Page 17 of The Truth about the Lady (Whispers of the Ton #6)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“ G ood afternoon, Lord Thorne.” Hyacinth took his arm practically the very moment he came close enough for her to do so, relieved to be away from her mother and sister who, Lady Coatbridge had promised, would be a short distance behind them.

“It brings my heart great joy to see you,” came the reply, his eyes fixed on hers. “Goodness, Hyacinth, you cannot know how much I have longed to be alone in your company!”

Hyacinth did not respond with anything other than a smile. It was exactly the very same feeling she had experienced, for now that the shock and the surprise at her engagement had faded, it had left her with entirely different emotions. Emotions that spoke of relief and happiness and even joy – and after their conversation the previous afternoon, those feelings had only grown. The only shadow over it all was Hyacinth’s worry that he had not spoken the truth of his heart, that those words had been said only to break apart any concern that her mother or Rose had about the engagement, and he had done so very well indeed.

“Might I ask you something?” Lord Thorne asked, as they began to walk, arm in arm, through the park. “Did your sister have anything to say about our engagement?”

Hyacinth bit her lip, then nodded slowly. “You recognized that from our visit yesterday.”

“I did.”

“She has been jealous,” Hyacinth admitted, letting out a sigh. “It has been painful to hear though your words to me yesterday did seem to bring some relief to that. She no longer has my mother’s ear.”

Lord Thorne’s lips lifted. “I am glad to hear it.”

That did not bring Hyacinth the reassurance she wanted. She wanted to hear him say that everything he had said had been the truth, that he had, in fact, fallen in love with her and was truly eager to marry her… but he did not. Instead, a frown swept across his forehead, his expression now heavy and Hyacinth’s heart slowly began to sink.

“There is something that I must say to you, Hyacinth.” Lord Thorne glanced at her but then turned his gaze away again, a redness coming into his cheeks. “I have every intention of doing what I must as regards this matter but you must know of it first.”

A thrill raced up Hyacinth’s spine as she saw the heat in his face, wondering what it was that he wanted to say. Could it be the confession she was hoping for? Would he tell her that he did have an affection for her after all?

“Let me tell you now before I lose my courage.” Lord Thorne offered her a slightly rueful smile but there was fear in his eyes that was unmistakable, making Hyacinth’s heart lurch. “I do not know what you will think of me after this and, truth be told, I did have an intention to speak to you of this before Lord Sunderland behaved as he did. I do not want you to think that I am only telling you this now because we are engaged.”

Understanding slowly began to grow in Hyacinth’s mind, her eyebrows lifting gently. Was this about the riddles? Was that what he had wanted to tell her before Lord Sunderland had snatched her as he did?

“I understand if you think me foolish, if you think me ridiculous, and if you think me despicable,” Lord Thorne continued, his voice sounding heavy. “I look at my actions and I find myself mortified over my lack of sense and, truth be told, the pride which so clearly fills me.”

“Lord Thorne,” Hyacinth began, speaking slowly as her own heart began to quicken, aware that she would have to soon tell him the truth. “Are you speaking about the riddles in The London Chronicle?”

This made him turn sharply, her hand falling to her side as he stepped back just a little, staring into her eyes. Hyacinth pressed her lips tightly together, not certain whether she ought to say more and finding herself a little afraid that he was about to be very angry indeed with her.

Instead, Lord Thorne let out a snort of rueful laughter, shaking his head as he rubbed one hand over his eyes. “There was always something in me that said you were suspicious of me. From the very beginning, I thought that you were not sure I was telling the truth.”

“And you were not.” Hyacinth let this come out as a statement rather than a question, her heart pounding furiously as she looked into the eyes of the gentleman she was to marry, praying that he would not be angry with her because of this. “I knew you were not.”

Lord Thorne closed his eyes, his lips still quirked just a little. “Indeed, I was not.”

“But you told the ton that you were.”

He nodded, looking back at her steadily now. “Yes, I did.”

“Why?” Hyacinth, already aware of the answer, chose to let him speak in his own words, letting him find the right way to explain himself. She waited and watched, seeing him look away, dropping his head and then blowing out a long breath.

“Because, my dear Hyacinth, I am a gentleman who has fought with arrogance and pride,” came the answer, his shoulders dropping. “That is why. I have always found myself rather prideful though I have never done anything about the matter, believing myself to be just as a gentleman ought. I have told myself over and over again that every gentleman is arrogant, that it is unusual for a gentleman not to be so! But even if that were the case, not every gentleman is the sort who would lie about something like the riddles, would they?”

Hyacinth swallowed at the tightness in her throat. “Might I ask why you chose to lie about being the writer of the riddles? Yes, I understand that you might have been fighting with arrogance but why specifically did you state that you wrote them when you did not?”

Lord Thorne closed his eyes. “I did so out of mortification, truth be told. It is linked to my pride, I know, for I did not want it to be injured. You may have already understood but I did not know the answer to the riddles and I was too ashamed to admit it.” Opening his eyes again, he winced visibly as he returned his gaze to her. “Thus, out of my mouth came the most ridiculous, foolish lie where I pretended that I had written the riddles and that was the reason that I did not know the answers. It was so that I did not spoil them for those who were seeking the answers.”

Hyacinth waited for a crash of anger or flare of upset to burst through her chest but to her surprise, nothing came. Instead, all there was within her was a gentle trickle of relief which, slowly but surely, grew into a torrent. A smile began to spread across her face, though Hyacinth quickly pushed it away, knowing that there was yet more for her to say, more for her to reveal.

“I do not think that you are angry with me.” Lord Thorne sounded surprised, the corners of his eyes rounding. “That is astonishing for I am certainly deserving of your frustration and upset.”

“That may be so,” Hyacinth agreed, choosing not to deny it, “but I confess to be glad that you have told me the truth, Lord Thorne. And to know that you desired to do so long before our unexpected engagement means a great deal to me.”

A hint of a smile brushed across his lips though his eyes still searched hers.

“You are right that I suspected you were not telling me the truth when it came to those riddles,” she continued, feeling as if someone were grasping tight at her throat and squeezing it such was the tension beginning to flood her. “I confess that I did see you upset over being unable to answer the riddles but never did I expect for you to state that it was because you were the author of them!”

Lord Thorne’s color began to rise again. “It was a moment of foolishness that I now deeply regret,” he said, quietly. “The author of the riddles was very upset that I had claimed his work for my own, for the answers to the riddles were all directed towards me.” He smiled tightly. “Though I did write two of my own and send them into The London Chronicle.”

Hyacinth nodded, speaking without thinking. “I saw them. They were an attempt to express your sorrow over what you had done, yes?”

Something flashed in his eyes. “Yes, that is quite so.” The edge of his mouth lifted just a little. “You are quite a marvel, Lady Hyacinth. You were able to discern that I was the one who had sent those two riddles into the paper? You could tell that their answers were so different, mayhap that they must have come from me?”

Licking her lips, Hyacinth let out a slow breath as she fought to find the right words to tell him the truth. He had been honest with her, she recognized, and she wanted very much to be so with him so that this entire matter could be set aside, but it was difficult for her to do so. Everything she wanted to say was jumbling in her mind, her thoughts tumbling this way and that, combined with the fear of what he might say or do once she had told him the truth.

“Hyacinth?” Lord Thorne moved a fraction closer, his eyes holding a concern now as his hand found hers. “What is the matter?”

Setting her shoulders back, Hyacinth looked up at him and chose to speak the simple truth. “I did not suspect, Lord Thorne. I knew without doubt that you were not writing the riddles.”

Not looking anywhere other than his face, Hyacinth said nothing more but waited for understanding to come into his eyes. It took some moments, for he both blinked and then frowned, only for then his eyes to flare wide as he hauled in a breath.

When his mouth fell open, she could only nod.

“You… you mean to say that you … ” It seemed he could not finish his sentence for the words ended abruptly as he turned away from her for only a moment, rubbing one hand down his face before swinging back towards her. Hyacinth could barely breathe, twisting her fingers together in front of her as she waited for his response.

And then, Lord Thorne began to laugh. He laughed so hard that tears came into his eyes and Hyacinth, relief swamping her, closed her eyes and smiled. It was all going to be quite all right, she realized. He was not going to be angry with her, was not going to be upset with all that she had done. Nor was he going to berate her, question her, mock her or even doubt her. The truth had been expressed and he had accepted it without too much concern, it seemed, given the laughter that poured from him.

“Is… is everything quite all right?”

Hyacinth glanced over her shoulder as her mother and sister came closer, mayhap a little concerned about Lord Thorne’s present state and the attention he was drawing from others. “Yes, Mama,” she answered, as Lord Thorne, still grinning, reached out to take her hand. “Everything is quite wonderful.”