And then he was gone, leaving Aurora trembling on the sofa.
‘I must try to collect myself,’ she determined, as she gathered up the wedding dress tenderly, collecting all the little silk flowers.
‘How strange that he should find me here, like this, working on another woman’s wedding dress.’
Then she thought of the hard cold way that the Earl had looked at her and the tears she had been trying to hold back slid down her cheeks.
‘He thinks the worst of me. He believes me to be fickle and dishonest. And yet he came all this way to find me and to tell me about Papa’s illness!’
Aurora sprang to her feet and ran to the front door.
The Earl was standing by the garden gate, looking out over the green fields, as he waited for his mount.
She ran to his side, her face hot with shyness.
“Than
