christian name, just looked at him with eyes that brimmed with unspoken misery.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I wanted to speak to someone familiar, I suppose. Someone from my old life. I’m worried about Father too. I wanted to talk about him with someone who knows him. Since I married, I’ve barely seen him, or my sisters.”
“He’s worried about you too,” David replied. “He asked me to watch out for you.”
“Did he?” she whispered. “Why?”
Their time together would be short. David did not have the luxury of tact tonight.
“He’s not well. And he believes you are unhappy, that you have been so since your marriage.”
Sudden tears welled in her eyes.
“Is it true?” David asked. “Is he right to be worried?”
The silence seemed to stretch unbearably until, at last, she whispered, “Yes. But what can I do?”
David felt sick. Somehow he had imagined she would not want to admit that she was being mistreated, that she would paste a bright smile on her face and tell him that everything was all right. Her admission about her position and her palpable fear undid him.
He placed his hand on top of her own where it rested on his sleeve. “Does he hurt you?” he asked quietly.
She didn’t look at him, but she nodded. “I hate him,” she whispered. “He is—cruel. I regret marrying him every single day. I didn’t know what manner of man he was.”
“I was surprised when I heard the news. You barely knew him before you were engaged.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “I was a fool,” she said. “I thought I cared for nothing anymore. I thought I was heartbroken and it didn’t matter who I married if I couldn’t have the man I wanted.”
David’s heart sank. She was speaking about him, he realised.
“I have no intention of taking a wife, Miss Chalmers.”
“I’m so sorr—”
“Please don’t apologise,” she interrupted. “It was dramatic and self-indulgent of me to throw myself away like that. Plenty of people warned me against marrying so hastily.” She gave another bitter laugh at that. “But I wouldn’t listen.”
David’s gut clenched. Even now, he had no real idea what Kinnell was capable of, but Elizabeth’s grim expression was telling him more than he wanted to know. And after this dance, David would have to deliver her back to the man. It was a thought that made his stomach churn with impotent anger.