Alyssa stood in what Edward called the lilac room, although the colors on the walls and the Turkish rugs on the floor were more burgundies and grays than anything resembling lilac. She and Elizabeth had been invited for tea.

Alyssa had wanted to decline Edward’s offer, but Elizabeth had begged her to accept Edward’s invitation. It was the first time Alyssa could recall her daughter begging for anything. And Alyssa knew why she was so desperate to come. His name was Joshua Winslow, and Elizabeth was sitting in Edward’s garden with the young man.

The pretext was that she would read to him while he took the fresh air, but Alyssa could see that there wasn’t as much reading taking place as conversation. And the expression on Elizabeth’s face when she looked at Winslow sounded a series of warnings. Alyssa realized she’d made a bit of a mistake by allowing her daughter to spend so much time with young Winslow.

This was the third afternoon in a week Edward had invited them. The first two times Alyssa had been as eager as her daughter to accept Edward’s invitation, but now Alyssa realized how wrong she’d been to put her own desires above her daughter’s welfare.

“Is something wrong?” Edward asked.

“No. Not really.”

“That’s not what the expression on your face says.”

Alyssa breathed a heavy sigh, then turned to face Edward. “The expression on my face indicates that my daughter is far too young to be as deeply infatuated as she is. Elizabeth hasn’t even had a Season. Mr. Winslow is the first handsome man she’s met. She doesn’t know him well enough to… to…”

“To marry him and find out later that she’d made a tragic mistake…like you did?”

Edward’s words struck with a force that stole her breath. She wanted to run, but there was no place to escape where the truth wouldn’t find her. She wanted to deny his accusations but knew he’d recognize her words for the lies they were.

“Yes,” she admitted when she could find her voice. “I don’t want her to be as foolish as I was.” Alyssa let her gaze rest on her daughter. Elizabeth was so young and naïve. The same as Alyssa had been when she’d met Kendrick.

“Kendrick was one of the most sought-after lords in London. Everything about him was perfect. He made every female giddy with delight when she was the recipient of one of his smiles. He made every female nearly swoon when he asked them to dance.

“He was tall and good looking, and had enough wealth that no female he married would ever go without anything she desired. And I was determined that I would be the female he chose.”

Alyssa walked away from where she could see Elizabeth and Mr. Winslow. “Although he was older by several years, I was captivated from the very first, and no one could have convinced me that he wasn’t the most perfect man in the world. Because he was.” Alyssa paused. “Only not for me.”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t care. “Everything was ideal in the beginning. I began my married life exactly as every new bride does, with dreams of what her future would be like. There would be balls and parties, and nights at the theatre and the opera. There would be dinners and summer house parties, and quiet evenings at home, just Kendrick and me, enjoying each other’s company. And there would be the children I’d always dreamed of having. And even if he didn’t love me at first, I was convinced he would in time. But he never did. That wasn’t the way it was.”

She turned to face Edward and found him standing near her. “Kendrick didn’t want a companion. He didn’t want someone with whom he could share his thoughts and ideas. He’d married me because his father was pressuring him to marry. Because he needed someone to provide him with a son to inherit his title and his estates. But he never intended to love me.

“He didn’t have time in his busy life to concern himself with the demands of a wife who expected to be loved. He only had time for the other loves in his life: the children’s orphanage, the wounded soldier’s hospital, a home for young mothers without husbands, the running of his estates, and the managing of his ships.”

Alyssa lifted her gaze and looked at Edward. “All I wanted was to be loved. To make my husband happy. But that was impossible. I wasn’t a charity, or a downtrodden refugee who needed his help.

“I wasn’t something he could build, or improve, or support. I wasn’t someone who made him feel as if he fulfilled another goal in his life.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “The only time I felt loved, or at least somewhat appreciated, was the day Elizabeth was born. I’d given him the only thing he couldn’t make or buy or build by himself. Kendrick wasn’t disappointed that the babe was a girl. He was sure that more children would follow. But his happiness gradually faded when I didn’t conceive again.”

Alyssa locked her gaze with Edward’s. “I don’t want Elizabeth to make that same mistake. I see how she looks at Lord Winslow. Like he’s the sun and the moon in her life. As if he’s everything she’s ever dreamed of having. That was the same way I looked at Kendrick.”

Alyssa walked back to where she could see her daughter. “I see how she adores him. But she doesn’t really know him. How can she? The time they’ve spent together has been anything but normal. I want her to realize that this isn’t how life will really be.”

“And what would you have your daughter do? Wait until she’s thirty, or older, and the first bloom of youth and love have passed? Wait until she’s been courted by every eligible male in London to make her choice from only the eligible men left? Will that give her the experience you think she needs to make a choice that will make her happy? Or perhaps you prefer she doesn’t choose anyone at all?”

“You know I don’t want that,” she argued.

He stepped up next to her and clasped his hands around her arms. “Alyssa, there aren’t any guarantees in life. I, more than even you, know how different someone can be from how you think they are.”

“You’re talking about Ernesta, aren’t you?”

Edward looked at her, and Alyssa saw a coldness in his eyes that startled her. “I’m sure she had several commendable qualities, Edward, although there was a side of her that wasn’t admirable. She could be—”

“She was a cold-blooded murderer.”