Page 11 of The Reclusive Earl’s Scandal (Vows and Vanity #1)
“I cannot imagine you as anything but genuine.”
The praise struck her unexpectedly. At once, they both looked at each other, and Edward looked as surprised as she did.
Then he quickly cleared his throat and averted his gaze.
“At least from what I recall of you, of course. Ah, Lady...I mean Rebecca, are we on informal terms? I did forget to ask but I was going to say if you would excuse me. I must… I must...”
Without another word, or even waiting for her to answer regarding their informality, Edward hurried away, his head ducked down. That was the awkward youth she had known, stumbling and at a loss for words, unpolished in manner, despite all her jests at his reading.
It is as though your brain soaking up all those words does not quite connect with your tongue, she had jested once over an afternoon tea for Edward’s birthday, only to have cream flung in her face at his displeasure over the jest.
Before he could truly move out of earshot, Rebecca called out to him. “Edward!”
He glanced back, wincing. “Yes?”
“You may always dance with me,” she offered with a teasing grin. “You know, just in case you ever find yourself needing a break from the incessant matchmaking and ladies stepping on your toes.”
Edward’s face only turned pink before he truly did hurry away then.
Rebecca didn’t stand alone for long, not before she was pulled into another dance, yet she couldn’t stop trying to catch Edward’s eye as he spoke with Lord Thomas Willoughby.
More hands passed her around the dance floor, and by the time she finally came to a stop and sought Edward out once more there was no sign of him.
Lady Thornshire looked furious, and Rebecca could only assume Edward did what she knew him to once do: simply leave without explanation, seeking his own solitude.
I would prefer to be alone for a whole month than endure an hour of a very busy dinner party , Edward had once proclaimed to her, the two of them too young to realize that they indeed would have to suffer through many dinner parties and he wouldn’t have had the chance to be alone.
She barely had time to think about it before Catherine drifted up to her looking both concerned and pleased with herself at once.
“Lord Edward Thornshire,” was all she said, and Rebecca startled at how rapt she turned. “Who is he to you?”
Her friend sounded more curious than annoyed, or jealous, and Rebecca realized her friend wasn’t being hostile or territorial.
“He is an old friend,” she told Catherine. “Nothing more, if that is what you are worried about. I saw you dancing with him.”
She wasn’t sure if she imagined her friend’s face relaxing. “I was. He is a most graceful dancer.” Her eyes sparkled with admiration as she stood alongside Rebecca against one of the far walls of the ballroom. “Do you know where he learnt?”
“Actually, it was alongside me,” Rebecca laughed.
“Our fathers were good friends, so we often saw one another through our childhoods. With him being only one year older, we so happened to begin our dance tutoring near enough at the same time. He needed a female partner; I needed a male one. Our fathers merely saw it fit to practice together.”
“Oh.” Catherine’s voice softened in disappointment. “I… I see.”
“It is nothing romantic,” Rebecca hurried to tell her. “Nothing at all like that.”
“Are you certain? It is just that you are different with him than you have been with other men in the circle.”
“I am most certain. It is only due to our connection as children that I am comfortable with him. Truly, we have only had two conversations since the Season began.” She dropped her voice low into a teasing curl. “Do you like him, Catherine?”
Her friend grinned. “I like him most out of all my suitors, and I just know he feels the same. Only earlier he was promising me all of his estates! He only has four, but I am certain I can always convince him to invest in more. A woman does crave options, of course.”
“Of course,” Rebecca murmured, thinking of the dozens her father owned in preparation of all his children growing up.
He would be selling them off soon, no doubt.
Or perhaps he would remain selfish and keep them running, but only with skeleton staff.
Perhaps it would be their own belongings that went before any of his beloved estates.
Certainly before he gave up drinking and gambling, which Rebecca knew he had not.
She continued when she realized her friend waited for more. “Truly, I cannot see myself marrying him at all, and only really see him as the younger boy I once knew. We were childhood friends, and I wish to remain a friend to him, that is all.”
Catherine’s brows rose in surprise, her lower lip caught between her teeth in thought.
“You surprise me. A sea of men willing to fall at your feet and yet you do not want this particular fish.” Her mouth lifted in amusement at her own metaphor.
“Fine, then, if you do not want the tall, dark, handsome earl then I will be more than happy to attempt to match with him.”
“These men… they are not really fish, are they? It is rather that they are all sharks,” Rebecca corrected with a laugh as she linked her arm through Catherine’s. “He was asking about you.” In fact, the way he had asked so uncertainly lingered in her mind, and she paused.
“He was?” Catherine’s mouth pulled into a wider smile. “I should expect so. I made an impression.”
But Edward had alluded to Catherine not being genuine, and while Rebecca knew that ladies did feel as though they had to play the role of the doting debutante, molded into whatever a suitor wished to see, she also knew Catherine could go a little far.
She could be power-hungry, and all Rebecca could think of was how vulnerable Edward had appeared. How lost on uneven footing he had been.
The wealthiest man does not look away from his most profitable venture.
He had sounded so forlorn to admit such a thing, and Rebecca hoped that Catherine saw him as more than an investment, if that was how his own family viewed him.
She wanted to ask if Catherine truly liked him, or if she saw a good family name and wealthy assets, a new, young earl that she could be the doting countess to.
She held her tongue, however. She didn’t need to sound as though she was accusing her friend of being fae, even if that had been Edward’s implied concerns.
“Ah, I see Lord Billy,” Catherine gushed. “I promised him a dance earlier!”
Rebecca was about to warn her about Lord Billy’s harsh, jeering ways, but Catherine had already rushed off, her giggle loud and overdone. Meanwhile, Mary was being spun around, her eyes wide and adoring on another lord who seemed to hold her affectionately.
Perhaps she is the quietest, but due to her soft nature, she might be the first of us matched .
When she looked up, another lord was there, ready to take her hand. “Lady Rebecca Bancroft, is it not?” he asked, emphasizing her father’s title.
“It is indeed, my lord,” she answered.
“Lord Patrick Tanner, the Marquess of Tanner. May I lead you in your next dance, Lady Rebecca?”
“You may.” She slipped her gloved hand into his, and walked onto the dance floor, but all she could recall was her offer to Edward of a dance should he require a break.
She certainly did mean it, but she had a duty.
A reason to be putting herself back on the dance floor over and over again.
She could not let her family down, not like her father already had.
From their place in the ballroom, her parents watched on in pride, but Rebecca avoided their gazes as she was too hurt.
As soon as they began to dance, Lord Tanner began to ask about her father’s ventures, expressing interest in the family’s history.
It was casual enough that Rebecca tried not to listen to her suspicions that he was only interested due to the family’s supposed wealth.
That was what everybody thought, and that was the facade she had to ensure was maintained. The Bancroft name was sturdy, wealthy, and strong; it would withstand anything. Rebecca smiled her most demure smile.
“I am certain you heard of my father acquiring more land near Cheltenham last Season,” she told another lord, having been passed from Lord Tanner to Lord Varley, a reputable earl with considerable land further north.
“I have indeed. It was a very good decision. His Grace is a man who knows business well.”
“He does,” Rebecca agreed, but it was a lie, and it weighed heavily on her tongue.
The knowledge that if anybody ever discovered her elaborate lies to protect her father’s selfish ways from being brought to light then she would be ruined.
Any match she attempted wouldn’t be seen as good, but rather an act of desperation.
“Are you quite all right, Lady Rebecca? You have gone rather pale. If I have offended...”
“You have not,” she said quickly, drawing back. Suddenly, it was as though her parents’ stares were burning into her, as well as the letter she had read of her father’s debts, the figures climbing higher than she could have ever imagined. “I… Please excuse me for a moment.”
Her composure fractured, too weighed down with her worries.
She didn’t know why but when she turned her back to the dance floor, she searched once more for Edward.
There had been something comforting about being in his presence.
The earl was still nowhere to be seen, and Rebecca ignored the stab of disappointment in her gut.
Instead, she hurried to the punch bowl, thinking of her ruined dress, courtesy of her old friend’s clumsiness. Nothing had changed about him, yet everything had at the same time. She wished he was there but then she caught her line of thought and stamped it down.