“Aunt, please don’t talk like that. It was for the best!” Max reached across and patted her hand, conscious of its papery feel, tempering the alarm in his tone. The thought of not having Aunt Euphemia to come home to once he’d sown his wild oats and returned to familial duty left him bereft.
He cleared his throat. “To tell you the truth, I couldn’t be more relieved.” If only to lessen her pain, he had to reassure her that he was not brokenhearted. Which he wasn’t. He’d been piqued and embarrassed but that had quickly given way to relief. As for his grandfather, let him believe what he liked. Max felt no sense of responsibility for pleasing the old man who’d criticised Max his whole life.
But Aunt Euphemia was in a different category. Max would do anything to make her happy. He began to stroke her hand, smiling to try and erase the sadness from her eyes.
“Oh, you say it, Max, but what will you do now? You and Mabel were to be married after having known each other for so very many years. A whole wonderful world of family and domesticity has been snatched from you by her cruel and selfish behaviour of yesterday.”
Max laughed softly. If only his aunt knew how desperately Max had railed against the notion of family and domesticity. As his marriage had drawn closer, he’d felt increasingly trapped and desperate.
But that’s not what his aunt wanted to hear. She’d spent most of her adult life in mourning for the one true love her brother had refused to allow her.
He gently chafed the backs of her hands from across the breakfast table. “I’d only admit it to you, Aunt Euphemia, but I wasn’t in love with Mabel, nor she with me. We were doing what our grandfathers wanted rather than following our own hearts. But Mabel was braver than me. She cried off and I applaud her for it.”
“Oh no, Max!” Aunt Euphemia’s mouth dropped open. “You’ve been childhood sweethearts for fifteen years.”
“We’ve known each other as neighbours for fifteen years,” Max corrected her. “And we were too young and ignorant to object when our grandfathers conceived the notion that we should become betrothed. I’ve never felt romantic love for Mabel nor she for me. She’ll be much happier with some worthy and deserving husband who can lavish her with the attention and compliments I never could. In fact, I’d not be surprised if she made such an announcement before the year was over.”
“Mabel was in love with someone else?” His aunt gasped, pulling back her hands to put them to her face.
“I’m almost sure of it.”
Aunt Euphemia’s mouth trembled. “And what about you, Max? That’s all very well for Mabel, but now you’ve been abandoned. You’re all alone with no one to love yet you’re in the prime of your life.” She dropped her hands and raised her chin, her look determined. “I shall find you someone, Max. Before I go, and if it’s the last thing I do, I will see you happily settled with a young woman who deserves you.” She squared her shoulders, and an alarming note of enthusiasm crept into her voice as she continued, “The London season is just around the corner. I shall ensure you are invited to every event worth attending. Never mind that you’ve been embarrassed, I shall see that it’s to your advantage—”
“Aunt, please… no!” Max had to stop her. This was the last thing he wanted. He was off to Africa, and there was an end to it. He’d intended booking his ticket this very day.
Cut off in midstride, his aunt blinked at him. “But Max, you’re nearly twenty-six. You have family obligations. You must marry.”
That might be sadly true, but his grandfather was still in good health and had no intention of handing over the reins to let Max run the estate for a good number of years yet. This was the perfect opportunity for Max to run away to sea or to hunt lions or discover diamonds. His sudden and unexpected release yesterday from the shackles of matrimony had fired him up with renewed enthusiasm for life.
“But Aunt, I don’t want to be dragged about London ballrooms and drawing rooms in search of a wife.” He’d have to be honest or his aunt would find some way of altering his resolve. She might be frail, but Max knew he’d be dangerously susceptible to agreeing to a night out here and an event there, just because it would please her so much.
She pressed her lips together and blinked rapidly as if to stem the tears he could see glittering in her surprisingly clear blue eyes. His aunt had never been a beauty, but he could see how her sweet nature would have been appealing to the suitor she’d spoken of so wistfully over the years. The suitor her brother had sent packing because he didn’t have the pocketbook or address Aunt Euphemia’s older and exacting brother deemed worthy of the family.
“Don’t run the danger of closing your heart off to sentiment just because of what happened yesterday,” she said softly. “I may have been disappointed in love but let me tell you that it’s the greatest emotion a person can feel.” She pressed a trembling hand to her breast. “I would not go to my grave without the knowledge that you’ve been touched by it too, my boy.” She took a shuddering breath. “Y
ou’re the closest to a son I’ve had, and you lost your darling mother—and your father—much too young. All your life you’ve been looking for love, Max. Don’t start pretending to me, now, that you don’t need it.”
“Please, Aunt, that’s not what I’m saying at all.” Max was feeling rather desperate and beleaguered right now. “I simply said I didn’t want to be paraded all about London in search of a wife.”
“And I’ll not go to my grave knowing you are lonely and still looking for love, Max.”
“But you won’t. I mean, you’re not going to your grave for a good long time, besides.” He looked down, buttering another piece of toast he didn’t think he could eat.
“It’s what the doctor says, Max, and there’s the truth. Another winter as cold as the last will see the end of me. That’s why I need to put my affairs in order. Doctor’s orders.”
She sounded more resolute and accepting than Max could have imagined anyone would be following such a dire pronouncement.
He swallowed. Not his toast, but the lump in his throat. “Then the last thing you need is to squire me around—if that’s the right term—in the hopes of hitching me up with some worthy female before season’s end.”
“It is the very thing I need,” she said stolidly.
“But…but pointless,” Max responded, flailing as he found himself unable to drag his gaze away from her gimlet eye. “Pointless because…because my heart is already engaged to another.”
“Oh, Max! Why didn’t you say? So it’s not only Mabel whose affections have been engaged elsewhere?”
Max hesitated. The way her face lit up at the thought that romance might be in the air gave him a jolt of pleasure. But only momentarily. This was one lie he’d have to extricate himself from, so he’d better not get himself in too deep at the outset.
“Penniless, unfortunately. Totally unsuitable. Grandfather would never countenance it. No more to be said, really.” He began to chew, his thoughts in turmoil, hoping his aunt would be satisfied.