“But as soon as that information is abroad, it all becomes very public, however much a person tries to keep it quiet.” Emmeline found that there was a curious comfort in discussing the thing with somebody who knew exactly how she felt.
The Earl was not trying to guess at her feelings or sympathize from a place of not understanding; he was right there in it all with her. He was suffering in his own way as much as she was. As much as her mother and sister had tried to sympathize, it was impossible for them to understand entirely, not in the way that the Earl did.
“I realize that engagements or understandings are broken all the time, but they are generally broken before the next one is embarked upon. I think, perhaps, that is what is so distressing about the situation that we each have found ourselves in of late,” she finished.
“You have it most exactly, Miss Fitzgerald. As painful as it would have been, there would not have been the added humiliation of being betrayed. I must say, there is a good deal of peace in discussing the thing with somebody who has already worked it out. Somebody who has experienced it for themselves.”
“In truth, I was just thinking something similar myself, Lord Addison.” Emmeline smiled. “Ah, here we are at the rose bushes, Sir, the very rose bushes which my mother was so keen for you to see.” She laughed.
“I truly am grateful to your mother, Miss Fitzgerald, for there is much that I should like to say to you and something most particular that I would like to ask you which I should not have liked to ask publicly.”
“Indeed?” Emmeline said and felt a curious stab of panic.
“Forgive me for dwelling in gossip once more, but it is true to say that I know a little something of your circumstances. Not your romantic circumstances, you understand, but your domestic ones.” For the first time, he looked profoundly uncomfortable. Much more uncomfortable than he had looked back in the drawing room.
“Please, do not feel uncomfortable about it. I suppose it is not an uncommon situation when there is no male heir to an estate. And I do believe that it is already common knowledge, for these things generally are.”
“That is true, but I should not wish to distress you any further; after all, you have experienced quite enough in these last weeks with the death of your father and then all that you suffered at the hands of Christopher Lennox. I should not wish to add to that, but I cannot continue without at least touching upon the subject. Forgive me.”
“Not at all, Lord Addison. It has been a great worry to my family for a number of years, ever since my mother and father realized finally that there would be no male heir to the Tarlton estate. I am only relieved that my father died with the knowledge that I was soon to be married and that he knew nothing of what was to come.”
“Yes, it is a mercy, albeit a very small one.” He nodded and walked deeper into the garden, closer to the thick rose bushes. Emmeline followed him.
“But I have a few months in which to find some lodgings for the three of us. There is a small period of grace, which was nine months in total from my father’s death. And then my second cousin, Kent Fitzgerald, inherits.”
“And what sort of a man is he?” the Earl said and looked at her very openly. “What I mean is, would he not allow you and your mother and sister to remain here at Tarlton when he has become the master?”
“I think not,” she said simply. “Whilst he has not shown himself to be particularly disagreeable, he has also not extended any offers of assistance whatsoever. He has talked more than once of our period of grace, and so I think he intends to keep to it and turn us out when the nine months are over. I am afraid that I do not know him particularly well and think that I probably do not care to.”
“I think that is understandable. I only ask because I have another offer to make you.” He tipped his head back for a moment and looked up at the sky, almost as if he was pleading to the heavens for the right words to say. “I shall ask you a question now, and I would beg that you think about it. You need not answer me immediately; only give it a little consideration.”
“Yes, alright.” Emmeline’s throat felt suddenly tight and dry.
“I should like to offer you marriage, Miss Fitzgerald.”
“Oh, I see.”
“But I should like to give you my reasons for offering you such a proposal at this time. At least, if you would consent to hear them.”
“Yes, of course. Please, do speak freely, Lord Addison. I think we have both suffered enough indignities these last weeks that we can at least be frank with one another, can we not?”
“You are extraordinarily brave, Miss Fitzgerald, and I am grateful for your openness.” He nodded thoughtfully. “I realize that we are both still suffering the effects of great disappointment and that, ordinarily, marriage might not be the first thought for either one of us. But I have given it a good deal of thought, and I have wondered if it might not be in the interests of us both to at least consider it. I cannot speak for you, Miss Fitzgerald, but I would never again be keen to trust my heart to another as I did Lady Felicity. I should not like to leave myself so exposed in future and so have thought to approach the subject of marriage with a little more sense than romance.” He paused and looked at her, clearly trying to gauge if she was insulted or not.
“I understand that perfectly. One does not touch a hot fire twice, does one?”
“Quite so, Miss Fitzgerald. In truth, I also have no immediate family to whom Addison can pass were something to happen to me. It was my father’s dearest wish that I produce an heir and keep the Bentley family at Addison for many years to come. Like you, I was pleased that my father had died peacefully in the knowledge that I would likely soon be married to Lady Felicity. He was, at least, spared that concern.”
“Yes, but as you said, it is a very small mercy.”
“Yes,” he said quietly. “Miss Fitzgerald, I do hope that my suggestion is not insulting to you.”
“It is not insulting at all, Lord Addison. I am not keen either to ever feel so very low again.”
“But I think it is important if you and I finally do agree to what would be, essentially, a marriage of convenience, that we at least get on. So far, I must admit, that I think we get along very well indeed. But perhaps you would be comfortable with a brief period in which we could come to know each other enough to be confident that such a marriage would work between us.”
“Yes, I think that very sensible, Lord Addison.”