A Study In Seduction(86)
“I received your letter.”
Lydia spun at the sound of the low, male voice. Alexander stood a short distance away, his expression grave, his eyes simmering with suppressed anger.
Lydia swallowed hard and clutched her satchel tighter. She knew she’d been a coward by sending him a letter, but having to tell him in person—
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“The banns were posted last week,” Alexander snapped. “I will not withstand another broken engagement.”
“You don’t want to marry me, Alexander,” Lydia said, her throat nearly closing over the words. “Believe me when I say a broken engagement is a far better course for you than marriage to me.”
He stepped forward to grip her arm, his dark eyes flashing. “Why?” he hissed, lowering his head closer to her. “Why have you refused to see me for the past three days? What the bloody hell is going on? If you don’t—”
“You all right, miss?” Two men paused in passing, glancing from Lydia to Alexander.
With a muttered curse, Alexander relaxed his grasp and stepped away from her. Lydia gave the men a brief nod, then hurried toward the Greco-Roman façade of the lecture hall. Her chest tightened when Alexander fell into step beside her.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“This is where they’re holding the mathematics symposium.”
“I’ll go with you.” He took her satchel from her. “And afterward we will continue this discussion.”
“Alexander, I—” Her heart sank at the mutinous look on his face, and she knew she’d have no immediate chance of escaping him.
They went into the auditorium, which resounded with the rumble of male voices, the rustle of papers, and the scrape of chairs. Lydia searched the crowd until she found Dr. Sigley standing amid a group of men. He gave her a wave and pushed his way toward her.
“Miss Kellaway, you’ve arrived.” Dr. Sigley stopped before her and took her gloved hand. “And, Lord Northwood, a pleasure to see you again.”
He extended a hand to guide them into the main room of the lecture hall. As they sat down, Lydia took her satchel from Northwood and removed a sheaf of papers. She tried to concentrate on what she wanted to tell the professor, knowing she had to present a front of cool competence even if her heart broke a little more with every breath she took.
“This… this is my response to your question about the integrals,” she said, handing the papers to Dr. Sigley, who spread them out and reached for his spectacles. “The general systems have only three. There must be a fourth. And if you normalize the units, then choose the axis in which all moments of inertia are equal, then you find this unit.” She pointed to the pages. “So the fourth integral can be written in complex form like this.”
“Ah.” The single word conveyed understanding and satisfaction. “Now, this makes perfect sense. I do hope you intend to publish this, perhaps even lecture about it.”
No. No chance of that anymore.
The gaslights dimmed. The symposium coordinator banged a wooden pointer on the podium to gain everyone’s attention. Lydia sat back as he announced the series of lectures, the first starting with a discourse on symbolic logic and theory. As the lecturing professor began organizing his notes, Lydia fished for a pencil and spread a new notebook on her lap.
She listened as best she could, took copious notes for later review, and engaged in whispered consultations with Dr. Sigley.
And yet the entire time, her skin prickled with awareness of Alexander beside her—his tense posture radiating his frustration and anger.
What a fool she’d been to believe, even for a moment, that they might have a life together. That they could be happy. She’d reached too far beyond her grasp… and now she had to bear the fall.
It was one o’clock before the first half of the symposium concluded, with the coordinator inviting the participants to lunch in the adjoining hall prior to the start of the afternoon session.
“Will you lunch with us, then, Miss Kellaway?” Dr. Sigley asked, absently rubbing his belly. “Lord Northwood?”
“No, I hadn’t planned to stay for the afternoon,” Lydia admitted as they made their way along with the tide of men toward the exit. “But you and Mrs. Sigley must come to dinner soon.”
“Will do, then. A delight to see you again, and when I’ve got my thoughts on your paper in order, I’ll call upon you.” Dr. Sigley gave her hand a light squeeze of farewell and nodded at Alexander before joining the men heading into the dining hall.