Was it possible the woman he’d seen was not in fact his letter correspondent? He’d been so distracted by the fact she was writing a letter. He associated her with letters. She was the right age, and she’d been alone.
But then Miss Hazel Howard had also been alone in the tea room, though she was very much not writing a letter.
Still.
He shook his head. He knew Miss Howard was not his letter writer. That was impossible. After all, he’d spoken to her yesterday.
So there was no secret. She would have told him if she was his correspondent, and they would have laughed over the matter that they were meeting a day earlier than planned. His letter writer had been witty and confident.
No, Hazel Howard was simply a spinster wearing a too-large dress.
Perhaps his letter correspondent was simply late.
That must be it.
Titus decided to sit and wait until his letter correspondent arrived. Besides, Miss Howard did not have any mistletoe at her table. Obviously, it was not her.
He waited until the woman arrived, conscious of the giggles and murmurs that still surrounded him. No doubt the women in the shop were recounting his slap in great detail. Maybe they were imagining he’d said all sorts of horrible things.
He squirmed in his seat.
THE viscount swallowed back a disappointed smile.
Heavens.
He looked so forlorn.
Hazel had snatched back the mistletoe she brought the second she realized what had happened between Lord Aston and the blonde woman. He had thought the stunning, fashionable woman was the person he had been waiting for. He had not even noticed Hazel.
Even so, she supposed she should tell him she was Miss Keen Decoder, not that other woman in the tea room. Hazel rose and strode toward him. “Good afternoon, Lord Aston.”
Lord Aston cringed at the sound of his name, and he glanced rapidly around him. Then he gazed up. “Leave.”
“L-leave?” Hazel’s heartbeat quickened, and her shoulders drooped toward the ground.
Lord Aston gave a curt, desperate nod. “If she sees you—”
“She?”
“Never mind,” he said, and stared in front of him, steadily not making eye contact with Hazel. She’d been dismissed.
Well, she was not coming. “Tell me.”
A gaggle of giggling girls left, and after a moment’s hesitation, Hazel sat in one of their abandoned chairs.
From the appalled look Lord Aston sent her, that was not the right thing to do. Clearly she should have slinked from the tea room.
“I’m meeting a woman,” the viscount admitted. “I’ve been corresponding with her over the past year, and I’d rather not talk about it.”
“I see.”
“If you—er—saw anything odd earlier in the tea room, it was only because I’d accidentally approached the wrong woman.”
“And you are fond of this woman?” Hazel’s voice wobbled, and she instantly wished she’d not asked this question. Now the viscount would think her odd once she told him she was the letter writer.
“Perhaps.” Lord Aston stared in front of him. “I don’t know. I’ve never met her before.”
She looked down. “Did you enjoy the letters from her?”
The viscount flung his arms upward. “Why do you care? Yes, we’ve become quite close. Now you must leave. I don’t want to be embarrassed.”
Hazel shook. He may as well have driven a stake into her heart.
She embarrassed Lord Aston.
The viscount fidgeted when she spoke and focused his attention on the door.
She was not going to cry in front of Lord Aston. She absolutely was not going to cry. Her very presence discomfited him.
“I bid you a good day.” Hazel marched from the room, her heart shattering as she quickened her steps.
CHAPTER SIX
Titus watched as Miss Howard scurried from the tea room.
He’d been short with her. Regret gnawed at him, and for a moment he contemplated going after her.
But no. He’d already spoken with the wrong letter correspondent. He wasn’t going to scare away the correct one. He would wait for her. The door opened, and Titus’s heart stopped.
But then the prince came in.
“Well, that didn’t go well,” the prince said with a laugh. “Though it was amusing. I will grant you that. I wasn’t expecting to find such entertainment here, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to find it from you. Well done.”
Titus cringed. “It was an accident.”
“I thought it was,” the prince said. “Great comedy. I suppose she didn’t experience a rapid onset of true love?”
“No,” Titus said miserably.
“Oh, well.” Prince Rafael took Miss Howard’s spot and stared at the entrance, as if that in itself was helpful.
They were silent, though nothing about the silence was comfortable. Titus’s heart still beat with too much rapidity, and his hands felt clammy.
“Maybe she came across the woman in the tea room,” the prince mused.
“Maybe she came across Miss Howard and ran away.”
The prince turned to him. “Miss Howard? You mean that skinny spinster we met yesterday?”
“Slender,” Titus corrected absentmindedly. He tilted his head. “You didn’t notice I was speaking with her?”
“I can’t spend my whole time peering through a tea room window. That’s the sort of thing that unsettles some people. You were sufficiently unsettling.”
Titus pressed his lips together.
“Besides, I had to reassure the woman that rushed from the tea room that not all men behave so abominably.”
“It wasn’t that abominable,” Titus muttered, then he frowned. “You’re not supposed to speak to anyone.”
The prince gave a nonchalant shrug. “I had to defend the reputation of all men. I just told her that men don’t behave that way in Aragornia.”
Titus groaned. “You’re not supposed to tell anyone about yourself.”
“Relax,” the prince said. “It was just some woman. Besides, I didn’t tell her anything.”
“Be more discreet in the future.”
“You worry too much.”
“My job is to be concerned.”
“I know that. That’s why it’s hard to take you seriously.” The prince’s lips twitched. “Seems like everyone else also struggled.”
Titus put his face in his hands and groaned. “Let’s go. She’s not coming.”
The prince gave him a surprised look, then nodded. “Very well. But only if you tell me what you said to Miss Howard.”
“I’ve told you enough.”
The prince gave a mournful look, but accompanied Titus from the tea room.
“I’m sorry she wasn’t there,” the prince said gently.
“I know. I—er—don’t care about that. It was silly to think a woman I’d never met would be the woman I would marry.”
“Why do you want to marry?”
“To not be alone.”
The prince’s eyes widened, and Titus realized he’d said too much. He shrugged. “My parents are dead, and I never had any siblings.”